Day 37 - Santa Rosa to Moriarty, New Mexico

Day 37 of our tour
November 9, 2016
82.3 miles today
(1689.6 miles, cumulative)
4285 feet of climbing
(65,496 feet of climbing, cumulative)


We were up early, packed, ready to meet John Thurston at our motel and give him most of our bags as he was going to drive the route behind us to help out. I was topping off the air pressure in both tires, and when removing the tight pump head from the front valve, the valve separated from the rest of the tube. It was time for tube change number one, but I did it in the motel room and it went smoothly.

John arrived and we all headed off. The day warmed noticeably as the sun rose. The wind was again behind us. It was great riding. We went through the town of Santa Rosa and got onto the shoulder of I-40, our home for the day. 

The scenery has changed slightly, as we were now at a higher altitude, and there are more small trees, and fewer cacti:

We quickly discovered that New Mexico truck drivers are a) very plentiful on weekday mornings, and b) see little need to change lanes when going past us. It was a very noisy day, but there were no close calls from any vehicles:

John stopped every hour or so to give us water, offer support, and just generally be the road angel that he was for us:

One of the interesting features of the day were the colourful bridges we went under. Here are some examples:

Today's road was long and straight with lots of gentle climbs and descents. Here is the view to the west, where we are going:

And when we got to that far-off speck on the horizon, we stopped and too a photo back toward the east. You can barely make out the small notch on the horizon where we had come from:

Another new feature today was seeing snow-covered mountains in the distance. These were to the north. Jean guessed they were near Santa Fe. We did not see any snow close to our route, though we did reach an elevation of over 7,0000 feet for a while.

Our high point was at a junction in the road called Clines Corners, and from there the last 20 miles was mostly a descent. The views of land below were spectacular:

The descents were fast. But, the shoulder of I-40 today was covered with debris, much of it from blown-out truck tires in the form of everything from large chunks of rubber to almost invisible bits of wire. In addition, small bits of crushed rock and other pebbles were everywhere, and I had to pay attention to dodge them:

I was not always successful, and we had both a front and rear tire go soft on us as the tubes developed slow leaks. These were a couple hours apart. I've become quite organized and quick at changing tubes.

When the descent ended we reached flat terrain near Moriarty, New Mexico, our destination for the night:

Both Google maps and the Ride With GPS map had shown us a motel on the eastern edge of the town. It was not there. Nothing but fields for miles around was visible. We stopped, checked local maps on the phones, found another motel, and headed toward it. Jean went with John in the car as she was very cold, and I rode the tandem alone as the motel was only two more miles away. After they drove off, the front tire went soft. I was able to pump it up enough to get to the motel, but it was the fourth flat of the day.

Several of our flats have been due to tiny bits of wire piercing the tire and then the tube. The resulting holes are so small that they are virtually impossible to see until the tube is submerged in water. Here is one piece of wire I pulled from the front tire after that latest soft front tire. I placed it on our tire pressure gauge to give some scale:

Jean, John and I celebrated the long day on the road at a Mexican restaurant recommended by the desk attendant at the motel. When we first drove by the restaurant, Nachos, the parking lot was empty, and, as the building was rather old, we were not sure about stopping. We spotted two police officers in a car parked in a lot across the street doing speed checks, and John drove over to ask them for a recommendation for a Mexican restaurant. "Nachos" was their suggestion, so back we went. The food was great, and when we left, it was over half full.

John presented us with some mementos from the day: a Route 66 flag, two Route 66 jacket patches, and, since it was the day after a significant one in American politics, two American flag patches. We were very thankful to John for driving along with us, and for the gifts. He headed on to Albuquerque to spend the night at Jean's brother's house, and to then continue a mini-vacation to see friends in Colorado.

Jean and I went to bed to get ready for the last day.