Day 75 – Tucumcari, NM

When Don and I got up this morning, a little before six, it was with the usual understanding that nothing much would be happening for a couple of hours until Geri got up. We did our usual phony paper bit, he made me breakfast, and we settled down to his browsing and my snoozing. We were startled when Geri burst upon the scene before seven, filled with her ideas about how we were spending the day, where we were going, and how soon all this was going to happen. As it turned out, she only had my best interests at heart, wanting me to go somewhere that I would enjoy before the day became too hot for my comfort. So, a little after nine, we were in the truck heading north to Ute Lake, a reservoir on the Canadian River, near the town of Logan. The State Park at the lake offered several access areas to the lakefront, and Don picked one on the north end of the lake. We parked and walked down to the water, which looked very cool and inviting to me. Before I realized what I was doing, I was wading in the lake belly-deep, and it was wonderful. You may know that I’m not much into swimming, though I did some dog paddles in the Colorado River last year, and I didn’t feel like swimming today. But the water felt so cool and good, I stayed in for quite awhile. Eventually we had to leave, and we drove around the lake and Logan for awhile before we headed back to Tucumcari. We all had lunch, I laid down for my nap, and they took off.

They were gone all afternoon, which was OK with me, as I really needed some nap time. They came home just before my dinner time, and told me about the things they had seen. They first had gone to the Dinosaur Museum in town, which is part of the local Community College. They said that it was a great little museum, very professionally done, with many excellent displays of dinosaur artifacts. Since they have a bronze foundry at the school, they’ve done something unique by casting entire dinosaur skeletons in bronze, a very demanding and painstaking process. They said the results were very beautiful, and they hope the photos they took show them properly. Then they went to the Tucumcari Historical Museum, which was most unusual. Don says that this should be a model for every small town museum; they’ve put together every available artifact and piece of memorabilia, including photographs, sheet music, military uniforms, maps, old appliances, hotel registers, and anything else pertinent to the history of the city in a building that was the town’s original schoolhouse. They spent hours there looking at all of the great stuff that had been collected over the years. Don told me privately that he thought that our house was starting to look like that kind of a museum, but that I shouldn’t mention it to Geri. I won’t.

Dinner was leftovers from the Big Texan, resulting in some wonderful plates for me. Don and I sat out at the picnic table working on the blog, while he enjoyed a cigar and some scotch. We had some new neighbors pull in while we were working; they were from Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where Geri and Don had vacationed some years ago with Carol and Mike, Geri’s sister and brother-in-law, and Matthew and Genevieve, their grandchildren. I wasn’t born at that time, so I don’t remember it. Tomorrow we head for Albuquerque, and I will always give Don credit for knowing how to spell it. G’nite to all!