Leaving Kansas
Going to bed in Wichita, KS we knew we had a decision to make in the morning. Tornadoes were coming our way and they were not small or friendly. There had been reports of devastating rain and hail in these storms. We wanted no part of this so we came up with a plan. If the storms had gone south when we woke up we would drive to eastern Colorado the next day. If the storms came directly east we would drive south then west depending on where they were.
As we woke up the next morning and looked at our weather app it looked like the worst of the storms were coming directly east so we packed up and headed south. As we drove we had no idea where we were going to end up that night. We made our way from Wichita south going through central and southern Kansas. As we got close to the Oklahoma border we started to see the storms. In planning our southern route we knew that we would have to go through a few storms, we just prayed that they would not turn out to be that bad.
Going south into Oklahoma we passed through a few bands of the storms. While there were a few periods of almost white out rain there was no tornado and we felt no damage to the vehicle. As we neared Oklahoma City we saw that almost all of Oklahoma & Texas was under a tornado watch and would be receiving torrential rain as well. This would not make RV camping fun. At that moment we decided to go to where there was no rain in what seemed like the entire Western USA, New Mexico.
We headed west from Oklahoma City going through another few bands of torrential rain but again no damage to the vehicle. We were on a roll now. Central Oklahoma, Western Oklahoma flew by and before we knew it we were entering the Texas Panhandle. We were about half an hour east of Amarillo when our luck finally ran out. Looking at the radar we saw that we had one more storm to pass through and we would be home free. After passing through 6 or 7 of these we felt pretty safe. Looking back on it however you should never feel completely safe going through a big storm in the Great Plains.
Hail in the Texas Panhandle
We entered the last band of storm and for a minute all we saw was rain. Then we heard it, the faint sound of something hitting the van over and over again. The sound became louder then it dawned on us…this was no longer rain, it was a hailstorm. Hail can be bad to any home or car but for an RV they are especially damaging. There are a lot of sensitive components on an RV’s roof including air conditioners, cabin exhaust fans and solar panels. This was not going to be good. To make matters worse we were in a construction area of the highway with nothing but miles upon miles of ranches around us. There was nowhere to hide. As we continued on the hail got a bit bigger and the noise in the van got louder. We hoped beyond hope that the hail would not get any bigger than it was. After what seemed like an eternity (in actuality it probably was only 5 minutes) we came out of the other end of the storm and the hail ended. We pulled off the highway at the next exit and took a big sigh of relief. We had made it and after a check of the van, it had sustained no damage! Thank goodness!
Amarillo, TX
We then got back in the car and continued west towards Amarillo. As all of Texas was still under a tornado watch we didn’t want to spend the night here but still wanted to check out the town as it wasn’t raining (or tornado-ing for that matter). It was also pretty surreal for Julie and I to be here in the first place. Our initial plan on the trip was to go from Kansas to Nebraska then continue a path towards Montana going diagonally across the country. We in no way had planned to be anywhere close to Texas or the southwest. But since we were here we could check our last big Texas City off of our list.
Amarillo turned out to be not the greatest city. It seemed like a great place to stop for gas or any other necessary items on the way or to somewhere else. As our nerves were frayed from our hail encounter we had to stop for a little while though. As it was a Monday evening not too much was open but we did find a great little wine bar called Crush Wine Bar. Julie had a great rose (yes Texas actually does have a wine area of their own and it is unexpectedly good) and I sipped on an old fashioned. After some good conversation with the bartender and another patron and our drinks gone we were both in good enough frames of mind again to hit the road.
Safe & Secure in Tucumcari, NM
As it was starting to get later on in the evening we checked out our KOA app on our phones and found one located in the first town over the New Mexico border in Tucumcari. We booked it, then hopped in the van and stopped to get some to go BBQ at Doug’s BBQ. As a BBQ lover I cannot be in the state of Texas and not get some of their BBQ. We then continued our drive west, crossed over the border into New Mexico and into the campground. From waking up in Kansas, driving through Oklahoma, getting hailed on in Texas and now being in the calm desert in eastern New Mexico it had been a long day.
We woke up the next morning opening our shades to find a desert scene. Gone were the plains and fields of corn and wheat, replaced by desert mountains and sagebrush as far as we could see. Minus the wind (it was news to us that spring was wind season in New Mexico – gusts everyday between 10-30mph all day long) we were safe from tornadoes, rain or any and all storms. We loved it. We were also pretty glad that the storms had pushed us all the way to New Mexico. Two years prior we were in the state but were only able to see the extreme southern portion due to the fact that it was well below zero in most of the state. Since it was May, while still being a bit chilly at night we were now free to see the entire state. We could now see the three big spots in the state that we had missed two years prior, Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Taos.
As Julie and I had both neither heard of the town Tucumcari that we were now in so we did a bit of research. It was a major stopping point on the old Route 66 and still was a bit of an artist enclave to this day. While the town was small it certainly was not tiny. We checked out of the campground and drove into town. One of the first shops that we saw had a teepee on the entrance and was called Tee Pee Curios. For those that are unfamiliar with the term “Curios”, this is a shop with rare, unique or “curious/interesting” items. As it was directly on the old Route 66 this shop had all items that were from New Mexico and inspired by Route 66. They had road signs, tee shirts, license plates and everything that you could think of. The owner told us that the shop had been there since the 1940’s originally as a garage then as a gift shop in its later years. It was all really neat. We then drove down the old Route 66 through town. While it seemed that almost every other building was not being used the town had hired an artist to paint the abandoned buildings with nostalgic Route 66 murals. This could be anything from cowboys & desert scenes to classic cars of the 1960’s and old gas station and hotel signs. There were even a few hotels in town that the owners had specifically moved there to open and operate a 1960’s themed property. It was all pretty neat and again, totally unexpected for Julie and I to be there. We loved it!
Before leaving Tucumcari we were a bit hungry and were craving some New Mexican food. We asked around and found that the place to go in town was a restaurant called La Cita. The restaurant was neat as it was half art gallery, half restaurant. While we did not have any of the famous New Mexico red or green chili (we’ll get into that debate in our next post) we did have some delicious tacos, which quenched our hunger. From La Cita we jumped into Bubbles and headed west.
Santa Rosa, NM
Our stop for the night was a town about an hour west of Tucumcari called Santa Rosa. Santa Rosa was a bit smaller than Tucumcari and seemed a bit worse for the wear. The one thing it did have though was the Blue Hole. As far as desert scenes go the Blue Hole is certainly an anomaly. In the midst of sand, mountains and cactus there is a large deep dark blue spring. The town had turned it into a park. There was no charge to see it and swim in it if you wanted. As it is quite deep many people in the western USA go there to SCUBA dive as well. The water flowing out of the spring also fed into a lake that the town had turned into a water park. There were huge floating slides, trampolines or rafts to ride on. As it was still May and a bit early for swimming no one was in the water but we could imagine this place full when the temperatures reached 90 and beyond outside.
Julie and I then explored the small downtown stopping in for a frozen yogurt at The Frozen Yogurt Parlor and walking in and out of a few stores that the downtown had to offer. We then headed over to our campground for the night. While it wasn’t a KOA this campground (The Santa Rosa Campground & RV Park) did have a BBQ restaurant on site! We couldn’t pass that up. We finally did get some green chili here. The one very unique item they did have were green chili egg rolls. Strange for a BBQ place to have these but oh so delicious! If you are ever staying at this RV park please order the egg rolls from their restaurant. You will not be disappointed!
Next up….New Mexico’s largest city – Albuquerque!
