We had our earliest start today, 9:48 AM. We stopped in Moriarty, New Mexico as planned, to disconnect the Ranger so that we could climb the Sandia Peak just east of Albuquerque, and we have decided to finish the drive in two cars. With the early start and separate driving we managed a respectable 422 miles today.

By the way for anybody keeping track of the horrible drought conditions throughout the country, (they are whining about the drought in the media in South Carolina where a kid playing in the yard can dig a hole 3 feet deep and it will fill with water) the vistas all the way to the east side of Arizona are very GREEN and it is the end of August.

We are spending the night in Gallup NM at the Best Western Royal Holiday, do not stay here, it is over priced for the run down state of the rooms and trains come in to town blasting their air horns every half hour all night long, honking their horns over and over, it is like they are going through your room and I am a really heavy sleeper ask anyone. There is another Best Western on the east end of town, I don’t know anything about that one.