A Long Day In The Saddle

So for those of you who know me, you know that I consider myself a transplanted Texan, even though I haven't lived there since 1992.  As such, I do understand certain colloquialisms of the Texan vernacular, many of which have to do with the equestrian arts, such as "Rode hard and put away wet!" (hint, its not a good thing!)  I also spent some time in my youth (during my first attempt at living in NYC - while I was studying at the National Shakespeare Conservatory) working at a riding stable in Englewood, NJ where I picked up other colorful equestrian phrases and skills.  But in all these riding experiences I came to understand what it means to have a long day in the saddle.

Now, in my cycling travels that will commence in just five days I am going to have plenty of these and I don't kid myself - they will be grueling.  But at least those days will only be grueling for me, not the rest of the family.  Today was a long day in the saddle for the entire family!  To once again give you a little perspective, here is the roue we found ourselves following today;



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It ended up being a distance of about 640 miles and took about 12 hours counting stops for food, gas, and an amazing scenic overview.  But it was a loooooooooonnnnnnnnggggggg  day! 

I wish I could report there were many exciting things we saw and did during this leg of our trip but I think the most exciting aspect of the entire journey was that we didn't break down!  The car performed beautifully except for a slight loss of power (okay, a noticable one) going up the big mountains.  It makes me a little nervouse for when we come back out of San Diego and head into the Rockies in July.  Fortunately, Amy and the kids will only be traveling for two or three hours a day then.  They also have a deal that they can stop at any exciting spots along the way and hang out and each one of them gets one a day.  All they have to do is call out "Short Stop!" when they see something they like or find interesting.

So, aside from a lot of trains pulling 70+ cars (we saw one pulling 106), there wasn't much that happened except for MY "short stop"!  We were passing through Gallup, NM and it was getting time for lunch so I suggested we stop and get gas and some food.  How could we resist such a prominent place in the "Route 66" song?  While there were many of the typical fast food places, we lucked out in that we chanced upon a little place called "Aurelia's Diner" which has this sign out front;

(It may not be Guiness, but it IS a six-pack I can sink my teeth into!)

Yes, an authentic diner on historic Route 66 - how could we NOT stop?  And once we stepped inside, we found ourselves transported to another time as we were greeted by the decor;

(That, my friends, is the finest naugahide you'll ever scrunch your derriere into!)

And I am not too proud to admit that I ordered the six pack of tacos.  It was cheap, it was good, it was filling.  And the pico de gallo was spicy and to die for.  I've said it before but I'll say it again, I LOVE MEXICAN FOOD!  I will be in heaven the next three weeks and I don't care who knows it!

But after indulging my Mexican tooth it was time to get the family back on the road and I couldn't resist cranking up a little John Mayer as we sang his cover of "Route 66" at the top of our lungs - okay, everyone except Amy that is who just grinned and bore the pain.  But here is the man himself performing his cover of that iconic song;

	John Mayer - Route 66 .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

And after gassing up it was time to be on the road again.  Not much to report for the res tof the trip excep that it was hot (which once again made me think - "what the hell was I thinking?") and we finally got to see segauro cactii (cactus? cactuses? cactusii?) with some flowers on them so we're hoping on the return trip we might actually get to see them in bloom.

And after a very, very, very, very long day we finally pulled into Gila Bend, AZ to stop for the night.  We ended up staying in a place a bit more expensive than any we've stayed in before (we LOVE the Super 8's), the Best Western Space Age Lodge!  It was more expensive but at that point our luck had finally run out and the William was having a melt down so we just said "the heck with it" and stopped for the night.  It has a space theme with pictures of the space shuttle on the walls and glitter embedded in the paint outside to make it sparkle.  Although it has a restaurant attached to it, we decided to go across the road to the Italian restaurant and get take out instead.  Here is the view from the outside;

Now its late and we have one final push to get into San Diego tomorrow - only 350 miles to go!  Its hard to believe that this portion of our journey is almost over.  We'll be there soon and in five days we'll be heading back again.

Stay well my friends and I'll write more from the road tomorrow!