Betty rolled 2000 miles yesterday. That’s 26 days in 5 states visiting 6 national and 2 state parks biking, hiking and touring canyons, hoodoos, reefs, goblins, mesas, dunes and arches.
The Apple pedometer credited us with 327,316 steps for 132.9 miles which surprised us when we added them up today. With all three of us feeling travel-weary from moving every day for the last 7 days in a row, we decided to slow down, restock and base camp at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, NM.
The rough riding trip from Mesa Verde to Kirtland was 300 miles of elevation change through the San Juan National Forest, Durango Colorado and the fast moving Animas River, and the UTE and Navajo Nations. Between the washboard pavement, gusting winds, tornado warnings and every vehicle whooshing us, Eric was working hard to keep Betty in line while Sheri stayed silent thinking “WATCH OUT” wouldn’t really help the situation.
Unlike Utah where everywhere is a Kodak moment, this hypnotic stretch in NM was a lot like what we saw in west Texas. Flat, dry and kinda depressing. The only signs of life were government style housing, a few junkyard farmettes and a casino about 20 miles outside Albuquerque. As passersby we have no idea what life is like for them, but it doesn’t look like opportunity abounds.
We outran the tornado and checked into a shady site for 5 nights in a full hook up park with hot showers in the bathhouse and a rack of give-one-take-one books to choose from. The wind is feisty with long sleeve temps and Verizon just delivered a new old phone to Eric. We’ve clocked 4600 steps on the pedometer today, mostly in the Commissary aisles, and that’s just okay with us.