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honeymoon - day 4, tuesday april 30th, 2002
Tuesday, April 30th 2002 Day4 - the Honeymoon Oklahoma City to Albuquerque, NM via Amarillo, TX 3:58 PM Mountain Crossed into New Mexico a few miles back -- we are now in I-40. We let out of the hotel at about 9:30 this morning, with the intention of hitting an IHOP (Int'l House of Pancakes), an eatery neither of us had had the pleasure of frequenting. Might I say -- they do have tasty pancakes. I had some "Country Griddle Cakes", which were essentially normally pancakes with Cream of Wheat in them. Wow. Tasty stuff, that. With strawberries and whipped topping, well.... I really hadn't remembered Oklahoma City for the bombing 7 years ago (exactly 2 weeks and a day past seven years today), but kelly asked "are we going to see the memorial?", and so we did. Oklahoma City is remarkably easy to navigate, as there isn't much to the city. Flatty McFlat, it is. Anyway, we got off I-235 to visit the memorial, and it is quite striking. Two walls stand on either side of a constantly moving, yet still, lake of water. The left wall is marked 9:01, the right, 9:03. The bomb went off at 9:02, ending the lives of 168 men, women and children. The memorial is set between what is left of the foundation of the now-gone Murrow Federal Building, one side of the foundation showing rebar and cracked concrete. If you stand on the spot where the van was parked, behind you is a single, gnarled tree. This gnarled tree has become the symbol of the memorial, its stylized outline the official logo. On the sides of the memorial are tacked innumerable tributes to the victims, friends and family lost in the attack. Some of the tributes are quite moving -- poetry, pictures, etc. Some are bizarre. This is just me, but "Hello Kitty" paraphenilia just shouldn't be there. Kelly and I took pictures, and then we hit I-235 to I-40 and got the hell out of Dodge. I drove the stretch between Oklahoma City and Amarillo. In the space of a couple of a hundred miles, the land goes from somewhat flat to awe-inducing flat. The sky opens up and the clouds part. The wind in Texas is quite possibly insane. Also, there are signs mentioning that "Hitchhikers may be escaping inmates". Note to self: if in OKC prison, break out, but make sure you hitchhike BEFORE THE SIGNS. Exit 112, I-40, Groom, TX. The Western Hemispheres tallest cross. You can see this thing for miles. However, in Texas, you can see EVERYTHING for miles. This cross is huge, though. 5 stories or something. Whee. Also, whilst moseying through Texas, we kept seeing signs for "FREE 72oz STEAK!". 72oz = 4.5 lbs. Thats a LOT of steak. As we neared "The Big Texan" restaurant (which lies in Amarillo), the signs clarified that in fact, you had to eat the whole thing in an hour to get it for free. How many men must die to satisfy the Big Texan?! The Big Texan is a horrid, horrid and yet alluring restaurant. Giant fiberglass cattle perch outside -- stoic guardians of their own beef. The restaurant itself is BRIGHT yellow, and dolled up like a two dollar whore. Lassos, boots, ten-gallon hats are par for the course on that one. The driving switch off occurred in a little town called Vega, Texas. It's the halfway point on Route 66 (which I44 and I40 are part of), by the way. We pull into the local Dairy Queen (a serendipitous happening, no less), and had some lunch. Everything in the store is "TexaSized". The medium drinks are larges back home. Dairy Queen apparently has a Texas only menu. They served TACOS here. TACOS at a DAIRY QUEEN. Genius. Mad, mad genius. The wind is blowing very hard. Kelly and I sit on a guardrail and watch as quite possibly the most beautiful sky i've ever seen roll overhead. The locals milled about, talking about the weather and other things, and it occured to Kelly that this was, in fact, yet another X-Files town. Must... leave.... The driving switch done, we head back out on the road. It only took 4 hours from OKC to Vega, which is excellent time. We will be passing through Tucumcari, NM on our way to Albuquerque. Apparently, there is a very good art museum there with quite an O'Keefe collection. Sounds good to me (and David, thanks for the tip!) We are about a day ahead of our "schedule", so we may take an alternate route home, as Oklahoma sucked so bad. At least Texas is pretty, and New Mexico has nice rocks. Oklahoma just sucks. So far, we've covered about 1400 mis on our journey across the US. This is really a blast, even if we are in the car a lot. Oh, and if my mother should read this -- when i mentioned "i hope to find some $25-$30 hotels to stay at", and the entire extended family erupted in laughter at my ASSUMED naivete, well IN YOUR FACE, BUHRMANS! We stayed at a comfy $30 Travelodge last night, and the hotel in Albuquerque shall prove the same! Yes, the hotel in St. Louis was $50, but there was a big soccer tourney in town. 9:25PM Red Roof Inn, I-40 exit 155, Albuquerque NM papa johns pizza in bed. ahhh.. the sky is nothing short of HUGE out here. Albuquerque is on the otherside of a picturesque little range of mountains on I-40. Shrouded in a little big of haze because of some fires burning out in the plains, though. Again, we have found a $35 hotel room. This time -- two queen beds! Well, i can deal with that! Tomorrow - Albuquerque Museums, Grand Canyon