We are off to Santa Fe, New Mexico today.
We leave Arizona and will pass through Quemado, Pie Town, Socorrow, Mountain Air on our way to Santa Fe in New Mexico.
We ride on parts of the historic route 66 near Santa Fe and our hotel the Old Sanat Fe In is on route 66.
This is a typical road scene for the day. We are on route 60 East. The sun is already high in the sky when we set off at 8.00am.
We stop at Quemado for a break. Families are having breakfast at the cafe. The notice board has messages about rodeos, visiting vets, community events, a fashion parade. This cafe must be the centre of an active community.
We meet Walt who is interested in our steed.
Out of town we pass a historic collection of windmills. They have been displaced by modern pumping technology.
We head out to Socorrow.
We have rarely seen farm animals on our trip. These few cattle are on dry rations.
Nearby we see a collection Satellite dishes which appear to be on rail tracks in the fields.
When we stopped for lunch in Socorrow we met Dwight and Chris.
I am glad we did. We learned new things from both of them. I wish we could have stayed and talked for longer.
Dwight has lots of motorcycling experiences in many countries and was happy to share some of his adventures.
Chris explained that the satellite dishes are part of the
VLA the Very Large Array which is a radio astronomy observatory where researchers explore deep space.
Chris and Dwight.
Drought in New Mexico is very evident as we ride through farm land.
Area of Extreme Drought Develops in Far West Central New Mexico...
...Over 97 Percent of the State is in Moderate to Exceptional Drought...
...86 Percent of the State is in Severe to Exceptional Drought...
...33 Percent of the State is Now in Extreme to Exceptional Drought...
Two very long trains carrying double stacked containers passed each other in opposite directions as we rounded one of the very few bends along our route today.
Many motorcyclists are out on the road today. Lots of them are two up.
We must be nearly there.
After a day on roads with very little traffic we find ourselves in the thick of it.
Drivers throughout our journey have been very considerate.
We arrive at our hotel which has strings of dried chiles out to welcome us.
Fajitas tonight for dinner.
Served along with a short explanation by Matt about New Mexico geology and some suggestions of things to do and see.
I resisted the temptation to desert- one of the choices was...
Chocolate chimichanga - creamy marble cheesecake deep dried in a flour tortilla and rolled in cinnamon sugar...
I opted for prickly pear tea which was refreshing and tasted a little like the IPA ale I'd had earlier.
After dinner we went for a stroll to the plaza. Motorcycles in perfect sparkling condition were on show.
And rounding the corner was this very grand Lincoln continental car.
We are here for a 'rest' day tomorrow.
We have been on the road for seven days and have ridden 1824miles/2972km averaging 424km/day.
We have seen amazing scenery and met lovely people.
This has been a great start to our USA road trip.
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Comments
Ken
The heated jacket got wired up that day for which I was very gratefull. All systems go.