Leaving New Mexico

I left Taos pretty early Friday morning and headed south along the River Road to Santa Fe. I could have bypassed Santa Fe, but I decided to stop in again at Counterculture on Baca Street - which so far is the best coffee I have ever tasted. West of Albuquerque I started getting into the type of desert that you see in a Roadrunner cartoon. I stopped to walk Macy in Gallup, New Mexico. There was a guy rolling down the sidewalk on a skateboard with a pitbull on a leash. As soon as his dog saw Macy, it changed speeds and directions - taking off after Macy. The guy was able to keep control of his dog, but not his skateboard. I ate my first fast food of the trip today. Arby's in Winslow, Arizona - home of the slowest fast food in America. I stopped because I had driven all day and I was starving. After ten minutes at the drive though, I paid and finally got my food. I then drove 56 miles to Flagstaff. Checking in at the motel, I discovered that my ATM card was still at Arby's back in Winslow. So now I have a good idea of what 56 miles looks like visually, because you can see the mountains at Flagstaff from near Winslow - and I got to see it twice. That said - I wanted to see the country, and Flagstaff is a cool town. lots of Evergreen trees and lots of people. Are they all going to the Grand Canyon? If so, its going to be crowded.