Day 32. Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Longest distance so far today, at 290 miles, bringing us to more than 3900 miles in total. However, we've now crossed the Plains and made it to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the Rockies.

Started the day with a quick stop to see Cadillac Ranch, a rather strange art installation comprising 10 old Cadillac cars buried nose first in the middle of a field of wheat and covered in graffiti. Unfortunately we hadn't bought any spray paint with us so couldn't apply our own artistic flare, but plenty of other people were spraying away!

We then continued our journey west. For the first 100 miles we had to use the interstate (I40) - part of the old Route 66. The landscape was much the same as yesterday - vast flat plains, huge ranches, and wind turbines. The next 100 miles along Route 104 (Tucumcari to Las Vegas) was much more scenic - lots of mesas (flat topped hills), yellow flowers in the fields, and deserted roads.

The SV650 was still sucking through lots of fuel (due to the strong headwind and faster speeds), and coasted into Las Vegas (New Mexico, not Nevada) on empty. We were going to stop here for lunch but could see a big storm approaching, so quickly got back on the interstate (I25) and continued straight on to Santa Fe.

We've climbed over a 1000m today, and are now at over 2000m above sea level.

We seem to have arrived for the start of the Santa Fe Fiesta, and are off to watch the Burning of Zozobar (Old Man Gloom) tonight - a 50ft bogeyman marionette, stuffed full of scraps of paper describing peoples troubles and worries.

Lots of music, fireworks, explosions, and flashes of lightning in the background to add to the atmosphere. And beach balls thrown into the crowd - not sure of their significance. See photos...