What a fun day! We left earlier than usual today because we planned to stop and see Billy the Kid’s museum and grave. We headed south on hiway 84. It is just 2 lanes through the high plains, mostly desert, that is New Mexico. The road had been recently paved and was as straight as an arrow for 30 miles. You could see way ahead and there was virtually no traffic. The fields came right up to the edge of the road and the car was running just fine. I came upon another car finally about 5 miles in and just had to pass. Well I looked down and was already doing a hundred and there was that long black stripe out in front of us. I crept up to 115 and told Thea,”I’m going for it”. I pressed the peddle to the metal and the car took off! It felt so tight and solid and the road was so smooth and straight that I kept ‘er floored! The excitement was exhilarating! 130, 135, 140, 145…..146! Whooo was the scenery screaming by! The road has some long rolling bumps in it that you wouldn’t even notice until you reach the higher speeds and Thea was starting to get nervous. I could tell by her stiffening up and whispering something about bumps and critters and side winds; stuff like that. Besides we were fast approaching a spot where you couldn’t see the whole road out there anymore and so I decided that there will be another day and who knows….we’re going through Oklahoma in a few days…he, he, he. The car was as solid as a rock and I only want 14 more miles an hour anyway. Time will tell, won’t it? We only saw 2 other cars until we got to Fort Sumner. It was known as the first concentration camp in the US. The US Army captured and forced the Navajo Indians into virtual slavery. The soldiers were so brutal that thousands of the captives died. The rest were forced to build the fort in the hot New Mexico sun and many more perished. It’s a long sad story and if you want more details, check it out on Wikipedia. Fort Sumner is located in Lincoln County and that’s another story to look into. It was worse than the Hatfields and the McCoys. The families of the original feuders are still holding the grudge to this day. We talked to 2 different guys and they both concurred that the whole county has an angry cloud over it. Even on the clearest day. After the fort was abandoned a fella named Maxwell bought it and thousands of acres around it. At the time it was the largest plot of land owned by one person in the whole country. Lincoln County is where Billy the Kid was to breathe his last. Pat Garrett had set a trap for him and he tried to hide in a back bedroom in Maxwell’s house, but Pat found him and that is where Billy met his maker. The museum has many interesting things beyond Billy the Kid stuff, but the one item that is fascinating is that they have the actual rifle that he had used for some of his killing and it’s the one he’s holding in the now famous portrait he had taken. The proprietor is the grandson of the man who first collected the gun and opened the museum back in the 1950’s. It was time well spent for us today. We then went up the road a few miles to see the actual grave site of Billy. It is a desolate graveyard with maybe 11-12 graves. Billy’s head stone was stolen a few years back, for the second time, but it was found quickly somewhere in California. It has since been put behind a steel fence and wrapped in steel banding to thwart another attempt. We followed state84 east to the Texas border. The terrain was changing before our eyes. It became more lush and had longer rolling hills. They had figured out how to get water because there were now farms everywhere that were thriving. We got to Amarillo and ate at the Sonic drive in. They have the best blackberry tea. Mom had peach tea. Mmmmm! We turned south on state 207 because it was a scenic by-way according to the map. We cruised along for quite a while and started wondering what was so scenic? Then the sign said to slow from 70 to 55…hmmm, OK. We started down a hill and the canyon opened in front of us. We dropped down and down into a small version of the Grand Canyon, but the soil was solid red! You could see the road about 5 or 6 miles away climbing back up to the rim on the other side. At the bottom we crossed a small river and the sign said,” Red River Canyon”. It’s part of the Red River Valley that the song is written about. We stopped at a picnic area on the other side and took some pictures if the canyon and some cool native cactus at the park. We came out at a town named Silverton and headed east once more. We went through several towns, but two of them were spittn’ images of Radiator Springs. The buildings were very weather worn and many of them were abandoned or closed up. There was still some life there, but it was dwindling. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any good pictures that did those towns any justice. The interstate hiway was many miles to the north and had left these places behind. There are still farms that are doing well, but the rest of the commerce has moved away. We came back out to the hiway ourselves because there was nowhere to stay out there on the country road. So here we are at Childress on S 287 that will take us through Wichita Falls and on to Keller to see Ron and Cindy tomorrow. Talk to you later! Night y’all!