Category: 2022, September, San Juan River

Started home this morning. A great time on a river that is full of large trout that are difficult to catch. I’ll be back.

Went to the same area of the San Juan River this morning, between Texas Hole and the Upper Flats. As always big trout can be seen but this morning there were not many rises. This afternoon we went to a spot new to me between Texas Hole and Munoz. Beautiful spot with some faster current in areas. I caught two nice rainbows on a San Juan Worm which is a fly that imitates a short red worm.

Got a late start because it turns out the Ford F150 Ecoboosts have a known problem with their oil pan plugs leaking so that had to be taken care of.

Came upon a flash flood blocking the road.

Caught three nice rainbow trout today. They were all close to this size.

Took a beautiful drive on Highway 64 from northeast New Mexico to Aztec Mew Mexico in Northwest New Mexico. Aztec is a 20 minute drive to the San Juan River.

Yesterday when I drove down Dodge City’s busiest street to get to my hotel I noticed one Mexican restaurant after another and the restaurant’s signs were entirely in Spanish. I was curious so I looked up Dodge City’s demographics. Dodge City is 68% Hispanic. I don’t care one way or another.

This morning south of Dodge City I went west on two lane Highway 56 for over 130 miles. The road paralleled railroad tracks which are on the north side of the road. There were vast fields of Milo which is Grain Sorghum. Milo is fed to livestock. I drove past three huge feed lots holding I don’t know how many head of cattle. The cattle’s future are less than bright. Every so many miles would be large grain silos adjacent to the tracks and a few blocks of very small homes which had seen better days were on the other side of the highway. There might be a school and or a small lot of cars for sale. Sometimes there would be a diner or a bar or a little store.

The Great Depression and Dust Bowl have always interested me. Years ago I read a pretty good book called The Worst Hard Time which is about the dust bowl. The author picked a town named Boise City, Oklahoma as ground zero of the Dust Bowl and retold stories from that area. Boise City is in Oklahoma’s panhandle not far from New Mexico. Driving through Boise City has been on my Bucket List. It’s way down on the list. Today I drove through. It ain’t pretty. I wanted to take a picture of its old town hall but it looks to have been rebuilt after WWII.

This morning I visited NLBM, The Negro League Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a Bucket List item. It appears to be in an area which was a vibrant African American Neighborhood.

The Gem Theater is across the street.

The Kansas City Art Museum is called The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Paul Rudd says The Z-Man Sandwich at Joe’s Kansas City BBQ is the best sandwich in the world so I stopped. I wanted the daily special which was the burnt end dinner but I’ve had that before. Went with the Z-Man.It was really good. Joe’s is big and it was packed at 11:30 with locals which included 6 State Patrol Officers.

Woke up an hour and a half early so I got an early start. Checked into a hotel in Cameron, Missouri at around 4:30. Got 87 octane gasoline in southern Iowa for $3.37 which is what I paid in this area in 2018 on my first trips after I retired. The Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City is an hour away and opens at 10 am tomorrow so I’ll get a good rest after somewhat of a long day.

I don’t think monarchies should exist but I liked Queen Elizabeth.