Yukon to ABQ
We left Yukon, OK, at 7.10 this morning, slightly off plan. The woman behind the desk went to school with Garth Brooks. (Later in the day we passed through the hometown of Roger Miller—King of the Road—but I forget the name of the town. We did 519 miles in about 8 hours, arriving here at 2.15 pm local time, having gained (lost?)an hour. We are now in Mountain Time, same as Green Valley.
Western Oklahoma is quite different from Eastern, OK, more of what I had imagined: flatter emptier, bigger sky. We saw a number of very large windmills just west of Oklahoma City. I haven’t mentioned the wind we have experienced the past several days, but it has been quite impressive—30-40 mph, with higher gusts. Steering the Jeep took considerable concentration and both hands; it was as if the car was pulling to the left all the time.
Oklahoma City is at 1230 feet; Amarillo is at 3676. Between them is lots of flat terrain, a good deal of it cultivated. We saw extensive cotton fields for many miles. At the edges of the fields are giant bales of cotton, the size of tractor trailers. Again, lots of big sky and many places where there is absolutely nothing except fields all the way to the horizon. In places, though, cattle graze; and we saw one very large feedlot.
Fourteen miles east of Amarillo we saw snow on the ground (yesterday it was 72!) We were at some altitude, however, so it makes sense. Beyond Amarillo, 69 miles east of Tucumcari we entered an entirely different landscape. Now we saw mesas, desert vegetation, including cholla cactus and creosote bushes, washes and dirt. We were coming down off a plateau and the weather warmed quickly. We were excited to be in the desert, in the West we had been looking forward to.
Near the road we saw a small herd of antelope. Totally unexpected, but right there.
As we traveled on, we began to see snow covered mountains to the north and the terrain around us continued desert-like, but changing in altitude. At one point, about 60 miles east of Albuquerque we were at 7200 feet and it was around freezing. There was snow again on the ground and evidence of its being plowed, so there must have been several inches accumulation—probably he same storm that hit Colorado and Kansas so hard.
We got into ABQ early and went to the Pueblo Cultural Center. Very educational and lots of nice art to buy as well as museum displays of art and history. Then we went to the old plaza of ABQ, a smaller version of the one in Santa Fe. There are some nice galleries, though not nearly as upscale as Santa Fe. Dinner in a local Mexican restaurant.
Tomorrow we should get to Green Valley in midafternoon. It is cold and windy here in Albuquerque—5900 feet high, about—but tomorrow we head due south to Las Cruces and then west to Tucson.
Western Oklahoma is quite different from Eastern, OK, more of what I had imagined: flatter emptier, bigger sky. We saw a number of very large windmills just west of Oklahoma City. I haven’t mentioned the wind we have experienced the past several days, but it has been quite impressive—30-40 mph, with higher gusts. Steering the Jeep took considerable concentration and both hands; it was as if the car was pulling to the left all the time.
Oklahoma City is at 1230 feet; Amarillo is at 3676. Between them is lots of flat terrain, a good deal of it cultivated. We saw extensive cotton fields for many miles. At the edges of the fields are giant bales of cotton, the size of tractor trailers. Again, lots of big sky and many places where there is absolutely nothing except fields all the way to the horizon. In places, though, cattle graze; and we saw one very large feedlot.
Fourteen miles east of Amarillo we saw snow on the ground (yesterday it was 72!) We were at some altitude, however, so it makes sense. Beyond Amarillo, 69 miles east of Tucumcari we entered an entirely different landscape. Now we saw mesas, desert vegetation, including cholla cactus and creosote bushes, washes and dirt. We were coming down off a plateau and the weather warmed quickly. We were excited to be in the desert, in the West we had been looking forward to.
Near the road we saw a small herd of antelope. Totally unexpected, but right there.
As we traveled on, we began to see snow covered mountains to the north and the terrain around us continued desert-like, but changing in altitude. At one point, about 60 miles east of Albuquerque we were at 7200 feet and it was around freezing. There was snow again on the ground and evidence of its being plowed, so there must have been several inches accumulation—probably he same storm that hit Colorado and Kansas so hard.
We got into ABQ early and went to the Pueblo Cultural Center. Very educational and lots of nice art to buy as well as museum displays of art and history. Then we went to the old plaza of ABQ, a smaller version of the one in Santa Fe. There are some nice galleries, though not nearly as upscale as Santa Fe. Dinner in a local Mexican restaurant.
Tomorrow we should get to Green Valley in midafternoon. It is cold and windy here in Albuquerque—5900 feet high, about—but tomorrow we head due south to Las Cruces and then west to Tucson.
posted by arthurandjane at 7:01 PM
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