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Day 44
Temp last night 6.8 Degrees! Up at 9:00 temp 36 degrees. We have a Sunday appointment in Gallup NM to run some trails with Jim. We leave Reserve at 11:30 AM continuing south on route 12 until you run into route 180 where we turn north. On both sides of route 180 barbed wire is strung up between wooden fence posts. About every fifth or six section the top and second wire were strung through a piece of PVC pipe, I suspect to allow animals to jump over the fence without getting snarled. I don't remember where in my travels but I had seen a deer that was hanging by its rear legs on barbed wire when it hadn't  quite cleared the fence. When you get to Route 666 turn north. We drove through some more high plains 6700 feet, there were several places where there was some volcanic intrusion activity. Geologically speaking rather recently it did not look like it had weathered at all. These high plains prairies are separated by ridges and every time we come down another ridge to the next prairie the vegetation looks like it's getting dryer and dryer. As we headed up Route 666 we start to see rock that looks like sandstone the further north we go the more frequently we see sandstone and the thicker the sandstone is. (I hear MOAB beckoning me). Eventually we get to interstate 40 where we headed east towards Gallup. Just west of Gallup we start to see some sandstone cliffs on both sides of the highway (could this valley be another collapsed salt dome?). Gallup by eastern standards is a small town this town too has a hotel that famous movie stars stayed in while making Western movies in the area. Like many towns out west it started around the railroad, and the railroad is omni present. We got a room at the Rode Inn in Gallup NM at 4:00 PM, it is windy! And cold! I went to a burger joint chain, not McDonald's or Burger King or White Castle it was some other chain I haven't tried yet. It was a mistake! I can't help you out any more than that but I hope you don't go there.
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