Its a long way from Rio Hondo, Tx to Lake Havasu City, Az and, yes, you can see California from here. In between is a lot of – well a lot of stuff and we tried to see all of it.

West Texas:

Well actually there were parts of West Texas that didn’t have a lot in it. We decided to try to stay away from expressways, again, and worked our way up thru the small towns and stage coach stops.

Which is not to say that the drive was boring. The scenery, or lack there of, was – well, West Texas.

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In our mind’s eye we were seeing outlaws, Indians and the Lone Ranger out there some place.

 

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We spent the night in Del Rio on the Mexican border after having walked the streets of Laredo. There is a theme here someplace but I can’t quite put my finger on it.

 

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The next morning we crossed the Pecos.

 

 

 

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Now that we were on the other side of the Pecos we had to be on the lookout for …

 

 

The Law West Of The Pecos.

Yup,  Judge Roy Bean in the flesh. Real guy. Real place. All in Langtry Texas, named Langtry by Bean after English actress Lillie Langtry, the Jersey Lily and the Judge’s heartthrob. The picture above is the actual saloon/court room of Judge Roy Bean restored by the State of Texas.

The Judge wrote to Lillie Langtry numerous times describing the town and inviting her to visit. She finally did, unfortunately the Judge had passed away 10 months prior.

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We ran into Charlie Sheen on the way out of town. I wondered where he would end up.

 

 

A little more Texas:

We moised on up the trail and crossed into New Mexico…

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in search of Aliens and the Kid.

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You could tell we were getting closer to Roswell.

 

 

 

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and then we were there.

 

 

 

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Actually I don’t believe we saw anything. Really, it was just swamp gas or a hallucination… Hey! Where are you taking us.

H

E

L

P !!!

 

Sometime later we found ourselves in Lincoln, NM (not sure how we got there) a one street town with no claim to fame ‘cept for the Lincoln County War. The movie “Young Guns” filmed around Lincoln, portrays the events surrounding the Lincoln Country War, Billy the Kid and Sheriff Pat Garrett.

 

Some “Shots” from around Lincoln:

 

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We did catch up to the “Kid”

 

 

 

 

 

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Of course Billy wasn’t the only desperado in town.

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The hanging judge…..

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More new friends

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This gentleman, a park volunteer, showed us a picture of his grandfather, one of the Kid’s Regulators.

 

More stuff from Lincoln

 

We rode out of town to our next stop which, surprisingly was just up the road from Billy’s hangout..

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to Capitan, New Mexico which would be another of those sleepy villages you burn through at 75 mph….

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except for…

 

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this guy.  A badly burned bear cub rescued from a large forest fire in the Capitan Mountains. He was named Smokey and the rest, they say is history.

 

 

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After 26 years of faithful service reminding us that “Only you can prevent forest fires” Smokey passed on and is buried here in his park in “downtown” Capitan.

 

 

 

Moving on to Albuquerque and Route 66 but first a side trip toward Santa Fa and the world renown town of Madrid, New Mexico. That’s pronounced MAD-rid for all you non Wild Hogs.

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Maggie’s Dinner from Wild Hogs.

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And Again

Unfortunately the Dinner isn’t and was closed anyway so we went in search of a place to eat. Not easy as MAD-rid is tough to get to. Have to go almost to Santa Fe from Albuquerque turn right and wind your way thru the hills and valleys, washes and passes until you find it.

There was, fortunately, another eating establishment in town called Holler:

Started by a Paris trained chef who got lost in the hills and never made it out again.

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The place was dripping with ambiance:

Yes, the guy in the hoodie is puffing on a doobie, a large one. Notice the dog?

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The food however, was outstanding. Chocolate cake anyone?

 

 

More hits of MAD-rid:

 

MAD-rid was a mining town gone to seed before being discovered by artists, old hippies and other disreputables and of course Hollywood.

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Time to follow the dog out of town…

 

and get our Kicks on Route 66 and points West.

P/s I wanted to say something about the scenery we have been traveling through. Its is spectacular, but perhaps like Hawaii there is so much of it every way one turns that it be comes familiar. Sensory overload. Too bad really. But still much better than snow. Unless of course, it is a cap for the mountains.

We followed I-40 which for the most part is built over old 66 from Albuquerque to Gallup, NM

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We galloped into Gallup..

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and found the El Rancho Hotel:

 

The El Rancho has an impressive list of Hollywood Western stars and others. Not to surprising as the Hotel was built by  “R.E. Griffith’s as a haven for Hollywood’s famous. His well-known brother, D.W. Griffith (director of such classics as “Birth of a Nation”), encouraged using El Rancho as a base for crews and stars on location because of its access to western landscapes and the rustic elegance of the hotel.

We had lunch there and didn’t see hardly any of them. Gallop is almost to Arizona so let’s head on over.