New Mexico
After blowing through the expansive Colorado and Utah, barely missing the thunderstorms in both states and the treacherous fires in Cañon City, we were more than ready to crash after we crossed the New Mexico border. It was midnight and we were famished when we reached Raton, New Mexico—the city in which nearly nine years earlier, my first husband and I stayed in a Motel 6 with my mom when we made the drive from Texas to Washington.
Due to this little detail, I insisted that we please not stay in the Motel 6. Unluckily, none of the newer hotels took dogs, and those that did were either closed or dilapidated passion pits that probably acquired their downhill status in, oh, 1959 or so. We had the cinematic experience of staying in one of the latter varieties, the El Kapp. Remember, in Rainman, the crummy motel Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman crashed at before striking it big in Vegas? Yeah, our experience was kind of like that. ;)
Below is a picture of the El Kapp hotel sign. C'mon in, girls and boys—hey look, free HBO! Whoo-hoo!
...and here's the El Kapp pool. Needless to say, we didn't get to swim in it. (Darn! lol)
