September 23 Fort Sumner, NM to Santa Fé, NM to Bloomfield, NM 342 miles
Day 6 Route Fort Sumner, NM to Santa Fe, NM to Bloomfield, NM
Today is day 6 of our Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle ride. We were up early, it was still raining pretty hard and the temperature was in the 50’s. We had breakfast and loaded up the bikes put on our rain suits and headed out. The further north we got the more the skies got clearer. By the time we got to Santa Rosa, NM (45 miles away) we had clear skies and it was another beautiful day for riding.
LT & LC looking at the Miraculous spiral staircase in Santa Fé (note: the hand rails were not original)
The ride to Santa Fé was a very nice one. Of all the cities in New Mexico, Santa Fé is one of the best. Santa Fé has tried to keep the pueblo look from its pueblo Indian origins. It is a unique place with a very unique feel. There were a lot more people in Santa Fé than I had expected for September. The parking lot I had planed on parking at was full but we got lucky and parked on the street in one metered parking slot. I wanted to park there because it was near the Loretto Chapel where the “Miraculous Staircase” was. After getting a map of the downtown we made our way to see the staircase.
LC & LT at Lunch at the Ore House Tequila restaurant in Santa Fé
Two mysteries surround the spiral staircase in the Loretto Chapel: the identity of its builder and the physics of its construction.
View from balcony of the Ore House Tequila Restaurant in Santa Fé
The stairway’s carpenter, whoever he was, built a magnificent structure. The design was innovative for the time and some of the design considerations still perplex experts today.
The staircase has two 360-degree turns and no visible means of support. Also, it is said the staircase was built without nails—only wooden pegs. Questions also surround the number of stair risers relative to the height of the choir loft and about the types of wood and other materials used in the stairway’s construction.
We walked to the downtown square and had lunch at the Ore House Tequila & Gift Shop. The restaurant is upstairs and we ate on the balcony where we had a good view of the square and all the happening there. The trees on the square were starting to turn color from the cooler weather. Janet and I had eaten here before and I made a point not to order the chipolte burger. Mucho caliente… so I opted for the green chili stew, which was more like a soup. It was very good but it too was really hot… hotter than what I was used to, but not as bad as the chipolte burger I had before.
Parking was so hard to find that when we left someone waited for us to get mounted and leave. LC & LT told them it would be a while because I had to enter the route of our next leg of the trip into the GPS. They opted to wait causing a bit of a traffic jam.
LT at Abiquiu Reservoir off Hwy 96 in NM
We headed for Cuba, NM. The scenery was nice along the way. We had intended on staying the night but because we were making such good time we decided to ride on to Bloomfield, NM instead. It did make for a longer ride (88 miles) but would make for a short easy ride to Cortez the next day. About 5 miles out from Bloomfield as per the GPS I radioed the others the distance. LT later told me he was about to key the mike to tell me that he was ready to stop at the next town.
We ate at a little restaurant across the street for supper. It was good and really cheap so we opted to eat breakfast there the next morning. We were a little tired of the continental breakfast we had got at the motels. Some of the continental breakfasts are OK for the most part but some were pretty lacking too, but they were included with the rooms.
Tomorrow we ride to “4 Corners” on to Kayenta, AZ through The Monument Valley on to Cortez, CO for 298 miles. Come follow a long and enjoy the ride and scenery with us.
Below are the posts from each day of our ride. Come follow along as we ride to enjoy the fun and beautiful scenery…
Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride introduction
Day 1 & 2 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 3 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 4 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 5 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 7 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 8 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 9 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Day 10 Million Dollar Highway Motorcycle Ride 2010
Ride safe and I hope we see you down the road somewhere…