Riverboat Cruise & Road Trip - March-April 2014

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After picking up our car in Memphis we followed I-40 through Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas into New Mexico. The first night we stopped for the night at a place about 50 miles east of Little Rock, AR. We entered the office, it was a cubicle that was about 2 ft. x 3 ft. one wall had a window behind which the clerk was sitting, the window appeared to be bullet-proof. If we had not been so tired we probably would have gotten back on the interstate, but we decided it was just for sleeping one night and booked a room.We were pleasantly surprised that the room was very large, clean, and well furnished. In the morning we went to the office for the free breakfast buffet, it consisted of store-bought pastries & coffee, we decided to stop elsewhere for breakfast.
In New Mexico we stopped at several points of interest.
    Russell's Truck And Travel Museum
    Crossing New Mexico
    El Malpais National Monument
    Ice Cave & Bandero Volcano and El Morro National Monument

Russell's Truck And Travel Museum
Our first stop was just into New Mexico at Russell's Truck And Travel Museum in Glenrio, NM. We put gas in the car and ate lunch. The museum sounded interesting, so we checked the price which was to our liking "FREE". As well as cars and other vehicles, there is a very large collection of toy cars and trucks. There is also a lot of memoribilia from the 60's and earlier. We spent some time talking with a person who worked there for a long while and who is a long-time friend of the owner, he told us interesting stories about how some of the vehicles were obtained by the owner. We spent a couple of hours in the museum. (Pictures)

Crossing New Mexico
We planned to drive through to Grants, NM, but with the long time spent at the museum we decided to spend an extra night on the road. After leaving the museum, we followed Route 66 for a ways before getting back on the interstate. We relaxed and enjoyed the scenery as we passed through New Mexico. We spent the night in Albuquerque. In the morning we visited the prairie dog village that is on one corner of the busy intersection of Tramway Blvd. & Indian School Road. The prairie dog village is on the north-east corner of the intersection. Across Tramway, north-west corner, is a large playground park. Across Indian School, south-east corner, is a bank. Diagonally across the intersection, south-west corner, is a gas station. Behind the village on the other side of a wall is a CVS. After visiting the pairie dog village, we headed west on I-40 arriving at El Malpais National Monument mid-morning. (Pictures)

El Malpais National Monument
Arriving at El Malpais National Monument mid-morning, we visited the ranger station then spent the rest of the day driving through the monument enjoying the scenery and stopping several times to get a closer look at the lava fields and tubes. (Pictures)

Ice Cave & Bandero Volcano and El Morro National Monument
The next morning we visited Ice Cave & Bandero Volcano. Ice Cave and Bandero Volcano are at the same place. When we arrived we went to the Old Time Trading Post to purchase tickets to both sites.
There are interesting views from the trail leading up to the top of the volcano. At the end of the trail is a view of the volcano crater. After descending the trail we went to the ice cave.
The trail to the ice cave descends down to a viewing platform from which visitors can look down into the cave. The cave is a collapsed lava tube, at the bottom of which is a frozen body of water. Because of the insulating quality of the lava walls, the temperature in the cave never goes above 31°F. Rain and melted snow seeping into the cave has caused and continues to cause the ice to get thicker over time. For more information about the volcano and ice cave visit Ice Cave website.
After leaving the ice cave we drove through El Morro National Mounument enjoying the scenery as we went. Emerging from the monument we returned to the interstate near Gallup, NM which is on the New Mexico/Arizona border. We then started our trip to Idaho. (Pictures)
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Last updated: jul 22 2015