Day 11 - Ya Tah Hey from Santa Fe

Ya ta hey is a Navajo greeting that means 'all is good'. And all is definitely good with RnB.

After breakfast we did a quick tour of the murals on the downtown Gallup buildings. We also hit a few of the Trading Posts and saw more jewelry than you can fathom. We had no idea there was that much turquoise in the world, much less in a small town surrounded by the Navajo reservation. Some of the larger shops were more like museums with historic collections of Navajo, Hopi, Apache, and Zuni work on display. We bought a few trinkets, including a pair of Navajo moccasins, and talked to some of the locals before we headed out of town.

For miles the highway follows along a gorgeous red sandstone bluff. Several different Jurassic units form the base, bluffs and caprock to make a striking landscape. Here is more information on the geology: Geologic Tour: Red Rock Park (nmt.edu). 

Crossing the continental divide was a major milestone. This spine of the Americas stretches from western Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. On Day 8, we crossed the Colorado River, which forms the boundary between California and Arizona before flowing into the Gulf of California near Guadalupe. Just southwest of Albuquerque, we drove over the Rio Grande, which drains into the Gulf of Mexico between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas.

There are at least two generations of Route 66 through New Mexico, the original one looping north through Santa Fe and a later one bypassing it, both eventually being largely replaced by Interstate 40 and 25. We stayed off of I-40 where it made sense, but when we hit I-25 south of Albuquerque, we stayed in the fast lane north to Santa Fe. We settled into a lovely room at the Old Santa Fe Inn. The Pueblo architecture here is charming. 

Our routine for settling into a hotel is getting better. Drag our bags in, get food and beverages in the fridge and sigh contentedly. Before long we were ready for a walk before dinner.  

We've seen flashy old cars for pretty much the whole trip so far, but at the old Plaza in Santa Fe we saw a line of old tricked out Harleys. All had straight pipes and when they took off to tour the town, everyone knew.

We went to the top of La Fonda on the Plaza for a drink and a light dinner. The sun was getting low, and the town had that golden glow. Downstairs, we checked out a twosome scratching out western songs in the main floor lounge, but on the advice of some waiters we searched out Evangelos. La Fonda is a pretty smooth place, very toney; Evangelos is, um, not. There was a guitar player, Terry, belting out New Orleans style tunes accompanied by Ramone on a percussion box. The sign behind the bar made clear that this was a serious place. The bartender wasn't much into cocktails ("we got no bitters and no fancy liqueurs") but he poured a healthy shot. If you click on the picture to get a large view, the photo on the right of the soldier is the bartender's father, and that picture made the cover of Life magazine. 

A local came in. leaned on the bar and started chatting us up. He started as a beat cop in Santa Fe fifty years ago and never left. We learned a good bit about the town from him. He told us he wrote a novel about being a cop in Santa Fe, and it is with his agent. After twenty years of waiting, he just got a call that maybe they would use the storyline to make a film. Hmmmm, don't hold your breath, but you gotta wish him all the best.

Today's mileage: 224.2.

License plate count - Alaska, Arizona, Arizona Navajo Nation, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee. Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the US Government. And from Oh Canada - British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Quebec.

Our musical piece today comes from Bob Dylan. We just discovered he wrote a song about Santa Fe. 

Santa-Fe - YouTube