End of the road

We left Amarillo before dawn and got to Sedona before sunset. It was a long day in the saddle. At the end, the Jeep looked like it was "rode hard and put up wet". We were glad to toss back a couple of beers on the Sullivan's deck and watch the sun go down.

We got up early to get a good start and got on I-40 before 7am. The Garmin said next turn in 560 miles (or something like that). It is a long haul across North Texas and all of New Mexico. Not much to comment on as the scenery looks a lot like the picture.

We gassed up in Albuquerque and decided to take an early lunch at the Laguna Reservation. Like the Whistle Stop in Texas, we wanted to stop at an off-beat place. We saw hand-made signs on the highway directing us to a place where we could get Fry Bread and Indian Tacos. So we pulled off the interstate and found the little building. The Laguna woman slid the screen window open and we ordered our lunch. She was very nice and friendly and 10 minutes later she slid the window open again and handed us our lunches. Check it out in the photos. It was terrific, if you like that kind of stuff.

We took a little side trip near the town of Grants, east of Gallup, NM. We saw on the map that there was a National Monument called El Morro nearby so we went to check it out. It was such a nice surprise. It is a rock formation in the middle of nowhere that had a deep pool of fresh water that was runoff from the top. The settlers and Indians used to stop there as it was one of the few spots on the trail that they could find water. There are Indian pictographs and settler's carvings in the walls. Two of the women who etched their names in the wall were attacked on the trail and had to return to Santa Fe before trying again. One had actually been shot with an arrow. And I thought our trip was an adventure.

After we left El Morro, we passed through the Zuni Reservation. No photos allowed on the reservation. The highway runs through town so one can get a look at the homes. Pretty rough looking accomodations. We did see a number of mud-ovens with people cooking their Zuni bread outdoors.

BTW, we did 3076 miles from Walpole to Sedona, via the southern route.