Day Two: New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas
After driving through four states, we finally arrived in Liberal, Kansas, around nine tonight. We are staying at what can only be described as the most spectacular motel ever built. We saw the Liberal Inn listed in Jim’s AAA guidebook and although there was nothing exceptional about the write-up, we probably passed a dozen motels (including Supers 6 through 9) before we found our latest temporary home on East Pancake Avenue. I think we were drawn here by some inexplicable force (this was confirmed for me when we sat down for dinner and Wichita Lineman started playing on the bar jukebox). I haven’t asked yet, but I think the doors to our rooms used to open to the outside before the owners built a roof over everything. Now the floor-to-ceiling window by the door looks out on a dimly lit hallway. The effect is something like supermax prison meets Japanese capsule hotel. I love it here.
Other great things happened today, too, besides the Liberal Inn. We took a side trip to Santa Fe after we left Albuquerque this morning. We became temporarily lost when Jim’s pickup couldn’t make up its mind whether we had a half tank of gas or just enough to carry us a few miles. Once we finally located a fuel station, we made our way into town over the Santa Fe Trail and the Old Pecos Trail. We had breakfast (tacos!) in one of the oldest buildings in town and then visited a couple of churches. In Texas we saw some pronged horn antelope, and Jim saw what he thought was a roadrunner and a boar’s head in the middle of the road (I’m just telling you what he said). We passed through a town called Hooker with a sign that read “Welcome to Hooker, Home of the Horny Toads.” Oh, and we crossed the Pecos River at least twice.
We are planning to meet with one of Henry Larrabee’s descendants tomorrow as well as visit the cemetery. There is also a museum in town that is located in what used to be the home of one of Larrabee’s sons. And if there’s time, I’m hoping to check out Dorothy’s House and maybe we’ll make it to Dodge City. I have a hunch Jim can get his photo taken with Miss Kitty there.
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