Only four more days, route 66 and a new hat!

Only four more days! Finishing up my research paper (did an experiment involving sea star wasting disease, Pisaster ochraceus and antibiotics), have presentations Wednesday and Thursday, and Friday morning I hit the road!

While looking over my route, I realized that part of my route - Hwy 40 from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Amarillo, Texas - is part of the historic route 66! I'm very excited to drive a portion of this route. The entirety of route 66 spans over 2,448 miles, so I won't be driving the entire thing, but it will still be fun to experience part of history! If you would like to read more about U.S. Route 66, Wikipedia has a great page: Wikipedia U.S. Route 66 with some good information, along with links to other sites about the famous highway.

I've also been looking for sites to rockhound while on my trip. Rockhounding is one of my favorite hobbies, and I'm well known for stopping at random road cuts in the middle of nowhere, or along beaches and rivers to paw through gravel in search of little treasures. On previous road trips, I've found some very beautiful geodes, crystals, jasper, petrified wood, all sorts of beautiful rocks. After looking around online, I found a few good sites, not too far off the route I'm taking. Hopefully the weather is good enough that I can stop and pick away with my rock hammer and find some cool stuff!

Another favorite thing of mine to do on road trips is discover the weird things along the main roads. Seems like the south is full of strange statues, ghost towns, abandoned buildings, etc. Wrote a nice list of things to look for along the way, although I'm sure there will be more to see than just those few. Noted the known locations on my map, along with locations of state parks, national forest lands, campgrounds, and more. Will certainly be taking a lot of photographs, that's for sure!

One thing I've been on the lookout for my trip is a good desert hat. I like the looks of the Indiana Jones and crocodile dundee hats, but they're pretty expensive. Really liking the outback style cowboy hats. Ended up finding a good straw hat, made by Scala, today for a good price.