GO NEW MEXICO
FOR THE RECORD: This is near Encino; Tucumcari Mountain is not
Published
GPS may fail us, but ....
Our apologies to the good people of Tucumcari.
Tucumcari Mountain is iconic, but it is not near Encino.
I got it wrong in GO New Mexico in the Jan. 25 edition of The Sunday Journal.
Two weeks ago we were driving east on Interstate 40 and saw the beautiful panoramic views.
First we passed Clines Corners and snapped a picture of the iconic stop. A few minutes later we saw windmills and mountain peaks at 35.00390° N, 105.48884° W — just past the “Edge of the Plains” historical marker. The iPhone registered Encino in the information and a timestamp of 2:01 p.m.
We saw the windmills spinning along the roadside, along with large swathes of grasslands.
But we knew better views awaited.
Then came Mesa Tucumcari. My wife, Rebeca Zimmermann, snapped the photo as we drove past. The light wasn’t perfect, but the mesa top stretched out in front of us, letting us know our drive time in New Mexico would soon be over.
Later that evening, after crossing into Texas, I sent the image back to the newsroom with the GPS coordinates of some of the earlier pictures. By 3:10 p.m., we weren’t in Encino and neither was Tucumcari Mountain. The Tucumcari renowned in song and more. No yellow-haired girl was waiting there.
As Bobby Troup wrote in “(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66”: “You’ll like the aroma, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Albuquerque and Tucumcari, make New Mexico extraordinary!”
Share your panoramic photo from around New Mexico at go@abqjournal.com and it could be printed at the top of GO New Mexico.
