Viva Las Vegas!

No, not that Las Vegas. We're in Las Vegas, New Mexico tonight. I took a detour through the "historic" central plaza on the way in. It was depressing. 2/3 of the storefornts were boarded up, with some for sale signs on other places. However, a sign on the way into town boasted of 35 restaurants and 14 hotels. Good competition for the other Las Vegas.

Today marked a few milestones. We passed 1000 miles of biking, and crossed Glorietta Pass, the high point of the trip at 7550 feet elevation. Theoretically, I guess we can coast to Boston if we eliminate friction. No problem. Today's 75 mile ride was the first of nine straight days, with tomorrow at 108 miles and Tuesday 96. I surprised myself and behaved sensibly today, not pushing hard at all. There was a lot of climbing today, but I just spun up the hills at low effort. It looks like tomorrow will be really hard.

I took a short detour today with my pals Greg, Stu and Geoff to the Pecos National Historical Park. Most of the ride today was on the Santa Fe Trail, which was a trade route long before the Spaniards arrived. At the park, there are several layers of civilization to observe. The area has been occupied for at least 7500 years. In the park, Native Americans started building permanent structures around 800 A.D. Shown below are the remains of a church built by the Spaniards in 1717. It's immediately adjacent to pueblos dating from several hundred years earlier.

The Spaniards had another church there 100 years earlier, but the locals got together and tore it down. The second one would still be intact if it hadn't built of adobe that dissolves a bit each time it rains.

It has been a wet spring around here, so the land is green and some cactus is blooming.

It all makes for a very pleasant day on a bike. Dinner tonight is at K-Bob's. I'm scared.