Day 5: Oklahoma to Santa Fe

States covered: Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico
Miles so far: 2232.2
Song of the Day: tie between “Strong Enough” by Cher and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Santa Esmeralda, from the Kill Bill soundtrack (epic southern roadtrip song)
“Don’t stop me now” play count: 10, unprecedented back-to-back listening while driving through the cliffs of New Mexico. Windows and sun roof open.

Friday morning we left Norman, Oklahoma for New Mexico. It was a long drive on open, empty roads so we spent a lot of time looking at the landscape. It was interesting to see the gradual change from the plains of Oklahoma where the soil is red to the bushes and shrubbery of Texas to the craggy, mountainous topography of New Mexico.
Things of note in Texas: they love Jesus. Instead of the usual billboards advertising cell phone coverage in New York or gentlemen’s clubs in Connecticut, the ones in Texas express a profound love of Jesus. Our favorite was, “Jesus Christ is Lord, not a swear word.” To further our Texan education and to add to our “Largest” list, we stopped by the Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere.


Entering New Mexico...The road ahead:
Driving toward Santa Fe, we didn’t realize that Joey had been trucking up to an elevation of 7,200 feet, which we found out at the fabulous rest stop at Cline’s Corner, New Mexico.

Also we managed to visit Max Evans in Roswell NM for a brief ménage-à-trois. He’s as sexy in person as it is on TV. Once you go alien you never go back.

Arriving in Santa Fe took us totally by surprise. The landscape was breathtaking and we fell in love with the city immediately. We stayed with Shelly and John, friends of Gen’s dad’s friend, who, besides welcoming us into their incredible home, took us to a cocktail party at a house overlooking the mountains of New Mexico.

The party had great food, delicious sangria, a beautiful rooftop with quite a view, and really interesting people, but Gen got the plague so we had to cut the festivities short. We had to cancel our plans to go hiking in Flagstaff with Winston, which was pretty upsetting, and decided to spend an extra day in Santa Fe recovering and exploring.