Hot Dog, Jumping Frog......

We were in another new state, and this state was New Mexico! Working our way across the states, we were now more than halfway there, heading for our final destination of Los Angeles. We arrived into a nice new terminal and headed to a local diner to grab a cup of hot brown and use their wi-fi as we had much to prepare. We knew we would be in Albuquerque for 2 days and then heading vaguely towards Las Vegas, but we had not booked anything or checked the bus times, so we knew we needed to have a productive day. After 3 hours in Milton’s Cafe and 3 refills of our coffee we had a final route planned that would take in Vegas, Salt Lake City, Reno, Yosemite, San Francisco, San Diego and Los Angeles, with numerous overnighters along the way.

James ponders his next move in Albuquerque

Our hotel/motel was right next-door to the diner so we checked in early and made camp. We had already decided that this day would be a free-and-easy one so we showered, slept, blogged and then set out to find a local deli for sandwich materials and deodorant. Once we had found a couple of places that would satisfy our needs we purchased our goods, including a 12 pack of beer, and headed for the exit. But our exit-strategy was to be delayed, for as the song goes “everywhere you go, always take the weather with you” we had done, and it was thundering it down outside. With only shorts and t-shirts to keep us warm we had to try and sit it out and wait for a break in the clouds. It never came. But we did manage to leave when it had died off a bit, and got back reasonably dry, to tuck into a monster Bowl Noodle and a couple of Steel Reserve beers. 

Ironically, the ponchos that we SHOULD have worn when we left the hotel!

Due to the odd nature of US labelling we had no idea how strong said beer would be, but we had been reliably informed by one of our US buddies that they were pretty much all the same so that’s why they didn’t label them up. After removing the first can from the soggy cardboard packaging I noticed something on the can that made my blood run cold. 8.1% ABV. Wow. And this was the cheap stuff too! Less than a buck a beer is what we look for, and this came out cheaper than the 5% Buds and Millers of this world, so I have no idea what the alcohol tax is for the US, but this beer packed a kick stronger than a steroid-addled mule on Red Bull. After 3 cans and a lot of cheesey American telly, we were steady away and our decision to open a fourth (so we would only have to have 2 each the next day) seemed like a good idea at the time. It wasn’t. For me anyway. Climbing into bed, I had not had the room spin like that since my days at Devonshire Halls in my first year of University. Thankfully I managed to get off to sleep and awoke to a very fuzzy head the next morning. But we made it to breakfast anyway, where we were to be treated to a “Conti Breakfast” which I assumed was continental breakfast, much like we had got in Chicago and Nashville. It wasn’t at all. The choice was a bowl of Cheerio’s or cornflakes and coffee or........coffee. The tables were, well, one small table with two chairs in reception. A little odd but we ate our share and made off back to the room to get ready for our Power Day of seeing everything Albuquerque had to offer.

James had found a map to get to Old Town, west of downtown, where there was supposedly some nice little places to see, so we set off in the morning sun to find it. The historical Route 66 ran through the town and we walked along it to get to Old Town. You wouldn’t really know you were on the old Route 66 (for it is no longer called that now, for some reason) save from a couple of signs on diners/bars, and it seemed like any other main road through a generic American town. But we found the Old Town area and looked around the small olden-style houses and shops that seemed a nice little oasis of calm set away from the major roads that criss-crossed the city. This is where my hangover decided to leave me, possibly sweated-out from the hike down there. After we had “done” Old Town we headed back up the old Route 66 and passed the crazy old lady who was still having a picnic by herself in the park and chatting away to seemingly nobody. There wasn’t much else to see in the city either, so we made our way back to the room to chill out and look at accommodation for Vegas and Salt Lake City. We knew that the TV show Breaking Bad was filmed in Albuquerque and we would have time the next morning to see some of the locations where they had filmed so we had another relaxed day/night, but with no more Steel Reserve for me, I stuck to the Ice Tea from the vending machine...

Even Albuquerque has churches everywhere