Ashes to ashes, sand to sand Every married woman has got a back door man. —Seth Richards, “Skoodledum Doo,” 1928

We are greeted with a bright crisp morning although last night’s forecast was for rain. We are heading to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a two-night stop-over.

As we drive through Farmington we realize that it is a bigger town than we thought. We turn onto Highway 44 heading toward Cuba! We cross the San Juan River again. Cattle are grazing and I guess the landscape could be described as a prairie. A heavy cloud is building up in the distance. I look out to my left and spot 5 small white crosses on the side of the road, that must have been a nasty accident. Time for a toilet stop and as we get out of the car we all comment on how cold it is.

As we approach Lybrook around 10 AM the countryside changes again with more squat trees than the very low scrub (prairie). I have noticed that every 10 miles or so there is a road sign saying ‘Report Drunk Drivers’. They all have bullet holes in them, don’t upset drunk drivers! There is rain visible in the distance as we drive past the Apache Nugget Center and Casino. We are now only 17 miles from Cuba and are now at an elevation of 7,000 feet. Here we go we just crossed the Continental Divide and the elevation has risen to 7,380 feet. Mountains are now directly in front of us and Pine Trees now come into view. We have just hit Cuba and I was keen to stop for some ‘Amish Style Homemade Baked Goods’, however, we motored on. We turn onto South 550 near Bernalillo and we can again taste desert dust.

Turning left onto Interstate 25 and we are now only 25 miles from Santa Fe. We hit our (Santa Fe) our destination but it still is too early to check into the Air BnB We made a slight detour to the Sante Fe Market Railroad district. It looks like it was once a warehouse district with the main Santa Fe Rail Station in the middle. As with a lot of industrial areas worldwide that no longer function as such the area has been turned into an arts district, with eateries, and clothing boutiques. We decide to have a late breakfast at Opuntia, a trendy type of bar/restaurant. The food was pretty good (stayed tuned for another Food Blog from Hoff).

Photo Above Santa Fe Railroad District

We had a look in a couple of the art galleries. Very good work on display and the art is for sale but oh so expensive.

We checked into our Air BnB and it is very acceptable.

Bernie Wendy and Hoff have booked to go to a Wine Bar.

Photo Above Herve Wine Bar

I am feeling pretty shattered and decided to stay home. I found a T.V. station that plays old Western Movies 24/7. How is this for a coincidence? The movie that is just about to start is …… wait for it ….. the 1951 release of Santa Fe a story about the building of the Santa Fe railine. The movie stars Randolph Scott. So here I am sitting in Sante Fe watching Santa Fe.

The crew got back at about 9:30 PM and from the sound of them they had a good night.