Abiquiu, NM

We are now in the very old small community of Abiquiu NM; the former residence of the great artist Georgia O'Keefe. (route mile 2123). Although we've been in New Mexico for a couple days, it wasn't until this morning that we came down out of the mountains and into classic NM landscape -- eroded red mesas, cottonwood trees, oak trees, spanish town names and surnames, old catholic churches, and our first temps over 80 in weeks.

Everything continues to go well. The weather has been perfectly splendid, and the scenery great. We have spent the last few weeks amongst hunters, as we are in the heart of the season. While most of the hunting camps are tidy and clean and the drivers are nearly always exceptionally courteous, the number of trucks and ATVs on the road is much higher than I expected. If anybody wants to ride this route but is nervous about having mechanical problems in the middle of nowhere with no access to help -- well, just come during hunting season and you will never be far from help. These camps are usually a couple trailers, a few pickup trucks, a handful of ATVs, some tables and chairs and usually a running generator (what they use the power for is unclear) - tucked into a cluster of trees on the side of a USFS dirt road.

We had been warned that the road quality deteriorates in NM and so far that has been true. In Colorado, the road surface was consistently very high. Once we crossed Indiana Pass and headed downhill toward NM the road quality has varied widely. It's very frustrating to ride downhill at 6 or 7 MPG because of the loose gravel/rocks on the surface.

Jim has had his second dog attack - it erupting out of one of the hunting camps - he takes the brunt of these because he rides in front. The barking and growling dog nipped his heal, it didn't break through the shoe, but it did cause him to lose control and crash - fortunately nothing hurt. He was riding downhill on a dirt/gravel road, so getting jumped on by a dog is a hard thing to ride through. That dog and that dog's owner got an earful about keeping their pet tied up so the riders behind us don't get the same attack. Jim was bitten once in England on a walking trip, and the owner of that dog as well as the owner of this dog said the same thing - "he's never done that before, he's a very gentle and nice dog".

We are a little too early for Cottonwood and Aspen colors, but we are getting little patches of nice yellow trees. It's quite lovely.

It's likely to be a while before we post again - we're in sparsely populated region with few towns and fewer libraries.

Amy and James