About the third week of October our friends here in the park took a trip to Texas to see relatives. While there Harold got sick and had gangrene in his foot. As a result, near the end of the month, Marianne had him fly back here to Utah for treatment. Harold has diabetes and a lack of leg & foot circulation. As a result, Marianne was faced with driving back to utah alone so I volunteered to fly to Texas and help her drive back. So on Saturday, Oct 29th, I flew into Lubbock, Texas and met her for the drive back. The following are photos of that trip. I really enjoyed it especially since I had not driven that part of the country. Of course I had my camera with me, although it was my smaller one, the Olympus. We spent the first night in Clovis, New Mexico just over theboarder from Texas on Rt 84/60.
This is North Eastern New Mexico traveling west on Rt 84-60 toward Fort Sumner.
We took a slight detour just before Fort Sumner off Rt84-60 & turned south on a county road to visit Billy The Kid's Grave. This is the museum, which was not open when we arrived. However the cemetery was open, thankfully.
This is Marianne Collier in Front of the cemetery and the sign depicting the grave. It says, "Fort Sumner was established in 1862 to guard the Navajo and Apache on the Bosque Redondo Reservation. It was discontinued as a military post in 1868 and the building and site sold to Lucien B Maxwell. William "Billy the Kid" Bonney was killed here by sherrif Pat Garrett the night of July 14 1881. Bonner is buried in the nearby cemetery."
This is a wooden tombstone, showing Joe Grant who was shot by William Bonney
Billy the Kid's tombstone has quite a history by itself. This sign tells, " Billy the kid's tombstone was stolen in 1950. For 26 years it remained a mystery, when it was recovered in Granbury, Texas by Joe Bowlin. Stolen again on Feb 8, 1981. Recovered Feb 112 in Huntington Beach, Calif. Gov.Bruce King arranged for DeBaca County Sheriff"big John "McBride to fly to Los Angeles,Calif via Texas International Airlines to return the marker. Chamber officials with Jarvis P Garrett officially rest the marker in iron shackles May 30, 1981." Appropriate, eh?--shackles, that is! :-)
Well you can see that William Bonney never reached his 21st birthday! That is sad!
These are his pals, Charlie Bowdre and Tom O'Folliard. They both died in 1880, Billy died 1881.
This cement covers Billy the Kid's grave on the ground.
This is the grave stone of Peter Maxwell and is typical of many western cemeteries with the wrought iron fencing around the grave.
Bosque Redondo Memorial sign shows where one could continue down the road to check out this bit of history. The sign was at the wall of the cemetery. Since this museum was not open, we did not feel this memorial would be open either so we did not go there.
This pretty little barn with the antlers was on the side of the road as we continued back toward Fort Sumner (town of) on Rt 84 North.
We traveled into Santa Rosa & embarked on I-40 and headed west toward Alburquerque.
Speed limit sign show the typical terrain here on I-40 traveling west.
This is another shot of the typical terrain. Sure looks western, doesn't it!
Off I-40 getting nearer albuquerque is this sign showing that gas & diesel was much cheaper here in New Mexico than in Salt Lake City!
Here is more unique scenery on I-40 toward Albuquerque.
This red rock mesa is near Laguna just west of Alburquerque in the Navajo Indian Reservation.
This is another scene from the Laguna area.
As we travel west on I-40 toward Gallup, we see the first view of the San Mateo Mountains.
In Gallup, we headed north on Rt 491 toward Shiprock,NM and Cortez, Colorado, and this is a beautiful rock mountain we saw!
I know,I know! I do love these old bridges and these were six in a row! What are the odds that I would see these? It was a rare treat for me!
This rock formation reminded me of Devil's Tower, Wyoming! Remember the movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind?" Of course this one has no trees near it!
After spending the night in Cortez, Rt 491 headed north west toward Dove Creek, Colorado. This area is a great area for raising beans because it is above 5000 feet. Here is a bean barn.
These are several more bean barns. I was told about Anazi pinto-type beans that are grown here by Marianne. These are developed from the same beans found among the Anazi ruins.
So we just had to stop in Dove Creek here to buy some of these great beans. This is the store where we stopped. I have since cooked the beans and even ordered several pounds of them for my family! They are yummy and cook quicker than other beans.
Now we are in Utah on Rt 491, headed toward Monticello. This barn is entirely different from the ones near Dove Creek, Colorado. I guess you can tell I love old barns.
In Monticello, Utah, we headed north on Rt 191 toward Moab. This is our first "taste" of the area near Moab!
Isn't this a remarkable rock formation! I think it is called Church Rock, but I am not sure.
This is a closeup of the Church Rock.
Note the mountains and the mesas as we head toward Moab. Also notice the vastness when you look at the cars in the distance!
This is an example of one of the arches of this area.
There is a picture postcard shot around every turn! Enjoy!
The colors are great, aren't they!
I just call these, "Moab Scenes". Maybe this could be a dragons's teeth!
This road shows that we are entering "civilization" or the town of Moab.
Leaving Moabon Rt 191, we cross the famous Colorado River.
Wow! Look at these colors!
Just another scene! Incredible, eh?
I just love these scenes!
More "Moab scenes, heading north.
Look again at the vastness by noting the trucks on the other side of the road.
Here we are on I-70 heading west from Crescent Junction, exit 182 toward exit 157 where Rt 191 again heads north. These hills almost look like sand dunes.
This is another scene on I-70 heading west.
Here we are heading up a mountain on Rt 6 & Rt 191 toward Price, Utah. 
Marianne took all of these photos out the side window as we chugged up the mountain. See the river and the railroad tracks! Also look at the doubleRR tunnels in the last photo!
