Summer Travel Map

Friday, April 27, 2007

Altitudes and attitudes

April 27, 2007
Albuquerque, NM

It was a beautiful day for driving today! Not a cloud in the sky, light winds, and only one path to follow: I-40 East. We left Flagstaff just about on schedule at 9:00 AM MST and rolled in to Albuquerque at 4:00 PM MDT (we lost an hour going from AZ to NM). We stopped for lunch at the last rest area in AZ, set amidst some beautiful rock formations. We saw a house for sale as we went through Grants, NM. Geri's been looking at this chateau from the highway, and on realtor.com, for 2 years now. Still for sale. Unfortunately, a) we'd have to sell the coach to afford it and b) it gets cold in Grants in the winter. Nice, but "no".

We're staying at American RV Park on the mesa just west of Albuquerque. It's a pretty nice park that we've seen from the highway several times as we've passed though town. Compared to several other parks we've seen in the last few days, it's also pretty populated. There aren't many open spaces and quite a few coaches pulled in after we did. There are a few large coaches here (including a Featherlite Prevost conversion behind us). We're diagonally across from John Verretti, past president of Monaco International. We've been at the same park as John twice in the last year (also at Newport, OR last fall), but haven't had a chance to say "hello".

Just east of here, I-40 descends rapidly through the Rio Grande valley, with a beautiful view of the city. If you've ever seen the Rio Grande, you really have to wonder about truth in advertising. It's a pretty valley, but a relatively modest waterway for most of its course.

We took advantage of our familiarity with the area (we've stayed in Albuquerque a few time in the past) to make a Whole Foods run for dinner. After the 32 oz. Porterhouse at Black Bart's last night, I was more in the mood for a salad tonight. We picked up some nice greens, a few prawns, and planned a nice light dinner. We left the coach around 5:30 after walking the pups, and were back by ~6:30 in spite of "rush hour traffic" and two construction zones.

Our plan was a good one, except for the bottle of dumpling sauce that decided that the atmospheric pressure change between Phoenix and here was more than its cap could handle. And, it just happened to be on its side on a shelf due to the excess stuff we had to take from the house. Well, 45 minutes later, the inside of the fridge is cleaner enough to eat off (probably a good thing), and we were cooking! Another of Geri's great salads.

All in all, a "fabulous" day. Tomorrow, we're also tied to I-40 eastbound, heading for Amarillo, TX.

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