Saturday 19 June 2010

US66 Tour - Day 8 - Rest day

Today we have a rest day. Thoroughly deserved/needed as well I should say. It’s been fantastic so far but quite tiring.

Weather this morning is sunny and warm.

Had a lay in, got ready and went out into the town. The hotel is literally 2 minutes from the main plaza.  The place is teaming with arty shops. If they are not selling Indian stuff, then it’s statues, paintings, etc, etc. I headed for the Five and Dime!!  I checked out some of the R66 stuff, eyeball a mug that I want to buy and have a general look around. Then I went back out to continue my tour. I discovered the Santa Fe river, about 5 feet across at the moment but the gulley can only be twice that, so not exactly the Mississippi. It joins the Rio Grande somewhere downstream. Then I came across a church that they wanted to charge $3 to go in. Can you believe it, charging money to enter the house of god. I skip that, obviously and walk round to the Cathedral which is free. It’s not massive but has some nice stained glass windows in it. Via the main square once again, I checked out a potential dinner spot for tonight. It does new Mexican food (?) and is a micro brewery, so does its own selection of beers.  I have a comp card, obtained from the waitress last night, which gets us something on the house, probably a little snack. I then headed back to the room via the Five and Dime again to make my purchases, where I wrote up some of my blog, awaiting the return of an internet connection.

Internet back just before I went next door for some nachos, so peeps should now have had time to catch up with day 6 & 7.

Was supposed to be going shootin’ with Gary but met Bill and David on my way to lunch and it seems it’ll cost us $100 each to do it. I’d already ID’d the Gun Club in Vegas to have a crack at this and the cost is considerably less, so I shall stick with the original plan. Chill out afternoon writing post cards and messenger folks back home, webcam link to my ol’ lady, is just what the doctor ordered. Seems a shame to waste the sunshine though.

It’s 17:35 US time, 00:35 UK. I have a couple more hours to kill before we hit the town and the brewery. On my walk about I noticed some leaflets that tend to suggest there is more than one micro brewery in the town, surprising as it’s not that big a place.

Well, have managed to upload all the pics now, so check them out.

Back from the microbrewery. Had a nice chicken burger type thing with salad and a nice lime coleslaw. Washed it down with 3 different beers. 4oz shots give you just a nice taster and are only a dollar each, plus tax!!!  Why can’t they just tell you what the thing costs, instead of adding a bit on at the till?

I promised some more nicknames. Here we go.

The elder statesman of the group is Bill. He’s a real nice chap and a real gentlemen. There’s just one thing wrong with him though and that’s his propensity for dropping the bike when he comes to a stop or has to turn tightly on uneven ground. He’s only got short legs, so it is a problem. In the first four days I think he managed to lay the bike on its side about eight times. To this end we have named him Dudley out of the film The Wild Hogs, as he had similarly bad luck with his Harley. We were going to watch the film in the lounge after dinner but a couple of bozos wanted to watch netball. Their team lost. LOL! To be fair to Bill though, the last 3 riding days he’s kept a clean sheet. Good on him.

Next, it’s probably me. Gary has named me Lord Flashheart from Blackadder. Purely because when it’s time to start the bikes and get going I have shouted the Flash catchphrase, “let’s doooo it!”

I’ll have more later.

Off to bed now. We are on our way to Gallup tomorrow. About 200 miles and still in New Mexico.

Come back soon to see what we got up to.


 
Neill

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