Albuquerque's Old Town is kind of cute with those adobe houses and matching decoration. It's pretty touristy of course, but well worth a visit and perfect for some ice cream out in the sun.
Going east for a couple of blocks on historical route 66, here called Central Avenue, we get scared when we're supposed to go underneath Hwy 25 with only 13'11'' clearance on a very steep underbridge. The instructional video we watched back in Denver indicated a clearance of 12 ft, the rental staff even spoke of 14. Now this bridge shows clear signs of others who have tried and failed, so we don't want to risk ruining our AC unit on top of the car. We turn around and head west towards Gallup, stopping a couple of times on the way. Our travel guide suggests arriving in Gallup at sunset, so we have some time to spend.
On our way we cross Rio Grande a couple of times, but it is somehow disappointing: it is not that grande... Maybe last year was a dry one.
The travel guide also tells about Mount Taylor, the bald mountain, for at about 3000 m height there are no more trees. But where is it?
(more pictures at: http://galerie.photo-fisch.de)In Budville we stop at some abandoned trading post for some coffee - gotta make it ourselves. There's not much left here of those golden days of Route 66. Looking straight ahead, down the road, we finally see Mt. Taylor, which really looks kind of naked around its top.
In Villa de Cubero, Hemingway is said to have written his 'Old man and the Sea'. He definitely found enough solitude here. *smile*
Through San Fidel, past abandoned gas stations, motels, and shops that suggest better times, into McCarthys. Easy enough to discover the little mountain-hugging Santa Maria de Acoma church. A little later we're impressed with black lava rocks covering the ground for miles.
Grants, Prewitt and Thoreau are just further small places along the way that leeds to the Continental Divide, also called the Nation's roof. Up here, all rain water to the left flows into the Pacific ocean, to the right it drains into the Atlantic. The Indian market nearby is already closed, so we miss out on 'rubber-tomahawks and other indian kitsch' as our travel guide calls it.
Now we really want to reach Gallup as it is slowly getting dark. We still need a supermarket and have to find tonight's campground. The latter seems to be a real treat. At 8:02pm its owner, John, assigns us a spot that was reserved until 8pm. 'It's your lucky day,' he says.
Next to our site, there's another Cruise America motor home - the first one we see - but there's no sign of its owners, not tonight and not the next morning, when we find it is snowing! It doesn't last, but still we're worried about the road conditions. Do we have to skip the Grand Canyon?
Miles travelled by RV: 179
Current location: Gallup, NM
Next stop: Flagstaff und Williams, AZ
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