Day 13 to Grants

"That is a John flower because it is a pansy." -Jack

26 miles, 600 ft climbing

Easy ride today into Grants. Strattling I-40, it was the biggest town of our journey. On our way into town we took a side trip to another great set of sandstone cliffs overlooking the Malpais. By 11:30am we we were at Lot-a-Burger chowing down. We met a grad student who was touring the GDR as part of his thesis. I did not quite get the topic- human/animal interaction or something. His parents were driving their camper truck and acting as his support vehicle. Though not very thorough he did ask us a few questions and took some video. It did not find his approach very scholarly but he must of been OK because Cassi thought he was cute.

John's friend, Jack, met us and we road to his house in the adjacent town of Milan. He and John had both worked in Farmington at San Juan College. Jack was a native of Grants so, after we cleaned up, he gave us the grand tour. His local knowledge really brought Grants to life: from its beginnings as a railroad stop, to its old brothels and saloons, numerous mines including uranium, and the mother of all roads, historic Route 66. We hiked up to Bandera crater then visited the ice caves. Formed by water pooling in a lava tube then freezing, the ice caves stay at 32 degrees. It was amazing to descend 100 feet from a scorching 90 degrees on the surface into a cavern that felt like a refrigerator cooled by sheets of blue green ice. Equally amazing were the number of plants thriving in the lava flows. As I pulled out my natural history guide to try and identify species Jack was quick to point out one (see above quote).

Jack was a gracious host. In addition to the grand tour he drove us by the grocery as well as the hardware store to get fuel for the camp stove. It was strange to be in a car after so many days on our bikes. I kept wanting to pedal. That night, Jack fixed a delicious dinner of salmon, wild rice, fruit salad, pasta salad, and banana bread with ice cream for dessert. John, Cassi and I ate ourselves into a food coma.

new plants seen- plains prickly pear, hairy fleabane, toadflax penstemon

animals identified- black chinned & broadtailed & calliope hummingbirds, whitethroated swift, sagebrush lizard, blacktailed jackrabbit, blacktailed prarie dog