Westward HO - Santa Fe -- July 29, 2011

Friday morning we left Tucumcari headed for Santa Fe.  When we reached Clines Corner to turn northward, a rain blew in and it was actually chilly.  Ken turned off the air conditioner of the car -- and that was the end of our air conditioner.  As we drove into Santa Fe, it was hot.   Friday is not a good day for car repair and no air conditioner service would even look at it -- telling us they were booked up one and two weeks out. We found our hotel in the midst of all kinds of construction and things were looking a bit disappointing for us.  Of course plans were changing fast.  We decided that the devil would not steal our joy and took a two hour walking tour of the downtown plaza.   

The Cathredral Basillica of St Francis of Assissi was one place we had not entered in the past so it was a treat to view the relics and rituals of the Cathedral.   Most other places on the town square we had frequented in the past.  (Wish we had not snacked lunch in the motel room as we could have enjoyed lunch on the town square.) 






After that we made more phone calls regarding the car and finally Mines........... said they would look at it.   The man spent a couple hours trying to find some simple problem but could not find anything within his ability to repair.   We returned to the hotel.  At that point it was really getting hot, so we did not want to drive far and ended up eating across the road at a Mexican Restaurant.   Since Santa Fe is known for it's wonderful Mexican cuisine.and the decor outside seemed interesting, it had to be good......  wrong  ...... The food was another disappointment to overcome.    We still had a good time but left out early Saturday morning for Flagstaff.  The goal was to beat the heat of the day driving without an airconditioning.  God extended mercy and made the trip tolerable for us.  We were happy to pull into Flagstaff by noon.  We checked into an EconoLodge and went down town to do a 'walk-about.'