Wednesday, October 02, 2019

US60: Texico

Heading southwest out of Canyon/Amarillo, TX, US60 is a high-speed transportation conduit. Trucks almost constantly wind-rattled my vehicle due to our combined closure speed of about 140 mph. Every few minutes, very long trains passed by on the tracks that parallel the road the entire way.



The border between Farwell, TX, and Clovis, NM, is the convergence of three major highways – including US70 which I drove a little over five years ago – and is a massive transportation hub.

For about ten miles, I covered ground that I've already driven, something that happens more and more often now that I've driven so many of the old US Highways from end-to-end.

Happy and I took our half-way-for-the-day break in Fort Sumner, NM. While there, we visited the "real" grave of Billy the Kid. The information sign tells about how the gravestone went missing, was found, returned, etc. It is now shackled to the ground, kept inside a locked cage.

It isn't the actual grave, and not the original gravestone (which was made of wood and washed away shortly after burial), but who lets facts get in the way of a good tourist opportunity?



There's a Billy the Kid museum in town, mostly filled with unrelated items, but there are a few authentic items that are worth a few minutes if you ever find yourself passing through.

I didn't spend much time in the museum, since I pretty fully explored the history and legend of Billy the Kid on my US70 transit when it passed through Lincoln, NM, where most of the action was based.

After lunch, the weather had fully cleared and the road was a good, high-speed, almost entirely straight run through the desert to Mountaineer, NM, where we have stopped for the night.



We have already driven through so much empty, wide-open space, and there's more in our future... Stay tuned!

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