<– Day 3 – Tues. Apr. 14th: Winds and more Winds | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 5 – Thu. Apr. 16th: Meth and Science –>

I now have an additional reason to eat Subway sandwiches! This truck was in Albuquerque off of Wyoming Blvd.

Today was a breather day. Our simple goal was to make the four hour drive from Durango south to Albuquerque. Without anything planned, we let chance be our guide.

It turned out ‘chance’ liked jeeps on this day. On our way out of Durango we saw a flat fender, a cj-5, and a beautifully rusted truck (orange-red patina). Unfortunately, we were on a two-lane busy road with no pull-offs. All we could do was shout to one another, ‘there’s another jeep!”

After taking a wrong turn in Cortez, we found ourselves in Farmington, New Mexico, where we spotted two unusual vehicles. The first reminded me of a Tour FC with it’s white and red top.

The second was a limoseum parked out front of Farmington’s museum.

Despite the cool car, we didn’t go inside the museum. Instead, we got back on track and headed east for Bloomfield. That’s where we saw the strangest sign: SALMON RUINS. As you can imagine, we didn’t expect to find any salmon bones, carcasses or ruins in New Mexico. So, naturally, we had to investigate.

The name had us wondering just what this was.

It turned out the Salmon name had nothing to do with fish and everything to do with a settler family named Salmon who arrived in the 1800s and spent much of their lives protecting ruins that dated back to the 11th century. It’s in the family’s honor that that museum is named. And, in return, the museum site has conserved both the native ruins and the Salmon’s homestead.

Very New Mexico-esque building design

Most of the exhibits are outside and the museum provides a detailed walking tour booklet full of information. It’s too bad the museum doesn’t have the equivalent information on their website. Since I can’t remember many of the details, I’ll just show you some of the pictures.

Salmon homestead house

Cowboy bunk houses

The truth of the matter is that there are more spectacular remains at Chaco Canyon or Mesa Verde. There’s also Canyon of the Anicents National Monument (management by the BLM and not the NPS), but Ann and I didn’t realize it existed until tonight. It’s north across the highway from Mesa Verde. However, the Salmon Ruins do have an advantage over the others: they are easily accessible and Ann needs that.

After the museum, we continued south. Somewhere we must have made a huge navigational error, for we found ourselves in Cuba! I know that relations between the US and Cuba have warmed slightly, but you would’t know it from driving through this town. Clearly the economic sanctions have played havoc with it!

This was the visitor’s center for Cuba. The windows are impenetrable due to the metal security mesh. We didn’t feel so welcome, so we ran back to the jeep.

This lovely building is right across the street from the visitor’s center.

This bizarre hospitality sign welcomed visitors to Cuba. It’s worn veneer mimic’s the place.

Following Cuba, we completed the remainder of our drive to Albuquerque (where there are a ton of inexpensive motels — best prices I’ve seen in any of our travels).  After we unpacked at our motel, we ran over to get some cheese and fruit at the grocery store. That’s when we saw this awesome Subway sandwich truck! It wasn’t just for show; it was a driver.

On Thursday we plan to do a few things around Albuquerque, then we’ll either spend a second night or head down to stay a few nights with Ann’s aunt and uncle in Tularosa, New Mexico.

<– Day 3 – Tues. Apr. 14th: Winds and more Winds | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 5 – Thu. Apr. 16th: Meth and Science –>