stepping off the edge

Here we are in “picturesque” Gallup, New Mexico. Now New Mexico is one of my favorite states to visit. Just beautiful almost everywhere you look. And that is the rub. There is a lot of bleak here. From the dry windswept high desert (sure, sure, bleak can be beautiful… for a while) to the poverty and run down towns. Mrs. T, always the excellent travel agent, found us the El Rancho Hotel. Dating back to the 30’s, it was built to house actors on location for the hundreds of westerns filmed here. Built by R E Griffith, at the time a big time producer and builder of movie theaters.

Each room is named for a famous actor of the time, hence the title picture of this post. Rosalind Russell, nice shower curtain eh? In her wildest dreams could she ever have imagined being immortalized in this way?

This place is a trip from the period rooms, period here meaning nothing has been touched since 1930, to the Old West saloon and restaurant on the premises. We were in dire need of food that was NOT Indian, having had two consecutive dinners, one at the Prime restaurant in Tehachapi and leftovers the night after in our room. At this time I must apologize for leaving out Blyth and all the wonders it held our second night… nuf said. May I now state that is is not for the faint of heart and bowel to have two nights of otherwise delicious but still Indian cuisine. And so we chose a pretty mild, standard fare of salad and some steak sliders.

Oh yes, the vision thing… slowly losing my distance vision. Now that is a big statement to leave hanging. Will see to it when I return but in the meantime you may want to stay off the roads we are traveling. [Editor’s note: What???]

As for velocity, you may know that the interstate speed limit in Arizona is 75. After a couple of hours of doing, well, sort of the limit Mrs. T blurts out in a completely California way, “Oh my god, the speed limit is 75!” To be honest, my speed limit rationale is always to start by abiding, and then gradually justify exceeding it first by the meager 5 MPH, then to match the locals +10 MPH, and finally about as fast as I feel comfortable. Now if we were back home on a 55 or 65 road, this final excess would only wind up being 65 or 75 but out here in god’s country 90 was the norm… refer back to the Vision portion of this post and the admonition to keep an eye out for me.

So much for the light hearted, on to Trump and Mrs. T. Truly a hate hate relationship. Each morning during our otherwise relaxing, enjoyable, bliss-filled in bed reading time I am immediately greeted with, “Oh Jesus, listen to what he has done now,” after which I hear all the details of the latest statement, appointment or executive order our fearless (read clueless) leader has committed. Now I will not go into the nuances of our current president’s actions, I will leave that to the hundreds of other blogger out there far more knowledgeable, studied and erudite than I. Let’s just say I live by the “ignorance is bliss” school of life. But by now you must know that!

Tomorrow Taos… be well and remember the news can only upset you if you let it and please all of my adoring liberal friends, spare me the scolding. I know it is bad. Just breathe.