Taos! Here We Come!

Day Two's destination is Taos, but we have a few things to see before we get there.  First stop is my favorite car wash, Soapy Suds in Portales, New Mexico.  We managed to get tons of bugs, butterflies and other unidentified critters on our windshield!  But never fear, Soapy Suds to the rescue!  All clean and ready to hit the road.

We took the road to Clovis, New Mexico.  I have never been there before, so let's see something new.  The prominent feature coming into town was trains, more trains and more trains.  Trains from the east, train from the west.  Trains arriving and trains leaving.

Clovis, New Mexico rail yard.

The old Santa Fe Railroad sign still remains.

The pigeons keep an eye on all the trains.

And then an unplanned stop, Taiban, New Mexico.  Flying down the highway, something caught my eye about a block up a dirt road.  Larry, turn around!  Go back!  I need a photo!  The combination of grey skies, a decaying school house was a visual essay on the deterioration of education in America.

When you don't bring a tripod you get a funky view of the ground and a weird tilt!

Enough with the artsy photo attack!!  Finally, I put the camera away and we took off down the highway!  My next goal is lunch!  We are heading to Santa Rosa, New Mexico.  But a wreck several miles south of Santa Rosa brought us to a sudden stop.  Could not really see what happened, but it involved a semi jack-knifed blocking almost all of the highway.  We figured out we were going to be sitting there a very, very long time.  So it was time to bring out the electronic device, the iPad saves the day!  I found a very small ranch road that cuts across to another highway.  That is why I have a four-wheel drive vehicle, so here we go!  Turned out to be beautiful drive!  A primitive road through hills, rock formation and boulders.  Another one of life's happy accidents.  Well, maybe not so much for the truck driver!

And, now we arrive for lunch.  Several years ago when traveling in this area I read a tip about dining at Santa Rosa.  Do NOT get off of I-40 and head to one of the tourist-traps or fast food chains advertised on billboards for the past several miles, instead continue right past all of those places and follow the street as it curves around.  Stop at the Comet II and get ready to partake of authentic New Mexican meal.  My recommendation is the PDL Enchiladas.  PDL=Pueblo de Luna, they grow their own strain of peppers.  The meal is too big to eat the whole thing, but I did my best!  We had a visit with Johnny Martinez, he is the third generation owner/operator.  He helps with any task that needs done, or he talks with many of the customers.  And he assures us the tradition will continue as the fourth generation is hard at work in the kitchen.

After lunch, the GPS is set for Taos and we hit the road.  Oh, that lady in the GPS!  Again she tells us to take the wrong exit.  But I do not repeat the same mistake as before!  We ignored her and took the correct exit!  Everything was going as expected, and then I decided to go on a detour.  Highway 94 from Sapello to Mora.  It was beautiful and well worth every minute.

Now back to the original route to Taos.  The trees are well into their fall color changes and they are spectacular.   We stopped at a little roadside parking lot to take a few pictures.  There was a restroom, however, courtesy of the U.S. Government.......they are closed!  But none the less, we took our pictures and left.

 

We checked into the hotel and got ready to see Kate Mann sing and play guitar.  She was wonderful!  So talented!  She sang all my favorites.  It was a fun evening.