Day 11 April 4, 2006

Day 11
April 4, 2006
Santa Rosa, NM

Once again we awoke to a morning that was discernibly colder than it had been when we had submerged ourselves in sleeping bags the night before. Today was set to be another break from riding, so we had time for breakfast and a day trip. Pancakes again, but we were running low on syrup and supplemented it with jelly packets scrounged from Jerry’s a few days ago.



While we got dressed for the local day trip, Spank ran off to the playground to monkey around. He told us that this was his favorite park yet because of the great climbing web and rock wall that he had found.





We decided to join him and have a little fun in the sun ourselves.







We hit the road in search of a few local geocaches, and found three without too much trouble. They weren’t inside the park as we had originally thought, but were not far into town.















Unfortunately, we didn’t leave much room for Spank so he stowed away under the bungee net…



There was talk of heading for Las Vegas for lunch (Las Vegas, New Mexico, that is), but we decided that our stomachs could not endure the hour-long ride and instead opted for Joseph’s, a local eatery on historic Route 66.





Once inside, we were greeted and showed to our table, then we were each given a newspaper. Well, it only looked like a newspaper – it was actually the menu. Clever idea.

Scattered inside the paper along with the edible offerings were pictures, commentary, and a story or two about the original owners of the restaurant. The choices were borderline overwhelming, and the meals themselves were plentiful. Gavin ordered a Mexican burger, which is a hamburger with Mexican-style fixins wrapped in a tortilla instead of nestled on a bun.



Chips and salsa were served prior to the meal, but as an added bonus we each got a soppapilla with out meal. Bountiful honey poured over them, they were devoured quickly.

We stopped by the Visitor’s Center to see what else there was to do in town, but to our demise it was closed (despite the OPEN sign displayed in the window). We peered through the window at the rack of brochures to get an idea of what our options were.



We could see that there was a Route 66 Auto Museum just down the street, so we decided that might be a nice way to spend the afternoon. There was a $5 entry fee to see an assortment of cars and memorabilia, but there was adequate seating in the lobby/gift shop for those who didn’t really have a strong desire to walk through the displays.



Spank had fun checking out all the mini cars.





And even found a sticker with his name on it!



A few of Gavin’s photos from inside the ‘museum’:









After the auto museum, we returned to our campsite and decided that a friendly game of dominoes was in order. Well, it started out as a friendly game.



It somehow morphed into a three hour domino bonanza, with singles, doubles, and one-on-one challenges before calling it quits for the night.