28
January, 2013 Amarillo,
Texas
We left Albuquerque in the rain, riding up the Sandia Crest.
By the time we went through Edgewood and Moriarty we were back in high
altitudes, with snow on the ground.
The crested buttes and distant mountains settled into more
gentle topography, then flatness. We crossed any number of dry washes under
bridges, and I reflected on crossing the Mojave River in California, which
looked to have never seen water. We had stopped on a wash road for midday
respite in Arizona, Black Canyon Wash Road.
After a good Southwestern meal in Santa Rosa, we headed for
Tucumcari. I was reflecting on Lowell George’s song Willing, and the line, And I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi
to Tonapah, and had decided he included the reference after concluding nobody
would ever write a song about Tucumcari.
There wasn’t much there, but what was, was listed on a highway sign, 30
modern Stations, 24 Motels, etc.
As we crossed into Texas, the horizons moved further away,
and we began to get into the stockyards, and their ambient implications. In the
middle of Nowhere, thinking how it takes two days to cross Texas in most
directions, we saw a group of cars parked off the road and I recognized
Cadillac Ranch.
Apparently an acceptable graffiti destination in Texas,
Cadillac Ranch has become a symbol of Americana, like Route 66 still winding
back and forth. It was created as a public art destination in 1974 by Chip
Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, in conjunction with Ant Farm. It
features several cadillacs, an evolution of designs from the late Twentieth Century, all
nose down in the desert.
Curiously, it is an accepted destination for those who would
otherwise apply graffiti to unacceptable venues.
We arrived in Amarillo in time to realize it was still
summer here, and our unwritten objective of maintaining the Endless Summer was
going to be extended for a weekend.
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