Santa Fe

Santa Fe today, which wasn't quite as I'd expected it. I'd anticipated the middle of town to be high rise, but Santa Fe definitely is not. It's a Pueblo revival style of architecture, with most of the buildings around two stories high.

It works well to make a charming centre to the city, which was still sleepily awakening when we arrived in the centre on Sunday morning. We'd started early with coffees 'to go' so that we could be back by 1pm to meet some nearby friends. Not quite our original plan for how to meet, but close enough.

We'd sent them a mail throughout the post, when we left England, because we didn't have the right electronic means of communication. A few mishaps, but we were now all synchronised to meet. It should have been in Albuquerque, but hey.

mah-waan, mah-waan

We're still heading east and spent part of today on Route 66 spotting many shiny vehicles and a large assortment of Harley motorcycles.

Eventually it was time to head north towards the Rio Grande and the mountains.

All along the route are many signs of the native American Indians and tonight we're staying with the people of the Picuris Pueblo. They settled in the area some 800 years ago as the 'people of a hidden valley'. Nowadays, they are an intrinsic part of the scene around Santa Fe.

day sky black

The storm clouds that had blackened the sky also cracked with that lightning that goes across the sky instead of up and down.

We could hear gods arguing but no sign of tears. Then suddenly, a silence and minutes later a fierce drumming as the rain kicked for fifteen minutes before a new blue appeared and the sun returned.

Later we saw a weather report with splashes of red heat across most of America. The all-time New York record of 104 was lower than most of the temperatures we'd experienced since being here right up to the thunderstorms.

Getting my kicks

The idea of many of the Main Streets in USA being joined together by the old Route 66 was an interesting one, even if the Superhighways criss- crossing America brought an inevitable end to the old route with the crowded rise of the automobile.

I've travelled part of Route 66 before, but this time am further East, currently in New Mexico, where the road gets its own special signage and every so often there's a strip of it that's been refurbished.

What better place to stop at a brilliant diner and eat a blue plate special from the counter, sitting on one of those spinning stools? And don't forget the milkshake.

Mine's a strawberry.

Taking it easy in Winslow, Arizona

Today's picture is for a 'do-it-yourself' Eagles song lyric creation.

There's a lot of Eagles and Eagle-esque music on the radio here so what better place to stop on Route 66, than Winslow Arizona. I'm taking it easy here, standing on a corner and there's a girl in a red flatbed Ford over on the other side of the road. As if she's slowed to take a look at me.

The roadsigns show that Winslow is going through a makeover at the moment. Further through the town is La Posada, a railway hotel brilliantly designed by Mary Anne Colter and run by Fred Harvey who started the Harvey Girls movement. It had a shortish original history as a hotel until it was re-opened as a magical place a few years ago.

As a song lyric might go..."Such a fine sight to see".

petroglyphs

The sunrise had gone from zero to maximum in a few minutes and I was now contemplating the best route through some spiky terrain.

Today we needed to cover quite some ground to stay on track although inevitably we'd get sidetracked at some point or other.

I can't easily list today's extensive diversions in a five minute post, so here's picture of some of the petroglyphs we spotted on a big rock before we crossed the border into New Mexico.


.

flora

The desert around Sedona is actually quite abundant with flora. There's supposed to be around 11 inches of water a year, mainly in the monsoon season - which is right about now.

The baby cactus we've acquired is supposed to only need one teaspoon of water a month, so I guess plants around here are pretty tough.

In the sky I can see five raptors soaring on the hot air, a little too high and distant for me to make out exactly what they are. Earlier there was an eagle, golden plumage alone, taking a short look at us before sliding away in a slow circular flight.

check boots for scorpions

The iPhone picture of our current base will have to do for the moment. We're around Sedona, which is the scene of many American Western movies as well as (slightly surprisingly) Mad Men and (more surprisingly) Brideshead Revisited.

We're surrounded by the red stacked rocks, with the nearest to us being the chimney stack, but a pretty good view across to the many others. Its also one of the mystical spiritual vortexes around here. so we'll be soaking in the vibe along with the sunshine

Last night I was eating the fried cactus with (yep) cactus sauce, admittedly with a little chillie added for that extra spike.

I've found it fairly easy to remember to do the looking around the ground at night for scorpions. They are attracted to water and even the little ones can pack a pretty hefty sting. There's rattlesnakes too, but I suppose we are in cowboy country.

coffee anyone?

We may still be 100 miles north of the Mexican border, but the chance to try some 1921 tequila cream coffee, in a glass caramelised with rum at the local Mexican restaurant was too good to pass by.

We've spent part of today on trails through areas filled with cactus and palms, so not that far from civilisation, but we'd always planned today for acclimatization before we really get moving.

And then later this afternoon we witnessed one of the huge dust storms crossing the area, at a speed of 35 mph and temporarily plunging everything into darkness before giving way to rain and then back to sunshine, all the time maintaining more than 100 degrees Farenheit.

filtering the UK news

Only a short time away from the UK and I'm noticing the different emphasis to the intermittent news from our fair island. The distance and filtering makes it sound just that bit more bizarre. Almost 'Keystone Kops' in the way its being described.

The big UK story on American TV channels is still the News Corps allegations although the pieces here seem to add up differently (and use old footage).
'
The extra stories are about Rebekah Brooke's husband's laptop computer being found in the underground carpark 'trash' in Chelsea Harbour. And then some stories about 'Scotland Yard' police resignations. And to top it all a story about the Sun's website being hacked and a fake story about the pollonium poisoning of Murdoch.

It reminds me about that old quote that if there's no news then make something up.

the coming attraction, the drop of a name

It's hot here in Arizona.

Yesterday evening was 43C/107F which meant carrying a backpack needed some special care. Our destination was also a little slippery and initially evaded us but only long enough for us to witness a spectacular melting sunset.

Then we cornered the palm strewn destination and found a place for the night. Amusingly it was playing Eagles on the FM.

But now, new day, at 4pm UK, maybe its time for some breakfast.

books for the beach

I've always read a fair amount, subject to the vagaries of work and travel. When I spent time commuting around London I'd read a newspaper and then switch to a compact format book as the train filled up.

My picture illustrates the dilemma of travel with books though. I don't always want to read the same book all of the time (I do sometimes) but there's a problem carrying multiple books around. The holiday season exemplifies this. American format paperbacks are usually the best because they are generally smaller than UK ones, although they seem to be printed on thicker paper than, say, a Penguin edition.

As for anything recently published - it means hardback although that's generally a no-no because of the bulk.

My visualisation graph in the picture illustrate the problem.

Column 1 is the lone book I plan to read which isn't available electronically. Column 2 shows some books I've been reading and want to finish, but would take up too much space in my back-pack. Column 3 is a representative sample of recent books I've read but haven't got around to filing away anywhere yet. Column 4 are a few example magazine type publications I might also dip into, but not necessarily read every item in each edition.

I've decided to take a Kindle instead - other than the not available titles, it could swallow all of this pile of 35 books. And a further 100 similar piles. Some might say that there's a different feel to a Kindle compared with paper. Yes, it's easier to turn the page and they don't flap back again at an awkward angle. Some might say there's a different smell. More free monomer than musty. I can handle that too. Some might say that they don't have the same feel as the book. Try carrying "Hackney, that Rose Red Empire" for very long...

If the idea of a book is to pour some thoughts and ideas into one's head then I'm actually less concerned about the physics of the delivery vehicle. After all, its supposed to 'disappear' if the writing is good, in any case.

So I'll be packing light.

But I will take a charger.

Oh, and my "on bargain special offer" Kindle best-seller The Triangle