Blog

Ruidoso, NM

November 7-8, 2020

It seems it’s been a while since we’ve gotten out of town. My last post was in early September. We did make a short trip up to Gunnison, CO, in early October but I didn’t take any pictures and it was a rather uneventful trip, so I didn’t bother making a post about it. However, that means it’s been nearly a month since we’ve traveled. Unacceptable.

So we made a fairly last minute decision to take a quick, overnight trip to Ruidoso.

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Taos, NM

August 29, 2020

Brandy and I woke up early on Saturday in anticipation of visiting the farmer’s markets in downtown Albuquerque and in Los Ranchos on Rio Grande Blvd. We got to the market downtown and it was PACKED. Way too many people for our taste, so we bypassed it and went straight to the market in Los Ranchos. There was hardly anyone at that one so we got out and browsed around a little. We wound up with some gigantic squashes, a watermelon and a cantaloupe. We started heading up Rio Grande with the expectation of heading home when Brandy said, “Let’s drive to Taos.”

So we drove to Taos.

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Midwestern United States

Ottumwa and Dyersville, Iowa, Rankin and Chicago, Illinois
July 17-25, 2020

The car was packed and ready to go by the time Brandy got home at 3:15. We finished up some last minute things, said good bye to Ash and left at around 3:45.

We drove up I-40 to Tucumcari, then hopped on to the 54, which took us through the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma before reaching our destination, Liberal, Kansas.

We stayed in a little roadside motel called American Inn. We were asked if we wanted a smoking or non-smoking room, which I cant tell you the last time I’ve been asked that. We requested a non-smoking room, entered the room and it smelled like cigarettes.

Ah, well.

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Five Days

We’ll be leaving for our trip to the Midwest this Friday after work, hoping to be on the road around 4:00-ish. We’re planning on driving in to Liberal, KS, about six hours away, then finishing the trip Saturday, another ten hours or so, into Ottumwa.

I’ll be meeting a pair of Brandy’s friends when we get up there. I’ve heard some crazy stories about her friends already; I can only imagine how bonkers it’s going to be with the three of them together.

We’ll be in Iowa until next Tuesday, the 21st, then we’ll head out to Dyersville for the Field of Dreams movie site, then the Farm Toy Museum before heading out to Rankin, IL. The protracted baseball season makes its very delayed debut on Thursday so David and I will have that to keep us occupied.

We’ll stay in Illinois until Friday, Getting us home from the 2 day drive on Saturday evening.

We’re going to be in the car for a long time on our trip, but each of us getting to see friends that we haven’t seen in a while will be nice.

I’m going to do my best to keep better notes of where we go and what we do so my post-trip write up will be more accurate and detailed than my recollection of our trip to Colorado. Hopefully I’ll have the recap up before August 1. But no promises. 🙂

Until then, I leave you with a word from Nicholas Sparks memoir Three Weeks With My Brother:

“Never forget that anticipation is an important part of life. Work’s important, family’s important, but without excitement, you have nothing. You’re cheating yourself if you refuse to enjoy what’s coming.”

-Phil

Is This Heaven?

No. It’s Iowa.

On the agenda for our next trip is a trip to Iowa to see Brandy’s parents.  On our way out of Iowa, we’re going to swing through Dyersville, home of the Field of Dreams movie site. 

Carved out of the corn fields of the century-old Lansing farm, the site holds the diamond where the 1989 Academy Award nominated movie was filmed.  Since then, the site has become a tourist attraction, including the farmhouse, which offers tours daily.

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