Santa Fe, NM to Farmington, NM - the “out west” portion of the trip has begun 233 miles

Good to have a rest after 2500 miles. Nice and laid back visit with my aunt and uncle. Very glad I toured through Santa Fe and saw family, Ate real food, didn’t have to worry about getting up and packing and riding.

My route began (per recommendation from my aunt) by heading north from Santa Fe and then taking a nice road towards Los Alamos:

Los Alamos is where the atomic bomb was developed. You even cross Oppenheimer Blvd when you you pass through town.

The road goes through Valles Caldera National Preserve which is beautiful country.

There was large fire in the Preserve about 10 years ago and you can still see remains of it . Reminds me of the family going through Yellowstone and entire mountains were burned from fires in 1988. Even in the 90s you could see the damage. Something like 35% of acreage in Yellowstone was burned. When I rode through the park in 2015, I could still see the damage 

Coming down from summit towards Jemez Springs, there were huge plateaus consisting of stratified rock.  Also, there red rock/sand areas that had eroded into very cool formations:

The formations / rock color reminded me of Utah and Moab, where I’m heading next.

The road then opened up to Incredible vistas of Mesas of stratified rock formations in a variety of colors including a gray colors. I even spotted a petrified dinosaur!

Again, the wind kicked up and beat the crap out of us, luckily there were hardly any trucks. 

Tomorrow, I head towards Shiprock and then Monument Valley. Routing may be a little tricky since some of the Navajo and Hopi reservation roads may be closed due to the quarantine.

PS - I love the dry air and sunshine, but not enough green for me