Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
1 Thessalonians 5:11
0 miles biked – 0 ft climb – 100% rejuvenated
We had so much fun today! I am an introvert so I don’t totally hate driving by myself in an RV across the country. But it is SO refreshing to hang out with friends! Both old friends (now I’m not really saying Mary & Stew are old, but I HAVE known them for 30 years so you can make your own conclusions) and new friends. This day was one more gift from God along our journey.
We started off the morning just kinda nesting & straightening. It was really nice to not have to be getting ready for a bike ride. At 8:30 Mary & Stew came by to pick us up to go hike at the Petroglyph National Park. Because what better way to relax from biking 80 miles than to go hiking? We took the Piedras Marcadas Canyon trail because it was only 1 & 1/2 miles and it allowed dogs. We had Mary & Stew’s dog, Nikita, with us. It was a very easy trail of mostly sand and pretty quickly we could see petroglyphs on the rocks. As I understand it, these are basically early graffiti left by the Native Americans and Spanish settlers. Although there were lots of signs saying to stay on the path, we saw a guy climbing down the mountain . Uh oh! Should we call the path police? As he got closer, he greeted us and told us he lives in a neighborhood at the top of the mountain. We walked with Don along the path for quite a while and he told us all kinds of interesting stories about the area and showed us some off the beaten path petroglyphs that he had found. So yeah, we were off the beaten path. Don’t tell the path police! He had found one drawing that showed a warrior looking at a guy on a horse and had a date of 1500 something. Another one was of 2 Kokopelli, the Indian flute player. I was a little worried that Bruce might twist his ankle or something climbing around on all those rocks looking for little known petroglyphs. Off the beaten path. Then I would have to finish the ride to San Diego. Which might take a little longer.
We ate brunch at Frontier because it is one of the oldest restaurants along route 66 and because it seemed like everyone we talked to recommended it.
Our instructions were to get the Huevos Rancheros with green chile stew or a Carne Adovada Burrito with green chiles. New Mexicans love their green chiles. We obediently ordered variations of those recommendations. And yum! But awful spicy for my wimpy little mouth. I was glad that our next stop was Route 66 Diner for milkshakes!
Since we were RV-free, we decided to walk around Nob Hill, the part of Route 66 near University of New Mexico. Bruce wanted us all to meet his new friends at the El Camino Donut shop, so we headed that way. I popped in before Bruce and told them I had heard that they had been harassed by a biker yesterday. Well, I should have said cyclist because Clint was totally confused, thinking I meant someone in a motorcycle gang. Which luckily they had NOT been harassed by. We visited for a bit, bought some doughnuts for tomorrow and admired Caren’s art on the walls. I wish I would have taken some pictures of her work. Or better yet bought something. But I guess you’ll just have to go there yourself to see it. And when you do, I’d love the one of the 3 buffalos. Or one of the butterflies.
By this time we were all ready to go home and take a nap. Cause that’s what you do when you’re over 50. So when we got home I relaxed by actually taking a nap and Bruce relaxed by fixing my closet door, fixing the latch on the RV, fixing something on his bike and cleaning the top of our awning (which we opened up for the first time). To each his own.
For dinner we met up with my friend from high school, (go Rolla Bulldogs!) Mike Meyer and his wife Lozanne. They had originally suggested a place called El Pinto which sounded really neat, but it was totally booked. We ended up going to a place called Sadie’s of New Mexico which was also delicious. The salsa was a bit spicy for me but the queso was maybe the best I’ve ever tasted. Bruce got a burger (with green chiles of course). I got a salad with the green chiles on the side. It was just what I needed after eating heavy duty Mexican for so many previous meals. Another fun night with friends!
When we got home from dinner we took our chairs and Bruce’s guitar over to Mary & Stew’s camper and sang old christian youth group songs. Mostly just Bruce and Mary sang because the song book was from when Bruce was in Junior High youth group and since he’s WAY older than me, I didn’t know any of the songs.
My amazingly brilliant husband just looked up how to change an iphone that currently takes live photos in HEIC format to start taking pictures in JPEG. Why is this important you ask? Because up until now for each picture, I had to convert it to JPEG so that it could be recognized by the wordpress program I use for this blog. So starting tomorrow the picture uploading process should be a lot faster. Thanks honey!!!!
