back to AJA.CarlRaffaDeleted's great American bicycle trip

---

Well, I've had a fun past few weeks. How about you?

I think the last time I wrote I was in Amarillo. Nice town, home of the Big Texan Steak House. If you eat a 72 oz steak in an hour, including appetizers and side dishes, it's free. In the past 30 or so years, about 30,000 people have tried, about 5000 have succeeded. While I was there a guy tried, but failed. I don't know what a 72 oz steak costs, but I gotta imagine it's a lot.

---

---

West of Amarillo is Cadillac Ranch, a row of 10 cadillacs planted nose down in the dirt. Someone was trying to make a statement, probably something oil related, it being Texas and all.

The rest of Texas was rather unremarkable. A few small towns. A Dairy Queen or two. Just before the New Mexico border, the plains end, and the pancake flat terrain gives way to hills and mesas.

There are some nice stretches of old road in eastern New Mexico, but there are also some stretches where there is nothing but I-40. Riding on the interstate isn't that bad. The trucks don't really bother me, but the tire shrapnel does. When steel-belted radials come apart, they spew large amounts of thin steel wire. This wire tends to become lodged in my tires. It generally doesn't cause an immediate flat, but does lead to a slow leak. There's nothing worse than trying to get an early start and finding two flat tires.

There isn't a lot in eastern New Mexico along I-40. The first big town is Tucumcari with a population of 6000 and something like 2000 hotel rooms. That many hotel rooms in the middle of nowhere means dirt-cheap prices. Further on is Santa Rosa, home of the Blue Hole, a small spring-fed lake popular for scuba diving because of its crystal clear water and interesting cave formations.

I opted not to take the old route up through Santa Fe. I just got tired of riding. So I spent two days riding uphill into a 20-30 mph wind to get to Albuquerque. The last 20 or so miles, through Tijeras Canyon and down to the Rio Grande, were all downhill, though. Melanie, a friend of mine from college, lives there and was gracious enough to offer me a place to stay. I spent 10 days there. Melanie drove me down to the VLA Radio Telescope, south of Albuquerque near Socorro, and up north to the Bandelier National Monument and through Santa Fe.

Leaving New Mexico, I took an older alignment down through Los Lunas and west along Highway 6. With an easterly wind, I managed to make it to Grants. From Grants I went to Gallup. If you want any Native American jewelry, Gallup is the place to get it. They even peddle the stuff in the restaurants.

From Gallup, I rode into Arizona, and eventually to the Petrified Forest National Park/Painted Desert. I got there too late to camp in the park, but one of the park rangers directed me to a nice secluded place right outside the park boundary. I got up early the next morning and got to see a lot of the park before the hordes of tourists showed up.

I spent the next night in Holbrook in the Wigwam Motel. It's just one of those things you have to do. From there I rode to Winslow and stood on the corner. Not much was going on, but I spent the night there anyway.

From Winslow I rode to Flagstaff, with a stop at Meteor Crater.

Tomorrow I'll ride to Williams, and take the over-priced train to the Grand Canyon. I'd ride up there, but it's 60 miles one way, and I imagine the road is jam packed with tourists. Not my idea of fun. Besides, trains are fun.

I've only got about two weeks left in my journey. I'll probably send one last email from L.A.

Carl - dearcarl@yahoo.com

---

back to AJA.CarlRaffaDeleted's great American bicycle trip

-- MadisonBryan - 08 Oct 2001