Still Going To Alabama....

At least we waited til after the sun came up to leave Tucumcari.  We saw lots of windmills and wind turbines in New Mexico. The old fashioned windmills pump water for the many cows and other agricultural uses:

And the modern wind turbines produce electricity. If you click the photo below to enlarge it you may be able to see the turbines on the ridge across this field. I counted at least 60 of them over there. They are HUGE! A sign we saw says that each one produces 1.5 megawatts of electricity. I don't know exactly how much that is but it must be a lot.

 Ok, so I looked it up for us all to know. From this website: Oregon Power Solutions:

"...How many homes can one megawatt of wind energy supply?
An average U.S. household uses about 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity each year. A one-megawatt wind turbine can generate between 2.4 million and 4 million kWh annually, depending on the average wind speed at the site. Therefore, a single one-megawatt wind turbine generates enough electricity to power 240 to 400 households...."

So, if there were 60 of those things, they could produce enough electricity for up to  24,000 homes. Wow!

 

The turbines were out in the fields, so a farmer could still use the land to ranch or grow cotton or peanuts, and also receive lease payments for a power company to put those wind turbines on their property.  That is a good use of resources in my opinion. 

 

 

Another thing that was amazing to me is that there was so many ranches and farms, and you could see at a glance what these people do to make a living. They grow cotton, peanuts, sorghum, and corn. We saw a peanut processing plant, cotton gins, feed lots, feed and seed silos, farm implement sales lots. I guess I lived in cities for so long I either never knew or forgot about all the agricultural occupations that existed. See how beautiful that cotton field is?

 

We saw flocks of geese flying south for the winter. That is also amazing to me how those birds know when the cold weather is coming, and take flight before the first snow. 

 

 

We DIDN'T see any rattlesnakes, but this sign had me looking for them. This was at a rest area east of Amarillo on Hwy 287. 

 

We stopped for the night at Wichita Falls RV Park in Wichita Falls, Texas.  The guy who works in the office there can not give directions. We called him twice, and he failed to give correct directions both times. If you are going south on Hwy 287, take exit 1-A, get all the way over to the right, turn right at the first light, and stay on that road until  you see the sign for the RV park. That guy had us running all over Wichita Falls pulling that trailer. It is hard to turn around when you have a 34' trailer behind you, ya know?  They weren't making any dinner for us, either, so I made some potato salad.

 

 

And this was a little interesting: a collection of fire hydrants, each one painted a different color, at the RV park. Hmmmm......

 

We made about 410 miles today--not bad. Tomorrow, we head for Shreveport.

Going to Alabama...

Yesterday we got as far as Holbrook, Arizona. We got the trailer and truck parked at the KOA, then walked a couple blocks to a restaruant in town. It looked ok from the outside, but the food was, well, less than expected. Way less. I ordered a Mexican combo plate that had chicken enchiladas, rice and beans. The chicken tasted like it was canned, and the rest of it was worse than that.  Across the road from the restaurant, there was a hair salon called "Hairlapeno's". We usually take pictures of things like that but, GASP! I forgot to take my camera with me.  So, that opportunity was lost. 

We walked back home to the trailer and called it an early night as we were both tired. About 4 a.m, FabGrandpa was whispering in my ear, "Do you think that restaurant is open for breakfast yet?" Of course he was just joking, we were not going to give them a second chance. However,  he accomplished the goal of getting me out of bed and ready to go, but not before I had my customary chocolate coffee and email time. 

 

As I am not so much a morning person, I rarely see sunrise. But since I was already up and in the truck, I did get to see this one. Way too early, I tell ya!  See: 

 

That is A.M. people. I barely had my eyes open. 

 

New Mexico, which IS a state in case you are not aware (hehehe), is quite beautiful. Don't let all that sunshine fool you though, it was 17 freaking degrees out there. I was freezing my hiney as we got the rig ready to go down the road!

 

 

Even though there aren't many actual trees, there is some fall color in the landscape. I even saw a tumbleweed rolling down the interstate!  Wasn't quick enough to get a photo, but it was awesome as I have never seen one before. 

 

We went through Albuquerque, and I have to tell ya, I have NOT missed all that traffic. We were there during the lunch rush: 

I could have really done without all that. FabGrandpa accused me of pinching a hole in the seat. I hate traffic!

 

Lunch was at Lisa's Truck Center. Again, I forgot to take a picture (what the heck is the matter with me today?), but the burger (without a bun, and salad without dressing) was great! The meat was six ounces hand patted and cooked on a grill.

 

 

There was lots of construction on I-40. In several places they had taken all the pavement up off of the east bound lanes, down to the dirt, and had us routed into one lane of the west bound side, with a concrete wall between us and the one lane of west bound traffic. It looked like they were rebuilding the entire road. Maybe next year it will be a smoother ride. 

 

We made it to Tucumcari, a total of about 410 miles for the day. We stayed at the KOA in town again, and got a nice, flat site.When I went inside to register for the night, there was a delicious aroma of pot roast with potatoes and carrots. When I asked about it, they said it was for sale for dinner, so I got two plates of it. Boy was it ever good!  I hope the next place we stay is cooking when I get there!