To avoid the long slog on the rough surfaced, 18-wheeler dense I-40 and crazy dense traffic of Las Vegas, our usual route home, we choose to go north and west first from Santa Fe. This way we will do the quieter less traffic route of Green River, UT to Ely, NV to Carson City, NV to home. But Santa Fe all the way to Green River is 421 miles and 8 hours of driving, so we broke it into 2 smaller segments. Because we were going to leave Santa Fe after lunch, Wednesday’s leg was a shorter 150 mile, three hour drive making today’s drive a 250 miles five hour affair.
Along with the better driving conditions we got a couple of other bonuses out of it. We were going to pass through Cortez, Colorado again so that we might be able to eat at The Farm Bistro that was closed on the way east because it was Saturday and boy was it worth it, the food was fantastic, the portion size was perfect and it was priced very reasonably. We also got a chance at one last Roadside America photo op. At the Mud Creek Hogan Trading Post the previous owner stuck about a dozen telephone poles fitted with giant arrowheads and feather fletchings into the ground at an angle (see above.)
Come to think of it, make it four bonuses. We had never traveled any of the first leg and the scenery was beautiful. Then on the second leg, where we had been on the roads before, this time we were driving in the opposite direction so everything was new to us and startling beautiful as well.
Not long after leaving last night’s stop in Pagosa Springs the Mini flew by 36,000 miles on the odometer.