Santa Fe

I decided to visit Santa Fe, it would be a shame to miss this city I had heard so much about. It is a place with funky adobe buildings and a large arts community. The morning was sunny with a slight breeze and I prepared for a nice ride with my summer gloves, t-shirt and jacket. I wasn’t prepared for the cold that was to come, but fortunately I decided to try out my electric vest if I needed it.

And need it I did. My temp gauge told me 17C when I started but soon plummeted to nine! I headed north on the freeway and a strong cold wind started blowing from the west. I lifted my eyes and could see snow-capped mountains in the distance where I was heading. Already feeling the cold, I switched on the electric vest. Hmmm so nice. Like sitting in the sun on a warm Queensland day, the warmth hugged my front and back.

The wind became stronger and parts of the trip I was leaning to the left just to stay upright in the lane. I switched on my heated handgrips and as the thermometer continued a downward curve towards five Celsius, I was becoming more uncomfortable with the strange sensation of warm body and hands but cold arms where the wind swept up my jacket sleeves above my gloves.

As I arrived in Santa Fe an hour later, the temperature settled for a chilly 4.5C so I pulled into a vegan restaurant, and always happy to fill up on good vego food I stopped and had a hearty soup. It was a lovely restaurant and very reasonably priced, with a nice log fire burning at the end of the room.

Back on the bike, I rode the last couple of kilometres to the centre of downtown where I went for a walk around. Ill-equipped for the visit, I walked a couple of streets and marvelled at the architecture, but I was getting so cold that I couldn’t stay long to enjoy this lovely little city. 

This church has a staircase that is 400 years old and engineers are still trying to work out how it supports itself...apparently.

Without a beanie or proper warm clothing I stayed only a short time then headed out of town and took the scenic route known as the Turquoise Trail through some smaller towns that wound through the mountains, yet it was never as cold as it had been in Santa Fe. That said I was chilled when I finally arrived back at the motel in Albuquerque and ran a long hot shower to warm my head and arms.