Heading Southwest

March 10-13, 2005

March 10:  Today we leave for New Mexico.

We had snow overnight in Madison, with about an inch of accumulation, and more forecast for the next couple of days, so it must be time to get out of town.
 

We stopped in St. Louis and spent the night at Dan's place. It was good to hear how his wedding plans are coming and his hopes for medical residency positions for him and his fiancée.

The next day we headed southwest on I-44, which follows the route of the old U.S. 66 highway from Los Angeles to Chicago. We stopped for the night at Acadia Lake just outside Oklahoma City and found a nice campsite right on the water. We were rewarded with a very nice sunset. The weather was very nice, with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s and 50s.
 

In Oklahoma City we turned on to I-40 and crossed the Texas panhandle into New Mexico. I-40 follows the course of Route 66 westward from Oklahoma City.

Our next stop was at Tucumcari, NM, which tries to capitalize on its location on the historic Route 66; it is the main drag right through town. This mural about Route 66 is on the side of a supermarket in Tucumcari. It was 83 degrees in Tucumcari, so we felt like we had reached warmer weather.
 

March 13:  We finished the drive to Los Alamos and arrived in warm weather, but the forecast was for snow that night, with an accumulation of 1 -3 inches.