A first: A snow-frosted Astroguyz mobile.

(all photos by the author).

Well, we headed northward in our trek across New Mexico this week, and winter weather was there to meet us.  We knew it would happen sometime, and the gloves, hats and jackets are now out in full force.

Luckily, the town of Santa Fe, New Mexico was a friendly one and easy to get around. We based our operations out of the Courtyard Marriot, a dog-friendly establishment with apartment style accommodations. And we were happy to have decent workout accommodations, as temperatures and the wind chill for running outside approached our cutoff of 0 degrees Fahrenheit! Yes, our old cutoff was -20 deg F, but we’re hardly carrying the gear to run in that now. And it’s also worth noting that our vehicle isn’t winterized for below zero operations.

The historic downtown train depot.

Our first mission of exploration was the train park in downtown Santa Fe. A dog-friendly romp, the park features filled-in tracks laid in parallel to make an interesting set of paths through the center of town.

Santa Fe also has a rockin’ restaurant scene as well, from the outstanding Thai Vegan, to the Caffe Greco and Café Fina located in the northern foothills of town… and don’t miss the alien burger at Second Street Brewery: it’s a green pepper, bacon avocado burger that’s out of this world!

Mmmmm… alien burger…

We also made a brief afternoon journey to nearby Los Alamos and the Bradbury Science Museum. IQ averages and PhDs per capita rise sharply in these parts, and my vision of Los Alamos has always been something akin to the SyFy series Eureka, and town of the same name. The Bradbury is great place to trace the history of the Manhattan Project and the birth of the Nuclear Age. And, curiously enough, we seem to be on what we would term the “Tourist Nuke Trail” of the southern U.S., as historical sites and fascinating museums from the Atomic Era abound.

A antique “U-glass” artifact seen at the Bradbury Museum.

Back in town, don’t forget to check out Georgia O’Keeffe museum for an incredible look at the Salvador Dali of our generation.

We also had a great visit with our friend Michael Zeiler of Eclipse-maps fame. We plotted world domination as we approach the T-minus one thousand day mark from the 2017 total solar eclipse this month. Check out his gear, swag and all things eclipse-related over at the GreatAmericanEclipse.com.

The lunch counter at Cafe Fino.

From Santa Fe, it was an icy crossing to Amarillo, Texas as an early snow storm blanketed the region. I know that folks up north often wonder how a few inches of the white stuff can paralyze a city down south, and here’s how: most places fail to prep for major storms down south, as they’re fairly rare. This means less sanding of roads and snowplowing. Couple all that with drivers who have never crossed icy roads, and it’s literally a perfect storm. Still, old up north driving reflexes prevailed, and we arrived (or slid) in Amarillo safe and sound and ready for adventure as we now strike out eastward.

The cathedral in downtown Santa Fe.

More to come!