Lucubratrix

Day Three: Checotah to Moriarty, NM

This was a long day, so long that I'm writing it on Day Four. I'll see if I can remember the salient details.

I remember noting that a good title for this post might be Oklahoma and Texas: The Flatness. It was quite flat, and remained so until I got into New Mexico. The weather was fine until I got to the mountains. Around Santa Rosa, I noticed dark clouds looming ahead, and a few minutes later, started seeing lightning. It looked as if the storm was off to the north, but of course the road curved, and it began to rain. Suddenly the two 18-wheelers ahead of me slowed down to about 40 mph, and although I couldn't immediately see why, I had a feeling that nothing good was happening up ahead. Then hailstones approximately the siz of aquarium gravel began pelting my windshield, first hitting with soft splats, then growing louder as the air grew colder and the hail harder. Most other drivers had the good sense to pull over, but I followed the truck ahead of me, which you can see in the picture. (I took the picture after the worst of the storm passed; safety conscious as always, I wanted to concentrate on my driving, Mom and Dad, if you're reading this.)

After the hail stopped, I started to notice a little difficulty in acceleration, which was due to the combination of increasing altitude and the desperate need for an oil change. I stopped in Moriarty, shelled out the big bucks for a room at the Holiday Inn Express (so I'm now qualified to perform surgery, etc., if their commercials are to be believed. I suppose I have to do it now, because I won't be able to say I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night for much longer).

Historic Route 66 runs through Moriarty, so I took this picture this morning as I headed out.

posted by Just Me @ 23:12