Albuquerque

September 15 – 29, 2024

Welp, this is it. After four months on the road, our Summer Tour winds down with a quick 12 days in Albuquerque, followed by three days’ drive home. Most of what we did in Albuquerque are the same things we always do, but I’ll go through them anyway, starting with…

The Drive

We took off from our AirBnB in Kentucky early on the morning of Friday the 13th. I’d filled with gas the night before and done most of the loading up, so all we had to do was load up the last minute stuff, clean up a little, and we were on the road just before 9:00 am.

We headed south on I-65 to Nashville then hopped on I-40 westbound, where we stayed pretty much the rest of the way to Albuquerque.

We stopped in Conway, Arkansas for the night, staying at a La Quinta Inn. We got in pretty early, ordered Chinese food, then called it a night.

The next morning, I was up early enough to take a hike with Ash on the nearby Hendrix Creek Trail. The trailhead was close enough that we were able to walk to it in about 10 minutes, then we spent just under half an hour on the 1.2 mile loop trail with virtually no elevation gain.

The trail was wedged between an apartment complex and the interstate. There was a fair amount of traffic noise, but the trail was still OK. It was a hard-packed gravel path, for the most part, with an occasional bridge over the creek for which the trail was named. The trail wove through a stand of trees in the midst of their change into their fall colors and alongside a pond where the creek terminates.

The boardwalk alongside this pond was tiered, stepping down in three large steps to the water’s level and situated almost like bleachers, looking out over the water. I did take a few pictures on the trail, see them in the Photo Diary.

After completing the hike, we headed back to the hotel, got Brandy up and running and we were out the door to our next stop.

Shamrock, Texas: Not What I Thought It’d Be

I had it in my head that Shamrock, Texas, was a forgotten Route 66 town that had been somewhat rehabilitated with the re-romanticization of Route 66 by things like the movie Cars and the newly-found sense of adventure afforded to today’s support of remote work. I thought I would find it similar to Tucumcari, New Mexico, where sure, it’s a little older, but there is fresh paint on the buildings, the businesses are active, and the roads are in decent shape. With these thoughts in mind, I thought that would be the perfect spot to stop between our stop in Arkansas and Albuquerque.

It turns out that I was wrong. The entire town, except for the famed Crossroads Conoco station, was in a total state of disrepair and neglect, the few buildings that were there were in bad shape, including the Motel 6 where we had a room booked. As we pulled up to it, Brandy made it clear that we were NOT staying there. We would have to find somewhere else to go.

We looked around and found a Sleep Inn nearby but that didn’t seem to be in much better shape. After a bit of back and forth, we decided to push on another 45 minutes or so to Amarillo.

We exited I-40 in Amarillo and were immediately plunged into hotel alley. The frontage road alongside the interstate was lined, gut to gullet, with hotels, for miles and miles. We wound up at a Holiday Inn Express right off the freeway. We went in with no reservations and a list of demands- pet friendly, king sized bed, on the first floor. The first two, they were able to accommodate but our room wound up on the second floor, which is fine, they had an elevator.

We got food delivered, ate, and went to sleep, ready for the last push in to Albuquerque on Sunday.

ABQ Arrival

After a detour to a dispensary near the Coronado mall, we got to Alan’s just after 1:00, MDT. He had messaged me at about 12:30 saying he was laying down for a nap, so when we arrived, we let ourselves into his back yard, found the door to the casita unlocked and we set about unpacking the truck.

We had just started when Alan emerged from his house and helped us unload the rest. We got done quickly then he and I headed out for some supplies and we got to drinking in short order.

As usual, I overdid it, drinking at elevation, getting drunk too quickly. After our standard dinner of Dion’s, and a bit more conversing, we called it a night at about 10:00 and headed to bed.

The Zoo, and Green Chile and Spirit with Jarrod

I worked Monday and Tuesday, taking the second half of the week off to get in some of the activities I wanted to cram in during my time in the Q.

Wednesday, I had plans to go get my green chile, the Spirit Halloween store and see a movie with Jarrod. Unfortunately, he’d forgotten he’d planned on going to a concert that night, and, after working Tuesday night, he didn’t get home until 6:00 am Wednesday.

Knowing I was going to have some time to kill before he even woke up, I went to the ABQ BioPark Zoo, one of my favorite things to do in Albuquerque.

I messed around with my GoPro and took a bunch of video in the hopes that I can put together a cool little montage of some of the animals I saw there.

I walked the zoo twice, getting a Dole whip in between rounds. As many times as I’d been to Disneyland in my life, this was the first time I’d ever had a Dole whip, and it was pretty damned good!

Pictures from this trip can be found on my Photo Diary.

After my second go-round, I stopped at the gift shop then headed out to grab a bite at the 66 Diner, my favorite non-New Mexican restaurant in Albuquerque. As I was finishing up, Jarrod messaged and said he was getting up. I took streets up to his apartment to give him time to get ready.

Once I picked him up, we headed to Corrales where we picked up three full sacks of green chile, two medium and one hot. We stood and watched as the Wagner Farms employee roasted up the chiles and the familiar scents filled my nose, the sounds of the seeds popping from the heat ringing in my ears, feeling the heat of the propane-powered burners as they char the skin of the fruits. This all against the backdrop of the wonderful village of Corrales with large, looming trees with their autumn colors starting to show. It made me happy.

Once the chiles were roasted and loaded in the truck, we headed over to the Spirit Halloween store to check out this year’s offerings. We browsed around for a bit, went for a bit to eat at Cheba Hut then I took Jarrod home to get ready for his concert.

I made my way back to Alan’s where, at this point, I don’t quite remember what I did the rest of the day, but chances are it involved some socialization with Alan, Brittany, Maddie and Brandy, then, assumingly, we called it a night and headed to bed.

A Day with Brandy

Thursday, Brandy and I got up early and headed to Weck’s for breakfast.

As we headed out of the South Valley and into the city-proper, I noticed a few hot air balloons in the skies as the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta activities start ramping up. Made me wish I was around for it this year.

We got to the Weck’s on Central and San Mateo, which looked brand new still, though we were told it was a couple of years old at that point. We had breakfast then from there, we went to her former nail salon and we both got pedicures and she got a manicure.

From there, we headed to Old Town where we went to the shop where, years ago, we’d bought a colorfully pebbled pitcher and glasses set. We got a similar set for Christy and when her pitcher broke, we donated ours. The one we bought to replace it doesn’t quite match and we’ve been on the hunt for the right one ever since.

Alas, that store still didn’t have what we were looking for. Brandy walked down the lane where the Native Americans sell jewelry, but she didn’t find anything that struck her fancy. We headed back to the truck then to New Mexico Tea Company where I bought a pound of the Bourbon Street Vanilla herbal tea.

After that, we headed back to the Uptown area where Brandy had an appointment with her hairdresser she used to see when we lived in New Mexico. While she did that, I went to Coronado Mall and roamed around for a couple of hours. After two hours, I headed back to the salon where she was still processing her bleach. Shortly after I got there, her hairdresser rinsed her then had to tone.

By the time we left the salon, it was near 5:00 and the hour-plus drive back didn’t get us to Alan’s until almost 6:30.

Again, I don’t remember what the rest of that night consisted of, but same thing, I’m sure it involved hanging out and socializing before heading to bed.

Meeting My Boss

Friday, I headed up to a different Weck’s to have breakfast with my boss, who I got to meet for the first time after working for him for a year. One of my colleagues joined us and we sat and got to know each other a little bit.

After we were done eating, we parted ways, me heading to Presbyterian Hospital to say hi to my friends from the transplant department. I spent some time there, then headed back to Alan’s. Lather, rinse, repeat.

To the Gun Range

Saturday morning, Alan and I went to the nearby gun range where we met up with his friend Chris. I am planning on bringing a gun into the house and wanted to get an idea of what to look for. Alan brought a small .22 caliber handgun, two 9 mm handguns, one compact and one sub-compact, and a .45 caliber handgun.

Chris showed up after we’d fired off a few magazines’ worth of ammo, and he brought with him a veritable arsenal. More 9 millimeters and some others that I got to try and get comfortable with.
Once we’d had our fun with the handguns, Alan brought out a shotgun that we loaded up with a variety of rounds and boy oh boy, even four days after using it, my shoulder still hurt. On top of that, the rails on the slide of the long gun caught my thumb and gave me a nice little black thumbnail.

We finished up, packed up, and headed back to Alan’s where we hooked up a trailer to his truck then headed down the road to where he and Brittany get their hay. I helped Alan load 60 bales of hay onto the trailer that we then drove back to his house.

We spent some time peeling and bagging our chile and getting a batch ready for dehydration, then the rest of the evening was the same as the others, drinking, socializing and bed.

A Hike to the Movies

Sunday morning, Brandy and I woke up early and headed to our favorite local trail to hike on the Cedro Creek Nature Trail. We spent about an hour on the trail, basking in the glory of the early fall colors. That familiar golden glow was ever present, the air was cool and crisp and I was very happy at that time. The pics from this go-round, of course, are in my Photo Diary.

Once we got back to the trailhead, we left for the Regal Cinemas at Winrock where we met up with Jarrod and saw Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. I enjoyed it, it was a completely satisfactory sequel to the original.

After the movie, the three of us headed out to lunch at Pho Linh near Kirtland Air Force Base, where Brandy used to LOVE getting pho when we lived in Albuquerque.

After we said our goodbyes to Jarrod, we headed back to Alan’s and I used his pressure washer to rinse off the truck.

Brittany started getting ready to head out of town for her work and Brandy wasn’t feeling well so she laid in bed, so Alan and I spent the rest of the evening drinking and socializing by a fire that he built in his fire pit.

The Last Week

The following week, starting on September 23, was spent working and getting packed up and ready for our departure Thursday after work.

Monday, I did run a handful of errands after work, but nothing too exciting.

Tuesday, we both just worked all day, intermittently packing things up in anticipation of our departure Thursday.

Wednesday was more of the same, working, packing up some more, and starting the loading of the truck.

After work Wednesday, Alan, Brandy, Brittany and I gathered at Alan’s main house for one last hurrah before saying our good-byes and calling it a night.

Thursday, we both worked, then, after I signed off, I finished loading up the truck with our last minute stuff, we piled in, and off we went, hitting the road at 4:00 pm. We made our requisite stop in Walsenburg, pulling into the Best Western at just after 8:00. After we checked in, I ordered dinner from The Stokehouse, part of the Walsenburg Mercantile, then quickly left to pick it up. I had the Green Chile Strip Burger, “a juicy beef patty topped with green chili slice , melted pepper jack cheese served with lettuce, tomato, & onion”. After eating, we headed to sleep in a king sized bed.

The next morning, we went to Christy’s house where we hung out for a bit, then headed to a craft fair type thing being held at a local nursery. We did some shopping around, picked up a couple of things, then headed to the Soap Box where Brandy picked up 50 bath bombs. We stopped at Serendipity where she picked up another t-shirt, then we went back to Christy’s house. We sat and socialized for a bit, then, just before 1:00, we hit the road.

We drove for just about 7 hours, winding up in Salina, Kansas. Just before we arrived, Brandy ordered Hog Wild Barbecue via Door Dash. Shortly after we checked in, the food was at our door. We ate then hit the sack, ready for the last push home.

Home At Last

We were up and on the road at 8:00 am Saturday morning, eager to get home. A quick 6 hour drive with a couple of stops for gas and bio breaks and we were back in our driveway just before 2:30.

I walked in to a suddenly unfamiliar house. I had forgotten what it looked like. I forgot we had dark floors, and red countertops, and black kitchen appliances. I forgot about the quirky creaks in the floors and the rushing sounds of the hotel AC unit in our living room.

Sue was already there doing yard work (of course) and soon after we arrived, Craig showed up.

Brandy and I poured ourselves some drinks and sat, BS’ing with Craig and Sue for a few hours.

The weather was surprisingly pleasant, not getting over 80 degrees, a nice, gentle breeze keeping things cooler, the air chilling as the sun went down.

Craig and Sue left and not long after, Hilary showed up. I continued unpacking while she and Brandy socialized and got caught up, then Hilary left to get her boyfriend, Jason. He seemed like a pretty nice guy, we talked a bit about baseball and life in general, then they left and a drunk Brandy and I laid down in our own bed for the first time in months.

I slept very soundly and solidly.

The End

And that, as they say, is that.

I must say, it was a hell of a trip. It had its fair share of ups and downs, plenty of successes and disappointments, and we learned a LOT about being on the road during this trip.

We learned that we don’t need to take nearly as much as we did this time. We learned that we shouldn’t take food with us- that only takes up valuable real estate and most of it didn’t get eaten anyway. We learned that, on a four month road trip, we will come home with WAY more clothes than we left with. And we learned that a 17 gallon tote wasn’t quite enough for all the souvenirs we brought home.

As I have said a million times on this trip, I am exceedingly grateful to have the opportunity to take such a wild road trip, and at the risk of sounding ungrateful, I’m glad we are home. The last couple weeks were kind of rough, sleeping on the couch in Alan’s casita, but I got through it.

What’s Next

Being home doesn’t mean we’re done with adventuring. Brandy is home for a couple of weeks before she heads out to Florida for work. Before that, we are hoping to get a van to take on our next trip, if CarMax ever decides to ship it…

Next weekend, the 11th through the 13th, is the Villages of Van Buren County Scenic Drive Festival. Sue had expressed interest in going with us so we are planning on doing that on Saturday the 12th.

The following weekend, after Brandy’s left for her work trip, I’m heading up to Boone to ride the Lunch Train with Jeff Lenton.

The next week after that, on October 24, is a Candlelight Concert at the… ahem… World Food Prize Hall of Laureates. Yeah, that’s a helluva name for a venue, isn’t it?

Brandy returns the following day, then, one week later, we head out for a two week trip to New Orleans.

After our return to Iowa from that trip comes my birthday, then Thanksgiving, then we will be heading to Idaho to spend Christmas with my parents.

And then…

In One Year…

Exactly one year from tomorrow, October 1, 2025, we will be embarking on our first international trip to Cabo san Lucas, Mexico, for our all-expenses-paid resort getaway with the boys from Blue October.

As this is a tropical destination where swimming will be encouraged, I want to try to lose as much weight as possible, and start trying to get some muscle going, particularly in my upper body. I have a one-year goal in mind (get down to 300 pounds, making it a 75 pound loss challenge) and I have a couple of tools in my pocket to help keep me motivated.

Along with that goal, I’ve also quit smoking (again) and am on hold from drinking for a while. I want to see how long I can go without either.

So, even though this massive trip is done doesn’t mean we are done.

Pictures from all of our adventures are on my Photo Diary.

Make sure you stick around, cuz baby, we’re just getting started.

-Phil