I awoke early this morning. The Expresso Bar at the hotel didn’t open until 6:30, so I rode down the street to the Circle K for coffee. After the restaurant opened I bought a breakfast sandwich.

The entire group met at our hotel and rode to Santa Rosa. From there we split into two groups, one continued west on Route 66 and the group I was with went north to Santa Fe. The route we took was the pre-1937 route. In 1937 New Mexico cut out the section we rode and changed the route to go directly to Albuquerque. We had lunch at a delightful restaurant just outside Santa Fe, Harry’s Roadhouse.

After lunch the rest of the group headed for a Harley dealer and I made a bee line for Gallup. As I was heading west on I-40, I could see four distinct thunder storms. The darkest clouds and lightning were dead ahead, so I stopped and put on my rain gear. I rode through a downpour, but it lasted only 5 or 10 minutes.

The scenery from Albuquerque to Gallup is expansive. There are mesas from south to north. The rocks are varied in color, from the deep reds to the lightest sand. The heavy storm clouds add lots of drama to the scene.

The hotel in Gallup, the El Rancho, is old and quaint. The lobby is in the style of a grand western lodge. The rooms are small and each has the name of a famous person who stayed here. Our bikes are under covered parking. The lobby is filled with western artifacts from an Elk head to a huge geode.

We had dinner in the bar. The food was excellent.

An interesting “feature” is that there is Wi-Fi only in the lobby. I’m sitting at a dining-room sized table across from a German family, who are planning the continuation of their trip on their laptop.

Tomorrow we head for Flagstaff with a side trip to Sedona.