up early this morning and on the road by 8:00?! whoa! yes, we wanted to get an early start and figured we could make it to gallup, nm by 3:00 pm. the wind calmed down to only about 10 mph and today it was a tail wind, so we made great time across new mexico. we saw some great rock escarpments along interstate-40 and found plentiful gas stations and souvenir stops all along the route. in many places along i-40, historic route-66 crisscrosses the path and parallels the old road, as well. we talked about getting off the road and driving a portion of route-66 like we did in oklahoma, but wanted to make time and relax for the afternoon and evening in gallup, nm; that is where we ended up for tonight. the rock formations around the koa here in gallup are pretty extraordinary, even though they are not huge, like shiprock in arizona, which we hope to see tomorrow. the koa here in gallup is actually on route-66, so i guess we did drive a portion of the "mother road" when we went to dinner late this afternoon at la barraca, a mexican restaurant that was as authentic as they get. all the patrons except for nancy and i were either hispanic or native american, so when we walked in, we knew the food would be outstanding, and it was. so, as the sun goes down in gallup, new mexico, me and my shadow say "adios"...for now...
