Sunday May 10 – Santa Rosa NM to Palo Duro Canyon TX

Got up and fed the critters, then went up and threw my clothes in the washer. Had cereal and a pan dulce outside on my picnic bench. Smudge and Rico got to share the pan dulce. I noticed that the campers next to me have a NL plate on both their Volvo station wagon and their caravan. Another couple in the park were chatting with them for quite a while.

Got my clothes into the dryer and finished tidying up around my campsite, then drove up to the laundry to grab my clothes. I wanted to see the “Blue Hole” which is a natural spring fed collapsed cave in the center of Santa Rosa. Missed the turn and ended up finding a neat street of old buildings.

The water in the Blue Hole is amazingly clear!!

From there I went to the local Route 66 Auto Museum, which consisted of a store area and the cars were in the back and hidden until one paid their $5 admission fee. The cars were in pretty good shape, and a lot of them had “for sale” signs in the windows.
There were other goodies too, pedal cars, signs, etc., from the 50’s and 60s.
I finally got on the road and headed east. Coming westbound were 4 European Class C type motorhomes, all in a row. Today is European Caravanning day I guess!

It was not quite as windy today as yesterday, but there were still a few good gusts. Lots of trucks and lots of Smokey Bears in Texas! I finally stopped just outside of Amarillo to make a sandwich. Perfect timing, I got of on the turn off for Palo Duro Canyon, instead of catching the interstate in Amarillo proper.

The Palo Duro Canyon is quite a surprise…. Not as deep as the Grand Canyon, but layers upon layers of color, along with lots of green freshly budding trees.

I signed up for our camping spot, then went to the Visitors Center to look around and of course, grab a couple of postcards!! Once we were set up in the campsite, I took the dogs for a walk.
We found the Goodnight Dugout and hiked along that trail for a bit. Only a couple of mountain bikers on the trail, but kids could be heard. All of a sudden Smudge got ALL WOUND UP!! She had flushed a deer and was pretty excited about it!!

Now I’ve had my dinner, the last of the left over soup, and both dogs are out cold on the floor around me.

OH!! Did talk to my Mom and both my kids, and Happy Mothers Day wishes were spread all around. Well, Jen is mom to a bunch of fur babies, but, what the heck!

WOW!! I was sitting here logging in my expenses for the day when I caught something outside in the corner of my eye… Two turkeys!! Then I looked again, there were probably 20 turkeys, including two Toms who were ruffling their feathers and were all puffed up. The Toms were making a noise similar to cards being shuffled.

They were heading down toward the creek that I discovered is behind us.