Day 4 - Gallup, NM to Amarillo, TX

Well, we got to explore the finer side of rural car repair today. We hit an ice boulder outside of Albuquerque and by the time we got about 50 miles away, to Clines Corners, discovered that a plate on the underside of the car was now dragging.


We called AAA, who sent a flatbed to bring us back to Edgewood (near Albuquerque) to Rich Ford of Edgewood, a Ford dealership who tacked the piece up and sent us on our way without charging us (yes, we tipped the mechanic). We lost a few hours, so drove much later into the evening than I'd wanted to (got off the road about 8:30pm), and finally hit Amarillo, 464 miles from our 9:30am departure site. 


Didn't plan to do much sight-seeing in New Mexico, so we weren't let down by our inability to do so. Each of the roadside stops we went to (pee/walk breaks) had historic markers, so we got to read a little about pre-colonialization New Mexico. And we saw a beautiful sunset. Now we're going to see the beautiful inside of our eyelids. 


Two interesting things today:


1) Beth is really digging the book on CD I brought, Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey. Phew. I love it and it really helps me focus when driving, by listening to a book I know well. 


2) We're staying at a Fifth Season hotel in Amarillo whose security is so bad that not only is the guest WiFi not password protected, but gives guests access to their internal network! I took a quick glance and their ACT files, business presentations and reports are all open for anyone to access. Yes, we'll warn them before we go.


We've been discussing re-organizing the way the car is packed (right now, the boxes are in the trunk and all the suitcases, daily-use as well as the ones full of clothing in space bags and weighing a ton, are in the passenger compartment), but it's been too cold outside each morning to want to stand out there and unpack everything. Amarillo is warm enough that we'll give it a try tomorrow before we go, because I have a stitch in my side that is getting worse each day. If we can leave the heavy stuff in the trunk (even just the biggest and most unbearable suitcase) and move the lighter boxes into the room (I don't want to leave things visibly in the car each night), it'll make things much easier for us.