Moseying Around Tucumcari!!

There once was a company here in Tucumcari by the name of Quarles Art Gallery.  They were painters with lots of time on their hands, not to say there's nothing to do in Tucumcari!!!  They practiced their craft on the walls around town, leaving beautiful murals in their wake when they left town.  The Chamber of Commerce has a map showing where they are located, so we spent yesterday driving around checking out as many as we could, as some were inside closed businesses.  I'd like this one running down the side of MY house!!!

This is actually a painting of an old picture, taken on Route 66 in 1959.  It's so real looking, it's amazing!!

Fort Bascom was located just outside town (now private property), but if you drive there, you won't see a thing.  It has completely disappeared.  It was built as headquarters for the Calvary while they fought the Comancheros running in this country, selling guns and whiskey to the Indians.  Brought to life again here, you feel like you could just step into the past.

Here's Clarke Gable and friends ...

This train behind the credit union, just goes on forever ... the entire length of the parking lot!!

THIS piece, you could stand in front of forever, picking out all the subtle scenes that truly represent Tucumcari ... from rattlesnakes to dinosaurs to tarantulas.  That guy standing in front of the mural??  He's part of it ... but looks like he's just walking by.  GREAT use of shadow and perspective to produce a life-life image!!

You can probably tell this is the VFW Post.  It's NOT a mural ... it's the real thing!!  The two front windows however, are painted murals!!  This is the main street of old downtown Tucumcari, close to the newly rebuilt train station ... except trains don't stop here.  Hopefully some day Amtrak will again bring tourists to Route 66 and breath a little life into the town.

Not sure who painted this one, but it depicts Cari ... the chief's daughter.  Legend has it the towns name came from Toucom (the one she loved who was killed .. then she killed the killer) and her name, Cari (at which time she killed herself, causing her father the Chief to kill himself!!)  What a story!!

A few of the murals are not painted by the Quarles ... and you can definitely tell which ones they are. This one of James Dean is nice though!!

Here's Ranch Life.  It blends so well into the sky that you're not sure it's a painting.  Pretty amazing artwork!!

In the middle of the murals, we did a little caching, all the while looking out for these guys!!  The school mascot ... the Rattlers ... is a good once since there are so many around here!!

As we cruised around old town, we went by the Lumber Company, which happened to be open.  Barbara and I stood here for 30 minutes, picking out every scene on the building, from the guy with the wrench opening a pipeline to the saw cutting out the picture that the guy on the ground was holding.  On the end, it even had an image of the original owners!!

THIS picture however, is the one we have been looking for since we got here ... and where should we find it??  On the side of the Lumber Company building!!  THIS is the swimming pool at 5-Mile Park. The same one you on my blog saw a few days ago in total disrepair.  It must have been an incredible site in it's day!!  Don't ask me what the blue/grey thing is ... I have no clue!!

Barbara's phone squawked out another severe thunderstorm warning, so we decided to hot-foot it back to the rigs after a quick stop at the Teepee Curios shop and Micky D's for a grilled sweet chili wrap and a sundae for dinner!!  YUM YUM!!!

On another note altogether, I would like to say that the best thing I ever bought for my rig was the surge protector, installed at FMCA Indio two years ago.  Of course my paperwork is at home, but I'm pretty sure I got it from Darryl Lawrence, and it's made by Progressive Industries.  In the middle of the night last week, I heard it kick off and on twice.  This morning, it did it again.  As I checked my meter, the electric service was spiking the needle!!  Yikes!!!  Thanks to the surge protector however, I didn't loose my TV or microwave or computer .. all of which were on this morning!  Best money I ever spent!!!

Celebrate!! Celebrate!! It's Memorial Day!!!

While you're celebrating at the beach with your family or in the backyard with the neighbors, take the time to thank a Veteran for their service.  We wouldn't have the life we do if it wasn't for them!!  Donate your time or a few bucks to one of the organizations that help out our Vets.  It's such a small thing to do for someone who risked their life for us!!  And while you're at it, say a little prayer for those overseas, that they come home to their families safe and sound!!

Even little Tucumcari was celebrating yesterday, with the First Annual Anything That Floats contest at Conchas Lake, a few miles north.  I don't know all the rules ... I'm sure there were rules, don't you think?? ... but you could bring anything (homemade of course) that floated except a boat or canoe, and race to the finish line, for what I don't know.  Bragging rights I guess!!  But who cares if there was a prize ... these people were just having FUN!!

All lined up and ready to go, there was everything from 55 gallon drums to a bathtub!!  See those boats in the distance??  THAT'S how far they had to go and RETURN to win!!

AND THEY'RE OFF!!!  The rig with the flag has a disabled little boy steering up front, locked into the chair, and EVERYONE had life jackets ... even the dog!!!  The REAL boats you see are there to gather up those that sink!!

No engines allowed, they paddled like their life depended on it!!  Some seemed to be moving through  the water fast, others not moving an inch.  In fact, the wind was blowing them WAY to the left, so the turnaround line (a rope tied between two boats) moved to the left to accommodate.

These two guys didn't get far, nor did I expect them to.  While waiting for the race to start, they had to dump out the water that seeped in!!  It's just a sheet of plywood cut up and nailed together with a little paint!!  By the time the chase boat towed them to the shore, they were already thinking of ways to improve for next year!!!

Bathtub boy, complete with shower cap, wasn't very aerodynamic, and paddling seemed to just turn him in a circle, but he never gave up.  He had to stop and bail several times, but he made it to the rope and back ... in about 20 minutes ... and he wasn't LAST!!!

SUNK!!!  But these two didn't give up either.  They turned it over, climbed back on and paddled as best they could.  In the end, they SWAM their boat across the finish line ... one pulling, one pushing!!

The second race had these two girls in the same black plywood boat as the guys above.  They paddled like their life depended on it and were in a dead heat with Intimidator!!  It was a close race, but the girls WON!!!  Guess that boat doesn't need any tweaking after all!!!

There were almost as many dogs in attendance as there were people!!  Thankfully they kept them up top, because in the middle of one race there was a commotion down the hill when a rattlesnake came out of his den to see what the fuss was all about.  Personally, I thought they should just leave him alone, but that was not the case!!

Should you want to join in the fun next year, here's a good example of how to make your boat!!  A couple of empty drums, a little PVC sewer pipe, some insulation foam and a pad tied on top for comfort!!  I think they lost however .....

The fun over, we decided to hit a few more caches before returning to Tucumcari.  Yes there are caches here ... out in the middle of the desert!!  Definitely watch for snakes and cactus!!!  The fascinating thing is, you meet the nicest people geocaching!!  When the three of us got out of the car and were walking around looking at the ground, it didn't take long for the local Volunteer Fire Department Captain to IMMEDIATELY come see what we were doing.  When Barbara explained what it was, he invited us in to see their fire equipment ... the trucks that is!!!  This brand new truck was his pride and joy!!  I'm thinking they don't get much company here, because he talked for 30 minutes about what was good and bad with every truck in the building!!  We found out he was leaving the next day for South Dakota in his RV.  What a nice guy!!!  We never did find the cache ... someone must have removed it!!

Back on the road 20 miles from anything that even remotely resembled civilization, there was another cache by this tree.  Turns out is was a Red Tail Hawk nest!!  How cool is THAT!!!!!

Not knowing, we parked fairly close to this tree, when shortly I heard a hawk screeching loudly.  She was perched on a nearby telephone pole and wasn't the least bit happy that we were there.  We found the cache quickly, as the hawk took to the skies.

As I was taking another picture of the nest, she squawked again and this little guy stuck his head up to see why!  WOW!!!  BABIES!!!  He ducked down immediately, but every time Mama screeched, he would look over the edge of the nest.  TWO babies were hiding here!!  This is the best image I could get, between the wind blowing the branches and him playing hide and seek!  What a cutie!!  We felt bad we had disturbed them, so I noted on the cache find that maybe it should be moved further away from the nest.  The next car that stops might not be as "friendly"!!

Since nothing could top THAT find, we stopped in at Pizza Hut for some grub and headed back to the rigs.  Another severe thunderstorm warning had come through and I wanted to be at the rig with the puppies, just in case!!  I'm sure I'll get used to this weather sooner or later.  Tom says it's MUCH worse in Kansas City where we are heading the end of June.  Hmmm, maybe I should get some tranquilizers!!!

TORNADO WATCH!!!! Not My Cup Of Tea!!!

Holy cow Toto!!!!  Last night was scary and awesome at the same time, although more scary I think! My dogs thought so too!!  The day started out nice enough ... blue sky with a few clouds.  Here's the RV park with just the two of us staying for the weekend.

I walked around the area with my camera, hoping to get a few more shots.  

I can easily imagine how it was in it's heyday ... lots of people milling around, old cars in the garages, all on a great adventure like I am!

Even the wrought iron hand rails help to create an atmosphere of Mexico and the desert, except THIS hotel had "refrigeration"!!

On the back side, many of the windows had bullet holes in them.  The ceilings have long ago collapsed, but it's still a great place for photos.  Two other cars came in while I was walking around, just to take pictures!!

Since it was my birthday, we went to Tucumcari Ranch Supply for breakfast.  Yessirree ... best apple fritters around, and home blended coffee!!  From there up to Logan for a thrift shop run, where I found a beautiful punctured-tin, red tiled mirror for my birthday present.  When we stopped by Richard and Francis' house for directions,  they brought out a piece of homemade apple pie with a candle and sang for me!!  I'm telling you, the people are sooooo friendly, it makes you want to set up house here!!

About this time, I check my phone for the weather.  I've downloaded the WeatherBug app to my I-Phone (which took about 6 hours .. no AT&T towers here) and there's a storm coming on the radar.  There was this little triangle thing in the corner, which I wish I hadn't touched!  THAT was the warning notification button ... and there were TWO!!!  Severe Storm Warning and TORNADO WATCH!!!  Are we in KANSAS???  New Mexico doesn't have tornados!!!  Well apparently they do because our County was on the list!!  I'm thinking we should get the heck out of Dodge, but Barbara and Tom say they've gone through this before and it's no big deal.  We'll get a WARNING if it's necessary to find a basement.

I'm sitting on the edge of my seat, checking my phone every 5 minutes, as we arrived at Russell's Travel Center, East of Tucumcari on Hwy 40.  He has a great collection of cars, fuel pumps and "stuff"!

Nice little pink Thunderbird, along with several Fords and Chevys from the 50's.

Cool little Hemi here ... doesn't look like it's ever been on the road!!

He seems to have a thing for Marilyn and Elvis, as tons of images adorn the walls, as well as life-size mannequins.  Mr. Russell was actually in the building ... so stop in and say hello.  There is no charge and you can take all the pictures you want ... just don't touch!!

This Shelby looks like it just came off the factory line!!

We rolled back in to the RV park about 4:00 in time to feed the puppies and reload the map six times!!  At 6:00 when we went to dinner at Dell's (just down the street), it looked like this!!  Now THIS is a storm rolling in!!  Dells has GREAT food and a nice soup/salad bar.  The prices are reasonable and the staff very friendly!!  It's a must stop!!    But really, I'm getting worried about the storm!!

After dinner, it was more like this!!

By now, the map has several big yellow/red spots on it and it's coming right at us.  Against my better judgement, I hit that little triangle again ... ANOTHER WARNING ... 50 mph winds and 1/2" hail!!!  Eeeeeeeeeek!!!  Well, that's not exactly what I said, but it's close!!  Geez ... is my insurance up to date??  As the rain and hail started to fall, the sun went down, causing this weird sky.  This is taken through the rainy window ... there's so much lightning, I'm afraid to go outside!!!  I start gathering up my stuff for the tornado shelter ... except there isn't one!!!  The best we can do is the Elks concrete building.

My poor puppies are literally shaking in their beds as the hail started on the roof, but thankfully it never got to the half inch stage.  I finally opened the window and got my camera out ... just to see if I could catch some lightning.  It's pitch black out and the camera is set on Manual Mode with me controlling the length of time the shutter is open ... which is why some sky is blue, some kind of purple.  

With that kind of setting, you can't look through the eyepiece.  You just kind of point and shoot!!  The  loud thunder and brilliant strikes of lightning put on an amazing show ... all the while I had my phone on one side and my packed bag on the other!!  This is one experience I don't recommend!!!

Pretty amazing and SCARY!!!  I even hooked up to the park's cable TV (which was no help at all) and put my Satellite down on the rig.  No use taking a chance on getting zapped!!!

It poured for about 30 minutes, turning our parking lot into a lake, then finally began to dissipate.  It rained off and on until the storm passed.  WHEW!!!!  I breathed a BIG sign of relief, as did my puppies!!!  Today it's blue sky all the way ... but more storms are heading our way tomorrow.  I'm not sure I can take too much more of THIS kind of excitement!!!

Tucumcari's Past Comes Alive!!

I know what you're thinking.  What in the world is there to see in Tucumcari???  It's practically a ghost town with every other house falling down into a pile of rubble ... and you're right, to some extent.  There are however, many hardy individuals who do their best to keep it going and eek out a living among the rattlesnakes, scorpions and cactus.  Two of those individuals are husband and wife Jimmy and Stella Watson, owners of Tucumcari Ranch Supply.  If you ever pass through town, stop in, introduce yourself and say hello.  You won't meet two nicer people!!  The best part is their store has everything you could ever want ... from hay and grain to antiques to clothes to the best BBQ in town!!  Have a donut and get your picture taken with the big bear!!!

Out back, among other collectibles is this great Kickapoo Elixir Medicine Show wagon, used in a B Western movie that fell flat.  Who cares ... it's a spectacular piece I've seen nowhere else!!!

Across the driveway is Watsons BBQ along with more antiques and lots of fun things to check out.  The BBQ is delicious.  Come sit a spell and chat with the locals.  I think I've never been in a town with more friendly people.  Just look for the buzzards on the windmill!!

All along the way we picked up caches with more interesting history lessons.  There's not much information on this one, but it's a doozy!! Many years ago the city folks dug this huge swimming pool for their kids to swim in.  We called it a plunge in my day.  It's about the size of two olympic pools, the biggest people had ever seen!!  Locals came from miles around to spend the day here, lounging in the pool, shooting at the gun range or the archery course, picnicking and just relaxing.  

This is the shallow end of the pool.  Most of the slate slab decking is still intact, but the block wall fence fell over years ago.  

Along this row of trees were bathhouses and changing rooms made of adobe bricks, wrapped in chicken wire and plastered.  I haven't been able to find out why it declined to this state.  Maybe there wasn't enough water ... maybe it was too expensive to operate ... but eventually the adobe began to disintegrate, leaving huge wooden beams that caught fire.  It was the death knell for what was once paradise!  Unfortunately, this one won't be coming alive any time soon!!

With a couple more caches under my belt, we stopped at this antique store/motel to take a few pictures and find "just ONE more" treasure cache.  There is so much cool stuff here I could have stayed all day.

Here's Mator Tow ... in case you need a little help.  He's parked out front ... and if the yellow light is flashing, stop in and check out the gas pumps!!

One of the most famous motels in town is the Blue Swallow Court.  Course I've never heard of it, but then I never traveled this highway in the 50's.  Here's a picture from 1953.  

It looks exactly the same today as it did then, which is pretty amazing.  Even if you don't plan to stay here, stop in and meet the new owners Kevin and Nancy.  They have a tiny gift shop with really neat stuff you can purchase.  After all, every little bit helps!!  

Almost every room has a garage where you can park your car out of the sun, or rain as the case may be.  Your Hummer probably won't fit, but your Volkswagon will!!  There's those pretty fluffy clouds again.  

Outside every room is your own personal metal chair or glider to sit in and relax as you watch the world go by.  This place really will take you back to the old days!!

The garages have been painted with GREAT scenes from those old days ... remember Easy Rider??  If you're in to nostalgia at all, the Blue Swallow is a MUST stop in Tucumcari.  This part of town has definitely come alive again!!

Another cache out in the bushes, mucking through swamps from the rain, and it was time for dinner.  Nancy at the Blue Swallow recommended THIS restaurant with the Lizard Lounge.  I think they have live music on Friday and Saturday if you're interesting in partying the night away.  

We actually were looking for the Pow Wow Restaurant ... whose entrance was on the other side of the building.  No matter ... there are some interesting photos hanging on the wall in the bar around the dance floor and a great mural behind the bandstand!!

And some even MORE interesting paintings in the restaurant booths.  These images are so lifelike you think you are joining someone at the table.  AMAZING paintings!!!  Barbara and I had Mexican food which was excellent ... Tom had chicken fried steak which looked yummy.

By now it's late, but we have to hit the store.  Ben and Jerry have been calling my name for the last few days.  Even though it was a beautiful sunny day, those clouds above came in heavy last night.  There was thunder and lightning with another couple of inches of wet stuff dropped on our roofs.  The locals are practically dancing in the streets, they're so happy about the rain.  It's supposed to continue through today and tomorrow, so if I'm cooped up in the rig, at least I'll have something sweet to snack on!!