Texas: The Lone Star(bucks) State

Eureka! We found Hawaii!! And SD - no need to search their garages. No sightings of SC though, they are a very gregarious yet oddly homebound state.

No response from Grandpa Kim so we made the stay in Flagstaff short & sweet and continued our travels east. We will use this extra time for an extended stay in Memphis. We recommend the Highland Country Inn for your next stay in Flagstaff. Catty-corner to Northern Arizona University, it was small, friendly & inexpensive but at same time they did a terrific job muffling the railroad noise. You can't avoid the trains in Flagstaff. Easy Wi-Fi & extensive cable channels, too, although I was too tired to relish all the HGTV I can't get at home. How did those pioneers do it?

Came home to a chili pepper Welcome to New Mexico sign. PmaK chose Sophia's in ABQ for lunch:





Small shop, LARGE fan base - for good reason. My breakfast burrito had just the right spice of green & red chilies. PmaK had a gorgeous roasted red pepper sandwich only slightly tainted (in her mind) by the addition of tomatoes. Gave Frisbee lessons at one of the NM I-40 rest stops. We blamed the wind whenever it went rolling into the brush (which happened with regularity). Honestly, we did not live up to the California dreamin' stereotype. Zoomed the complete width of NM (appx. 389 miles) without a Starbucks sighting. Began to hallucinate the possibility of the miracle of an iced vente berry chai in Milagros; was seriously jonesin' for one by Santa Rosa - not a chance. Took my mind off it heading into Tucumcari by introducing my daughter to Little Feat & singing along with Lowell George "from Tucson to Tucumcari/ from Tehachipi to Tonapah." Made the drive thru in Amarillo by accident because I gave PmaK the wrong directions to the motel. Is there really a such thing as "an accident"? (Editor's Note: Yes, yes there is.)

Spent these miles enjoying the red rock mesas while engaged in some serious philosophical discussions w/ PmaK - really, what is our purpose here? (To find a Starbuck's, apparently...)

No yarn stores sighted either but I know they're out there. If Amarillo was 300 miles closer to Albuquerque I might have gotten to visit with the fibre addiction specialists @ Village Wools. My daughter is talking about leaving me there for their 28 day program :)

Best sight: A Harley biker with a Tarot reading advertisement on his farring & side saddles (ABQ)
Best bumper sticker/Tshirt/car detail: Hot Hare Balloon (on the truck & trailer for the Energizer Bunny hot air balloon)

I'm saving Dixie Chicken for Memphis.

Below is a video of the Arizona terrain. Watch this over and over again for 9 hours, and you'll pretty much know what our day was like today.