Day 8 Amerillo Texas to Santa Fe New Mexico

We left the windy prairies of Texas, stopping off at the Midpoint Cafe 1139 miles from Chicago. The lady who ran the place was fun as her business hour notice suggested. The grasslands changed quickly from a vivid green to a dry yellow with red sand and tumbleweed blowing across the highway. We had to ride a lot of Interstate Highway today as we had another long 310 miles to cover. On one stretch of old 66 we hit a flood ; there was no way around so we had to double back 6 miles to bypass it. We were now in New Mexico, "the badlands, outlaw country". During the 1800's this was the most lawless of all the territories and where Billy The Kid was finally shot and buried.

The terrain had changed, now there were hills and ridges and as I looked toward them I could imagine what it must have been like to see a posse of Indians starring down at you. How they got those wagon trains up and down those trails is a tribute to their tenacity. The roads, however, were wide and straight and made for fantastic riding. The bends are just curves, so even our poor riding skills let us cruise around them, as we made our way towards Santa Rosa where we stopped for lunch. Richards bike picked up a slow puncture so we had to swap it for the one on the support trailer, another delay, he hates this one, its a road glide but he hopes to get the puncture fixed in Santa Fe Tomorrow.

We arrived in Santa Fe around 6pm (clocks had gone back one more hour as we entered mountain time so it was really 7 pm to us). Small twisting streets led us to our hotel. The best we have stayed in since leaving Chicago. It looks like a film set from a spaghetti western and the people are predominantly Indian or Mexican, we are the El Gringo's for sure!

The staff provided a welcome reception for us with cheese, salami and biscuits and made us feel very welcome. After we had all freshened up we took a stroll around the town, had a few beers and returned to the hotel where we slept like babies in the biggest and most comfortable beds in the world!