New Mexico adventures

Early this morning, we left Tucumcari and headed for Gallop, NM, a distance of about 315 miles. Since leaving Pennsylvania, we’ve driven about 2800 miles so far. As we were driving today, we were recounting the change in elevation. Two days ago, we were in New Orleans which averages about 20 feet BELOW sea level. Witchita Falls was 950 feet above sea level, Tucumcari was 4096 and today we crossed the Western Continental Divide on I-40 at an elevation of 7275 feet above sea level.

We are also seeing, once again, an amazing change in the terrain. We’d only driven about half an hour this morning when we began to see mountains, not just an occasional butte. In the distance, they were so beautiful and because the land is still mostly flat here, you can see things that are a long way off. As we continued, we began to see more details in the mountains. On the East Coast, we have beautiful hills and mountains that are almost completely covered with trees – hardwoods in the north and increasingly more evergreens as you travel south. But here, the mountains are sometimes sparsely covered with trees, mostly mesquite, but often they are just rock. The further we traveled the more dramatic these rock displays became. Tomorrow we head for the famed red rocks of Sedona so I’m sure we’ve a lot more to see.

We stopped at El Malpais National Conservation area and learned that the mountains we’d been admiring were part of the Cibola National Forest. Black, porous rocks were also visible in this area and we’d been guessing that perhaps they were lava and the rangers confirmed that. As “recently” as 4000 years ago, there were active volcanoes in this area.

I’m always fascinated by the differences

in the flora of regions so I had to find out about two plants I’d been seeing. One is the Wisconsin four o’clock (which I never was able to photograph successfully) which produced a bright magenta bloom scattered among the desert landscape. The other was a type of sage which is in bloom in certain areas and is shown in one of the photograph here. The small trees you see on the mountains here are mesquite, famed for its superior flavor when the bark is used in smoking meats. The early settlers referred to it as “manna” because it produces edible beans, and the pods can be ground and used to stretch the coffee when supplies are running low. It is also suitable for animal fodder. And artisans make beautiful wood pieces from its curved branches.

We arrived in the town of Gallup, NM today. Gallop is a center for native American art and culture. We toured a museum dedicated to the master artists living here. We also saw a beautiful statue dedicated to the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II.

Of course, I can’t write a blog without mentioning food and today’s food adventure was an authentic Mexican restaurant which was recommended by the local service writer who handled our oil-change today. We both had burritos (friends of Jim know this was a stretch for him, but he really liked it). We finished with fried ice cream, another first for Jim. The food was excellent, although the red chile was a little too hot for my taste. But we loved the restaurant, even though I believe we were the only persons there from Pennsylvania.

If you ever have the opportunity to visit the little town of Gallop, be sure you spend at least a day here.