As we approached Santa Rosa, New Mexico, we saw what I thought was an unusual sign. The sign proclaimed Santa Rosa as "The SCUBA Capital of the Southwest." It seems like a strange distinction in the middle of the desert.

The trip across New Mexico was uneventful as we drove through a very familiar area. Things changed as we arrived in Gallup, New Mexico with plans to find a place for lunch. As I drove west from the East Side of town, a big cloud of dust came rolling out of a canyon on the West Side of town. The cloud was so big it looked out of proportion with the town. The highway, in Gallup, runs a short distance from town on the north side in a slightly elevated location. There are railroad tracks between the highway and most of the town. So, when the dust cloud appeared, it was so big that it looked as if I was looking at a model train layout with a dust cloud produced for movie special effects. That was the beginning of a very windy afternoon.

We stopped at a Burger King at the last exit on the West Side of town. After eating lunch, I climbed into the driver's seat to get ready to get back on the road. Before I could start the engine an old man came up to the window asking for a handout to buy some food. Well I thought I would try something I heard about many years ago. Instead of giving the man some money, I offered to buy him a meal in the Burger King.

The idea was to see if he would refuse the food because he really wanted only money. The man hesitated for a moment before saying, "Sure, I would like to have a hamburger." So I got out of the motorhome and walked with the man to buy him a meal. I asked his name and he told me it is Leon and he also said that he is a Payute. Just before we entered the store, Leon quietly said it would be okay if I just gave him five dollars and he could get his meal himself. I told him that I preferred to buy the meal for him.

When we got inside, I asked if he wanted a Whopper meal and he said "Yes" with a slight hesitation before asking if he could have it with cheese. With that I placed an order for a "Number 1 Combo" with cheese and paid $3.71 for it. I then said goodbye to Leon, wished him well as I headed for the motorhome. I jumped into the driver's seat and found my way back to the Interstate.

Interesting rock formations along the way

As I headed out onto the freeway, the wind buffeted the motorhome. The wind would be with us for most of the drive across of Arizona. There was finally a bit of relief from the wind at night.

We were treated to another beautiful sunset over Arizona. After driving into the night for a while, we stopped at a roadside rest area west of Flagstaff to have dinner. Then it was on to Kingman where we would refuel and head for Laughlin, Nevada. I completed my trek from Tucumcari to Laughlin at about 10PM PST.