We spent almost 18 hours driving over the two day period, 878 miles of basically boring driving, though the scenery across New Mexico was pretty interesting. The first day from Dallas to Amarillo on US 287 and then Interstate 40 to Tucumcari, NM could be summarized as--lots of beef, endless oil wells, and then cotton fields. We were also amazed at the number of huge BNSF (Burlington Northern Sante Fe) Railroad trains we saw, most propelled by 4 locomotives and seemingly miles long. Scenery got somewhat better when we hit New Mexico, and started seeing some Mesas.
The following day from Tucumcari to Holbrook was a bit more interesting. While the day started off cool and clear, we found ourselves at one point driving through blizzard conditions before we got to Albuquerque! Saw several bad vehicle accidents during the day, including an overturned RV that probably got hit with a wind gust. West of Albuquerque Jim was looking at what appeared to be a mining complex, situated next to a mountain, when all of a sudden the mountain literally exploded with yellow, gray, and black blossoming out of nowhere. It reminded him of what is called a "time on target" in the military, when an artillery battery fires all six guns at the same time to impact in a small area. Explosion was very similar, and seemed quite unusual with 25 miles or so of the city. After that, it was one endless series of mesas after another. One certainly gets to appreciate the vastness of the West when one drives I40!
We paralleled old historic route 66 much of the way on I40, and there is a lot of tourism associated with it. After stopping at a gas station, the Rio Puerco automotive bridge was sitting there just waiting to be included in a photo op! The other two pictures above are of the Tucumcari campground, and a panorama of the Tucumcari Mountain.
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