Stage Four Recap: Gallop, NM to Shamrock, TX

Pictures from yesterday's stage.. the camera is in the car and I am too lazy to go get it right now. No real interesting pictures from today though.. :(


Evening all-

Didn't think I was going to be able to post tonight, but it turns out our hotel in Shamrock TX does indeed have internet!! And our room is so close to the lobby I get to write from the comfort of my scratchy queen bed. Yay.

Today was a long haul. Literally. Up early this morning, Mom and I scoped the pool but were dismayed by a gross film. Oh well. We enjoyed the complimentary breakfast, got gas, deposited my last check from UCSF, and hit the road. Mom started off driving, and lasted nearly 3 hours till we were all dying for a break and stopped in Moireity, NM. Which is a nothing little town, really just a series of truck stops and fireworks stores that Mom and I power walked by trying to stretch our legs. Dad took over from there and we soon crossed the Continenal Divide and left NM for Texas! The second we crossed the state line it started pouring rain, and continued on and off for the afternoon. The sky is amazingly beautiful, so wide and filled with gorgeous clouds. The rest of Texas is pretty boring though. Trouble is, we couldn't find a place to eat lunch. Luckily we'd stocked up on Cheezits and juice at the last stop, but, especially after crossing into Central Standard Time, we were very late for lunch. Finally we just pulled into a truck stop called Stuckney's. Not so awesome. Johnny Cash blaring on the radio, we hesitantly ordered some sandwiches from a bored girl and made idle chitchat with a fella. It was food, but definitely the worst we've had so far.

I took over driving, and since we'd just finished the Tony Hillerman book, decided to tune into the local country stations for lots of Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton. It seemed appropriate. We were hoping to make it to Oklahoma, but Mom found a cute sounding town just west of the border that we decided to explore instead. We cruised through the surprisingly large town of Amarillo with every chain store you could imagine and easily found our Irish Inn, in Shamrock TX. Everything is green and little leprachauns are painted everywhere. We immediately headed to the largest and deepest pool we've been to yet and swam away our sore backs. Dad ventured off to the bar at the hotel, big mistake. Everyone was cheering while watching televised Dart Championships on ESPN34 or whatever, and Leonard Skynard was blaring on the jutebox. We met up with his at the restaurant instead, after immediately realizing there is no way he would have stayed in that bar. We decided to live like locals and had beers (which had to be brought in and paid for at the bar) and catfish for dinner in the room where the local Lions Club meets, and I was pleasantly surprised at my first taste of catfish. It was in some sort of cornbread breading.. quite tasty!

We dropped Dad off at the room and made our way to downtown Shamrock. Quite a cute, but sad town. Lots of boarded up shops and a distinct barrier between the black and white sides of town. We had a great time peeking in shop windowns and wandering through the neighborhoods. Everyone was really friendly, waving hello and all the shops had notes on the doors about the owner's being out of town, but please call this number if you need them, and such. We found the tiny General Hospital, with only 2 doctors apparently. It is a huge change from SF, but kind of fun at the same time. It wasn't too hot but nice to walk around in a tank top with no worries. Big lightning storm in the distance, but I haven't seen fireflies yet...

Hopefully another nice swim in the morning before starting Stage 5. Wow, this trip is scooting right along!! Stage Five is completely unplanned, but we are hoping to end up in Arkansas if everything goes well. From then on to Tennessee where we will start taking our time exploring the area. I am really excited about the Appalacians and the Smokey Mountains, especially Asheville, NC, which I've heard is gorgeous. It is a huge HUGE beautiful country and I am so thrilled to see it all!

Congrats to Em and Rob on the 5 years of success! Stay safe in all those earthquakes out there!