Wednesday, May 7, 2014: Guymon to Las Vegas

The word of the day was WIND.  It started out strong, turned into a gale, and kept it up much of the day.  Just windy right now.  We left Guymon at 7 AM on US-64, heading for Boise City & Clayton.  At Clayton, we made our first true sight-seeing stop - the dinosaur trackway at Clayton Lake State Park.  Sandra wanted to go below the dam to look for a home of brown. We also, in keeping with the theme of the Santa Fe Trail, we took pictures of Rabbit Ears Peak, the first mountain sighted by travelers on the Cimarron Cutoff.  Then it was back to Clayton and a long run through the prairies of the high plains on NM-402 & 102.

Our destination was the very small town of Mosquero, another "little town that could" as featured in New Mexico Magazine.  What caught our eyes was the story of murals painted all thru downtown - featuring real local residents, as painted by high school students.  The quick stop for a few pictures quickly proved to be a much longer one, as we ran into the owner of Town & Country Market - and he likes to talk about his town.  Sandra met the folks who run the other active business downtown - very friendly as well.

We continued north on NM-39 to Roy, where Bob Wills lived & played for several years (if you don't know who Bob Wills was, you don't know Western swing!).  A side trip to the Canadian River canyon (well, it  is downstream of Springer, home of the Brown Hotel) proved unfruitful - scenic but difficult to access.  We changed our plan and went on north to US-56, which crosses the Canadian a bit upstream from where the Cimarron flows into it.  This is where the dry route of the Santa Fe Trail, plus the Military Road, crossed the river at a rocky spot with gentle slope.  Accesses here were restricted as both banks are private property.

We went on to Springer, had a late lunch at Elida's Cafe (where we first ate posole in 2004).  Then south to Wagon Mound and our HIE in Las Vegas.  Supper was at Kocina de Raphael's, recommended years back by Sandra's Uncle Murray.

Tid-Bits by Sandra

• Moo! A cow figure wearing  farmer overalls and a straw hat gracing a front yard in Guymon.
• The morning coke was bought at Dizzy Bill's C-Store (Bill's getting dizzy writing this, too).
• No Man's Land Beef Jerky is sold from a storefront in Boise City.
• Why would a realistic bronze-looking 30' Chinese dragon sinuously grace the front of an empty building in Clayton?  And did it continue inside the walls?
• And why is a frog squatting on the gatepost of a ranch just outside of Roy?
• I must look honest.  A fellow in Mosquero tried to pay me for his tank of gas.

Tomorrow, it's on to Taos via Mora & Dixon - and Sandra expects we'll do some serious searching for the Fenn treasure.  387.5 miles today (896.7 total) in 10 hours.  The headwind dropped out mileage to 18.4.