Westward Ho! Tucumcari, New Mexico—June 18, 2024

Once again, it is time for me to write my almost close to semi-famous travel blog about our latest travel adventures. Ever since we bought a Leisure Travel Van last fall, Doug has been busy planning a two part trip out west for this summer and fall. We left Georgia two days ago and will eventually end up in Missoula, Montana on July 11th, where we will store the van and fly back to Atlanta. In mid September we will fly back to Missoula, pick up the van, see more sights and then drive back to Georgia.

By the way, our travel van is white, so we recently christened it (her) “Vanna White.” We are calling her Vanna for short.

At first I thought it would be too difficult to write a blog about a road trip across America. I mean road trips can be a bit dull, right? I was having trouble feeling inspired. But then I thought of Bill Bryson’s “The Lost Continent: Travels Across Small-Town America,” Peter Jenkins’s “Walk Across America,” and William Least Heat Moon’s “Blue Highways.” They all wrote in an interesting and entertaining manner about traveling across America. So why not me? (Not that I’m putting myself in their illustrious company even for one minute.). So, here we go.

The last few days we have made the long, hot trip across Georgia, Alabama, the upper corner of Mississippi, the extreme southwest corner of Tennessee, then across Arkansas and Texas and just a bit into New Mexico.

On day one we had barely made it out of Georgia when we made our first stop: Buc-ee’s Travel Center in Leeds, Alabama. If you aren’t familiar with Buc-ee’s, you have missed out. Buc-ee’s holds the record for the world’s largest travel store (Sevierville, TN), the world’s longest car wash, the world’s cleanest restrooms, and the world’s most gas pumps at one location. Like 120 gas pumps. They also have at least 20 varieties of beef jerky. I’m not sure what the draw is, but the place was packed.

We spent our first night in Memphis in a hotel right across the street from the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr was assassinated on April 4th, 1968, just a day after delivering his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech at the Mason Temple Church of Christ. In 1991 the Lorraine was converted into the National Civil Rights Museum. We arrived after hours, so missed the museum tour.

Last night we stayed in Yukon, Oklahoma in a hotel on Garth Brooks Blvd. Garth was born in Tulsa, but was raised in Yukon. I’m not much of a Garth Brooks fan, but driving across the south and southwest does evoke a lot of country music titles that keep running through my head as we pass through: “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man,” “Walking in Memphis,” “Little Rock,” “Amarillo by Morning,” and on and on. All one giant ear worm.

Tonight we are in Tucumcari (pronounced “to come carry”), New Mexico, a tiny little town about 100 miles due west of Amarillo, Texas. Old U.S. Route 66 runs through the heart of Tucumcari via Route 66 Boulevard, and it still has elements of the old west and Route 66 vibes. It is flat, dry and was a scorching 98 degrees when we pulled in.