Home!

I pretty much just booked it home. I wanted to shave a little drive time off my first, longer, driving day. So, I left Los Alamos in the evening and stayed at the Cracker Barrel in Albuquerque. Besides a 45-minute dead stop on the highway due to a big accident north of Bernalillo, it was an easy drive.

I woke up bright and early, hit the Frontier Restaurant for breakfast, and hustled to Kingman. Again, I parked for the night at Cracker Barrel. It's so great to have that option!

The Kingman Cracker Barrel was my first-ever overnight stop on my first foray with Poppy 18 months ago. Gotta love Crackerdocking!

I got there in time to have a walk. 

Next morning, onward toward home! Took a very slightly different route for a few miles and ended up finding Poppy, just in time for a fill-up too!

All along the way, I marveled at the geology. I've driven that route dozens of times, and it's always a beautiful drive. No photos, but did manage some screenshots from the app ROCKD.

TRIP STATISTICS

• 31 days
• 6828 miles
• 133:59 hours of driving
• 15.9 mpg (according to Poppy)
• 15.58 mpg (according to my handwritten documentation)
• Average speed: 50 mph

• Fuel Economy on first half-ish (Santa Barbara, CA to Dunedin, FL) (my records): 17.15 mpg
• Average speed first half: 50 mph
• Drive time first half: 76:11 

• Fuel cost varied from $2.399/gallon (Texas) to $4.399 (California)

• States visited: 13. California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Oklahoma!

31 nights

• 9 -  Harvest Hosts
• 7 -  Friends' and family's beds (inside)
• 5 -  Boondockers Welcome
• 4 -  "Moochdocking" at friends (outside)
• 3 -  Cracker Barrel
• 2 -  Walmart
• 1 -  Hotel 

Thank you for coming along on my journey! I have visions of next year's trip already, and in the meantime I will be making some shorter jaunts.

Till then!

Part 15. New Mexico. Almost home!

I spent a couple days in Los Alamos visiting my sisters. Ate sopaipillas; walked a couple short walks; had nice visits over beer n such; protested against tyranny. You know, the usual.

It was too short, but fun times were had!

A storm a-brewin'! Views of the Rio Grande from White Rock Canyon rim

Springtime in the Rockies! 

Hands Off! protest at the Roundhouse, the State Capitol building in Santa Fe. 

More protest pics to come on my other blog!

Snowy and cold!

Skies cleared the next day and it was a shirt-sleeve type of hike!

I heard a buzzing from this sewer cover......

I don't know about that honey.....

One final hit of green (inside) and red chile......

IYKYK

Coming up: my final post. The final push to home and a stats check on my epic journey!

Part 14. Amarillo to Albuquerque

I got in to the Amarillo area in the afternoon and decided to make the short drive to Palo Duro Canyon State Park to take in the sights of "The Grand Canyon of Texas" and take the opportunity to dump Poppy's tanks. 

It was a nice walk! 

I was fascinated by the layers of satin spar gypsum that cut through the sandstone.

I stayed the night at the Amarillo Cracker Barrel, just two doors down from the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum, which I will have to visit next time through.

And of course, a stop at Buc-ee's before heading west to Albuquerque!

Here's an interesting roadside attraction. There is a large store of helium underneath Amarillo. This 1968 monument was built to honor that, as well as to make a time capsule. The columns were to be opened in the years 1993, 2018, 2068, and 2968.

The contents from columns so far opened are located in the nearby Discovery Center. A quick search did not tell me what the items are, except: "Items preserved in the capsule include stamps, documents, toy cars, and other miscellaneous effects." (from Wikipedia). The emptied columns were re-filled with more memorabilia to be opened in the more interim future than the 2068 and 2968 capsules.  The monument also acts as a sundial, but it was cloudy that day.

I also stopped at Cadillac Ranch, which is literally a skeleton of its former self. It was damp and muddy and I did not go closer than the roadside to get a snapshot.

An interesting find at a rest stop! I again stopped at every rest area, as it was windy, windy, windy all the way into the Rio Grande Valley.

That night, I was lucky enough to visit my wonderful friend Lola at her home in Albuquerque. We had a nice dinner. Dang it that we didn't get a selfie!! Poppy and I had a good rest in her driveway.