Took "The Scenic Route"

Above, on Six Mile Canyon Road from McGaffey Lake. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This evening, I headed into Gallup for a sushi dinner at Zen Steak & Sushi.

While heading into town, I noticed the eastbound traffic on Interstate 40 beginning to back up from my exit at Jamestown to ten miles west. I was hoping it would be clear by the time I headed back home.

After dinner, I headed over to the market to pick up a few things and then drove home. I took Historic Route 66 out of Gallup. 

Just as I feared, I-40 was backed up almost to Gallup. It turns out that Route 66 wasn't much better.

After crossing the McGaffey overpass, the traffic on Route 66 came to a grinding halt. I took a look and it was backed up all the way to Iyanbito. All this was from the roadwork near our exit.

Above, tonight's sashimi. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Seeing that, I turned around and crossed the Interstate on the McGaffey bridge. I decided to try out the drive from McGaffey Lake through Six Mile Canyon of the Cibola National Forest. I have never driven it in the Mustang, but the dirt road was good enough to accommodate it.

Sure enough, the Mustang handled the road just fine and I reached home about an hour after leaving Gallup. Friends here have mentioned taking Six Mile Canyon from McGaffey as a good alternate route. It did seem weird that I was in Six Mile Canyon in the Mustang instead of in the Jeep.

Sure enough, it was. It was "the scenic route" that added about 18 miles more to my drive home. At least I didn't have to sit in traffic. It all worked out better that I expected.

UPDATE (5/9/21):

One of our community members posted this last evening after I got home:

If you are coming in from Gallup tonight you will want to take 6 mile. The big trucks got wise to the access road and caused it to back up as well.