Day 38 - Moriarty to Albuquerque, New Mexico

Day 38 of our tour
November 10, 2016
33.9 miles today
(1723 miles, or 2773 kilometers, cumulative)
1778 feet of climbing
(67,274 feet of climbing, cumulative)


This was our final day of riding since we've decided to end the trip in Albuquerque. We both have enjoyed every day of riding and our bodies have held up well. However, we never felt like we had to go to the end of Route 66, but rather that we would make decisions based on conditions. The shorter days, the colder mornings, the wear and tear on our tires (now we have no spares left), and the distance between motels prompted us to decide several days ago to finish today. Plus, the timing will allow us to go home for a while and then pay a visit to our grandchildren before they head east for Christmas break.

Here is the route we rode on the tandem. Purists will note that we left the official Route 66 in portions of Missouri when we made a side trip to visit Jean's brother and his family.

Since we'd had so many flat tires, we began the last day with a patch party. Here are five tubes all patched and ready to put into service if needed:

We were in Moriarty, New Mexico and today we never had to ride on the I-40 but rather used a frontage road all the way to Albuquerque. It was largely the route of the original Route 66:

Albuquerque was Jean's home town. She left when she finished her bachelor's degree and went to Vancouver for grad school, which is where we met. As we hit the road, I asked her if she had driven this particular one much during her Albuquerque years. She said, "Oh sure, the glider club was here in Moriarty."

Jean's father had been a lifelong aviator. He flew P-38 Lightnings in WWII doing weather reconnaissance, and then later was a flight instructor for both powered aircraft and gliders. He taught Jean and her two brothers to fly. Jean remembers many trips to Moriarty when Ken would be teaching gliding or flying the tow plane and she and her mom and brothers went along for the day.

The sky again featured beautiful cloud formations and some long, gentle climbs. Jean enjoyed seeing plants she remembered from years ago:

The ridge in front of us to the west was the Sandia Mountains. They are considered to be the southernmost of the Rocky Mountain range. On the eastern side they rise gently, as they were once a single huge slab of rock pushed upward from the west:

Today featured a delightful long stretch of downhill during the last ten miles. Moriarty is at 6220 feet, and from there we climbed another 1770 feet before stopping at a gas station for a quick break. As we rolled out of the station, the road was slightly downhill. We both thought that more climbing was ahead. Little did we know that we would not pedal again for many miles as we headed toward Albuquerque which is at 5200 feet.

When we reached Albuquerque we immediately saw the water drainage system, as it was alongside a bike path that skirted the eastern edge of the city. The huge drainage system consists of the original arroyos that were covered in concrete, designed to hold large amounts of runoff water:

Looming above the city of Albuquerque is the western side of the Sandia Mountains. While they were a gradually rising formation on the east, here on the west they drop down precipitously with steep sides:

Jean was excited to see vegetation along the bike path such as this cactus:

And some fall color:

One particular sighting of some wildlife got her extra excited, as she had never seen it while growing up here. Do you see it?

We saw two roadrunners, and here is an enlargement of one of them from the middle of the previous photo:

As for all those tubes, we used only one today. Back near Moriarty I could tell the bike was sluggish, and we stopped to check. Sure enough, a bulge had developed on the rear tire as it had worn thin. That tube never burst, though. All I did was replace the tire with our last spare. 

Then, along the bike path and only four blocks from Jean's brother's house, the rear tire went soft. We decided we wanted to ride rather than walk to the end, so we took thirty minutes to replace the rear tube for the final short ride.

It has now been a bit less than 48 hours since we arrived here. We are having a good visit with Jean's brother and his wife, and also with two of their grandchildren who are here for a couple days. The bike has been disassembled, cleaned and packed into the Samsonite case for Tuesday's flight.

It took us 35 days of riding to travel from Milwaukee to Albuquerque. It reminded me of December, 1974 when my family (Dad, Mom, seven younger brothers and sisters) all drove non-stop in 36 hours from Milwaukee to Albuquerque for Jean's and my wedding ceremony on December 21. (I don't actually know how much of their drive was on Route 66.)

Thanks to you all for following along, posting comments and wishing us well.