Time to pick the pace on our road trip across America! We apologize for the delay, which was much worse than the time it might take to follow Google Maps into the wilderness and back out again. Regardless, the next leg of our September – October trip went from Missouri to Southwest Colorado by way of Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. As it turned out, we followed the approximate path of old Route 66, and watched the terrain change from heavily forested hills of the Ozark Plateau to prairie and then to various forms of desert until we finally reached the rugged terrain of the San Juan Mountains.
We spent one night in Amarillo, Texas while en route, and could not resist supper at a nearby steakhouse. This particular restaurant offers a 72 ounce porterhouse steak with all the trimmings, free if you can eat the whole meal at one sitting. We usually like a free meal, but this was a killer of a challenge, so we settled for the ribeye steak you see below. Notice that they serve it with a nice roasted pepper in case you want to spice up your meal.
Our next stop was Albuquerque, New Mexico. By good fortune, the annual Balloon Festival began on the weekend of our visit, and the weather was spectacular! We were too lazy to roust out of bed before daybreak to see the launches up close, but after coffee we went out to take in the view. The photo below captures some of the 500-600 balloons in flight. The next day we were able to attend church with family and friends before leaving for Durango, Colorado.
We arrived in Durango under cloudy skies and cooler temperatures (notice the elevation on the sign shown below), with tickets to ride the narrow gauge railroad to Silverton and back the next day (an all-day trip). The Durango & Silverton Railroad claims to be the most scenic historic railroad in the United States, and we will not argue otherwise. Watch for photos on our next blog post!
A Cup of Brouhaha 