odometer: 1621 – 1649 ( 28 miles, 45 kilometers)
elevation: 2360 meters

Today was a short day. I stayed on highway 285 and toiled against a brisk 25 km/hr head wind until I reached Antonito around 1pm.

There are no real stops between Espanola and Antonito. Given the day’s wind condition I knew I could not make Espanola. I took the extra time to reflect and weigh reasons to continue on to Antelope Wells, NM versus returning home from Albuquerque, NM.

These were:

• There is no good transportation from Antelope Wells. The options are convoluted and costly involving finding shuttles back to a city large enough to have an airport.
• I had diminishing interest in the terrain. Although the GDMBR would be more interesting it was isolated, dry, and more difficult.  The highways were increasingly monotonous without any real interesting destination.
• There were events at home that draw me back.

I stayed at a hotel with an interesting southwestern/Mexican flavor. I had my lunch and supper just across the street at a popular restaurant serving Mexican food.   I was amazed that one waitress could handle the till, bus, and serve customers at 10 tables or so.