GDMBR Day 18
Start: Abiquiu, NM
Finish: Abiquiu, NM
Miles: 0 miles
Odometer: 639.5 miles
Location: https://share.garmin.com/Judice
Highlights:
This town has what I would describe as a mercantile. It is a gas station, grocery, diner, gift shop, tackle shop, and hardware store all wrapped into one. It is a pretty busy place and seems to be the local hang out. While I was grabbing lunch, I ran into two familiar cyclists and two new cyclists. The Europeans, Simon and Max, arrived with a few trail stories. Max told me that he is traveling with a digital SLR camera and three lenses. He is a professional photographer. The new-to-me Canadians appeared to be well prepared and well outfitted. Unfortunately one of them broke a rear rack descending the mountain on that rocky road I described yesterday. We all pulled out our maps and tried to do some route planning given the snowstorm passing on our route just north of us.
We have identified a couple of bail out points going around the high mountain passes but that means riding paved state highways and missing some of the beautiful sections of the trail. I am not too excited about that. My plan is to take a couple of days off in Abiquiu and wait for the bad weather to pass and then ride up the trail and reassess along the way in hopes that perhaps the trail is passable. I am not optimistic, however. Although snow is the main problem, I’m told that there is some of that yummy, sticky “peanut butter” mud in my future.
The Georgia O’Keeffe Welcome Center is a fantastic stop for an introduction to her life and art. Robin introduced me to her work when we got married. He flower paintings feed the soul.