Greetings from Elk City, Oklahoma

What a long 3 days.  We have been driving until late in the day so I have been ready to turn in as soon as we have settled.  It has been an interesting 3 days.

Sunday:  We woke up early to pack up and head to an Episcopal church in Moab.  We arrived very early for the 8:00 service.  Really about 2 hours early.  There was no 8:00 services.  Churches would be better off without a website if they are not going to keep it current. Oh well...all dressed up and no place to go.  We decided to head on to Mesa Verde.  We were so excited about seeing the cliff dwellings and since it was about 20 miles into Colorado we could add another sticker to our state map.  When we arrived we purchased two tickets for the easier tour.  We arrived at the overlook and waited for the ranger. This would be a tour group of about 25.  I was very excited until the ranger started describing the tour.  "If you are afraid of heights you should not go on this tour", he said.  "You will have to go up 3 ten foot ladders", he said.  "There is no turning back once you start", he said.  And finally he pointed to the ladder across the way and said we would not have to worry about falling because you would be between two sides of the rocks.  That was enough!  I turned to Chris as everyone was lining up to start the tour and begged him to go without me.  I am so glad I did not go.  I am afraid of heights and I am very claustrophobic.  Sunday we drove until 9:00pm and pulled into a very iffy campground.  We were only there to sleep so it was not a problem.  However, we had now moved into a string of iffy campgrounds for the next two nights.

Monday: We woke up early to go to a volcano site in Blue Spruce, New Mexico.  Chris has been wanting to see a volcano and I read that New Mexico had lots of them.  We found the Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano.  It is privately owned.  We walked a lava bed about 1/2 mile to the overlook.  It was not what I expected because it was 10,000 years since it had erupted so the inside of the cone was smooth and had trees growing in in.  There was plenty of lava rocks, tubes, and you could see where the volcano blew out the side of the mountain.  Then we took a second short hike to an ice cave.  That was also formed when the volcano erupted.  After the morning visit we headed to Tucumcari, New Mexico.  This was a big town during the days of route 66.  It sounded like a good stopping place with things to see.  Well, it is a dying town.  When interstate 40 by passed the town, it took their life blood.  You can see the remnants of the old hotels and the broken neon signs.  Most of the old  gas stations are shut down but the old tyme pumps remain.  The campground we planned to stay at was worse than the night before but the one next to it was ok.  It was surround by a very old, run down, wood/brick motel.  The campground was a giant gravel parking lot with a few trees and a few patches of grass.  The owners were very nice. The wife was American Indian and the husband was Hindu Indian. Quite the combination.  They were trying to fix the place up but have a long way to go.  The waitress at dinner said the town was slowly dying.  They are trying to get a casino to help the town come back.  It was pretty depressing.

Tuesday:  A few days ago I mentioned to Chris that our vacation was over.  There are no more colored rocks or unusual rock formations to see.  It was going to be 5 days of boring driving until we reach Little Rock and visit Deacon Johana and Robert.  So...we have decided to make it a road trip and see the quirky things on the way.  Today we saw Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, where about 10 cars are half buried in the ground.  People come with spray paint in hand to do their art work.  It was not as impressive as we had seen on TV.  After that adventure we headed to Big Texas Steak Ranch, home of the 72 ounce free steak.  In the movie Road Trip, Barbara Streisand goes uninvited on a trip with her single son.  They stop at a steak place and she takes the challenge of eating a whole 72 ounce steak dinner.  It is free if you can eat all of it.  We saw the signs on the road for this place and had to stop.  It is another Route 66 original establishment.  It started out as a cowboy restaurant and the real cowboys would show off how much they could eat.  It got into a real competition.  When we were seated we asked where Barbara Streisand sat during the movie. She did not film the movie there.  It was really a good meal anyway.  We had a hard time finding a good campground for tonight have found a pretty good place in Elk City, Oklahoma.  It is just different out west.   

Peace and love to all,  Barbara