Day #2: Holbrook, AZ to Tucumcari, NM

Yes, I know.  Our itinerary post a couple days ago said that day #2 would end with us in Amarillo, TX.  Our best laid plans were laid to waste by a longer than expected side journey at the start of the day in the Petrified Forest National Park.  This delay was compounded by road construction on I-40 that meant we had to go 14 miles out of our way to catch and eastbound onramp to the highway.  Just imagine if we had done something really dumb like, say, forget to check out of our hotel room in Holbrook and have to backtrack over 20 miles.  But, really, who would be that much of a dimbulb??  Woo boy, you'd have to be a real doofus to pull off something that dumb.

Yes Lizzie, there are wigwams in Holbrook.

The Petrified Forest National Park is devoted to preserving ancient fallen trees that were covered by silt, ash, and earth which eventually permeated the wood and turned the wood into stone.  I recommend going there early on the morning after the Labor Day weekend.  We virtually had the entire 93,000+ acres to ourselves.

Cross section of a large piece of polished petrified wood.

Perhaps ELO was talking about petrified wood when they sang "Turn to Stone."

Following a stop at the Visitor's Center, we followed the road that cuts all the way through the park to see the other sights it had to offer.  There were amazing and colorful rock formations:

Unnamed rock formation in Petrified Forest Nat'l Park

A tree that had fallen, petrified, and became a land bridge:

Agate Bridge

Remnants from an Indian housing compound in which over 1000 Native Americans lived from the 13th-15th centuries, plus petroglyphs written into the nearby stones that still survive:

Puerco Pueblo

Puerco Pueblo Indian petroglyphs.  Apparently storks delivered their babies, too.

And some of the most awe-inspiring views you will ever see in the Painted Desert portion of the park:

The Painted Desert.  Pictures don't do it justice.

But the clock was a-tickin', and we had to get back on the road if we didn't want to completely  ruin our schedule.  By the time we got going into uncharted territory on I-40 it was close to 10:30.  After we crossed the border into New Mexico and stopped at their gorgeous Visitor's Center we realized to our horror that if we went all the way to Amarillo we would lose not one, but two hours due to the different time zones.  This would have us arriving at 8:30 PM at the earliest, not even counting time for dinner.  This, TJ and I decided, was simply too late so we decided to shoot for the small town of Tucumcari, New Mexico, about 115 miles west of Amarillo.  Since we were so late already, I'm afraid there's not a whole lot to tell you about New Mexico, nor many pictures to share.  The landscape is absolutely beautiful.  Countless mesas, buttes, canyons, and other geological features dominate the view as you pass mile after desolate mile.  Albuquerque is a large, sprawling metropolis, but we didn't even bother to stop (and never figured out where the Isotopes' ballpark is.)  New Mexico does, however, have a thing for erecting eye-catching freeway overpasses:

Albuquerque overpass complete with modern art adornments.

So the long drive was spent snacking, listening to classic rock radio and trying to guess what the second song by an artist would be since it was "Two-fer Tuesday," and we were even reduced to reading questions from a Trivial Pursuit quiz book.  We pulled into Tucumcari at the reasonable time of 5:10 and found The Discovery Inn, another fine Best Western hotel.  Unfortunately, our meal at the nearby K-Bob's Steak House was pretty much entirely forgettable.  This is especially unfortunate since we thought we were going to be eating at The Big Texan Steak Ranch tonight.  Oh well.  We still have Memphis to look forward to for food.

T stands for Tucumcari

TJ with a T on his shoulder

Tomorrow should be full of excitement as we plan to be in four different states by the end of the day, and make three very different but hopefully interesting side trips.  Thanks for reading, don't be shy to comment, and we hope to see you back here tomorrow.