The annular eclipse this past Saturday gave me a good reason to get out to eastern New Mexico, which is only about a 6 to 7 hour drive from central Oklahoma.
I headed out fairly late on Friday afternoon en route to Clovis, NM and basically took the fastest route possible, so I didn't get any substantial new mileage until the final stretch southwest of Amarillo (though I did quickly clinch I-40 BL Sayre, leaving only 2 business loops left to get in Oklahoma). Picked up a few new miles on I-27 in southern Amarillo (between I-40 and Loop 335), and a good piece of US 60 from Canyon to Bovina, TX. From Bovina I cut west along FM 2290 to get to the NM border, where I clinched NM 77 on my way into Clovis.
The next morning I left town via NM 245, an easy 7 mile clinch, before going west on US 60 for an additional 50 miles or so. I was pretty happy about the eclipse path - it would allow me to see annularity at the southern terminus of NM 294, a highly untravelled 16 mile route that ends at a junction with a couple gravel roads. NM 294 was in fine shape (probably a bit better than parts of NM 156, another isolated route I clinched over the summer) so it was a fairly easy drive from start to finish, with no other vehicles going either direction. I believe this is the first route where I managed to be the first TM traveller overall (and another one of a handful of New Mexico routes that I was able to clinch first). Stayed at the eclipse spot for almost two hours before starting the journey back east. On the way back towards Clovis I went slightly out of my way to hit NM 311 (becoming the first to clinch that road). Picked up some more new mileage on US 60 between Clovis and Bovina, missed my turn in Texico and accidentally picked up a couple miles of US 70 before doubling back, then knocked out TX 214 Business in Friona and TX Lp 211 in Hereford on the way back to Amarillo. I also did TX Lp 48 in Canyon (as it's marked out on TM), though it was completely unsigned - technically first to clinch, but I'm not sure whether it will remain on TM.
I got new mileage on TX Lp 335 through the southeast edge of Amarillo (leaving only the northeastern quarter left to drive another time) before hopping on US 287 towards the western end of TX 203, the latter of which I used/clinched to get back to Oklahoma. I followed OK 9 the rest of the way to the OKC metro, bringing me to 90% completion of OK 9 and pushing me just above 25% completion of all TM systems in Oklahoma.
New clinches: I-40 BL Sayre, NM 77, NM 245, NM 294, NM 311, TX 214 Bus Friona, TX Lp 211, TX Lp 48, TX 203
New mileage (ignoring brief concurrencies): I-27, US 60 (TX/NM), US 70 (TX), TX 217, TX Lp 335, US 287 (TX), OK 9
