Heading for Pawnee National Grassland......almost.

Highway 60 heading out of Apache Creek towards Socorro runs through desert with only the town of Magdalena and the VLA to break the monotony. The VLA stands for "Very Large Array" and consists of 27 187 ton 82 foot white discs which can be moved around on tracks. If you saw the movie "Contact" you would easily recognize these structures. They are used by radio astronomers but I suspect something more sinister since as I passed by them the truck started losing vital body fluids and the power steering went out. I stopped to see what kind of trouble I was in. Fortunately nothing was wrong with the engine so I decided to try to make it the 50 miles to Socorro. Steering was actually somewhat normal at highway speed but slowing down for curves required a little muscle. I was contemplating continuing on to Albuqueque where I would have a better chance of finding a good garage but as I slowed down for Socorro I discovered my brakes had also gone out and the truck felt like a tank in the steering department. My only option was stay over night until the garages opened in the morning.

I parked the truck on the first side street and walked the main drag until I came to the Sands Hotel. It was actually more than I expected for the $29 a night. Better yet the owner recommended a garage right across the street. I didn't have too many options so I walked back to the truck and nursed it to the garage and parked it there for the night.

Being in a hotel room felt like quite a luxury after all the camping so I decided to treat myself to a meal that didn't consist of any canned food. I decided on the Road Runner Steakhouse several block north of my hotel. The restaurant was rather upscale with fancy red and white linen table clothes and flowers on the table. The decor was a mixture of early spanish conquistadors, native Americans, and cowboys. That pretty much covers the history of the area, I suppose. The meal was excellent (grilled salmon) but anything probably would have gotten rave reviews from me after my normal diet. The weird thing about the meal was that I was the only customer in the entire place. It felt a little surreal sitting completely alone looking across all the fancy empty tables.