Morgan and the Clayton girls at The Donut Stop in Amarillo
Only in Texas would you see something like this!
Morgan and I then made a "Griswold" pit stop at the Cadillac Ranch just outside of Amarillo. It was pretty cool! She and I got to spray paint with our fabulous artistic ability on some of these old Cadillacs with their back ends standing up out of the ground. You can check out some information online at:
http://www.libertysoftware.be/cml/cadillacranch/crmain.htm.
The cadillacs at Cadillac Ranch...
Morgan spraypainting on one of the cadillac's at Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo
We then made our way through the beautiful rolling countryside between Amarillo and Raton, NM. There are not many places to stop in between, but if you have the chance to take this route, it is well worth it! I don't know that I would want to drive this way during the winter though! Just before we made it to Raton, we stopped for another "Griswold" photo op at a highway marker stating that we were entering the Rocky Mountains. A rainstorm was starting in the mountains and the scene was so picturesque! This was also when we heard a strange sound coming from the Jeep when we pulled off the highway onto this parking area. Since we were literally in the middle of nowhere, we drove on to a gas station in Raton to check out the noise. A sweet older man and his wife asked if I was having car problems, and the man offered to take a look. It sounded like my power steering so we checked the fluid, and it was full with no apparent leaks. By process of elimination, we determined it was most likely the power steering pump going out. Ironic how things start going amiss once the warranty expires! Mind you, I had just replaced the AC clutch and all four tires earlier in the week. We have also kept up on the service so I was a bit miffed. Unfortunately, I decided to verbally assault my vehicle with an obscenity in front of this man. A few minutes later, he handed me his business card and told me to call him if I had any trouble. Mind you, he and his wife were heading back in the opposite direction to east Texas. I looked down at his business card, and lo and behold, he is a baptist minister! :-) I think that was a sign from God that I needed to keep things in perspective and God would get me through this. So, on faith and many prayers, we headed north through Pueblo and Colorado Springs with my power steering still working, but not sure how long it would last. The drive was a bit curvy in some areas, and as I slowed down to take the curves, my jeep sounded like it was going to freeze up on me! Needless to say, I was a bit tense! However, when I was driving at regular highway speed and straight, it was okay. We ended up making it to Denver, and as we parked parallel at Scott's apartment (the only parking available), my power steering pump went completely out! :-) I was actually able to drive it the next day directly to the Jeep service to have it repaired. They called me later in the day as they were looking over everything and proceeded to let me know that I also had a crack in my radiator! Ugh! Now with all of this fixed; hopefully, we will get some relief from car repairs.
All three of us stayed in Scott's sparsely furnished one-bedroom apartment for the next few days until our moving van showed up on Friday, July 6th. We are now living in a townhouse only slightly more than half the size of our house in Texas. Things really are bigger in Texas! So I am still trying to get completely unpacked and find a place for things, even though we already have quite a bit of our belongings in storage!
It is absolutely beautiful here! We are enjoying the warm summer days and cool nights. We sit on our balcony every night and enjoy our great view of the mountains. I am looking forward to the seasons changing, snow, and hopefully learning how to ski! However, I don't even own a winter coat...yet! I guess I get to go shopping! ;)
