Day 5: Wednesday July 25

Today I hit the wall. Exhaustion, which I knew was bound to rear its ugly head, did so with a vengeance. I was tired, had a headache and became grouchy. Poor Katharine is all I can say.

This morning we went to breakfast and then saw the memorial for the Oklahoma City bombing. It is huge and beautiful. Beverly was about two buildings away when the bomb exploded so she was able to tell us about these events first hand. Then we got on the road and began the marathon journey to Albuquerque.

Things started off well. Katharine pulled off the highway to take a picture and stumbled on to signs for route 66. We had been talking about this mysterious highway and wondering where it went so we were delighted to also find a little shop and one room museum. This is really what has been so amazing about this trip. We did not plan lots of activities, nor do we even necessarily know what we will do in a given city, but we have been able to stumble upon and discover places and are continually delighted with what we find. We got directions to the historic route 66 and drove on it for half an hour or so. It is a tiny two lane road that is a little overgrown. It runs parallel to route 40 much of the time, veering off to pass farms and small houses. It's a bit slower than the highway so after enjoying the charm, we get back on our faithful friend I 40.

Shortly after this detour my headache set in and I became useless for several hours. We listened to a This American Life, I looked at magazines and slept a little. I also spent some time pondering why I was having this bout. My best theory is that since the initial excitement of the trip (and corresponding adrenaline) have worn off a little, my body remembers that I have just undergone an incredibly stressful few weeks of little sleep and too much worry. With that in mind, I tried to just be ok with being a slug while Katharine took charge.

Meanwhile, the scenery continued to change and I remained in awe for the rest of the day at how different everything out the window can look in a short period of time. In Oklahoma and Texas everything became more expansive, shrubbier, drier. The wind was powerful and whipped my hair against my face. The clusters of stripmalls and restaurants that littered the highways for much of the south were gone, replaced by a few billboards. Bright red clay began to show up in patches and even though this phenomenon exists in Georgia I am still impressed by how bright it is. There is just more space here.

When we entered New Mexico I noticed even more changes. On the horizon to my left and right, things looked hazy and I began to notice large rocky mountainous structures. But not like in the East. These were jagged and sometimes color cut into the sides.

We had dinner of fantastic Mexican food in Amarillo Texas and I drove the last leg into New Mexico. And a long leg it was. I was absolutely ready to be in Albuquerque a solid 100 miles early. Katharine had become mesmerized with the GPS device (called Tom Tom) and barely uttered a word for half an hour while she delved into the many functions of this tiny machine. The more she worked, the more pleased she became with the possibilities while simultaneously frustrated with her difficulty to create the glorious itinerary she knew was possible. But I knew I had her back at the end when she began using her bizarre munchkin voice to talk to Tom Tom and told me that it would be nice if he could sprout legs and wear tiny fluffy tennis shoes. Perhaps she was a little tired too.

Tomorrow we will spend the morning in Albuquerque-- Katharine is interested in some kind of petroglyph monument-- and then we will head to Flagstaff in the afternoon. Just a warning: I don't think we will have internet access in Flagstaff so it is unlikely I will write again for a few days. Friday we will see the grand canyon and then end up in Las Vegas so I have no idea when I'll write there. But I have added lots of pictures to yesterday's post. Thanks to so many people for responding in various ways to my entries. This is a fun and bizarre way to communicate with people and I love hearing back. Today I will leave you with a picture I took at a Stuckey's gas station/gift shop in Texas.