Escaping Fire

Monday, May 2nd – Truth or Consequences to Albeuerue to Santa Fe to Pilar – Day 81 

 We woke up this morning and the kids went to school. Aisling completed a math test and Charlotte didn’t do a ton. We needed to pack up the trailer quickly to make our appointment at Walmart to get our new tires installed on the trailer and the tires of the Santa Fe rotated. The kids kept running off to play in their secret tree fort. It took some time, but we packed up successfully and were on our way. 

 The Walmart service was quick. They were surprised that we lasted so long on our trailer tires. They were bald and had chunks ripped out of them. Gen did some shopping while I waited with John. The damage was $200. 

We grabbed a quick snack at McDonalds and were on our way to Albuquerque. Our first stop was the Petroglyph National Monument visitor centre. There were no Petroglyphs in the visitor centre, but they had a video on the history of the area. The usual: stamp passports, get junior ranger booklets and information about hikes. There were three different trails all with different numbers of Petroglyphs. The kids worked on their packages while we ate lunch. 

 The hike was 15 minutes away and was called Piedras Marcadas trail. There was a play structure at the entrance to the trails so there was some mandatory play time. The girls were keen for the hike, but John was a stick in the mud. I bribed him with candy and that motivated him temporarily at least. It was a short 500m walk to the rock formations. 

We followed a loop and didn’t see much except for a bunny and a road runner. We walked towards another loop, but John sat down on the trail and wouldn’t move. I carried John but Gen’s knee was hurting, and she wanted to head back. I decided to finish the loop and since John was on my shoulders, he was in as well. We started the second loop and quickly saw some Petroglyphs, another rabbit and John spotted a tiny hummingbird. The girls came running up, revitalized somehow, and we showed them what we saw. This quickly turned into a competition to see who could find the most Petroglyphs. There were dozens that we saw before we headed back to the playground for a brief game of Monster. 

 Next stop was a hiking store in Albuquerque, Ria. Gen needed some new hiking boots and was able to find some in the garage sale section. I got a shade hat which was great. Gen shopped for a while before we got back on the road to Santa Fe. 

 On the way, we looked north and saw massive plumes of smoke coming from a mountain top. We didn’t really know what to do so we continued the 45-minute drive to Santa Fe. When we arrived, the city was covered in a layer of smoke that burned the eyes and wasn’t fun to breathe. We check the air quality, and it was deemed unhealthy – stay indoors, wear a mask, no outside activity. The fire updates said the fire in the Santa Fe National Forest was likely to stay bad or get worse over the next few days. 

This means our campsite in the forest was out. We phoned a Harvest Host brewery in Los Alamos, a town north of the city, to see if they were affected by the fire; they were under threat of evacuation if the wind shifted. The Bandelier National Monument, a big reason we came to the area, was closed; which made sense it was directly beside Santa Fe forest. Also, there were more fires to the east which were closing the road to Colorado in that direction. 

Fire everywhere. We were homeless and looking for a plan. We decided to not stay near Santa Fe as the air quality would probably be terrible for days. The fire forecast of high winds would likely lead the fire to spreading and currently it was only 10% under control. We still wanted to see Santa Fe so we planned a route and drove through the city while we planned our next steps. Gen was stressed that we were in a city covered in acrid smoke at 8pm with no plan and we were still going to tourist destinations. We visited Canyon Road; a quaint street with Adobe style houses that had all been converted into art galleries. Next, we drove by the oldest church in the US, Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. Followed by a drive through Santa Fe square, a square surrounded by shops and restaurants. Overall, Santa Fe looked like a great destination with a funky, artistic vibe that would be interesting to come back to. 

 Our next step was a campground next to the Rio Grande near Espanola, a 1-hour drive north. The campsite cost $7 since it was in the Rio Grande Del North National Monument and we have a National Parks – America the Beautiful pass. We arrived late, set-up and went to bed.