Our experience of American roads contrasts with French or
English – generally rather lower speed limits, but the lane discipline is odd. Although you are supposed to keep right,
almost everyone drives in the outside of 2 lanes or the middle lane of 3, so
people frequently pass you on the inside.
Road names at intersections in towns are helpful in showing you the road
you’re crossing, but until you are used to that you may think it’s the one you
are going along, which is confusing to say the least. And signs are almost all in words rather than
symbols, which sometimes means reading a lot rather fast!
We in Europe often have a stereotyped impression of
Americans driving very large cars. Well,
where we’ve been it is true. Fuel is a
third of the price it is in the UK or France, and of course distances are
greater, so a secure and comfortable ride is a priority. We are travelling in a GMC Yukon which is
high and wide, with lots of room for luggage, and you can see all around you
easily. It is good for our journeys of
several hundred miles, and it suits Alan’s tall frame which would find it
difficult to cram into many of our smaller cars. On the other hand, since even going between
two shops on a high street can involve driving and (as at home) short journeys
for shopping and school runs are a high proportion of journeys, the prevalence
of gas guzzling giants still seems hopelessly anti-ecological. We have seen a few Smart cars in Austin and
in Santa Fe, but very few!
More photos of our journey north are here. We descended from the chilly cloud cover of
the mountains around Ruidoso and Alto towards the plains early on Sunday
morning, and as usual Barbara and Alan had planned a number of really
interesting stops en route. The first
was literally a black contrast to the White Sands – the Valley of Fire or
Malpais, an area of lava flow originating in one small crater that seems like a
pimple on the horizon to the right, near the little almost ghost town of Carrizozo.
Our two other visits as we continued north towards Santa Fe
were to two of the three ancient Salinas pueblos (indigenous Indian villages)
which thrived for a time trading salt from the nearby salt pans, and which
later became Spanish/Mexican Christian mission stations, on high plains at an
altitude nearly as great as our mountain pause in Alto – over 2000 metres. Through most of our trip we have been at such
altitudes, and in the bright sunlight the light and colour and sparkling air
have been exhilarating even if the dryness has meant drinking more water than
we might usually. Photos of our twovisits to Gran Quivira and Quarai (where the huge cathedral church was built in traditional adobe by women) are here.
The roads were straight and long, with sudden
right angle bends round the edge of ranch properties every 10, 20, 30 miles,
until we reached the Manzano mountains to the west and wound along the base,
seeing the Santa Fe Sangre de Cristo mountains approaching to the north
east. We arrived in Santa Fe in late
afternoon, settled into our rather basic motel (probably a 60s construction,
with internet access to match. I booked this, and should probably have gone for a better model!) and had time to go into town and wander round in
the evening light. First impressions
very surprising – there are very few buildings over 3 stories, so the mountains
dominate to the east and the adobe style is still very prominent in the
buildings. Exploration to follow…
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