On the Road to Albuquerque

We're on vacation! Husband and I are right now, even as I write this, in Tucumcari on the way to Albuquerque.

(Side Note#1: Does any state in the Union have more delightful city names than New Mexico? Say it half a dozen times--Tumcumcari to Albuquerque! Tucumcari to Albuquerque! Tucumcari to Albuquerque! Side Note#2: Thank you, Miss Applegate, for making me learn the spelling of Albuquerque when I took Reporting I a hundred years ago. And Side Note#3: When I write my children's book, its setting is going to be Querque, Kansas.)

Our first-day route took us through parts of Kansas that make me marvel "Wow, those pioneers were pretty hardy, huh? Honey, could you turn up the air conditioning, please?"

This part of Kansas also contains a geological formation that is part of the Kansas bucket list and that Husband and I, in spite of being lifelong Sunflower Staters, have never visited. So of course we bumped through the cattle guard and over the rocky road (I'm sorry, Pearl) past musk thistles and Indian paintbrush to the spot where we thought we were lost, then persisted another mile to reach St. Jacob's Well. 

As you can tell by Husband's puzzled stance in the photo above, the well is not immediately visible to the naked eye. It is accessed via a path that is patrolled by guard rattlesnakes. Or not, but that was immediately where my mind went because I have watched too many Western movies.

So I let my valiant scout descend to the actual well. See him on the path?

Nope, neither do I, but I can hear him yelling "I'd have to be pretty thirsty to drink out of this. It's all scummy." I'm not sure what either of us expected of a well that has never been known to go dry, but I think our imaginings may have included palm trees and camels.

As we left the area we stopped to read the historical marker describing the area.

Of course we did.

I can't imagine why the Boys didn't just love vacationing with us.