Book 'em Danno! Murder One, Three Counts: The Road To Alburcoyque

I hope that you took note of the title of this particular post because I must give full credit to the creative genius that is Matt, my London based but Cockermouth born nephew. He is a wordsmith in the true sense and with a perceptively quick wit, I think that The Sun could gainfully employ him as a headline writer. Anyway, thanks Matt.

Well here I am sitting in my motel room in Santa Fe, touching wood that everything to date has gone swimmingly and hoping that it continues this way over the course of the next few weeks. Perhaps my logistical planning has improved although it is very early days.
We had a lovely flight out to Denver although it was a surprise to find that it left from Terminal 3 at Heathrow and not Terminal 5, a place that we have used on many occasions and which we think is one of the finest airport terminals in the world. I'm afraid that I couldn't give this accolade to T3. It falls far short of everything that T5 offers, not least of which is space, airiness and somewhere to plonk your backside while you pass the hours waiting for your connecting flight. 4/10 would be a more than generous score!
Anyway, we left our hotel this morning in Castle Rock at just before 5am - we had been awake since 1 - for the 367 mile drive to Santa Fe. It was a beautiful moonlit sky, a full harvest moon actually and conditions for driving were perfect allowing us to arrive at our destination well before noon even taking into account coffee, shopping and petrol stops. The I25 is a dream to drive and the lack of traffic astonishing despite it being a main arterial route. It provides a great example of why I love motoring in America and it also allowed us to pass through Trinidad and Las Vegas! Neither of these places are the ones that you will be thinking about!
Our body clocks at the moment are still on UK time but despite feeling wrecked, we made the journey into Santa Fe for the afternoon and were glad that we did because after a torrential downpour, the skies cleared, the sun came out and the temperature started to warm up.
Santa Fe is a lovely place to wander around. It was founded in 1610 by Spanish colonists and is the oldest state capital city in the United States. Its name means "holy faith" in Spanish and there are plenty of churches and cathedrals to visit, not least of which is San Miguels Church which is said to be the oldest church structure in the USA.
As well as churches and old adobe haciendas which are plentiful throughout the historic centre, you are unable to walk far without seeing numerous bunches of chillis on display outside shops and hanging from lamp posts. We didn't determine if these were hot or mild but suffice to say that with the number on show, someone in this part of the world must be consuming vast numbers and have the constitution of an ox!
It's 6pm local as I write this dispatch and the eyes are struggling to remain open. We plan breakfast circa 3am tomorrow before heading to our final destination - Alburcoyque - as it will now always affectionately be known. It's only a short 78 mile hop to our hotel for the next three nights and I am happy to report that at this stage, the forecast for Balloon Fiesta weekend looks fantastic.