Through the deepness of the Southwest country side...

Through 1,600km of the great, big planes of south west USA we have gone 4 states (Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico), 2 time zones and around 15 hours of driving at the boring pace of 65-75 miles per hours (maximum of 125km/h).

The first stretch out of St.Louis is the most boring one: endless corn fields, several trucks on the road. We made a pit stop at Joplin (don't bother looking in the map) where we stayed at a cheasy roadside motel and had a stake at Deny's (open 24 hours for the truck drivers that pratically own this place).

The next stretch was slightly better, specially when we deviated to the old Route 66: the fields are nicer and there are less trucks on the road. The stop over in Totem Pole Park was almost leading to our first argument: as we entered the wild west scene of America I wanted very much to get Rita acquainted with such iconic elements like Totem and Tipi (check attached pictures); she thought it was a waste of time but I still think she is a better person now that she knows what they are.

Oklahoma City is very close to the geographic centre of the US. It is quite uninteresting except for the wild west museum which is truly excellent. We saw some more Tipis and Totems and I could tell my travel companion about such mythical moments and characters of the western movie scene (High Noon, Rio Bravo, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, John Ford,...). You could see the excitement in her eyes... NOT!

The last stretch was the longest but by far the best: 800km through the open range of Texas and New Mexico. Endless green fields (it's not a desert here) with largest herd of cattle I have ever seen, funny roadsigns like "don't mess with Texas: don't litter or you will be fined $300) and a spooky roadsign towards Rosewell. We were about 50 miles from Rosewell and, believe me, if there was ever a UFO landing on earth this is the place!

The arrival to Santa Fe was a total and utter surprise. We stayed at the Silver Saddle Motel (roadside for 50 bucks...) and the place is a true Americana experience. There are museums, arts, folk music and it seems to be a home to an authentic native american scene.

I am so into it that I am off to buy a cowboy hat, belt, some leather trousers and a colt or winchester rifle. Then I will saddle my Jeep Liberty and wander into the planes with my silent companion the Joe Indian. We'll drink bourbon, light matches in my 3 day beard and shoot some outlaws.

Hurray!