The Red Onion

At the start of roadtrip day 2, we set out from our motel room in search of food.

The local Sonic was not in compliance with our "avoid chain restaurants" rule, plus it appeared that they might not be very friendly towards us earthlings. We kept on driving in search of a local human-friendly establishment.

We came upon what, at first glance, appeared to be a mostly-empty shopping center; except for a clump of cars on one end. I caught a glimpse of people walking from their car to one of the buildings as we passed. We turned around.  Cars in an otherwise-empty shopping center early in the morning before shops open suggests there might be a good restaurant there.

Sure enough, there was a restaurant there -- one I would not have recognized as a restaurant from the street.

Inside we found friendly people serving up tasty food.

Waiting for food

An inside-out omlette

A tasty steak and egg burro

If you ever find yourself in Roswell, New Mexico, I recommend you try breakfast at The Red Onion -- unless you're an alien. If you're an alien, go to Sonic.

Very Large Array

West of Socorro, New Mexico, we passed the Very Large Array -- a collection of radio telescopes operated by people waiting for E.T. to return their call.

Pie Town

In western New Mexico, a few miles west of where US Highway 60 crosses the continental divide, I had a vision -- a sign. This sign came n the form of a giant bird-like creature, and it demanded I stop for pie.







This sign stands in a town that appears to be miles from nowhere -- a town named Pie Town.

I stopped at Pie-O-Neer. It turns out that the find folks in Pie Town, New Mexico, have been serving up pie to travelers for nearly 100 years.

Try the blueberry.  

Our bellies filled with pie, we happily resumed our journey east.

Route 60

The Light of Day

A little over an hour east of our home in Gilbert, Arizona, is the copper mining town of Globe. As we entered Globe, I got off the highway and drove through downtown Globe in search of breakfast.

I noticed a cafe, La Luz Del Dia, with lots of cars parked in front of it. We too parked.

La Luz Del Dia is a tiny cafe staffed by friendly people who serve up awesome breakfast burritos for cheap. 

Our waitress and the guy at the next table recommended we check out a local store called The Pickle Barrel Trading Post. First, we wandered around downtown Globe.

After a bit of wandering around Globe, we got back into the car and headed out in search of the Pickle Barrel Trading Post. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was happy to see that the facilities were easily accessible.

The outside of the Pickle Barrel Trading Post is filled with metal art.  If it weren't for the need to haul any giant metal creature purchase around the country over the next couple months, I might have bought something. We'll have to revisit this place after we're back home.

Having failed to find any pickles at the trading post, we resumed our often-slow drive through the mountains.