Clayton, NM
Clayton, NM Current mood: cranky
I mean no disrespect to the fine folks who live and work in Clayton, NM......but with that said, I'd like to relate the story of my stay in captivity there.....
We managed to get one of the last few rooms at the downtown Clayton Super8 Motel. I think Super8 rooms deserve their own ranking system. We had stayed in a Super8 the last time we made this drive. I think they use a chain-wide air freshener called "Institutional Citrus/Dirty Feet." The room was fairly clean and tastefully decorated in the always charming "motel shabby/chic" style, complete with stirring paintings of mountains and wildlife on the walls.
We started getting hungry so our thoughts turned to dinner. We decided we didn't want to drive the truck, so we limited our focus to the options within walking distance of our stylish lodgings. The sign out front of the Super8 highly recommended Pop's Drive-In, conveniently located right next door to the hotel. We had found our next meal!!!!
Pop's Drive-In was a Sonic knock-off. Everything was fried- I mean everything. By the time we carried our bag of food less than 100 yards back to the hotel, the grease had almost soaked through the bottom of the bag. The outcome of this meal was our vow to eat no more fast food on the trip. This vow became a bit harder to keep the next day, when we learned that the roads were still not open. We would be experiencing the hospitality in Clayton yet another night.
One thing I've neglected to mention about Clayton, NM, is that it always smells like horse crap. I have no idea why. I saw no horses. It was like they built the roads out of it or something.
The next morning, we slept in and decided to go walk around and soak up some local flavor. By this time, to preserve my sanity, I had decided to consider this an extra little winter vacation. Never mind the fact that all my earthly belongings were freezing solid in the back of a 17 foot Uhaul truck.
We walked up the street and checked out the local grocery store, called the ranch something or other. I don't remember. It was fairly non-descript, except for the lady in the back cranking out fresh tortillas. They looked really good.
We then crossed the street to the Pizza Hut for some lunch (I know, we had made the vow, but there is no Fresh Market in Horsecrap, NM). We did eat some of the salad bar stuff. We also had some pretty nasty pizza. We recognized several people who were being held prisoner in our same hotel. No one looked very happy about the situation.
That night we dined in our room on frozen Asian entrees we purchased at the Ranch market. As gross as it was, it was still better than fried whatever at Pop's.
On the dawning of the third day, we had gathered some intelligence data and decided to make a break for it using an alternate route. It was bittersweet bidding farewell to Clayton....I will remember it always.
I mean no disrespect to the fine folks who live and work in Clayton, NM......but with that said, I'd like to relate the story of my stay in captivity there.....
We managed to get one of the last few rooms at the downtown Clayton Super8 Motel. I think Super8 rooms deserve their own ranking system. We had stayed in a Super8 the last time we made this drive. I think they use a chain-wide air freshener called "Institutional Citrus/Dirty Feet." The room was fairly clean and tastefully decorated in the always charming "motel shabby/chic" style, complete with stirring paintings of mountains and wildlife on the walls.
We started getting hungry so our thoughts turned to dinner. We decided we didn't want to drive the truck, so we limited our focus to the options within walking distance of our stylish lodgings. The sign out front of the Super8 highly recommended Pop's Drive-In, conveniently located right next door to the hotel. We had found our next meal!!!!
Pop's Drive-In was a Sonic knock-off. Everything was fried- I mean everything. By the time we carried our bag of food less than 100 yards back to the hotel, the grease had almost soaked through the bottom of the bag. The outcome of this meal was our vow to eat no more fast food on the trip. This vow became a bit harder to keep the next day, when we learned that the roads were still not open. We would be experiencing the hospitality in Clayton yet another night.
One thing I've neglected to mention about Clayton, NM, is that it always smells like horse crap. I have no idea why. I saw no horses. It was like they built the roads out of it or something.
The next morning, we slept in and decided to go walk around and soak up some local flavor. By this time, to preserve my sanity, I had decided to consider this an extra little winter vacation. Never mind the fact that all my earthly belongings were freezing solid in the back of a 17 foot Uhaul truck.
We walked up the street and checked out the local grocery store, called the ranch something or other. I don't remember. It was fairly non-descript, except for the lady in the back cranking out fresh tortillas. They looked really good.
We then crossed the street to the Pizza Hut for some lunch (I know, we had made the vow, but there is no Fresh Market in Horsecrap, NM). We did eat some of the salad bar stuff. We also had some pretty nasty pizza. We recognized several people who were being held prisoner in our same hotel. No one looked very happy about the situation.
That night we dined in our room on frozen Asian entrees we purchased at the Ranch market. As gross as it was, it was still better than fried whatever at Pop's.
On the dawning of the third day, we had gathered some intelligence data and decided to make a break for it using an alternate route. It was bittersweet bidding farewell to Clayton....I will remember it always.
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