We were, of course, sad to leave Santa Fe. Our original plan was to continue on Route 66 by heading down to Albuquerque and continuing west. However, our good friend, Bill, who lives near Durango, CO had offered to help Greg fix the damaged transmission. When we were towed in Wells, NV (soon to be known as The Town Who Shall Not Be Named by my family, I believe), the driver started pulling the FMC up onto the flatbed without putting the transmission in Neutral. Greg heard the huge bang of the Park gear being destroyed but it was too late then. Anyway, Bill offered to help so we decided a detour was necessary. And, oh, how awful, we'd have to spend a few days in Durango, CO one of our other favorite towns. Such a hardship.
So, we were not continuing west but heading north. We finally remembered to add all our new states to our map on the FMC. On this trip, we added Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Pretty good for one trip!
Once we were packed up, we had to figure out our route to Durango. There are lots of options and all have their pluses. We decided to go up to Taos, have lunch there, and then head to Chama over a really high and really beautiful pass. We'd spend the night in Chama, NM and then go to Durango the next day.
Taos is another favorite town. We've been there a few times but haven't spent enough time there and didn't this time either. We had lunch at Taos Diner -- it was delish! Taos was crowded as this was a weekend day so driving through it in the motorhome was not a whole lot of fun. Still, we headed made the best of it.
After Taos, we were in territory we hadn't seen since our honeymoon. Outside of Taos, you head off on a high plain that is ripped in half by the Rio Grande gorge. There is a huge bridge (terrifying!!!) and lots of activity around the bridge. We almost stopped but really wanted to get some miles behind us so we kept going. We also passed a really fascinating area called Earthship Biotecture. About this time, we were heading towards a big thunderstorm with impressive lightning hitting nearby hills. Luckily, our road skirted around the edge of the storm so we didn't have to drive through it.
At some point, we unhitched to for the drive to Chama. Highway 64 from Taos to Chama is a scenic byway and gets you up over 10,500 feet above sea level. It is lovely and we really enjoyed the drive. This is the only picture Liza managed since she was driving the Suzuki so Greg could actually get the FMC over this pass. After we unhitched, he said he felt like he was driving a Sport FMC.
When we arrived in Chama, we found that most of the campgrounds were FULL. It's definitely a good town to make reservations. Still, we found a site at Little Creek Campground and settled in for the night.
Chama has a scenic railroad in it but our timing didn't allow for us to take a ride this time. Hopefully, we'll be back. The town was fun and we'll enjoy exploring it in the future.
We really liked the campground. It's right along the Rio Chama and we were settled near a group of Good Sam Club members who were having a rally. They were very nice and quiet neighbors and loaned us a lighter when we realized that we had left our stove lighter in Missouri when we lit Ruth's birthday candles! Oops!
All's well that ends well and we had a nice quiet night in Chama.
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Note: To read about the next day, click the "Newer Post" link below.
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Note: To read about the next day, click the "Newer Post" link below.
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