Today we would target Cuba as our destination. Sean had decided to stay closer to the town of Abiquiu, and found his ideal place to rest for a couple days. Nice that nobody is committed to stay/ride with others. Hamish, Jess and I took off together, leaving our nice campground on lake Abiquiu behind. The official route was a dirt track between Abiquiu and Cuba, but the recent rains had made that option impassable due to mud, so it was the paved road alternate instead.
All in all it was a pretty unremarkable day as we rode through many little towns that either looked abandoned or very neglected. I could only hypothesize that many younger folks that grew up in these places, simply left given there was very little opportunity for their future. You can thank the Internet for that. I saw a few senior centers and “Meals for seniors” trucks pass us on the road. Also no signs of any stores or places to buy food. Just very abandoned ones. I wonder what will happen when that older generation passes on? A bit depressing knowing there isn’t much that can be done about it all. These folks were either from Native American origin, or Hispanic.
It was a hot and somewhat muggy day as we climbed many undulating hills along the route. We also had more than our fair share of dogs chase us. My strategy is to stop if they chase, but sometimes you are on a downhill, and have enough speed going that you crank harder on the pedals to outchase them. One dog seemed to not give in so easily and chased us for quite some distance with good speed. That must be their only entertainment for the day.
We were looking for a good place to stop to eat lunch. Our main criteria is a place to sit, and shade on a hot day like today. We found neither, so settled on a bunch of concrete barriers that had been stacked on the side of the road. Earlier we had hoped to get sone cold drinks and ice cream at the only operating store on the route, but unfortunately it was closed on Monday’s, which was of course today. We stood with the our bikes outside the door that said “closed”, hoping that the owner living next door would show pity and open up for us. No such luck however…
The town of Cuba finally appeared on the horizon and we all opted on the luxury of a somewhat neglected motel. It had a good working shower, which was most important. We explored the town a bit more to find dinner and groceries, and it seemed that this town was being abandoned as well. Seems like a recurring theme in this part of New Mexico. Luckily we found a grocery store and a pretty good grill place inside a gas station. Hamish did say that his “Navajo burger” was the best hamburger he had on this whole trip. You have to find the positives where you can.
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