Day 6 - Alien safari...

Today's target is Fort Stockton, Texas which is seven hours drive away plus we lose an hour heading from Mountain to Central time so we need to get a move on; we're underway at 07:00. The SPC has a yet another marginal risk, this time for eastern New Mexico and western Texas. and tomorrow (Thursday) has similar for south eastern Texas. Things start to get more organised by Friday with a currently marginal risk for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles which may get upgraded as we get closer. There's a 15% severe risk for Saturday, the first day 4-8 severe risk we've had on this trip (hallelujah) for central Oklahoma and northern Texas and Sunday looks promising too. All this is within chasing distance including our final day (Sunday). There's nothing worse than having to bail on a good day because you have to return to base, hopefully this won't be an issue. What a difference from last year with Alex, looks like this year we won't be further north than Oklahoma. 

Despite the nice hotel I didn't sleep particularly well, Rory's latest nocturnal party piece keeping me awake was regularly growling like a bear...

The travelling priority puts paid to Los Pollos Hermanos but one thing I forgot to mention from yesterday was the guy in the booth at the entrance to the Sandia Peak Tramway was Mike Ehrmantraut. He looked like him, he sounded like him and was unsympathetic to the fact that we had failed to prebook online. "You gotta ticket? You should have booked online. Park over there and book". It was him. 

We head east through the endless Plains reminiscent of east Africa replete with dozens of Pronghorn Antelope. A pride of lions would not look out of place. We travel south and through Roswell. Green aliens are everywhere, but no time to stop to make first contact. Onwards south and a quick pit stop in Artesia with a monstrous train pulling out of the Navajo Oil Refinery, blasting its horn as it slowly gathers speed.

Continuing south we pass a none stop array of small scale oil operations with the methane flared off, presumably not economic to collect. A lengthy set of roadworks slows us down a bit, the flat arid landscape entertains us with a series of dust devils, some low to the ground and another soars into the sky. We cross the border, still on US285 and into Texas and Central time. Rory's iPhone instantly jumps ahead one hour, mine is not so keen. It's now 13:10 on my phone or 14:10 on Rory's. Either way it's 90 miles or minutes until we reach Fort Stockton with a little bit of convection in the distance to draw us in.

We have a picnic stop in Pecos, Texas which has the West of the Pecos museum; the inference I think, is basically you're a hard core cowboy if you venture west from here. Pecos Bill is celebrated here, a fictional cowboy from the pen of Tex O'Reilly from the early 20th Century. Rory and I finish off the last three feet of the ham and cheese sub he bought in Walmart yesterday and we're on the road again. Well mostly as roadworks and seemingly endless red lights hold us up. Rory can see an anvil in the distance; it's just gone 16:00 and we're sat in traffic and are somewhat keen to continue south down the US285. There are storms!

Just as we get moving there is a CG in front of us and I spot what looks like smoke in the distance - lighting strike? We're now under a very slowly spreading anvil. The "smoke" turns out to be dust...We are still caught up in what appears to be oil workers traffic.

We cut down farm to market road 1776 and stop for some snaps. There is a line of three decent severe warned storms just to our south with some rain shafts and we are rewarded with some nice CG strikes. We join the I10 westbound as the two easterly storms are fading. The main, now dominant storm is near Balmorhea with reported 2.25 inch hail. A mesoscale discussion has been issued by the SPC as storms are strengthening but a watch is unlikely. We stop, take some snaps then about turn towards Fort Stockton. A few CGs light up the sky.

We arrive at Fort Stockton where we stop at Dairy Queen and both have a salad...the mascot of Fort Stockton is Paisano Pete, a roadrunner celebrated by an eleven foot statue at the side of the road. We head east on I10 towards our hotel for tonight which is back in Sonora where we stayed the other night. A quick stop for some Shiner Bock for the room and we're checked in, some batteries to charge, photos to back up and this to finish and we're ready for tomorrow.

Total miles: 610

Day 5 - Breaking Bad...

Finally a good night's sleep for the pair of us and we're up and ready for the day ahead. 

The SPC has a marginal risk for most of New Mexico so that's where we will be today with plenty of time for some sightseeing. Having never chased here before I hadn't thought to bring a map of the area so I'll have to use...Google. I get chastised from Rory for also forgetting to bring a sextant...

We head north on I25 and then turn off west at Walsenburg. There are snowy peaks in the far distance and our elevation will increase as we travel. We approach 8,000 feet and the vista is amazing with the snowy peaks getting closer and rocky outcrops thrusting into the verdant landscape. We are on a circular route on Highway 12 that will take us back to Trinidad; the views are amazing as we stop at an overlook for photos at a tad over 10,0000. We descend and pass by lakes and eventually an incongruous coal mine with a giant conveyor belt straddling the road; coal seams can be seen in the surrounding hills. We get back down to 6,000 feet which is the lowest we will be for a while; Rory's water bottle collapses as the pressure increases.

A quick stop at Walmart; there are no baskets to be had and the sandwiches are miles away. Interestingly there are no plastic shopping bags to be had either ahead of local legislation coming into effect next year to ban single use plastic bags. Way to go Colorado...this is a good thing, plus you won't miss losing circulation in your fingers trying to carry the bloody things. We head south on I25 back into New Mexico past signs on the interstate warning that bears may be crossing. No such luck.

We do the short 250 mile hop to Albuquerque and with not much in the way of storms happening we take the Sandia Peak cable car which takes us up into the mountain, over 10,000 feet high for the second time in the day. There's a spectacular view of Albuquerque from the top and on the other side is a ski resort. An actual storm is about to wash over us with a CG lightning strike and a nice hail shaft is visible. I think I'm actually getting acclimatised to the altitude, but it's time to descend, I'm not sure any of us is too keen to be taking a 15 minute cable car ride during a storm. We descend, mesmerised by the huge boulders balanced precariously atop others as if placed by some giant hand.

Dinner is at the Range Cafe which is a Tex Mex Restaurant and we both have the Range Chicken which is spectacularly good. Rory was in good form and wolfed the lot down. They also had a top notch draught craft beer range and we both have the 7K from Santa Fe Brewing Co. which is also excellent. Bravo! 

We don't have time for the Breaking Bad bus tour but had intended to to pop by the Twisters restaurant which is Los Pollos Hermanos owned by Gus Ring in the series; it's raining and getting dark so we head off to our hotel for the night, La Quinta. There's a tedious check in as various cards get randomly declined before we get into our room which is very spacious and well appointed.

Tomorrow we are heading to Fort Stockton, Texas for potential supercells. We need to leave at 07:00 as it's a 7 hour drive. We need a storm but in any event Friday, Saturday and Sunday all look very promising. Having said that, this is a great road trip as usual.

Total miles: 382

Day 4 - Noah way out...

After our overnight stay at the Super 8 at Amarillo and a fitful night's sleep I wake to find Rory's latest nocturnal adventure was to carefully cover the bathtub with all the towels...

This morning's breakfast is at Ye Olde Pancake House, except it isn't; it's closed due to severe flooding in the local area. In fact, the flooding is so severe most of the roads are coned off and we are thwarted at every turn...we got in so we must be able to get out. Our second choice breakfast place is also shut, and after some creative cross country driving we find our way out and leave the animals boarding the Arc.

The only option is iHop - International House of Pancakes - a place not close to my heart. To be fair the food wasn't bad despite the bizarre arrangement on the plate that looks like a Rabbi (can't be an accident?), and with bacon too. Tres peculiar. Our first visit of the trip to Walmart is disappointingly devoid of any weirdness as we stock up on picnic items, some cheapo T-shirts and a pair of shorts.

Today is a sightseeing day with marginal risks tomorrow and the day after around eastern New Mexico and western Texas, perhaps even south eastern Colorado; perhaps Campo revisited? We head off west on the I40 and then north on US385 towards Clayton, NM then stop at Dalhart for a pitstop and the first can of Starbucks Mocha Doubleshot Energy drink of the trip.

We cross the state line into New Mexico and stop in Clayton for a picnic in a school yard as they've already finished for the term. Rory has a bottle of Mountain Dew which has 154% RDA of sugar and more caffeine than the can of coffee. It's chilly and there is drizzle in the air. A funnel cloud is reported just to our north west. Go figure. As we leave Clayton we move into Mountain time which is -7 compared to back home. It's now pouring down.

We drive up to Mount Capulin, an 8,000ft extinct volcano I've been up a couple of times before and walk around the rim. It's cool and refreshing up there and the views are something else plus it was good to get some exercise even if it's only a mile or so. Having said that the thinner atmosphere needed a tad more effort. We go into Folsum, the bar closed in 1909 so we've missed last orders. The power is out in the adjacent museum but there is enough light to see some of the exhibits. The gift shop is selling fur coon skin hats; despite the reasonable price tag of $12.50 Rory declines to purchase citing "practicality issues". 

We drive through the rain to Trinidad, Colorado and check into the Days Inn which has an outdoor pool and hot tub. On entering our room we find there's already a bag on the bed...as an apology for the cock up we get a room with a "patio" out the back. Not sure we'll use any of it due to the incessant rain and lack of swim trunks.

As we drove in there was a "dispensary" right next to the hotel but I don't think it's the same as Boots the Chemist...The hotel also has its own restaurant which has a good reputation so this is where we will have dinner. As it happens the food is good. The inquiring mind disappears to see what the dispensary is all about...and reappears about an hour later with a wealth of information about the Colorado weed business where they "do it right". Apparently in the Trinidad area there are 50 dispensaries for a population of 9000. According to the "budtender" when weed was legalised crime when down but road traffic accidents went up but they were travelling much slower...

Day 3 - A perfect storm…

…of disrupted sleep.

The weight of calories from yesterday, a not insubstantial inflow of breakfast, lunch and dinner with an inverted layer of lager aloft proved to be an unfortunate set up. Severe turbulence in the gut had me awake despite an early night, sat up swinging Gaviscon in an attempt to suppress convection. Nodded off then woken by booming thunder, nodded off again followed by similar interruptions for more thunder including one right on top of us, lashing rain then hail smacking against the window. The NWS phone alert went off, so loud it even woke Rory. Storms eh? Plain sleeping from now on in? Not thanks to whoever previously set the radio alarm clock at max volume and to some Mexican music radio station. I get up, you have to know when to admit defeat. Rory puts on the Spanish Grand Prix so it’s shower time.

It’s a 9:00 start time and we’re ready. SPC has a marginal risk in south Texas but do we really want to go that far south? Depends on what is happening in the coming days which doesn’t appear to be a great deal. May apparently had 11 states with no severe weather and there were no EF3+ tornadoes. May is (or was) peak season. Only analysis in coming years will figure out whether this is a trend or just natural variation.

This morning’s breakfast is at The Grill. I have the American Breakfast with blueberry sausages, spicy sausages contain blueberries; I grudgingly have to admit it works. Rory had the Huevos Rancheros which he rated highly. It was only when we were leaving that I noticed Rory had a great splodge of black slime on the back of his leg. No idea what it was, took some cleaning off. We then visited HEB (a smaller, better class Walmart?) to pick up picnic provisions and are on the road to the Texas Panhandle on Highway 208 with no real expectations of severe weather. The south option is a “long way to come back” and local forecasters were not very positive about its options. I think some museums will be on the agenda, we’ll be in this area (probably for a while), or Colorado/NewMexico until a more favourable pattern emerges later next week. No problem, we have Day 1 in the bag.

We pass through Snyder and north west on US84 towards Lubbock and as we pass Post a crop duster is out spraying, flying almost at ground level, soaring at the end of its run to turn round and and then dive back down acrobatically for the next pass, then amazingly crosses the road feet above the traffic, turns again and passes over us. Great skills.

Rory looks up and there’s a red polygon over Amarillo. A tornado warned storm has popped up but that’s a way off north, later confirmed to have produced a land spout tornado.

As we approach Lubbock we stop off at Ransom Canyon home to sculptor Robert Bruno’s steel house and the Lawson Rock House overlooking a lake then it’s on to Maxey Park for a picnic with a Prairie Dog digging in the dirt. On the way we pass a large cow facility and I open the window so Rory can video it, instantly getting the bird as the air stinks. I could actually taste it which can’t be good…before arriving at the Museum of Texas Tech University where Rory tries out the tornado simulator which blows his hair all over. The museum hosts some cool stuff including dinosaur skeletons, and best of all has a very clean rest room…and it’s all free.

A Douglas C-47 Skytrain from WW2 flies overhead and soon we pass the Silent Wings Museum which I went to on a previous trip as we head north on I27 towards Plainview stopping a couple of times to take photos of a storm ahead, one from an overpass with the Agri Producers Grain Corp in the foreground. We turn off east past Plainview down the 3183 country road and take some snaps of the storm, dust caught in the cold outflow with a tractor in the foreground. One thing to note is how wet and green the Panhandle is this year, with plenty of flooding evident. The storm is smallish at 39,000 feet and is moving across the ground at 8 knots. Still cool, any day with a storm is a good day.

We continue north on I27 towards Amarillo where we have a date at the Saltgrass steak house. A storm to the north west of Amarillo is severe warned, but it fizzles out. Rory and I have the cheeseburgers and very good they are too.

Total miles: 379