Day 27: Frijoles, anyone?

June 14. 

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Distance for the day: 160.4 km

Cumulative distance: 5,731.0 km

Top speed: 114 kph

Moving average: 68 kph

Temperature: 18.2 - 24.6

It was a pretty amazing day. When we finally dragged our sorry posteriors out of the rack and had a latte, we were off on the bike for the first time in three days to Bandelier National Monument, 33,000 acres of land once inhabited by ancient Indigenous tribes where villas remain built of adobe houses and cliff dwellings. Back when Nan and I first conceived of this trip, (in its original form) we were each recording our top ten things to see  and this made both our top ten lists. It was a fascinating visit. At least 23 tribal nations had lived in the Frijoles Valley a thousand years to 400 years ago, until they were driven away by drought to the Rio Grande. While there were none of the original adobe huts remaining, some "recreations" built on the foundations of the originals were there, constructed in the early 1900s when the valley was originally excavated. However,  there were many of the original cliff homes still evident. Archeologists have found evidence of 3,000 individual "villages" which may have had as few as two families or 40. Not all were necessarily occupied at the same time.

1.25 million years ago, a "super volcano" erupted not too far from here and the result is that ash and rock was spread in its own back yard and as far away as New York. The ash eventually compressed into soft rock which was easily carved by the local rivers, including this one, forming the Frijoles Valley.

Mesa on the way to Bandelier.

Striations from volcanic rock layers.

Natural and man made caves.

The foundation of a large, multi-family dwelling.

jAdobe huts were built at the base of cliffs as high as 900 feet.

The mulit family dwelling.

Petrolglyphs.

The even row of holes are from where logs were
inserted to provide support for roofing.

Nan spotted this  young bear on the walk.

This is called The Alcove House. More pictures at the bottom

On the way back from the park, we passed through Los Alamos National Laboratory.

We didn't know if it was a town or a science lab. I had to give identification to drive through "the lab". It is where the nuclear bomb was invented.

https://www.nps.gov/band/learn/photosmultimedia/main-pueblo-loop-trail-stop-22.htm

Day 26: Night Gallery

Once again,  no riding today. We are both nursing colds. Nan has a NAN cold. I have a MAN cold. You should know which is worse. One of us is on death's door, the other is battling it like a champ.

There are several art galleries within a short walking distance from where we are staying so we took a walk early in the day.  Even though it was hot, we were walking from gallery to gallery so we weren't getting crushed by the heat as each gallery is nicely air conditioned. 

None of the galleries charged an admission though they are hoping we will walk in and drop $100,000 on a piece of artwork. And we saw several six figure pieces of art, even though it was at times hard to understand. Sadly, no pictures because the galleries take a dim view of photography so just take my word for it: some of that art is weird.

After touring five galleries, we stopped in at Whole-Lotta-Money Foods to pick up something for lunch and dinner tonight. When I was looking online for an Airbnb rental I saw someone complaining about one contender that the kitchen was lacking in implements and really didn't have enough to do anything but the most basic prep. And then says "but who goes to Santa Fe to cook dinner?" Well, that would be us because we were getting sick to death of restaurant food.

Outdoor artwork in the gallery district.

The entryway to one gallery, where they did NOT sell the art, had an interactive display at the entryway.

A camera would image people as they walk in and give them a new look.

A bee sanctuary in the rail yard.

The commuter train that runs
between Santa Fe to Albuquerque. It is 100 miles for $10 and takes just over an hour.

This convenience store is across the street from where we are staying. We stopped in yesterday just to have a look and see what kind of things they had. It is a PLUMBING supply store that has an espresso machine and a variety of canned goods and snack foods, including Twinkies. Made in 1937.

Day 25: We could have walked home today..

 Santa Fe, New Mexico 

ZERO bike time! A pleasant change.

Didn't see the temperature but the forecast had been for 89F - a relatively cool day.

We went for a walk from our Airbnb to "old" Santa Fe, without an agenda, just to have a low key day and keep moving (it is on the Spotwalla link.) We walked, I am guessing, 6 or 8 km. 3.5 hours. 

Most of old town is high end or designer stores catering to the wealthy. With a few exceptions just looked through the windows however, we did pop into one jewelery store  because they had an espresso bar in the back.  They had lots of nice stuff... from Turkey. They couldn't identify the Indigenous artists who made some of the "Indian art" or indicate the price as being $50 or $5 with any certainty. But the coffee was good.

Nan looking over jewelery being sold by actual Indigenous artists.

I would have been tempted by this t-shirt but not for $50. US. NOT made in the US.

A couple of shots from our Airbnb.

Day 24: Jet Lag

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Distance for the day: 514.1 km

Cumulative distance: 5,570.6 km

Top speed: 137 kph

Moving average: 80 kph

Temperature: 25.0 - 42.2

We had a reasonably early start today, on the road at 9:00 am. Had I thought this out at all, (but why would I do that?) I would have elected to stay in Springvale another two nights. We could have taken some of the roads south of us that are popular with motorcyclists, and we could have taken part in the exhibits at Northern Astronomical Radio Observatory. Also, the motel had so much character, it would have been fun to stay longer. But alas, we had a booking at an AirBnB that I had made last night so we were pretty much committed.

Off to a good start, (though the hotel breakfast was modest at best - basically cereal, apples and bananas, coffee and some cupcake-like muffins), we were riding in fine conditions: 25 degrees, rarely above and never below. Perfect riding day with few clouds and little wind. That's o.k. We didn't stay there for the breakfast so it was a bonus. 

Between Springvale and Socorro, a lot of straight
road. But at least it wasn't all just desert.

There is an actual town called "Pie Town"
but "Town" might be a bit of a stretch.
At the 2010 census, the population was 186.

Guess what they are famous known for?

The name of Pie Town comes from a bakery
that was known for making dried-apple pies.

We have spent a lot of time waiting at road
 construction. This was on a vehicle ahead of us.

What IF they were open?

Bombing down the highway, we did come to the NRAO - National Radio Astronomical Observatory Very Large Array. This is a collection of 27 25 metre radio telescopes (plus a 28th in rotation) configured like a three spoked wheel with each spoke being up to 21 kilometres, depending on the requirements of the research being conduncted. All dishes act in unison and their being spread out allows for a higher level of resolution of these radio images. It looks very sci-fi from the highway.

We have a lunch break in Socorro where we decide on our choice of direction: interstate or back road. We have a long way today so the interstate option doesn't seem too unreasonable but nonetheles, we choose the long way which will hopefully give some improved views.

However, due to a lack of signage from our direction, we don't go the intended route so we end up turning around and riding the interestate about 40 km to the turn. That still didn't help much as only occasionally does the Garmin GPS actually do what I want it to do

The central facility at the VLA. 

I've always had a thing about trains.

The dishes can be moved around via the
track to create different configurations.

The village of Magdalen was doing its
best to stay relevant. 

It is the place closest to the VLA.

If you watch really carefully, you
will see the horses move.

and it takes us through Armpit, New Mexico, ie the worst that Albuquerque has to offer, It is uuuugg-leee. Endles miles of automobile bone yards and derelict other businesses shuttered with fences around them. 

So we are riding through Albuquerque in 40+ degree, stop and go traffic whereas I had envisioned a nice ride north through the mountains. This was leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth but when we finally got away from Albuquerque and once again heading north to Santa Fe, we were richly rewarded with some beautiful scenery on the Turquoise Valley Scenic Byway. 

New Mexico. There has to be Little Green Men.

The Turquois Valley is very beautiful and it is a great reward for what has been a frustrating afternoon on the bike. We pass through the little town of Madrid, a former mining town that was loosely established around 1880 with the arrival of the railway making the coal mining viable. The town was "founded" in 1895 but never offically incorporated as it was owned entirely by corporations for the next 80 years but when the demand for coal diminished in the 1940s, the mines ceased to operate. Many buildings remain from the coal mining days and are actively used. There are many pop culture connections to Madrid; movie sequences from Wild Hogs, Breaking Bad, The Man Who Fell to Earth and others have been shot there. The community has become a popular artisans destination. It is only about 20 km from Santa Fe and the road connecting the two is popluar with motorcyclists.

Turquois Valley.

Despite the disappointment of the afternoon's journey,
we realize that we are on the famed Route 66. There
were several references to it around Albuquerque. 

We get to Santa Fe and I head out to get some provisions for dinner, leaving Nan to sort out the gear. Santa Fe seems to have a LOT of homeless people. I end up taking the scenic route but it is still not too far away. And after all of that, we skip dinner.

Today marked a literal turning point on our trip: we turned north, which means we are now heading home.