So after Billy the Kid, the Navajos, the BNSF, and a great sunset as described on the last section of Part 1, what does one do for an encore? One gets up early in the morning and drives 20 miles to Sumner Lake to look for JAFRs. (JAFR is a highly technical geological term describing a specific type of rock. If you are unable to find a definition for this term, email me and I'll be glad to define the term!) While no JAFRs were found, it was an entertaining drive into the middle of nowhere. Most of the land is private and posted, but in one area there was a humongous real estate development going on (no houses, hmmmmm?) but also no "No Trespassing" signs. Hey, we're just looking for land! Plodding along on the soon-to-be-washed-out-access-road, we met a local who was touting the praises of this land development that's 40 miles from the nearest big town. At least ocean front property wasn't mentioned. After a pleasant conversation, a strategic retreat was made.

So back to Ft. Sumner without jumping at this marvelous get rich quick opportunity. On the other hand, even this non-ocean front property in the middle of nowhere would do SO MUCH better than my company's miserable 401K. Dammit!

In town, there was this Billy the Kid museum. I had to go there to pay for the previous night's camping. The elderly (i.e., someone older than me) owner of the museum and campground, was marvelously entertaining. He had this long slow West Texas/East New Mexican Dwight Yoakum drawl, and told how his "Daddy" built the museum from nothing into the cornerstone of Ft. Sumner that it is today. He was incredibly proud of his little museum. We didn't go through it. He said it would take an hour and I feared that if we got done in 10 minutes he would be mightily offended. In retrospect, we should have gone. What's one more hour on the trip? I feel really bad about it...so bad that someday, if the old guy is still alive, I'll come back and spend the time that should have been spent today. Sigh. I might do this to coincide with the Clovis Music Festival.

Hooked up and left Ft. Sumner with a heavy heart and headed out through 120 miles of Eastern/Central New Mexico, to Mountainair.

The day started cloudy and windy with the remnants of hurricane something-or-other dribbling a few raindrops and some wind over the central New Mexico plains. Yesterday I picked up a replacement bolt I needed at a hardware store so first thing this morning, undaunted, a quick trip was made to the roof of the RV to fix the air horn that was removed by the offending tree branch described earlier. Mission completed despite the wind! For only the second time this trip, put the top on the Jeep. Getting better at it. Even with the strong winds, took <10 minutes. Also, taking advantage of the HS internet at the Turner Inn & RV Park, spent a significant amount of time catching up on email from work. Now that is sad!

Pulled out of Mountainair and headed for Abo pass. Really wanted to watch the BNSF trains ramble through the canyon but it was cloudy, a few raindrops, and I just wasn't in the mood. Some other trip.

After that, a short drive to Socorro and pulled in for the day. Today's highlight, and the reason for stopping, was to have a few beers at the Socorro Brewing Company. Unfortunately, lunch was at a Chinese joint instead of the brewery, so missed an afternoon of sipping good beer. Instead of drowning my sorrows in a beer, drowned my sorrows in the Mineral Museum of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology instead. Most enjoyable!

Came back and took a long, much-needed nap. After arising, did the obligatory shopping and then finally wound up at the Brewery for some exceptionally good beers (Heynekamp Dutch Lager, Isopod Pale Ale, and Pickaxe IPA) and a most excellent meal - but in retrospect, should have subbed a couple beers for the meal instead. How silly of me! To compensate, brought back a growler of Pickaxe and, once done with this rambling for the day, will perform an extended quality assurance test on the beer. It's a dirty job but it's gotta be done!

So a short day and fewer words you have to read. It's your lucky day! Better buy a Lotto ticket.

Tomorrow??? T or C!

The quality control test on the beer was completed last night and I'm very happy to report that it passed with flying colors! However, drinking the beer and banging on the keyboard last night caused a somewhat "late departure" (9 AM) today. But the consequences were worth it.

After trying to drive over Caballo Dam and finding the road across it closed, drove on another back road until we came upon a county sheriff who had just finished relieving himself. Being inquisitive, I stopped and asked why the dam was closed and he replied, "Because of 9-11." I replied "WTF? Like a terrorist is going to drive a bomb-laden car or fly a plane into a gazillion cubic foot earthen dam in the middle of New Mexico?" "Well," he drawled, "someone must think so. I've been told a couple times now to park on top of the dam to protect it. Hell, my little pistol here ain't gonna stop no airplane!" "Well, thank you for keeping our homeland safe and secure," I replied. He laughed and understood all too well! A query was then made as to the whereabouts of the elusive JAFRs and he spent the next 10 minutes explaining, and even drawing a map, to the whereabouts of local fossils (other than myself) and local JAFRs. He suggested a short drive into the red hills on the other side of I-25 where one might find fossils and perhaps a JAFR or two. It was unanimously decided to take his advice and trek to the other side.

The short drive quickly turned into my kind of Jeepin'. The road was fun and the short drive lasted many hours searching for the fossils and JAFRs. I was only following orders! It was enjoyable, I thought. And quite a few times we actually put it in 4WD low, but sadly no lockers were needed. About 6 hours later, we finally returned to camp....dusty, tired, but a bag full of JAFRs and only one (maybe 2) fossils.

Two of the town's celebrities seem to be Geronimo and Ralph Edwards. Of the two, Ralph was the more interesting. In 1950, as an advertising gimmick for his show, he wanted a town to change its name to Truth or Consequences. Hot Springs, NM, did just that and for 50 years after that, Ralph and Mrs. Ralph visited the town each year for the town's "Festival" and brought along a whole raft of Hollywood stars who I'm sure were very impressed with T or C and its fine accommodations. All kidding aside, Ralph loved the town and the town loved Ralph.

There's even a Ralph Edwards park in T or C. Yes, we visited it. And once again, without prior knowledge of park protocol, I proceeded to drive some distance on a pedestrian/bike path. Oh well. No harm, no ticket, no foul.

The museum really was a gem and almost 2 hours were spent there. What a pleasant surprise!

10 miles west of the former Elephant Butte Lake, was the town of Engle, NM. 2 houses and a church.....with the cross mounted to the chimney with bailing wire. So why go there? Fossils, man!

A delightful desert drive was had, even sans 4WD. There was a trip to the top of a volcanic cone which had a large cement pad at the top. Who knows? Probably our tax dollars at work. More than a few miles were driven in this desert looking for fossils or petrified wood, which never appeared. Out in the middle of this immense plain, there was one tree and a windmill with some rain in the mountains to the East. This photo does not do it justice! (Cheers!) BTW, on the other side of the mountain range is the White Sands Missile Range. This was one of the best drives so far.

Returned to the camp about 6 PM. Opened a bottle of Mavrodaphne of Patras sweet red Greek wine and then watched a great sunset to the West (duh!), and marveled at the lake, mountains, and storm to the East while sipping on the wine. What a nice, relaxing, perfect evening.

Tomorrow......a trip west into the mountains (YES!!!) and some alleged ghost towns.

The day dawned bright and beautiful...again...but with a 40% chance of storms today. So while having the usual cup of coffee and sweet roll, checked the radar and noticed a little boomer over the mountains where we'll be heading. That'll make for an interesting day, perhaps. On a lark, looked at the national radar and saw a crap load of storms again in the Texas panhandle, just south of Armadillo. Having been to Canyon recently, elected to see what the National Weather Service had to say. Holy Merde! Here's a selection from a day or so ago:

The drive to the mountains today turned out to be 180 miles round trip with several surprises and detours. The first detour was 8 miles west of the camp where Barbie showed a large number of roads in a nearby canyon. One couldn't even see the canyon from the highway but this myriad of roads begged to be investigated. After a long drive down, there was a surprisingly large number of homes and defunct farms in the bottom of the wide canyon. It was a bizarre place, almost seemed like a step back in time. Drove maybe 5 miles before the road expired, so retraced the steps and exited, canyon right, in pursuit of the Black Mountain range.

The weather had been great up to here. Sunny, warm and a few puffys in the sky, but to the north and the west it was getting dark. We needed to continue on to Silver City to get petrol since we were already 80 miles into the journey and past the halfway point for fuel. Descended on Silver City, filled up, stopped at a Sonic for the obligatory limeade (yum) and then began the 90 mile trek back. By the time we got back to the Santa Rita mine (only about 8 miles), it became pretty obvious the dark clouds to the north had moved towards us and it started to lightning, thunder and rain. The top went up in record time. Good thing. It rained like the devil for the next many miles and the temperature dropped from 95° to 55° in less than 5 minutes.

10 miles later, after dodging boulders that had dislodged themselves onto the highway, the road started to steam and, in the next two miles, we wound up with 4" of hail on the ground. Awesome!

The day dawned bright and beautiful...again...get the idea? After much deliberation, a decision was made to go to Albuquerque for a few days then head out to Grants, then Montrose/Delta via Silverton and then finally Moab. Reluctantly left T or C. It's not all that bad! On the way, stopped at the Socorro Springs Brewery and filled the growler with Dutch Lager, which I'm sad to say is now gone. I didn't want it to spoil, ya know! When they filled the growler, they wrapped electrical tape around the cap. Huh? Had to ask, inquiring minds you know! The electrical tape is the "seal," so that one can leave the building with a "sealed" growler. Duh! I shall miss the Brewery and their most excellent beer - - - and tape. Perhaps next spring.............

Pulled into a campground 9 miles west of Albuquerque, perhaps 500-800' above the city, in the early afternoon. A few neat clouds were around but nothing major nearby. Massive clouds were forming to the south, however, from whence we had just come.

Damned wi-fi doesn't work. Good signal strength but can't get an IP address. Linkspot sucks! The alleged help desk for the wifi provider, Linkspot, makes some of the other help desks look good - RBTL! Yes, it was that bad. But that's another story. Screw 'em. I'll use Sprint dial up.

This afternoon's drive was to be a short one, but lasted 6 hours. Are you surprised? Part of that has to do with searching the western part of the city as a possible place to retire. Sadly, all the houses are built on soft, soft sand and so close to each other that if you smiled, your teeth would hit your neighbor's wall. No thanks.

From the home tour, moved on to Mr Powdrell's BBQ. We went there about 20 years ago and I forgot the name of the place but thanks to some most expert research, the name and location magically appeared in my email one day! WOW! I let Barbie choose the 19 miles from the northwest end of the valley to the southeast end, where the BBQ joint was located. The trip there was a delight. Really! We had a good meal there but not as good as it was the first time....amazing how many things are that way.

From Mr. Powdrell's, decided to take Route 66, Central Avenue, the 17 miles back to the campground. It was dusk, about 8 PM and driving along the old Route 66 through the city was so much fun! As we passed the New Mexico state fairgrounds (State Fair in progress) there was a gaggle of motorcycle police directing very little traffic. Many cops. Many motorcycles. Few cars. Few people. Odd. One officer must have been bored, so he stopped me and proceeded to tell me what a kick-ass Jeep I had. I like these guys!

But, we had to soon move on down the road. There must be at least a dozen or more old motels from the 50s and 60s on this segment of Route 66 that are falling into ruin. Before leaving this area, I will make the drive once more and get photos of their signs. It's another piece of Mom and Pop Americana that's going by the wayside thanks to corporate America. Damn Corporate America!

By now it was dark and the neon signs along the way were awesome. I tried to capture some of them, but it was just not possible to get a good photo or to capture the moment. Imagine this....driving through the city, neon lights blazing, a cool breeze, the feeling of being on the Mother Road! I wish I had the verbage to describe the peaceful easy feeling. I tried to get some photos but not a one of these do justice!

My expectations for the day were set appropriately, therefore I was not disappointed. The quest for the day was to find a group of Native Americans who made blankets and jewelry and sold them in a town, or pueblo, or rest area, or someplace. We had stopped there once before and made a purchase and the purpose of today's trip was to do the same. Oh, did I forget to mention that it was 23 years ago that we stopped wherever we stopped? To not keep you in suspense, here's today's punch line .... we never did find whatever we were looking for! Shocking!

By 10 AM we had driven 25 miles East on I-40 (all with the Jeep, of course) to the east side of Sandia Mountains and took off on NM 14, a two lane asphalt "trail." A few detours were made to look at the houses built on the steep mountain sides and the sometimes bizarre lengths people went to in order to build on the side of a mountain. Some of the driveways, and even local access roads, approached a 20% grade.

After driving around a little, I got bored and we headed north to find whatever we were looking for. Came upon a little town (very little) complete with obligatory tourist "attraction." Attempting to keep myself entertained, I took a few photos, the best of which are included for your viewing pleasure.

After this exciting journey, wound up on I-25 for a 20 mile return during rush hour. With a little help from Barbie, plotted an alternate route through ABQ to Old Town, the original ABQ settlement, now loaded with tourist "attractions." After a reasonable supper there and a lousy margarita, came back to the camp and began the laborious process of creating empty bottles which someday may become collectibles. Dirty job, but need to think of future generations of bottle collectors. Will also lament my wind burn and sunburned left knee.....another side effect of wearing shorts and driving on Interstates.

Tomorrow? Get my photos of the defunct motels on Route 66 and then head to Grants and some trails slightly more worthy of the Jeep and my most excellent driving skills.

As I'm writing this, 9 PM, at a campground at Grants, right by a county road, I'm interrupted by a crapload of sirens. WTF? Look outside and here are two cop cars, sirens wailing, mars lights flashing, chasing somebody riding a horse past the campground. Speeding violation perhaps? Drunken riding? This was pretty friggin' bizarre. And two cops? Maybe it was the ghost of Billy the Kid and he just robbed the BNSF train. Love it! Unbelievable. Still laughing about it 20 minutes later.

But I digress, as usual. This morning we took Route 66 from the campground, 9 miles west and high over Albuquerque, 23 miles east to its junction with I-40 near the Sandias. It's like a trip back through time, especially the old restaurants and motels. Many of these are being demolished to make room for "modern" buildings so the goal this morning was to try and get a few photos of some of the old motels, or at least their signs. In fact, one of the photos was of a crew removing one of the landmark signs.

It took a couple days to decide which photos to put online so elected to put them ALL online, but thankfully not here! If you want to take a sentimental journey, click here for 50+ photos of Route 66 artifacts. In the meantime, a few samples are here.

After passing by the RV on the way back from Zuni Canyon, a drive down to Pueblo Acoma was made to search for Native American stuff. Such places were found but the prices were prohibitively high.....like $3000 for a pot! On the way back, a stop was made at a Casino. I guess all's well that ends well.

Back home now (duh!) sipping on a Warsteiner and relaxing after a day of new, strange and beautiful scenery.

Once again, loaded up the Jeep with food, drinks, maps, GPS, camera, bits, cell phone, and fuel. Today's attraction was Mt. Taylor, at 11,000'+, the highest peak in NW NM. Of course the ticket for the trip was stops for JAFR searching along the way, this time with some interesting success. But that's another story.

The day started poorly when I got a call from my buddy Joe (who's in Texas also on a Jeeping trip) on the cell phone while driving through the great metropolis of Grants. First I ran a red light and then next made a left turn in front of an oncoming car. Certainly this was not Joe's fault since y'all know I can't multitask more than one thing at a time. Um, did I also mention that about 2 miles later I drove into the ditch while trying to reach a map? Needless to say, some number of people were less than impressed with my excellent driving skills. Alas.

The end of the road. Damn the USFS, how dare they! There were dire warnings posted about being on the offending side of this gate. Oh my! I should try to get out of here as quick as I can. These gates were too heavy to winch open. There were some 1" bolts that could have been removed, but they were grade 8 and were mysteriously padlocked underneath. Now if only I had an onboard welder I could.............Oh, never mind. Plan B.

Off to the left, between the gate and the fence, right where the pretty yellow flower thingys are, there was a 2' rock and some concrete, but after measuring, the FN JP would have fit through there with 4-5" (total) or so to spare on the sides. However, my spotter was disinclined to acquiesce to my request to spot me through, so we returned from whence we came. I'll be back!

After a somber return to the main road, a beeline was made to Grants for supper at "Tortilla Lil's" or something like that. Her red chili was the hottest (and best) I ever had. Hours later I'm still "enjoying" it.

Later we drove west of town for a purty (how purty?) sunset. And NO! I didn't "tweak" the colors.

Tomorrow we leave for Montrose. Instead of the Million Dollar Highway, Bill* has chosen Lizard pass. With any luck, we should arrive in Montrose tomorrow night.....maybe......

Here endeth this page's saga. With 75 photos and associated drivel, this is no longer a web page, it's a novel. For those of you on a slow speed connection......time to upgrade.

So, to see if we made it over Lizard Pass and to Montrose, please click here.