So I ran a little contest to give away a few copies of my Moon Santa Fe, Taos & Albuquerque guidebook.

To win, you had to guess how many miles I drove recently on my New Mexico research trip.

The answer:

3,284 miles

Uh, that’s a lot. And probably a third of those miles were “Crap, I missed my turn/didn’t see whether that shop was open/made the wrong turn/don’t want to pull in front of that truck with the gun rack so he can see my Obama sticker” kind of miles. I wish I had a chess clock hooked up to the odometer, and I could slap it every time I’m driving pointlessly.

And, let me point out, this is only the first of two research trips. I still haven’t even been north of I-40, and I didn’t do the road through Pie Town and Datil.

So, first of all, thanks to Beverly for letting me use her car. Next time, though, I’m getting a rental, which only seems fair.

Now, the winners.

Technically, I planned to give away two books to the closest guesses. Those two bona fide winners are:

Mitch Hellman of Alotta Gelato, whose guess was only 216 miles off. This guy has a good grasp of the scope of the American West. And he heard me complain about how much driving I have to do.

Gabriella Gonzalez, who works for Rand and is good at quantifying things, I guess. Her guess was 316 miles off. Also, her parents live in Silver City, so she knows how far in the middle of nowhere a lot of places in New Mexico are.

But I’ve got an awful lot of books sitting here. And I admit there was some funny business near the end, when I gave away a monstrous clue (how many tanks of gas I bought: nine). So, at risk of this ending up like American elementary school, where everyone’s a winner, I have to give a copy to:

Nate Rex, who objected to the irregularity, and resubmitted his guess, at 3,100 miles, via Facebook. Really, he was the winner, as he was only 184 miles off.

And to:

Mike Waggoner, who made the closest pre-gas-tank-clue guess, and is someone I genuinely do not know personally. So that’s exciting! Strangers playing, and playing well, should be rewarded!

And I’m giving one last prize to the farthest-off (it would be damaging to the self-esteem to say worst) guess, because I figure this person is most in need of a guidebook!

Linda Olle, who went with 400 miles. And she was allowing for zigzagging. Linda, hope to see you in big, big New Mexico someday soon!

Thanks for playing, everyone! And now you know never to lend your car to me.