First you will need somewhere to return after absorbing (or expending) all of that energy. There is a great RV Park on the west end of town, directly on Route 66. It is called USA RV Park.

I am nowhere near cool enough to be getting compensated for these – so click away on those hyperlinks if you want to check something out.

Rejuvenating energy at the RV Park

USA RV Park has great level spots, 30 and 50 amp power, water and sewer. So far, ticking the right marks. They also have a beautiful pool, kitchy decor outside, a cowboy bbq Tue – Sat. Is anyone getting intrigued? Then they hold an ice cream social held where to bbq takes place – creating a neighborly energy to the whole proceedings.

There is also a strong military respect and presence at this RV Park. Active Duty Military get in free! Us old folks get a nice discount as well.

The people that work here are extremely nice and the office is open way late (10 PM!). This is the same time the pool shuts down and quiet hours begin.

What are you going to do?

Ok, now that you are all jazzed up, rested and full of energy – what are you going to go do? There’s old town Gallup – on Route 66 and an amazing landscape to explore! Get out there!

Heading outside full of energy

Red Rock State Park is just east of town. Roll out there and get outside! There are two main paths at Red Rock – we conquered the Pyramid Rock trail. It was awesome! Be forewarned, you start out at a little over 6,000 feet above sea level. Then we planned to tackle Church Rock, but we were exhausted.

Hiking the trail!

There are periodic trail markers, etched into steel that let you know how far you have traveled from the trail head and how much elevation you have gained. They are spread out enough that you’ve lost sight of the last one before seeing the next! It’s a good way to gauge how much energy you are going to need to conserve!

Once you’ve reached the top, there is a larger sign – complete with mile markers to famous cities.

Beautiful views and solitude, take time to enjoy it

There are several unbelievable vistas to take a gander at. Some the views change as your perspective changes and your height. The rocks and area will look differently once you have changed how you look at them. I found this enlightening about my personal life as we take this journey. Each experience changes you, then you are ready to understand the next.

Geology does some interesting things. We got to view quite a few balanced rocks. These are places where the substrata was not as strong as the layer above it.

Finally summit! We took a long break up here. The view was amazing. It’s where the large sign post was, we got to look everywhere and then felt like we had to duck as a helicopter went over on its way to Gallup.

Various plants and animals, oh my!

A variety of plant life greeted us as we ascended. There were salt spruce, prickly pear cacti, some stabbing thistle bush and some small yucca. There were a lot of very fast lizards and some paw prints that ranged way off the path and back that I am not certain were dog.

It was a great hike. We felt very accomplished and drained of energy by the time we were finished. We headed back to base camp to recharge – but managed to slip into town for the one of the next things on the list – food!

Gordo’s – food full of energy! (and green chili’s)

In case anyone was wondering, people in New Mexico automatically put green chili’s on everything. It’s fantastic – but our wimpy stomachs couldn’t take it by the time we got to Gordo’s. We all opted for red sauced items.

After recharging our energy, day two in town!

We chose to spend some time in the morning shopping. There are shops upon shops in the downtown area. They were all sporting handmade items from the Hopi, Zuni and Dine’ (Navajo – which is the largest by far).

After shopping we made our way to the Gallup Cultural Center. There is a museum inside, which is nice. There is a portion of the exhibit dedicated to the Navajo Codetalkers (Marines, get some!).

the museum was great – but the highlight is that 3 times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday there is a display of culturally appropriate native dances. You are allowed to take pictures and video. I have so many of these, but I did want to enjoy it so I had to put the phone down at some point!

I’ll share a few pictures and video with you.

One more meal! Jerry’s!

A friend of ours insisted we could not leave Gallup without eating at Jerry’s. It’s another Route 66 staple. It was packed, and stayed packed the entire time we were there. They were able to turn tables quickly and the service was great. There was no wait, ever the whole time we were there.

The food was amazing, parking – well, we got inventive and ended up parking down the street across from, well, I guess a car lot?

Parting is such sweet sorrow

We finally have completed our trip here. Moving on to browner pastures. Be sure to check in with us and see what we get into next! And if you’ve missed anything, access it from here. We’ve completed about 1,600 miles and 10 campgrounds since we started and we’re just getting warmed up!