And we're back

After a couple of nights with Bob, I decided it was about time to get on back to Colorado. First I made Bob take a picture with my travel buddy though. Note the mesa and the non-functioning uranium plant in the background:



I figure if you're road tripping, you need a buddy, and since I don't have a cool plastic penguin like Liz, I settled for a ridiculously green teddy bear. He rides in my front seat with me, and I take him to the top of 14ers. He travels very well, and doesn't complain about being hungry or needing pit stops.

Bob and I were going to go to Gallup, NM to see some Indian dances before I left New Mexico, but the weather didn't quite cooperate. Since it wasn't terribly far out of my way (when you're going several hundred miles anyhow, what's the difference, really?) I decided to take a side trip to check the place out, even though I wouldn't see the dances. The drive there was gorgeous, with red mesas and rock formations on either side of the road.



Bob had told me about a place called Earl's where Navajo artisans wander the restaurant and sell their wares table-to-table. Since it was about lunchtime when I got to Gallup, I sat down for a quesadilla and green chile, and tried to find some nice jewelry or pottery to buy as a souvenir. Bob had already given me a little piece of horsehair pottery as a farewell gift, and I wanted to see if I could find anything similar. On a side note, the way they make horsehair pottery is really interesting. They actually throw horse hair onto the pot during the firing process, and it explodes and leaves little black squiggles on the pot.

Anyhow... back to Earl's... I didn't find any pottery, but I did find a nice little bracelet for myself, which I bought. I then made my way through the desert and mountains, over parts of historic Route 66, past the oldest church in Colorado, through thunderstorms, to a little town in Colorado called Leadville, which is near the trailhead for Mt. Elbert, the tallest mountain in Colorado. Time for my next mountain adventure!