Pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/brandonjhuff/CanadaSeptember15
By the numbers:
1- dead bike
1 – amazing view
3 – prisons
14 – buses
So…we got a late start. My fault. I wanted to finish the previous days blog, edit a few pics, and grab breakfast downstairs. We finally get out of the hotel about 9:15am and head to Sandia Peak – I was *very* excited to go on this ride since it’s been recommended to me by numerous friends. The turquoise trail takes us from Santa Fe to the base of the impressive peak. I look my google maps to see if there’s a short cut through the mountain to ABQ and it looks like there is. Sweet!
We get to the base of the mountain and I look up to see the top and it doesn’t look that high but maybe that’s because we’re already at 6000 feet. The road is amazing – everything I’d been told. It’s perfectly maintained, banked, with good signage. Awesome. Even more awesome if the fact that there’s NO ONE on the road. I should ride on Tuesday mornings more often. We head up to the peak and we’re almost there before I realize that the “peak” I saw before was just a low pass. The looming peak just ahead of us is the real peak. I’m embarrassed I was that wrong but thrilled there’s a lot more awesome road ahead of us!
I get to the turn off before the peak to head to ABQ and not 100 feet ahead of us the road turns to gravel and mud. Damn it! Again! This time the GPS said it was a road. Hmm – I go to start my bike and it just goes dead. No power at all. Then some power but it won’t turn over. Ghen dead again. Hmm – something electric. I was the last person to touch the battery so I check the connection. It seems solid but the screw is loose so I tighten it and my problem goes away. Whew.
Off to the peak! It turned out to be another good change of route since the road got better as we climbed to over 10000 feet. The view from the top is stunning. It’s perfectly clear and we can see for close to 75 miles in any direction. I was up on Sandia Peak last year but it was at night. Glad I made it back to see it in the light. It’s very high – just climbing the stairs to the lookout point has us both outta breath. We snap a few pics and head back down the mountain to make up some lost time and even downhill is a blast.
Back down to more reasonable elevations, we head down to Hwy 40 and drone on for 150 miles to Gallup before taking a short cut Tim and I found last year. This road goes through the Navajo and Hopi reservations and really puts things into perspective. I was hit hard by it last year and this year it really had an impact on Dan. I really am fortunate to be able to take a trip like this…
We make good time through the meandering roads avoiding 14 (yes! 14!) school buses and some VERY fast moving semis. For the first time on this trip, we headed into the sun as it set….and it sucked! We roll into Tuba City a little after 6pm and it looks strange but familiar after seeing it during a power outage last year. We check in and immediately head over to the only restaurant in town conveniently attached to the hotel. Nice. We wait 15 minutes before even being acknowledged and are then told food might be out to our table in an hour or so. Uggh. Not nice. I’m moments away from going a block down the street for dinner when our water comes by to take our order. An appetizer is in front of us just a few minutes later and my thought of a big mac quickly fade away.
Tomorrow – Vegas, baby!
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Should I presume that this was the last update?
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