Point Me in the Direction of Albuquerque....

Greetings from New Mexico! We left Amarillo bright and early this morning and started the day at The Cadillac Ranch, dodging cow patties, heifers, and empty spray paint cans. Have we mentioned how lucky we've been timing-wise? Every restaurant we enter is empty when we come in and packed as we leave; our light's been good; the Caddys were unmolested by others (save for the cattle,) enabling us to take our photos and be on our merry way. It's all good.

The road to Albuquerque didn't contain much that wasn't I-40 frontage EXCEPT a stretch that went off through a ghost town into unpaved territory. Neil and I both acknowledged that we'd probably never been so far off the beaten path in our lives before and it was weird, wonderful and a little bit scary. Of course, what seemed like forever in a sedan would be far more tolerable in a pickup. It was probably about 20 miles in reality. Very cool.

Albuquerque itself is a rockin' city. We had dinner this evening in Old Town, a square around which a 300 year old adobe church and equally ancient houses (now restaurants) are arranged. Very lovely. Very tourista. Route 66 here is less about the old motels and more about maintaining (and improving) some fabulous deco architecture. It goes all through Albuquerque as Central Avenue and it has as much neon as they can load onto one street.

Tomorrow is a 'north loop' alternate 66 day for us. We're driving 60 miles north to Santa Fe to be artsy. Then we head on out of town to Flagstaff, AZ on Friday morning.

I could park here for a good long while.