Just outside of Santa Fe, Mother Nature honors one of her favorite dessert creatures with a rock sculpture in its likeness –
camel rock. We begin the climb out of Santa Fe. The road is lined with prairie dogs who tell us noisily that we do not belong on
their road. All the homes we pass look the same - square, adobe, brown. Once at the summit the view extends to the edge of the earth.
Over the top, the downhill took us all the way to Espanola, about 15 miles.
Halfway down the hill going fifty-mph the back tire exclaims, "Kapow!" The bike shakes. Louie tries to slow us down but each time he applies the brakes the back tire slides out from under us. Louie manages to right the bike every time. Bec begins to put on the drag brake slowly. Working together, the bike finally shudders to a stop. That was exciting! The sidewall of the back tire is completely blown out. Thank goodness we have a foldable tire with us.
Back on the road, we coast into Espanola, Indian Casino capital of the world. We think they have at least four. We donate some money to their cause. However, the town has grown as a result of them. We could see many new businesses standing beside the old.
We pass through a pueblo. Dogs run free and join us enthusiastically for a good run. Children play in the doorways. Churches
stare at each other from both sides of the street. Red clay dirt is everywhere extending up over the buildings making them look as
if they are rising up out of the earth.
The next couple of days we spend sightseeing with Louie’s friend, Lester. We visit Bandelier, a preserved Anasazi Indian village hanging off the cliffs. We climb up into the compartments where they lived. They are very small, only about 4 feet wide by 6 feet long but are cooler inside. This space was for a whole family. Families are stacked up 3 and 4 on top of each other. It is amazing that they could live in such a tiny area. Louie and Lester leave Bec to ponder her fear of heights as they climb up a series of long ladders to look at a Kiva (place of worship and ceremony). Bec finds kinship with another person who sends his wife on ahead while he stands shaking and holding on to the rail.
We camp one night by the Rio Grande, nestled safely down in a canyon. We watch the stars until we fall asleep then awaken to the sun peeking up over the canyon rim. The Rio Grande, swollen from spring run off, would not give us the fish for breakfast as we had hoped it would.
At Taos we find a bike shop and get some tires to replace the remaining one on the front and the spare foldable on the back. We find some New Mexico yellow and red jerseys that the shop owner will ship to us. How could we refuse!
We stop at a Santuario to get some holy dirt, known for its healing qualities. People will put down their crutches and walk into the Santuario for their dirt. We hope it will help keep us safe and healthy on the ride. The church has a very large bell and is known to have the biggest wooden cross in the area. Every year there is a pilgrimage where people walk for miles carrying crosses and end at the Santuario, cleansed of all their sins.
Lastly we visit the Royal Gorge and walk across a bridge over a deep slit cut in the earth by the Arkansas River. Louie is distressed that it is called the Arkansas River because it has nothing to do with Arkansas. Some things are not logical but just are. However, this reasoning does not make it easier for Louie to accept the river’s name. Bec, for no real reason, has an easier time walking across the bridge in the road instead of the sidewalk. She knows it is more dangerous but can have better control over her height anxiety there. Strange.