The Bloglish Blog: DAY THREE: Phoenix to Albuquerque

On May 31, 2008, we spent the day in Phoenix, visiting friends and family. On June 1, we began the journey to Albuquerque, NM.

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J: All right, here we are. It is 9:30 on a Sunday...Sunday, June 1. I think.
S: OH! [the front panel on the driver's side dashboard fell off as she did something]
J: And Sarah just took off the front panel. Should be OK. It is Sunday...June 1...and we're about to leave. We've gotta fix this first, hang on.
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J: All right, well, it's still 10:30 [actually 9:30...the clock in the truck was set an hour ahead, I screwed up] on a Sunday, June 1. We're heading for Albuquerque. With us today is Lili, joining us.
S: Yay! Lili!
J: She is...well, I don't know how she is, we'll see. Here we go. We're saying goodbye. Sarah's adjusting everything. Car's in...vehicle's in drive. We've got 400+ miles to Albuquerque and we'll be making updates along the way. So...say goodbye, Sarah.
S: Bye Sarah.
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S: All right, so we are heading...now, just got onto I-17 North, which is what we're going to be taking up through to Flagstaff, or something like that, as Jesse knows better than I.
J: Flagstaff, yeah.
S: Yeah. Aaand Lili is here in her crate, behaving very nicely. And I can't take her out because she's supposed to stay in there and she's got her flea stuff on. And I am saying goodbye to Phoenix. I shall miss Phoenix. I was talking to Jesse about how it saddens me that it took me so very long to realize how much I love the desert. But I really do. And then Jesse made the comment that is very easy to love the desert when you are in an air conditioned vehicle or house. And I totally agree with him. But I shall miss the mountains and I shall miss the views and I shall miss the layout of Phoenix and our friends here but I know we'll get to see them again eventually. So, signing off.
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S: So, we're on our way to Prescott, and so far we have seen...oh, it is 10:40, and so far we have seen roads like Horse Thief Basin, Bumblebee Trail...
J: No, that's just Bumblebee.
S: Bumblebee. Bumblebee. And Bloody Basin Road is what we are coming up on now. These are all remnants of the Old West. It's rather interesting to think of the implications arising from how these names began. And we are yet again stuck behind the Flying J. We were stuck behind them on the uphill climb, and they were flashing yellow. We couldn't pass them because everyone else was passing everybody. And then, as soon as we got onto flatter road, they passed us.
J: We passed them...
S: Well, we passed them first, and then they passed us. And we're like...yeah. We follow you when you're down. Apparently, you just want us to follow you always. And this Flying J thing is just not as pretty as the Northwest...
J: North American.
S: North American blue truck we got to follow most of the way on Friday. So...I think we're hoping to, you know, not have to deal with them sometime soon.
J: Yet another reason to dislike the Flying J!
S: As Jesse says, yet another reason to dislike the Flying J. So. All right. Signing off.
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S: Also, not five minutes later, just wanted to comment, Lili got a little panty when we had to turn off the A/C and go up the hill. I don't think she liked that, but she's doing better now. And Jesse also reminded me earlier of the last time we took this trip. A certain trip to Sedona a couple years ago. [Our honeymoon!] Signing off.
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S: So, we just talked to Candi, and we are now in this...oh, it's 11:05, and we are now in Verde Valley? Yes. And we're passing, you know, Payson and Cottonwood, and we're going to hopefully meet up with Candi for lunch. And it's just beautiful. We can see all these mesas, um, like mountain mesas...It's just very very beautiful, and it's getting really nice and green. We just passed through some wooded mountains, which was kind of cool, so... All right, signing off.

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J: So, at 12:08 in the PM, we are in Flagstaff, AZ, 493.9 miles away from El Cajon, CA, and we're stopping for lunch. We're going to be meeting Candi at a McDonald's here, and then we're going to get some gas, and I'm sure Lili is aching to get out of her crate, so we're going to go take her out. So. Yay. See you in a little bit. Talk to you in a little bit. Bye.
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J: All right, it is 1:22 in the PM, just changed to 1:23. We are...losing chips. We are on our way. We're going to go stop and get gas, and then we're going to hit the road to Albuquerque. YAAAY!
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S: All right, so, we are filled up with gas...
J: Trying to get out of the parking lot!
S: And food, trying to get out of the parking lot from the gas station, and going on our way to Albuquerque from Flagstaff. All right, bye. Oh! And we just pulled up behind another Budget truck, which is also towing a car, except their car is on one of those big dollies, and it has, um, some sort of..
J: Cover.
S: Cover on the car. But this is kind of funny. Two Budget trucks and two tow cars. Signing off.
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S: OK, I forgot to say it is now 1:45, and we are leaving Flagstaff, and I forgot to say that at the gas station, a truck pulled up next to us, and I liked it because it had a pretty blue metallic, um, front end, and the truck driver saw me and Lili, because I had Lili out, and he waved at us and smiled at us. And then when he went to go do something with his truck, which was kind of cool because he took the cover off and was doing stuff, and I don't know what he was doing. But anyway, I spotted that he had this pretty pretty piebald pit bull in his cab. She looked very nice. She had eyes the color of Lili, and she was white and red like Lili's red. And she was very curious about Lili, and Lili was semi-curious about her, but also kind of timid. And, anyway, when the truck driver left, we waved at him and he waved at us, and that was cool, because it's just another sign that truck drivers are very friendly.
J: Please note that Sarah actually waved when she said that. [because visuals do so much to enhance the audio]
S: OK. Signing off.
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S: All right, so we made just a quick stop in Holbrook, AZ, in a Chevron station with no bathroom. It's 3:10 Arizona time. And across the street is a dinosaur. Not a real one, just...
J: Standing over its prey.
S: A large one, standing over its prey, mouth bared menacingly. And we just took a little break. We needed to stretch our legs. Jesse took Lili on a little walk, took some pictures, so...all right. Signing off.
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S: All right. We are approaching, and it is 4:15, but now we're...going...
J: Oh, hey! It took us a whole hour to cross the state line!
S: [pause] OK. We are in the Land of Enchantment, in New Mexico, and instead of 4:15, it is now 5:15, because we have just changed the time. So. Whoo! We're finally in New Mexico! Land of Enchantment! And, eventually, we will be getting to Albuquerque. We've been rather amused at the sight of all the many many many touristy trading post areas along the way, and have not stopped at one of them. Yay us. So, there you go. [For a listing of some of the touristy trading post areas along the way, see the Bloglish Eleven] And we're in quite a pretty valley, with lots of rock formations, kind of like Sedona with the pretty red rocks and the canyon type looking...uh...so...
J: I'm not impressed with New Mexico's highway system.
S: Heh. It's under construction right now, so Jesse says he's not impressed with their highway system yet. But he may very well be so. And we've just passed about the, I don't know, tenth dry river bed we've seen today. So, signing off.
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S: All right, so we are in Gallup, NM, currently turning onto Route 66. It is 5:30 PM, New Mexico time, and now we are on Route 66. And we will be here until we pull off at the Love's gas station. Signing off.
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J: Sarah's too nice to document my idiocy, but here I am. I, uh...leaving the gas station, we went the wrong way on Interstate 40. We were heading west for about 7 miles. I realized it as soon as I got on the interstate, but there wasn't an exit for seven miles. There was an official turn off, uh, which was for official use only that I pulled off on and, um...there wasn't an exit, so I had to keep going. So I finally made my exit, and um, finally found an exit...had to go under a bridge that was the exact clearance that I needed for this vehicle, the exact minimum clearance I needed for this truck. So, that was good. And then I was grabbing the tape player to record my idiocy and I missed the exit again, so I had to do a u-turn and go back. Fortunately, I was on a service road and not on the interstate when I had to do my u-turn.
S: That guy had to do the same thing.
J: Yes. There was a car in front of me that did the same thing. Anyway, it is now 6:00 New Mexico time. We are backtracking, and we will be heading towards Albuquerque now, so hopefully there will be no more problems. So...yeah. Bye.
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S: I just want to add that I think he handled things remarkably well, but if that's the only thing that goes wrong on this leg of the trip, then I am happy. Signing off.
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S: It is 8:05, New Mexico time, and I just realized that the mountains I had been seeing in the distance are the Sandia mountains, which of course means watermelon in Spanish, and they are the mountains that surround Albuquerque. And now that we are coming up over a little hill, we can kind of see the city of Albuquerque in the distance. So I guess that's not really a valley because the mountains really only seem to go around one side. Um...but anyway, yeah, we're basically almost here! And our exit, which is 159A, is about 10 exits away.
J: Or 10 miles.
S: 10 miles, Jesse says. So, we're almost here, and the sun is setting, in the process of doing so, and we're making...we made pretty good time today. Signing out.
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S: All right, we are at the Quality Inn and Suites in Albuquerque. It's kind of downtown area. Not seeing much to eat right now, but I guess we can ask at the front desk. Signing off. Oh, it is 8:18 PM.
J: And 832.9 miles.
S: And we are at 832.9 miles into our trip. Yes. Signing off.

So ends Day Three. Here are some pictures from the journey.