On the road again...

Today was another of our long driving days as we went south to Albuquerque and west to Holbrook, Arizona. While we did a couple of side trips, much of our time was spent on the interstate, and there weren't a ton of picture opportunities.

We began the morning though with excellent breakfast burritos at a local spot called ChiliWorks. We then headed back down the mountain and into Santa Fe to pick up 66. We followed 66 and the interstate to our first side trip - La Bajada Hill. The actual hill is too treacherous to drive without a 4-wheel drive vehicle, but you can still drive to the base. This was old dirt 66 than ran all the way to Santa Fe. The pictures don't really do it justice - we were awed that cars once made it up that mesa!

From there, we drove through downtown Albuquerque, and mailed the next postcard. Downtown seemed to be a nice area, but unfortunately we did not have a lot of time to explore. We continued our drive through southern suburbs, including Los Lunas, and then continued through Laguna, Paraje, and Budville. At Budville, we had to take a slight detour to Cubero because the road was closed, but we ended up at our next scheduled town, Villa Cubero, with no problems.

After this, we began to notice new rock formations. These are called "malpais" and are rocks created from ancient lava flows. They were especially noticeable at the next town, McCarty's, but they dotted the landscape for the rest of the day.

The next major town was Grants, New Mexico, and we stopped here for lunch. This was a fairly new restaurant called "Chili Kicks on Route 66" but the food was good. Jeff had tacos, and Ilana had a sopapilla that had been stuffed with meat and beans, and had plenty of red chili sauce. While the food was tasty, the service definitely left something to be desired.

After we had filled our tummies, it was back into the car, and we were able to stay on 66 all the way into Arizona. We stopped at the Continental Divide - the point in the United States where water begins flowing towards the Pacific Ocean, rather than the Gulf of Mexico.

Our next stop was Gallup, New Mexio. We did a side trip here that took us downtown. This is a great area of old shops, and an old theater, and we enjoyed getting to look around. Next, it was west to Arizona!

A large chunk of the Tour Route in western/central Arizona is on Interstate... because either 66 is on Reservation land or that it is too poor to travel on. After crossing into Arizona and going through the town of Lupton, we got on I-40 for a couple of miles until the town of Houck; home of Fort Courage, supposedly where they filed the 1960's show "F Troop". We then took the post-1931 route over the Querino Canyon Bridge. This was an interesting route because, while originally paved, it is now a dirt road (with some rub board sections). We wondered why the road was left this way; probably because it is on Navajo Reservation land.

Except for a 6 mile stretch along frontage road between Sanders and Chambers, the rest of the day was on I-40. While this (and gaining an hour due to Arizona not following Daylight Savings Time) did make the miles go by fast... it was a bit sad that there was no non-Interstate roads to travel on until we got to Holbrook. (Having said that, there are older sections that it looks like you can drive on... however, we did not have the time nor the vehicle to do so).

Once in Holbrook, we took Navajo Blvd. and Hopi Drive to our stop for the evening; the Best Western Adobe Inn; right next to the Wigwam Motel ("Have you slept in a Wigwam?"). We had talked about staying there... however, the smallness of the room made us decide to find other accommodations. Maybe another time...

Today - it is on to Flagstaff. But first... breakfast, petrified wood, painted deserts, and dinosaurs!