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Day 6 [7/25/99]
From: Tucumcari, NM
To: Santa Fe, Nm
Total Miles: 167
Sites Seen: A Big Hole, Clines Corner, Santa Fe, Bebe & Burt's,
John's Birthday
Today's Entry By: Alex Franke |
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| It is a well-known fact that cattle will climb stairs but never
descend. |
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The day got off to a normal start. We woke up and each beat
John with our pillows eighteen times for his birthday. We packed our bags and reported to
the front desk for our free breakfast. On the way out to the car John discovered that
Rachel and I had set up a spider web in the van for his birthday. For those who don’t
know, a spider web is like a birthday party game. Each person is given the end of a piece
of string and must follow it around the van. The strings run all over the place and get
tangled, which is half the fun. At the end of everyone’s string is a prize. We all
got a nice little book with a string to hang around our necks. They are silly. |
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After loading the car John went back to the desk to check
out. When he returned to the car, he said, "well everything’s fine except for
$87.12 in phone bills. Apparently in the state of New Mexico just because a number has the
same area code as your location doesn’t mean that it is a local call. As a result,
our four to five hours of computer time was charged as long distance. Nuts! |
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| Rachel argues with Vipin Bhakal. |
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| We shall never speak of this shortcut again. |
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After a disheartening moment we decided to get on our
favorite road and tour some classic 66. This would require some time on poorly maintained
roads but we were up for the challenge. Rachel started out driving and we had a little
trouble finding the road to begin with. Finally we found our road which was paved with
what our book described as "broken pavement." After some rough bumps and
dirt-covered areas we thought we had mastered this bitch of a road. The road, however,
would not let us win and she tricked us in to going too fast, which caused us to fishtail.
Rachel handled the situation very well and made sure to "turn into the skid." A
little shaken-up but okay, Rachel continued to drive. We drove with more caution now which
was a good thing because we narrowly missed a road-wide twenty-foot deep hole in the road.
This part of the road looked like it used to be a bridge, and water that ran underneath
the bridge ate away at the road almost al the way across. We considered trying to squeeze
past on the "shoulder" but upon inspecting the hole, we decided not to. Simply
the weight of our bodies on the edge of the hole caused large chunks of asphalt to fall
into the hole. After we each selected a piece of road as a memento of our near-death
experience we pulled U-ey and went back to the interstate. Our guidebook did mention a
hole in the road, but it was written a few years ago when we supposed the road was in fact
passable. |
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After that trauma we were okay except for the large pink
snake we almost ran over a little later. We ate lunch at a place called Restaurant, and
looked at some items at Clines’ Corners, a large cheesy market of sorts. We basically
just used their ATM. Next we moved on to Santa Fe. There we met Bebe and Burt Krimmer.
Bebe is Cynthia’s cousin, so after much deliberation we figured that Bebe was
John’s first cousin once removed. First Burt took us to his local driving range where
we smacked some golf balls for a while. Apparently I am not as good at hitting the ball
off grass as off a tee. |
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| I think Rachel is actually smiling, but it sure didn't seem like
it at the time. |
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| Swinging on the Krimmers' patio. |
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Back at the house there was a dinner table set up on Bebe
and Burt's beautiful patio. Bebe whipped up an amazing dinner while Burt manned the grill.
It was cool outside for the first time on the trip and we got very excited to be able to
wear pants for the first time. We started off with chips and salsa and cheese and
crackers. Then we had a birthday barbecue for John with ribs and chicken, and corn on the
cob, with sides of grilled green beans with pine nuts and garlic, and some delicious
bread. For dessert Bebe brought out a great-looking Black Forest cake which Burt picked
out. The cake was really good, especially with some vanilla ice cream. |
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The four of us spent the rest of the night out on the patio
writing postcards and updating our web site. It was a gorgeous night and the lights of
Santa Fe glowed in the distance. |
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| John attempts to extinguish Baker's middle finger (Bebe is far
left). |
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