June 10 - St. Louis to Albuquerque

I had a rather uneventful trip on Southwest Airlines from St. Louis to Albuquerque. This was my first trip on Southwest so it was my first encounter with Lambert airport's east terminal. I thought the guy driving the shuttle was going to take me to Illinois....but it all worked out.

The check-in and security operation was fairly painless. I recently read that the airport security check is actually a "ceremony of control" because it really doesn't have much of a bearing on real security. It has the purpose of giving passengers the illusion of security and imposing a level of control. They apparently thought my CPAP was a dangerous object and wiped it down with ionizer swabs looking for explosives (didn't find any). They did this while I was hopping around on one foot trying to get my shoes off. Later I discovered that my duffel bag with my fishing gear was inspected by the Federal Transportation Administration. They put a note in the duffel in two languages explaining what they did. That's fine with me...nothing is missing and it looks the same as I packed it.

The flight was nice. I actually saw Jefferson City and Lake of the Ozarks. There is not a lot of interesting stuff to see otherwise until you get to New Mexico. The approach to Albuquerque had our full attention since it was windy and they have to fly around some mountains and do a hair-pin turn to line up with the runway....it was pretty bouncy by my standards but the local passengers said it was nothing. Hmmm.

Albuquerque's Sunport is a nice airport but it takes a lot of walking to get to the baggage area and then a shuttle to get to the off-site car rental desks...and they are all off-site at a special rental facility. It worked slick enough...just a little confusing as a new experience. I got my rental (a Cobalt) and got to my motel. This is the same place I stayed before so I know the neighborhood.

Well it was 93 degrees here and 5% humidity and a pretty afternoon. It didn't seem very windy once I was on the ground. I decided to chill out a little and then went to get some food and groceries. The motel has a kitchen so I'll do my own breakfasts and some suppers. I talked with the contractor's assistant already so we are on track there. I still need to talk to the mortgage people...I had to leave a message there.

Before I got my groceries I decided to have supper and to sample some of the international fare they have here so I went to a local Weinerschnitzel and ate a chili dog. They have a bunch of unusual (to me) fast food chains. The Weinerschnitzel was only a little larger than a phone booth. Whataburger is really huge here but I've never tried it. There seems to be a Whataburger on most major streets and sometimes only a couple blocks apart. As you would guess there are a number of Mexican food places but I'm not sure if they are chains. There are also the usual places -- Wendys, Arbys, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, etc. Weinerschnitzel is the worlds largest hot dog chain and their slogan is "Pushing the boundaries of taste". I think it is an open question on the direction they are pushing the boundaries but I liked the chili dog so maybe they are ok.

That's it for today. No pictures but I'll make up for that.

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Fire in the mountains still burning 5/3/08

About a half-dozen people said "Ken...You should look at property in the East Mountains..." Well, this isn't exactly in the "east mountains" but it is close enough and an example of what I'm worried about over there.


Officials say New Mexico wildfire has burned nearly 60 homes
By MATT MYGATT Associated Press Writer
Article Last Updated: 05/03/2008 03:42:16 PM CDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.—Firefighters worked in cooler, calmer weather Saturday to clear lines around a blaze that has burned nearly 60 homes and more than 20 square miles in the mountains of central New Mexico.

Authorities were able to confirm Saturday that 50 homes burned Wednesday in a fire caused by humans in the Manzano Mountains, souteast of Albuquerque, said Linda Peters, a fire information officer. Nine homes had burned earlier.

The 50 homes—most in an area called Sherwood Forest, west of the community of Torreon—went up Wednesday after the fire jumped containment lines.

Fire! South of Albuquerque

Just a quick update...
I've seen some reports that the Manzano Mountains, which lie southeast of Albuquerque, are burning and there have been a number of evacuations.

This seems pretty inevitable to me given the low humidity and the dry forests. Actually, they say this has been a pretty wet year....lots of snow. Doesn't seem to help.

Home Again

I'm still living on mountain time...I cant wake up before 8:30 these last two days. That puts me a little behind schedule on getting on the road.

Well, I spoke too soon about not getting lost in Tulsa. I left town in a heavy fog and drizzle heading east and before long I was well on my way to Arkansas. I'm blaming the fog...although it is pretty hard to miss the turnpike. Just a slight detour.

Fog and rain stayed with me all the way home. I decided to avoid my usual route because a tornado went through Buffalo a couple days ago and I didn't need to get caught up in the clean-up. After jockeying with the 18-wheelers on I-44 (and later highway 54) I managed to get home around 4:00 PM.

I had supper with Jill and brought Watson back home. He is now banging on the door to go out on the deck. He managed OK (eventually) at Jill's but he is happy to be home. Me too.

A Dreary, Dreary Day

Yuck!

It was cloudy leaving Amarillo and it just got worse as I came east. Hit lots of rain about an hour west of Oklahoma City and it rained all the way to Tulsa.

I almost always get lost or turned around in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa but this time -- somehow -- I got through alright. It seems like I'm always in the wrong lane and can't get over where I belong when my exit goes by. There is something wierd about Texas and Oklahoma drivers. If you speed up, they speed up and if you slow down to let them pass, they slow down and no matter what, they stay right where you want to be.

When I got to the hotel in Tulsa the desk clerk was having a happy hour so I got a free beer.

There is 60% chance of strong storms here tomorrow. More rain. Everything looks a lot greener than when I went through here last week.

Tomorrow night I'll be home!

So Much for Immortality

I got on the road for home this morning about 10:30, the sky was clear and the temperature was around 60 degrees...it looked like another pretty day. Going east from Albuquerque you have to climb through Tijeras canyon probably 1000 feet up to the east mountain area. By the time I got to Moriarty, about 18 miles east it was 35 degrees and overcast and the temperature dropped to 31 degrees by the time I got to Cline's Corners.

Cline's Corners is a relic of the old Route 66 days trying to survive on the interstate. They sell all kinds of tourist trap stuff -- way beyond t-shirts and key chains. You can get Chinese made Indian kachina dolls, all kinds of wonderful wall "art", Navajo sand paintings and dozens of pottery things. I roamed around in awe of all of the stuff they had for sale. They were trying to sell regular gas for $3.79 a gallon....I didn't see any takers. I did put on my jacket....for a while it looked like it might snow. Another 50 miles and the temperature was back up to 50 degrees and it was sunny.

I reached Amarillo fairly early and decided to stop at the Cadillac Ranch again to see if my attempt at immortality was successful. Most of what I saw a week ago when I stopped by was obliterated and covered with new graffiti. They even painted over my name! I hope "Mommy" got well because the "Get Well Mommy" inscription was replaced by "Sonya + Stacey". In fact Stacey had his name recorded several times on several cars...I don't know if he did it or Sonya did it. The whole thing reeks of spray paint. You can smell it 100 feet away.

Amarillo is the home of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame. It was closed when I got to town but it has some nice bronze statues on the outside. I'll try to get in here some future trip.

The time zone changes back to central time when you cross over from New Mexico into Texas. The sign on the road at the border says "Entering Texas Time Zone". Ugghh!

Tomorrow its back to Tulsa. Looks like the weather will be ok.

El Camino Real

I decided to drive up the river valley today. The first town is Corrales which dates back to about 1710. It is very traditional looking but I think they work at it It is pretty artsy with galleries and shops. Many of the buildings are old but look like they have been rehabbed or are newer and made to look old. There are a lot of river farms and more wineries. They use an aqueduct system and flood the fields periodically with water from the Rio Grande. Also there are some horse farms and truck farms with produce stands.


The old church of San Ysidro is now the town hall and they use it for special events. Across the calle is one of the old haciendas that has been preserved and is open as a house museum.

The "bosque" is the wooded and well watered area along both sides of the river and that is where the first settlements were. The bosque has some of the biggest cottonwood trees I've seen. Some must be 300 years old. El Camino Real connected most of these little villages and later it became Route 66 in many places. Now it is I-25.

I went back up to Bernalillo which is also an old settlement in the river bosque. Of all the places I've seen, this looks like it might be a place where I can buy a reasonable piece of land. (Did I say "reasonable"??? I've been here too long.) Bernalillo is a broad mix of old and new. The state wine festival is held here on Labor Day weekend (!). Many of the homes are very old while many new ones are being built. It is on the interstate and has a lot of modern stores....even a Starbucks.

Placitas is a little village that is part-way up the slope of the Sandia Mountains just east of Bernalillo. The village dates back to 1750s and a Spanish land grant that still exists today. Descendants of the original settlers still live in the village on the land grant. The village church - San Antonio - dates from the 1860s. The village is now almost surrounded by million-dollar homes which might eventually force them to sell off the land grant. That is what happened not too long ago closer to Albuquerque. I don't know how they figure the taxes on these old land grants. I'm sure developers would love to get their hands on it. Placitas is on the road up to the national forest but they have the road closed to all but local residents due to fire danger. It is up pretty high and has some spectacular views which is why the California refugees with deep pockets are moving in and buying up land.

Tonight I'm going to walk over to a bar-b-que place I've been smelling all week. I'm packing up tonight since I head for home tomorrow. Gas prices here are about $3.19 but you can find it as low as $3.12 at Smith's grocery stores. Looks like the trip home could be a wet one.