Road Trip - Day 4

Departure Point: Albuquerque, NM
Departure Time: 8:30am
Destination: Grand Canyon Village, AZ
Miles Today: 445.7
Miles So Far: 1965.9

We left Albuquerque this morning around 8:30am and we made our first stop just outside of town at Petroglyph National Monument. Native Americans used to live here and left markings all over the rocks. It's a good thing they are old and have some cultural value, because I don't think they could stand on their own artistic merit. I also saw the biggest rabbit I have ever seen in my life. It could have easily eaten us.

We're on the road now, and the scenery west of Albuquerque is beautiful. The landscape is amazing, and you can easily see for 75 miles in any direction.

Today we will be driving through the Painted Desert, Petrified Forrest National Park, Meteor Crater and at least two gas stations claiming to have the longest map of Route 66. Towns we will be driving through include Winslow AZ, where I'm hoping to stop and stand on the corner and Flagstaff.

Road Trip - Albuquerque

We rolled into Albuquerque around 3pm on Wednesday. Both of our friends were still at work so we decided to go up the Sandia Peak Tramway. It is the longest (but not the tallest) tramway in the world. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy at the top and we couldn't see the city, but I got some good pictures on the way up and some interesting ones from the top. Full size pictures are @ http://picasaweb.google.com/jiggersplat/RoadTrip

After the tramway, Mike dropped me off at my friend Jane's house. We went out for a few beers and some of the best nachos I've had. They used *real* cheese. Then we met some of her friends for dinner. We went back to Jane's place, I met her sister and we sat around and chatted for a few minutes and then went to bed.

Road Trip - Day 3

We didn't get to stop all the places I would have liked yesterday after we left Memphis because we had so many miles to cover, but I did manage to see the 2nd largest cross in the western hemisphere. In fact, I spotted it on the horizon, at night, from about 12 miles away. We got in to Amarillo last night just before 2am. This morning I awoke to the sweet sounds of Trace Adkins on the clock radio, singing the Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, in which the author wonders, "Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on"? Indeed.

Departure Point: Amarillo, TX
Departure Time: 10:15am
Destination: Albuquerque, NM
Miles Today: 304.9
Miles So Far: 1661.0

Today should be a pretty easy day. There's not a lot to see in between Amarillo and Albuquerque. We missed The Big Texan last night since we passed it about 1:30am. I try not to eat 72oz steaks right before I go to bed. It gives me heartburn. We'll stop at the Cadillac Ranch on the way out of town today, maybe the Mesalands Dinosaur Museum in Tucumcari, NM and the Atomic Energy Museum and Rattlesnake Museum are both in Albuquerque. Apparently there is also some sort of cable car that takes you up a mountain somewhere. We might give that a shot depending on what time we roll into town.