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Connecticut River Valley, New England, United States

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Gallopin’ to Gallup

Sunday March 2, 2014 Comfort Inn Room 105 Gallup, New Mexico 5:20PM MST

Did not sleep well last night—went to bed at normal time –11:20pm—and then awake at 12:15 pretty much for the rest of the night. Needless to say I was exhausted this morning and just wanted to start heading West once more. Bill was ready to leave Santa Fe and the remaining sights for another year. So, off we headed to Gallup on a gray and rainy morning.

The drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque is on I 25 which parallels the Rio Grande River. It is so evident that this is a river valley—the populated area runs parallel to it on both sides of the river. The cottonwoods are in full Spring bloom and the cultivated fields are greening up. Despite the snow in the mountains and mesas last night and the cooler temperatures, Spring is springing in New Mexico.

The other night there was a news item about the light posts at the intersection of I25 and route 550. People complained that they are too close if not in the shoulder of the roads and were a safety hazard DOT said that since the posts are break-away if struck by a vehicle they were not a hazard. The opposing argument said they then become missiles causing yet another hazard. The upshot—$6 million Federal dollars to tear them out and move them! Ah, engineers.

When we took I 40 West toward Gallup the sky, terrain and population density all changed. No more river, no more water. The sky and clouds and beautiful desert colors made paintings of our surroundings. Mount Taylor, one of the Dine four corners was, as usual snow capped. It provided a dramatic back drop for the scene practically all the way from Albuquerque to Grants.

In between we passed through several small pueblos ( villages ) including Lacuna with its lovely white church on the hill overlooking the pueblo. Around Acoma Pueblo there has been some road improvements including a couple of overpasses. The most distressing thing is a series of complicated traffic circles that need to be navigated to either reach the new, extensive rest area and picnic area or Sky City 15 miles off the Interstate. Big bucks to create a mess.

West of Acoma the sky became really strangely cloud congested and funny colored. When we drove into the heart of the cloud cover the rain fell in torrents for awhile and the temperature dropped 20 degrees. The mesas have snow on them, which we’ve never seen before. It fell last night. we challenged a BSNF locomotive on an upgrade but we beat him easily. Do you see the elephant and the buffalo in the clouds?

Finally we reached Gallup and went to check in at the Comfort Inn but were an hour early. So we went next door to Applebees to have our big meal of the day, only to find police and fire engines in the lot.I watched one of the waitresses but a note on the front door but Bill said let’s check it out. Of course, it was temporarily closed. As we walked over I saw her let a party of three leave and then lock the door. I said they had a grease fire, let’s go somewhere else. So we looked for a half hour for something else and there was nothing that looked appealing. Went back to see if things had gotten cleaned up but the waitress told me they needed to air the place out and clean up the stove AFTER THE GREASE FIRE ( Bill said I didn’t know what I was talking about originally, since I hadn’t spoken to anyone—right, a restaurant, fire engines –what else could it have been?) So we settled for Pizza Hut.

When we got back and settled in the room, Bill turned on Cavuto and thought it was great fun to take pix of me glancing up at the TV as I typed.

Tomorrow the plan is Perry Null for my Native Indian jewelry fix and then on to Holbrook and maybe the WigWam Motel if the rooms don’t look too claustrophobic for me. Since there has been some rain and snow activity we aren’t taking a chance on 21 miles of unimproved dirt roads to get into Chaco. I don’t know that we’ll ever make it there—we aren’t likely to buy a 4-wheel drive vehicle any time soon. Don’t think I want to go to Canyon de Chelley since it is so cold and we ride on the top of the all terrain vehicle to tour it. But one never knows. At any rate, going to curl up with Billy the Kid and wait for the Oscars to begin.

BTW, one of the talk shows said that someone should pull a Francis Underwood on Obama—LOL Wonder how many got the inference?  I for one, don’t mind Francis—he’s ruthless, underhanded and manipulative but so are the people he messes with—in general. They certainly have no emotional attachment to him or him to them, except, of course, Zoe. Francis is Francis. The one I really detest is his wife—she destroys people who actually loved her and in some cases deeply. It is so much more callous and devastating. She even urges Francis to make people suffer. Bitch!

Well, reading and early sleep call. So enjoy the Oscars or whatever. Until tomorrow. KandB

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