Gallup, NM

 Sandy and I had planned on visiting "Sky City", a pueblo built atop a tall mesa.  As we entered the reservation there was a big sign stating that "Due to COVID, no nonresidents were permitted to enter the reservation.  Understandable, it's not like we haven't given them diseases before.

From there we went to the Malpais National Monument.  The mountains of western New Mexico are volcanic.  The Malpais shows this off with lava flows and lava caves.

 Looking closely you can see the black stones here are a part of the lava flows

 This is the surface entrance to one of the many lava tubes.

Several days ago we passed the midpoint of "Route 66".  Today we passed the continental divide at 7,295 feet above sea level.  It was reasonably flat where we were, and even though the U.S Park Service and the Postal Service said it was so, Sandy wasn't buying it.  She wanted to stand there until it rained.  If the rainwater sort of formed a part with some of the rain flowing west and the rest flowing east, then she might believe it. 

We also found the Ville de Cubero, a collection of travelers cabins that in better times was attracting a high end clientele.  It was here that Lucy came after leaving Desi, and while staying in one of these cabins that Hemingway wrote his short story, "The Old Man and the Sea".

Other sites along the road

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We finished the day at the El Rancho hotel.  This place was built specifically to house the cast and crew of the filmmakers who were constantly making films, primarily westerns, in this area.  Our room is the Ronald Reagan room.  

Todays travel