Get Your Kicks on Route 66

Wednesday, 31 October.  We are celebrating this Halloween night in the oldest state capital in the United States: Santa Fe, New Mexico.  New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, was recently named as one of the top places to visit offering first-rate adobe architecture, numerous world-class art galleries, and first-class accommodations, dining and shopping. Supposedly the average visitor comes to Santa Fe three times in their lifetime - this is my second and we intend to take full advantage of not only Santa Fe, but also Taos, a 2-hr drive north.

We left Gallup this morning about 9:30am and enjoyed an uneventful drive east on I-40 toward Albuquerque where we picked up I-25 North to Santa Fe.  The scenery proved to be pretty much your southwest scrub trees, rocks, and sand -- typical desert scene -- until we got to Grants where we began to see large black lava fields on both sides of the interstate for several miles.  The twisted black rocks were quite a sight, let me tell you. Supposedly the lava beds were created from eruptions of several volcanoes up until about 800 years ago. Must have been quite an event.  Shortly after we left the lava fields we began to see beautiful red mesas a couple miles north of I-40.  This continued until we were about an hour from Albuquerque.  Certainly was a pleasant change from the drab desert landscape across much of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico.

Another feature of the drive east on I-40 today was the periodic opportunity to get off the interstate and travel on historic Route 66, deemed by some as "the most famous highway in the world."  Also known as the Will Rogers Highway, Route 66 was one of the original US Highways and became one of the most famous roads in America.  It originally ran from Chicago to LA covering a total of almost 2,500 miles.  For our younger blog readers out there, Route 66 was recognized in popular culture by both a hit song and the Route 66 TV show in the 1960's. We actually saw several billboards along the interstate advertising various business on "historic Route 66," including the jingle, "Get your kicks on Route 66."   It all brought back some fond memories of my youth.

We arrived arrived at our RV park in Santa Fe, the Trailer Ranch RV Park, around 1:30pm -- a short day, but much appreciated by the Winnebago's driver!  The staff here is very friendly and we spent probably 30 minutes with them getting the "tourist layout" for touring Santa Fe.  There is so much to do and see here that I'm sure our five days in this area will just fly by.  Looking forward to next few days.

One of the sights we hope to see -- the most photographed church in Santa Fe