We dumped our plan to head for Tucumcari, NM, to stay at the iconic Blue Swallow Motel. Mitch visited Tucumcari for a photo shoot yesterday, and reported depressing decay and rotted buildings all around the town, except for the Blue Swallow…so we passed. Instead, today became a laid-back driving day, on some of the best roads we’ve encountered so far. Oh, yeah, it WAS kind of cold up in the mountains! Smooth pavement, safe fast speed, wide open vistas with mountains in the distance and majestic buttes and mesas on each side, climbing all the way toward our new destination: Pecos National Historical Park, near the town of Pecos, NM. Our goal was to arrive in time to participate in a group phone/video call with the 5th grade class at Palm Beach Elementary, headed by my favorite teacher, our daughter Angela Parker.
The group meeting with students didn’t go off as planned, so we took the opportunity to hike the trail of the Park’s carefully excavated ruins of an ancient Native American settlement that existed hundreds of years on this site, way before arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors. The museum (indoors) chronicled the clash of civilizations that occurred over the years since Europeans showed up, with the good and bad influences explained. On our hike, it was clear why this was such an important site for a settlement in those ancient times, at the intersection of numerous trading routes over the mountains and valleys clearly visible below. Archaeologists have excavated this site for years; we could see the dwelling foundations and even enter an underground ceremonial kiva. We also saw the remains of one of the old Spanish Mission Churches established during Spain’s occupation of the area. Super day of exploration.
As we’ve come to expect, we were constantly explaining our cars and mission to passers-by who noticed us in the parking lot. The signs we put all over our cars helps generate curiousity, and we get to meet all kinds of friendly folks. Many of them photo our QR codes to donate to the charities later, we hope.
Hunger pushed us to drive briskly to Santa Fe, where Mike knew of a restaurant called The Shed. We found it near a host of funky and/or fancy shops. What a meal! We got a selection of New Mexican cuisine that was spicy, delicious, and unforgettable. After the late lunch feast, we staggered around the block to explore downtown Santa Fe, ending up at St. Francis of Assisi Cathedral. Beautiful, but not ancient…I think it was 150 years old or so!
Onward to our Santa Fe motel, where once again Mitch was able to cajole the front desk folks to let me park Aardvark under the covered main entrance portico. We have no desire to use the car cover when the car advertises our charities…it gets LOTS of attention for our charities when motel residents have to pass all those graphic on the car to go in and out!
Tomorrow we’re meeting up with a local car club for lunch and car talk, then on to Albuquerque to prepare for weekend activities.
