Ted in New Mexico

 Ted finally got to see New Mexico in the daylight. I think he was pretty impressed.

Here is Ted at the Continental Divide in Gallup, NM

• The Continental Divide is the name given to the mountainous divide of the Americas which separates watershed to the Pacific and to the Atlantic Oceans
• The Great divide is the most prominent because it runs through both the American and Canadian Rocky Mountains
• The Divide begins at Cape Prince of Wales, Alaska and ends in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego in South America
• The Great Divide Hiking Trail follows the Continental Divide closely and crosses it no less than 30 times

Ted LOVES the Cracker Barrel restaurant and general store. The Cracker Barrel is famous for many things, one of them being their rocking chairs. The only downside to the Cracker Barrel is that the nearest one is 146.79 miles away from home, in Kingman, AZ.

• In a typical year the Cracker Barrel serves: 13.1 mil pounds of chicken tenders, 121 mil slices of bacon, 151 mil eggs, 11 mil orders of Chicken N' Dumplins, 37 mil portions of grits, and 56 mil pancakes
• On a typical day Cracker Barrel uses 70,000 lbs of flour to make made-from-scratch biscuits and dumplins
• 10,000,000 Peg Games were made exclusively for Cracker Barrel in the first 41 years
• Cracker Barrel has sold over 4,000,000 Moon Pies in 2010

 Ted picked up his first cache of the day in Gallup, NM at the Donuts and Deli:

The view from Gallup reminds Ted of the movie Cars, which took place along Historic Route 66.

• Gallup is one of the oldest towns in the U.S. and can be traced back to 2500 B.C.
• The railroad paymaster David Gallup established his headquarters in the town and workers were soon "going to Gallup" for their pay
• The main street of Gallup became part of Route 66 in 1926
• The El Rancho Hotel in Gallup has hosted Ronald Regan, Spencer Tracy, Katherine Hepburn and Kirk Douglas

 Ted says that this is a sad sign of the times for Old Route 66.

• Route 66 was created when New Mexico was only 14 years old.
• When it began, it was little more than 400 miles of gravel road
• Today there are over 260 miles of pre-interstate era Route 66 that remains driveable
• The Route 66 Neon Sign Restoration project by the New Mexico Route 66 association was been restoring vintage neon signs in Tucumcari, Santa Rosa, Moriarty, Albuquerque, Grants, and Gallup

Who knows where Ted will end up tomorrow! Keep watching to find out whats next on Ted's meandering adventure!

(facts via: absoluteastronomy.com, crackerbarrel.tekgroupweb.com, legendsofamerica.com)