Thomas and I try to keep pecans and peanuts in the freezer to use whenever we need them. We have been out of both for a while now and we have been talking about taking a road trip to replenish our supply. So for the past two days I have been planning and mapping our letterboxes that we could get on this trip. We get our pecans in Fort Sumner and our peanuts in Portales. Today we finally got out and took care of everything.
We left the house early this morning, around 6:00am.
We took I25 north to US285 heading south. Then we took I40 at Clines Corners and headed east. It was early and thankfully not much traffic on I40 (it is usually filled with lots of big rigs). I had clues of two boxes at two different rest areas off of I40 but we didn't look them because there were recent attempts without finds. So we made our first stop in Newkirk (about 25 miles east of Santa Rosa). We stopped at a gas station and found Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert by Quiet Place.
Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert is credited with inventing the u-shaped taco shell. We found this box easily and I took it back to the car to stamp in. Then after replacing the box we backtracked to Santa Rosa. You can read about Newkirk at . . .
City of Dust: Newkirk, NM
Newkirk, Route 66 New Mexico
Newkirk Has Seen Better Times
Once in Santa Rosa we made our way to the
Moise Memorial Library and looked for How Chile Came to New Mexico by Quiet Place.
This was a quick and easy find and I stamped while sitting in the car. You can read about chile by getting the book
How Chile Came to New Mexico by Rudolfo Anaya.
After getting this box back in place we headed to
St. Rose of Lima Chapel and more specifically the old ruins. We drove past the church and stopped just after the bridge on 3rd St. just after crossing the bridge over El Rito Creek. Here we found Saint Rose by Quiet Place. After finding these two boxes we decided to get some breakfast. We ended up at
Route 66 Restaurant and had a nice meal - smothered breakfast burrito and huevos rancheros.
After breakfast it was time to move on and we headed south on US84 to Fort Sumner.
Our first stop was at the
Fort Sumner Cemetery. As we approached the cemetery we noticed (and loved) the beautiful
old, arched, stone wall. Here we looked for Fort Sumner by Quiet Place. This is a two box series and we had no trouble finding both boxes. After stamping in and then replacing the boxes we were ready to head to our next location. We made our way to
Old Fort Sumner Cemetery where
Billy the Kid is buried. Here we looked for and found Wanted Dead or Alive by ArnoldZiffel. This was an easy find and there was a nearby picnic table that I sat at to stamp in. When it came time to replace the box I had to wait for a couple of people to leave the area.
Then on to one last box in Fort Sumner. We had to find a Route US60 East sign and a guardrail. We found the spot and the clue said at the end of the guardrail. So we drove to the end and looked - no box. So we went back to the beginning of the guardrail and found the box - FORAYCH Goes to L&B in Texas: New Mexico by FORAYCH. I stamped in while sitting in the car. It was kind of uncomfortable being on the side of a very busy road. But now that we were done with the letterboxes in Fort Sumner we went to get our pecans. The people we get our pecans from worked with Thomas years ago. We bought 17 pounds of pecans for the freezer so we are set for a while. Now it was time to keep going to our next stop.
We drove from Fort Sumner to Clovis on US60 and when we arrived in Clovis we found
Norman Petty Studios. Here we looked for and found Recording Roy by Quiet Place. After stamping in and replacing the box we left Clovis and headed for Portales on US70.
As we got into Portales we stopped at
Hampton Farms store to get our peanuts.
We buy a 50 pound bag of shelled peanuts. Then at home we peel and freeze them. Then we have peanuts that we can oven roast or use to make peanut brittle. With that done we went in search of a couple of letterboxes. The first box we looked for was Taco Box by Quiet Place. This box is located at the
Taco Box restaurant. I was a little worried about looking for the box because it is right out in the open. I think I was being sneaky enough but who knows. I found the box and brought it to the car to stamp in. Once that box was back in place we drove a short distance down the road to
Eastern New Mexico University to look for He's Not From Around Here by Quiet Place. This box is also in a very exposed place - at the sign for the university near the Roosevelt County Museum. The sign is facing the road which is very busy. Again I tried to be sneaky but you can't always tell if someone is watching. I nabbed the box and took it back ti the car and stamped in. After putting the box back in place we continued on our road trip.
We continued on US70 in a southwesterly direction and after an hour we arrived at
Acme.
There isn't anything there except the Old Frazier School (and that is part of Frazier not Acme). Anyway, we stopped at the old school and looked for Wile E. Coyote in Acme by Quiet Place. This was an easy find and once I had stamped in and replaced the box I walked around and took a few pictures. Then we finished the drive on US70 to US285. We were just about five miles north of Roswell. We continued our drive north on US285.
About 50 miles north of Roswell we turned onto NM247 and headed west. We drove 48 miles to
Corona.
Once in Corona we turned onto US54 and in a short distance onto NM42. We then found the 'Welcome to Corona' sign which is only a short distance from US54 on NM42. The sign is in Sloan-Simpson Park. There are a few picnic tables and a fishing pond. It was actually a nice, relaxing area. I went in search of Corona, NEW Mexico by ArnoldZiffel. Once I found the box I took it to one of the picnic tables to stamp in. Then once the box was replaced we made our way back to US54.
We drove 20 miles on US54 to the intersection of NM3 in
Duran. There is a pullout near this intersection and across US54 from the pullout is the old, abandoned
William Hindi store. Here in Duran I looked for Her Name is Rio by Quiet Place. The box is hidden on the side of the store and I found it easily. I had my things with me so I found a spot to sit and stamp in. When done I replaced the box and returned to the car across the street.
From Duran we took NM3 north to US285 at Encino. And from there we headed back to Santa Fe. We had an incredible day and as we got close to El Dorado we were treated to an amazing sunset. Stats for the day . . . 50 pounds of peanuts, 17 pounds of pecans, 13 letterboxes, 8 cities/towns, 14 hours and 600 miles. I really love these road trips.
So we turned around and only a short distance from NM96 we found the trail. The sign was more on the side of the tree and we missed it from the direction we were heading at first but it was easily seen from our return direction. So we parked on the side of the road and followed the clues heading east on the trail.then the clue says "Cross an old dirt road, down and up 2 hills, and through a stile marked with a CDT tag. Cross 2 old dirt roads, down a hill then back up, past a large rock with an interesting cut out. Continue on, eventually walking down a rock path into the canyon. Pass the giant name rock and find the 6th stone cairn." It didn't give any distances. We ended up walking about two miles before we got to the 6th cairn. Thankfully, the trail is pretty level with only a few ups and downs that weren't that bad. Once at the 6th cairn it became a little cofusing. From here we had to take compass readings and steps four different times to get to the box. At first we weren't all that accurate because we were no where around the box. But we looked all the same. Then we returned to the cairn and started again. This time we were closer but still not where we needed to be. But instead of starting over we just decided to look at the picture provided and see if we could line up at the same angle - we did it and found NM Moose by Dragon D's. I sat and stamped in and the weather took a turn for the worse. The wind started blowing and clouds moved in fast. So I got the box back in place and we returned to the trail and headed back to the car. Remember, we have two miles to walk to get to the car. About five minutes into our walk it started to spritz, then that eventually turned into a steady drizzle. By the time we got to the car we were wet, not soaking, but still wet. Thankfully, the worst of the rain waited until we were in the car.
