We stayed in Tucumcari NM, a place John has known about since he was in high school because of its connection with trains. It was the end of the line for the Rock Island and the beginning for the Southern Pacific. Neither of us had ever set foot in New Mexico before. The scenery was really different – fairly flat with huge buttes jutting upward. We enjoyed seeing the wind farms, many right beside the highway.
I enjoyed the distinctive picnic shelters in rest areas. The ones in Oklahoma had three heavy poles put together as for a tepee with a wooden disk inserted halfway up to shelter the picnic table. We saw the first one, couldn’t get in the second because it was closed, and never saw another one. The Texas shelter looks like a free form cape topped by a flag with the lone star. New Mexico had adobe ones.
When we drove through Santa Fe, we noted that many buildings were what I call a Spanish style. Even a McDonald’s was adobe looking! Having seen photos taken in the Southwest, I expected that architecture. What took me by surprise were the road bridges. We missed several, but I got shots of others. They were decorated in a Southwest style, no two alike that we saw. We also enjoyed the retaining walls that were made for this area.
