Monday, March 28
This was a driving day. We're starting to put miles on the van, trailer and our bodies. We mostly drove, making only a few stops for necessities. I spelled Duffy for a while, and that's when the New Mexico wind decided to strike us broadside. Nothing I was unable to handle. It was humorous to hear him telling another traveler that it was great to have the wind at our backs. Well, at his back. He was sleeping when I drove with the wind coming from the west on our north-north-easterly journey.
Our day ended in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, a town that places its claim to fame (like so many other towns) to lying along the historic Route 66. We relied on our GPS to find a restaurant for us, since the AAA tour guide did not provide much help for this town. And, of course, as we began to learn along this NM, TX, OK route, this is meat and potatoes country, with everything well pan- or deep-fried. My gluten-free diet does not fare well in this SW territory.
At any rate, Duffy chose the “Route 66 Restaurant” for nostalgic reasons. And, yes, we did enjoy the memorabilia lining the walls, photos of old cars from the highway's heyday, signs and containers from days gone by. As we left the restaurant, we decided the best part of the meal was the nostalgia. And, too, that nostalgia alone is not a good reason to choose a place to dine. As Duffy says, “The food wasn't much good, but fortunately there wasn't much of it.”
Okay, now for the menu. Since most of the food was fried one way or another, there was little on the menu I could eat without encountering problems. So, I decided to order potatoes with butter. Now, my first clue should have been when the waitress replied to my question, “We don't have baked potatoes; we have mashed.” I was too tired at the end of this long day to consider that if they didn't have baked potatoes, then they probably didn't have fresh mashed potatoes either. Yep, for $1.85 I got about 1/3-cup boxed, reconstituted mashed potatoes. They tasted slightly of garlic, and had the consistency of a very thick paste. Unlike fresh mashed potatoes, when I pushed these potatoes around in the very small bowl, the entire teeny mass moved. Many boxed mashed potatoes have gluten in them due to the Modified Food Starch that for some reason or other is added. Along with my “past-its-due-date” iceberg lettuce salad with the least imaginative vinegar and oil for dressing, that was my dinner.
Duffy ordered Tostadas from the menu, and regretted it later. On the way back to the campground, he said he wondered why he wasn't given a choice of meat on his Tostadas. Because...there wasn't meat on it. It came with beans on the tortilla, and rice, the consistency of watered down tomato-rice, on the side (about the same amount as my potatoes). I can't remember what he paid for those tostadas, but it was definitely too much.
Driving back to the campground, we determined this was a three-Tums night.
Until next time,
Pam
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