Hello everyone,

 

Today was our second rest day tour. We always look forward to them and a bit of down time and exploration. Today was no exception.

However, I thought that i would relate a rather funny story when i first arrived in my room yesterday. When I opened the door, my phone was ringing. I thought it was Herm as we had talked about having lunch after we cleaned up. When I answered the phone it was a little kid – probably a boy like 7 – 9 years old. He said” I need more Pebbles (or it might have been Power).” I said “Excuse me?” At this point, I thought perhaps Herm was pulling a Billy Bob on me. The little voice then asked “Who is this?” I said, “This is Chuck and I think you dialed the wrong number; you need to dial o for the operator.” So he says “thank you” and hangs up. Ten seconds later my phone rings again. Me – “Hello”.

Little Voice “Who is this?”

Me “Santa Claus”

Little Voice “I’m not stupid”

Me: :Then why do you keep calling me ?”

Little Voice ” My mom told me to call this number .if I need anything”

Me: “See the room service button on the phone?”

Little voice: “Yes”

Me “Call them, tell them to charge whatever you want to your room and they will bring it right up.”

Little Voice “Thank You!”

He never called back …..

So on my rest day, I needed to do laundry and go to the bike shop and clean my bike. Tracy does not want oily greasy chains and dirty bikes on the tour, so we clean them at least once a week. The bike shop was only 2 miles each, but I wet the wrong direction and wound up with almost 10 miles. I need about 60 more to catch up on total mileage due to my SAG day.

The afternoon I met mt porcelain artist friend Heidi Loewen and her friend Alexandr Haulet who is a young visiting French sculpture artists whose work was on exhibition in Santa Fe. He was kind enough to show me some photos of his work and they are simply outstanding. He did one sculpture of Mother Teresa that is in a French convent. It was so life like. Heidi, I had met in 2012 when Patty, Cindy and I had taken a pottery class from Heidi when on a whim we walked into her studio.

Heidi was kind enough to take me to lunch and show me sone of the art galleries in Santa Fe including Nedra Matteucci’s indoor / outdoor gallery. I took a few photos but could easily have spent days there. We stopped by several others and I will include several photos. Heidi is quite accomplished and has beautiful work mostly in porcelain. She is currently collaborating with Alexandre on several works. I can say that he is the nicest and most considerate young man, who speaks exceptional English as well as several other languages.

I am very impressed with Santa Fe New Mexico.  It is quite the cultural and culinary center and the citizens are very laid back. A most enjoyable afternoon!

Tomorrow we ride to Las Vegas New Mexico.

Tailwinds

Chuck