I had a relaxing day yesterday cleaning War Dog and doing some well overdue laundry. My riding shirt had become as stiff as some of my BDUs in the Army when we used to get them starched.

With the weather forecast for the next few days looking more like the typical New Mexico monsoon season, I decided to take the advice of the Adventure Cycling Association and take the alternate route to Grants to avoid the sections on the main route that become impassable after rain.

As I left this morning, my decision was clearly verified as the correct one when I could see ominous looking clouds and some rain already falling over the mountains. I had a few sprinkles this morning also as I rode more towards the southwest.

This part of the route gets me to Grants in 120 miles mostly through the Navajo Nation. Services are very limited and there is a place to stay behind a service station called Chaco Trade Center, which is about 49 miles from Cuba leaving about 71 miles for tomorrow.

Leaving Cuba this morning the landscape changed dramatically. The Southwest has amazing landscape features that are very dramatic. With the limited traffic, I found myself stopping and just enjoying the sounds of nothingness.

Torreon was the only place I went through today that has any type of human population. It has a school, medical facility and a store.

Just outside of the town was where I was able to use the technique of handling dogs from last summer. A pack of about ten dogs came running from a couple houses and greeted me with high energy. Only three came out into the road and the most aggressive one seemed to have gotten my point to get the hell back in his yard.

I hate to say this, but today was indeed an easy day as I made it to the Chaco Trade Center early enough to get a mocha slushy and some mini doughnuts. As I sat outside the trade center, which also has a laundromat and post office boxes, a Navajo man sat beside me and we had a nice talk.

He had walked seven miles to Pueblo Pintado, which I will ride through tomorrow, and then got a lift here. He is now looking for a ride to Torreon and hopefully from there on to Cuba for an appointment with the government. Everyone he sees, he greets in his native language and then asks if they are going to Torreon. One man was headed that way, but unfortunately he was driving a government vehicle and could not transport others.

So, I eventually got enough courage to ask the man about the greeting he has been giving others. I got the feeling that he did not get my line of questioning as he was not answering me. I then simply asked him how do you say “Hey” in the Navajo language? He looked at me and said without hesitation “Heeeyyyy.” We both laughed out loud. He then said if he is angry, he just says “Hey” instead of “Heeeeeyyyy.” Now that was the funniest moment of this entire trip. I felt like a jackass and he got one over on me for sure!