GRANTS, NM—The Ancient Way Cafe didn’t open until 9:00. At 7:00 Mike and I were in the restaurant trying to use their wifi. They didn’t care. In fact, their coffee pot was always full, even if breakfast was another two hours away.
I barely managed to get Monday’s report posted before the network crashed for good. By the way, if you haven’t had a chance to read Day #3, please check it out. You will feel proud to be living in this multi-cultural land called New Mexico.
It was 10:30 before Mike and I pointed our noses into a stiff east wind and headed uphill. It must have been blowing at 20 mph and it continued all day. Our own pace was considerably slower.
By the time we stopped for lunch two hours later, we had gone less than 14 miles. It had been all uphill with the wind coming directly at us. I leaned my bike up against a Chain of Craters sign and got out our food. It was rather simple fare: almond butter and jelly burritos. But we enjoyed them.
Finally, we topped out at the Continental Divide. That started a long downhill run that lasted almost all the way into Grants which was 30 miles away. The wind was still there, but when we rounded the southeast corner of the Zuni Mountains and started north, the wind was mostly at our backs.
We were in Grants by 3:30. It started to rain just as we rode up Santa Fe Ave. Fortunately, we were passing by an art gallery: the Double Six Gallery/Cibola Art & Artifacts Museum. We must have looked like we needed shelter because a woman working in the window office of the gallery smiled at us as we dismounted and walked our bikes to the side entrance.
But the amazing thing was that a man opened the door and said, “Why don’t you put your bikes inside.” That man turned out to be the Executive Director of the Cibola Arts Council, Robert Gallegos.
It was a fascinating gallery and museum! There was a room full of enlarged postcards from old Route 66, concentrating on the longest stretch of the original route still in existence—the road from Grants to Mesita.
They also sponsor an annual show of Mount Taylor paintings, some new, some old. Many were incredible, all were interesting.
But what really made me smile were the posters highlighting Grants as the carrot growing capital of America! That’s right. Grants was the carrot capital of the United States.
I want to mention something that I found out a little later from Bianca Mitchell, who is head of the Grants MainStreet program. This Saturday, May 16th, Grants will have an “Artscrawl” type event called “Black Rock Ramble.” I remember the great time Mike and I had in Gallup last Saturday at their Artscrawl. I would check it out if you are within an hour or so of Grants. This part of the country is absolutely full of artists!
The rain stopped. We rode lazily down Santa Fe Ave. looking for adventure. An old building with Charlie’s Radiator Service was begging to be photographed. In my mind I could imagine the old cars heading west and running into the steep hills and thin air of western New Mexico. Your engine overheats…and time to have some work done on your radiator.
We rode over the the Sands Motel. Next to us, a group of Continental Divide hikers were celebrating. The six of them had started in Mexico and were hiking up the spine of the Rocky Mountains to Canada! The Continental Divide Trail is the longest and least hiked major trail in America. It twists and turns for 700 miles just in New Mexico.
There are a lot of people that come to New Mexico as part of an adventure oriented life…like these hikers. And even like Mike and me. There is a lot to see and do in this part of the state. A lot of it starts when you get “Off The Road.”
