We boondocked it again once we got to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The best part of this trip is the "not knowing" of how we are going to spend the night. Jeff drove for a long time on some days to try and get us as far as we could before needing to sleep or take a break. Skylar and I would take turns sitting up front with him, especially at night, to help keep him focused. We ended up making it as far as a Travel America. We woke up the following morning and took showers, made breakfast, and cleaned up the bus. We also were finally able to get rid of our trash, which we don't have a lot when we travel, but it's always nice to get rid of things that take up space. Every inch in a skoolie matters. We refreshed the duck's pens and let them get out of the bus for a time. Letting them get sun, and splash around in the water basin we brought always makes them feel better. They have been great travel buddies. At night they make noise, but it's not too bad. We got back on the road around 9:30 a.m. and headed towards Tucumcari, New Mexico.
Tucumcari was a cool, but sad place. I loved all of the Route 66 signs and displays, but you can see throughout how much the town has suffered because of the interstate. A lot of the times on our trip it made me long for the times when all of these places were popping with activity and entertainment. Route 66 is a cool drive, but I wish we could have seen it in its heydays.
While we were in Tucumcari, I made sure Skylar's eye was okay from when he ran into the sign in Idaho. It left him with a bruise, but we were glad to see it didn't hit his actually eye. He said it was still sore, but it looked better than the day before. We had him put ice on it right away and that helped a great deal with the swelling.
After Tucumcari we left New Mexico and crossed the state line into Texas. At that same time a lot was going on with the area we were in. State line crossing, leaving New Mexico and entering Texas, as well as the change in time zone, too. We finally reached the Central Time Zone and were a bit closer to Arkansas.
The amount of windmills in Texas were impressive. I read a few years ago that Texas was the windmill capital of the United States because of how the wind flows through the state. It was quite windy in the area where we were and every windmill was moving at a good speed. It's incredible how windy it was. The wind was fighting against us while we were driving and it didn't let up.
We made it to Amarillo, Texas, around 1:30 p.m. and she was windy. We stopped at Cadillac Ranch and were happy there weren't a lot of people, but once we stepped off the bus we knew why. The wind was incredible! We fought the wind so much walking towards the Cadillacs, but Skylar wanted some spray paint to leave our mark on the area. He tagged our bus Instagram page and his cartoon he started last year, Hank the Snake. As we were walking back to the bus the wind really picked up and started hitting our legs with rocks. Rocks started being picked up by the wind at one point and started hitting us in the face. We started hurrying back to the bus, but not before one of the rocks hit me in the forehead. There is a little mark there, but hopefully, it fades. We couldn't believe it!
If you do visit Cadillac Ranch, be sure to wear gloves when you paint. It is a mess!
We bought the paint here and also some stickers to add to the back of the bus. The guy running the vendor trailer asked where we were from. We told him Oregon and he said, "You're the first today from Oregon." We also told him that we traveled there in a converted school bus and he said, "You're the first from Oregon in a converted bus this week." So that was cool to hear.☺
We left Cadillac Ranch around 2:30 p.m. and crossed into the Oklahoma state line about six hours later. Jeff was exhausted at this point from driving and fighting the wind. The winds through Texas and into Oklahoma were rough, especially in the bus. We made our way to Hinton, Oklahoma, to get some sleep and rest the bus a bit before heading onto the Warner/Porum, Oklahoma, to visit family. We are hoping to get to Arkansas by the Seventh of April, so hopefully we can get moving along and the wind is on our side after we leave family's house. Day seven of our trip was a success. I am excited to see what day eight holds for us. Onward!🚍
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Life at a "Swell's" pace is a lifestyle and travel blog chronicling the life and travels while living in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley. It is mostly written by Shelly HW. Click the image to learn more»
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Thank you so much for commenting. I will read over your comment before publishing to make sure your comment aligns with the safety and positive environment I try to keep at this space. If you have further questions, please reach out to me at (mcwilkerson1977@yahoo.com). Thank you for understanding. While you wait, please check out the rest of my blog for content that may interest you. There's a lot of great things here and I look forward to connecting with you.