Saturday 19 June 2010

US66 Tour - Day 9 - Santa Fe to Gallup

Had a bit of a lie in as  I wasn’t wanting any breakfast today and we were packed and ready to go by 8:30. Today is the first time we have got away before the Eaglerider mob.

Weather superb, not a cloud to be seen.

A short ride to our first stop off, a diner in a town called Madrid. This is no ordinary diner, in fact it’s not even a diner but a gift shop. BUT, it happens to be the diner that featured and was built especially for the film, The Wild Hogs. You may know it, it’s about 4 mid lifers who go on a road trip on their Harleys. I’ve already mentioned we’ve nicknamed Bill after Dudley from the film. Here we were able to show him the character. Gary knows the owner and rang ahead so she could open up for us. She has a shop next door, so it’s not normally open. I bought myself a R66 skull cap. They reckoned it makes me look like John Travolta, I’m not so sure.  I’m made to feel like a film star though as David and wife Françoise but take photos of me. They are much more artistic than yours truly, who just points and shoots and they have me turning my head at a certain angle to get the diner reflected in my mirror sunnies. As we were stopped the Eagleriders came cruising by but didn’t stop. Another piece of one-upmanship for Gary. Not sure what they have seen this tour, not as much as us, I bet.

 After a few photos, some of the group outside, we hit the road again.

Our next stop was in Albuquerque old town. Once again we are stopping for lunch at one of Gary’s haunts, where he knows the owners and they have a special area set up for us out on the patio. By the time we reach the town it is very hot. I think this must’ve been our first 100+ temp day. Before we eat we take a little time to look round the old town square and take a few photos. This is very wild westy.

Lunch is a nice toasted turkey and ham sandwich washed down with iced tea. The restaurant is the oldest building in Albuquerque and the 3rd oldest in New Mexico. It’s soon time to move on though and we’re once again back in the saddle in the baking heat.

Just a short journey this time before we pull in for another photo shoot. This time we are at the Rio Grande. We walk out onto the bridge and take our snaps. It’s nowhere near as big as the Mississippi and quite shallow from the looks of it. Not hard to imagine John Wayne herding his cattle across it.

Back on the bikes again we stop off a another couple of sites for a photo shoot. An old abandoned store and sign and the point of continental divide. A sign tells you that to the east, rainwater flows into the Atlantic ocean and to the west, the Pacific.  Whilst stopped we listen to Tom Jones’ ‘The Young New Mexican Puppeteer’. A tad surreal. We also stop for an ice cream, Gary likes his ice creams, before finally arriving in Gallop. We are staying at the El Rancho. This hotel looks really nice, all wooden, cartwheels, etc. It’s been here a long time and is famous, amongst other things, for the film stars that have stayed here making westerns over the years. Each room has a name on the door. I’m in Forrest Tucker. I have Rita Hayworth over the hallway, so I may drop in on her after dinner ;-)  Simon & Viv are in William Holden. Not sure about the others.

Once checked in, we headed down for dinner. Most of us had burgers, which are all named after films stars. A couple of people had a Ronald Regan, I went for a WC Fields. That was washed down with a couple of Sierra Nevada pale ales.

There is no internet in the rooms here, so I’m sitting in the lobby doing this. The guy behind the desk has just turned half the lights out but tells me I can stay as long as I like. Just long enough to send this and upload some pics.

Tomorrow we are off to Williams and will be entering our 7th state, Arizona. We are there for 2 nights, the second day being a ride up to the Grand Canyon and optional helicopter ride. I’ll be on the Harley but not in the helicopter. Too expensive!

Hopefully I’ll have time to get the blog updated before we leave for the next stop.



Neill

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