The night on the Aerobed in Courtney and Sabra’s music room was passed very nicely. I awoke and showered and hung out a bit with them.

They’re just great people. I’m really fortunate to have met them. Courtney has a VW Squareback that is all my envy. We checked it out and tried to do the guy/car thing, but neither of can really pull that off. But GREAT car.

He left for work and Sabra and I discovered three, yes THREE, black widow spiders under a dog house thing. Now, anyone who knows me knows that I have a ridiculous and unhealthy fear of spiders. And while there was definitely fear going on, there was also this weird respect too. See, black widows have this sort of evil beauty to them. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s 100% pure evil. And you really do have to respect pure evil. It’s just so… pure.

So thank you Courtney and Sabra for letting me crash for the night. You’re awesome! And thanks Gavin for everything. I can’t wait to come back! And thank you, Albuquerque, for being such a great city. Someday I’ll find a really good Indian restaurant, I just know it!

Well after the evil, I loaded up and headed for the Vespa shop to get a new tire. That shop is amazing. I’m usually not one for Vespa shops. They’re usually pretty lame. But this one is great. Nick, who runs it, is a swell guy and really went out of his way for me. I can’t thank him enough.

While I was there, I spied a Vespa small frame that I must have someday. I really don’t ask for much.

Oh! And I must tell you about my new favorite song of all times! While I was at the shop, he was listening to NPR. Well when they stopped talking, they played some “New Mexican Music.” One of the songs I heard was “Guacamole” by Texas Tornadoes. Here are the amazing lyrics!

Met her at the Mercado
She was buying avacados
Man… she really turned me on

She reached for my pepper
I grabbed her tomatoes
And I knew, it wouldn’t be very long

She went to the mesa
I grabbed my cerveza
I got the onions and lemon

And the way she looked at me
Man I could clearly see
It wouldn’t be very long

Guacamole! GUACAMOLE!
Guacamole! GUACAMOLE!
We’d me making Guacamole all night long

Guacamole! GUACAMOLE!
Guacamole! GUACAMOLE!
We’d be making Guacamole all night long

She headed for the light
I fell in right behind
Man… She sure looked good to me

She reached for her money
I said “wait a minute honey
I believe, this one is on me”

So we got in my pickup
We started to back up
And headed on down the road

We went to her casa
Tortillas de masa
And made guacamole all night long

Guacamole! GUACAMOLE!
Guacamole! GUACAMOLE!
We’d be making guacamole all night long

So do you want to heard it?! OK!

Wasn’t that just amazing?

So anyway, after we finished up, I headed out of town, taking 2nd Street to Central (which is 66) and 66 out of town, having to take the interstate for over 20 miles. Now, the secret to the interstate is simple. Get behind a truck going too slow. This way, people won’t notice that you’re the one going too slow! It works. And I felt really comfortable.

Thankfully old 66 came back at exit 117, right before one of my favorite stretches. Dead Man’s Curve!

While I don’t really know the history of Dead Man’s Curve, this thing is tight and I’m certain it is deserving of the name. This stretch is great. After curving around “owl rock,” you twist all the way around Dead Man’s Curve. And with a few other squiggles, you’re through and on your way to Laguna!

Route 66 used to go through New Laguna, but it was bypassed in favor of a pretty lovely straight stretch. I personally prefer the New Laguna segment. It’s closer to the rails and I even got to see a train!

Trains are all over the place out here. It’s quite nice.

What is also nice is that Route 66 wasn’t a frontage road through here. Sure, sometimes it was close to the interstate, but usually it just wandered off on its own, finding new turns and twists and towns to play in.

Like the quick run through Budville. The town really isn’t there anymore. Maybe it never was. But the Budville Trading Company service station (since 1928) is still there. It’s no longer in business, but I think it’s open to the public, though nobody was there when I rode by.

The next town was Villa Cubero. Old 66 went through Cubero (not Villa Cubero). But that was by-passed in favor of going through Villa Cubero.

Villa Cubero has a gas station and an old cafe. It was in this cafe where Hemmingway wrote part of “Old Man and the Sea.” So they say, anyway. But it seems like a fairly random thing to just make up, so I’d say it’s plausible.

After San Fidel, the Road turns back towards the interstate (or rather, the interstate turns towards Route 66). I crossed over it and rode along side it for a spell. I took a quick detour through McCartys to get a better look at a church. I’ve been weirdly fascinated by the Spanish-style churches out here.

Originally, Route 66 curved around some lava beds, though later, they straightened it. I was tempted to follow the newer alignment through the lava beds, but it was right next to the interstate and I’m fairly certainly I went that way before. Time for a new old alignment.

The lava beds are really impressive though. And even Old 66 doesn’t completely bypass them. You can still see how the lava flowed and rippled over the ground. If you want to get really really geeky, you can check this out.

I was definitely getting hungry and decided that Grants would probably have a Chinese place. In fact, they had two.

Grants is a very Route 66 town. And it seems out of place in New Mexico. This is more of an Illinois town. I’m not sure why, but that’s just how it feels. Maybe it’s because it was a mining town. This is where they got uranium! Awesome!

Also in Grants are some great examples of mid-century signage. They even have a still-running movie theater.

I ate at some Chinese place and though the folks were nice in there, the food was really bland. And it contained cucumbers. I think it’s a first for me. Never had cucumbers in Chinese food before. The tofu was good, but that’s how tofu is. It’s the perfect food.

The run after Milan, Grant’s sister-city, is a very long four-lane. I love deserted four lanes and that’s just what I got. For miles!

But here is where the winds picked up. Thankfully I was the only one on the road. I couldn’t go faster than 55mph. That was it. I couldn’t believe how strong of a headwind it was. I heard later that it was a good 30mph.

There were some storms a cookin’ to my left, but thankfully not thunder storms. Just wind and a little rain and a bit more wind.

And since these were headwinds, I wasn’t blown all over the road. Thank you. It is appreciated.

I vaguely remembered this stretch. It’s weird. I know I’ve been on most of this, but I can’t remember it. I’ll remember bits and pieces, like Dead Man’s Curve, of course. But most everything else is disjointed bits and pieces. This stretch was like that.

As was the town of Thoreau. Now, I know that I had never ventured into town, but I hardly remember even passing it. And since I’m such a huge fan of Henry David, you’d think I’d have stopped before. But no.

Interestingly enough, Thoreau is not pronounced like like author’s name. It’s pronounced “thuh-roo.” And even though it would be super cool to have a town named after Thoreau, it’s just not so. I do not, however, know where they got the name.

Thoreau is the last town before the Continental Divide. I was really impressed with it the first time I was there. But if it weren’t for the many, many billboards advertising the “Indian Village” at the Continental Divide, I would have totally missed it.

These Indian Villages are weird. The one next to the shop that was closed is sort of creepy. It’s got two wooded “teepees” and reminds me of Cannibal: The Musical…

But ok, the Continental Divide is a fascinating thing.

Not nearly as fascinating as nearly ten more miles of interstate! Again, I got behind a slow truck. Thank you, slow trucker.

My day was nearly winding down. Here I was, on my way into Gallup, my home for the night. The rail traffic heading east was stacked up to let a westbound through and it was neat to see the engines in a line waiting to pull (and push) the hill. Well, neat to me. I like trains. You will deal with it.

The wind was picking up again and I could see another small storm getting organized. For some reason, I put up the tent and the wind promptly blew it over, splitting one of my fiberglass poles. Yes, i know I should be using aluminum. Lesson learned.

I duct taped it to working-condition and it seemed fine.

Another wind storm came up, we’re talking 40+ mph winds here, and it held.

However, while I was typing this, another wind storm flew in, flattening the tent. Luckily, it didn’t break the poles. I couldn’t even hold it up, the wind was too strong.

I restaked it and hopefully it will hold through till morning. It’s quite a pain.

And I’m betting this is how I’ll spend much of my night. I really hope the wind dies down. It’s calm right now, but here the wind just appears seemingly out of nowhere.

Hold on, lil tent!

-

Here are my pics from today.

Miles today: 150
Miles total: 3588