Fishy and full of bullet-holes

We had no hot-dogs, jumping frogs but a damn good time in Alburquerque. We are truly the kings of rock and roll.

It was only a two hour drive from Alburquerque so we thought it prudent to do whatever
possible to follow the 66 as much as we could, despite it sometimes only being about about 30
metres from the interstate. We visited the Alburquerque Aquarium in the morning after missing breakfast at the Plaza Inn, fools. We grabbed our first McDonalds of the trip so far, it was not good, we shall not do it again. The Aquarium wasn't as fun packed as we hoped but we saw some scary sharks and some cool-ass jellyfish. Sure we still felt gyped for the $15.00 entrance fee, so got straight on with the driving.

Route 66 took a bit of detour of the I40 so we thought we had better take it and once again it degenerated into a little travelled dirt track. The wind had whipped waves into the fine gravel of the road which made travelling above a crawl a really bad idea as the bizarre suspension on the Mustang shook the car so violently we thought something might fall off... Like a door. The road continued on for about 8 miles but luckily started to level out after a while. Seeing a sign ahead, it was reassuring to know we were still on a proper road... That is until we took a closer look at the sign.

Bullet riddled and mildly concerning we drove on as fast as we dared back to the I40 to get as far away from that desolate place, as fast as we could.

The next thing on the road came as a surprise as we rose to 7295 ft above sea level we reached The Continental Divide which is the mid point where water either runs east toward the Atlantic or weest toward the Pacific. Once again Uncle Sam didn't miss a trick and did his damndest to sell us some souvenirs, we weren't buying and continued on.

Before we knew it our destination was ahead of us, Gallup. We found the hotel El Rancho appealing as it was reputed to have had many movies stars stay there in the 50's and 60's. Such as Mae West, Jimmy Stewart and Humphrey Bogart to name a few. Despite the beautifully unique and ornate wooden architecture of El Rancho there really wasn't much to do in the one horse town of Gallup which we drove to in a Mustang... (Any more horse puns please feel free to insert them here). We left Gallup the following morning after a good sleep and a fine breakfast at Aurelia's Diner, which was a authentic 50's diner complete with individual booth jukeboxes and milkshakes to die for. That for Gallup was it and we headed off early for the next leg of the adventure.


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Now playing: Radiohead - Bullet Proof.. I Wish I was
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CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE JOURNEY IN NEW MEXICO HERE

Hot Dog, Jumping Frog - Albuquerque

The journey from Texas into New Mexico, wasn't our most fun-filled day of the trip, but we did pull into see one of Route 66's most famous sites, and rather enjoy the town in which we ended up - Albuquerque.

As we headed out of Amarillo, we spotted on the left of us as we left the Interstate, a remarkable, if odd site, that is ingrained in the conscience of Route 66 lovers everywhere. Lying in the middle of a dusty field, just off the highway, are 10 upturned and buried Cadillacs, sprayed with various different colours by the people who come to visit them. Named Cadillac Ranch, it was concieved by an art group called 'The Ant Farm', and it is felt the piece represents the mobility and freedom of the automobile - so it was rather fitting that we paid it a visit.

Back onto the road we went, and Texas continued to be flat, and rather dull, although we did pull up to see a couple of other ghost towns, and stopped off at a place called Adrian, which is home to the Midway cafe, and a sign stating that we were indeed midway along Route 66, halfway between Chicago and Los Angeles. The cafe itself was a definitive throwback joint, decorated straight out of the fifties, with the inevitable 66 gift shop attached.

Back on the Interstate and Route 66, which for the most part became one and the same, we headed out of Texas and into New Mexico, where the land slowly became more barren, and more flat. Now this is not to say that it wasn't without beauty, because there was no denying the visual impression it made on us, it was just very repetitive, as we spent around 3 hours basically looking at the same view.

We stopped off at yet another tribute to the automobile at Santa Rosa, in the form of the Route 66 Auto Museum. Much to my delight they had three fantastic examples of classic 60s Mustangs parked up inside, which I spent a bit of time drooling over. The other cars in the place were equaling beautiful, and some of them were even for sale (don't worry Mum, I kept my wallet in my pocket).

We headed back onto the road and continued on our journey toward Albuquerque, which after the dissapointments of Amarillo, didn't exactly excite us as we wound down the mountains in the rain, toward the city. However, the place sprung a very welcome surprise, for the long stretch of Route 66 that runs through the city, named Central Avenue, held a bevy of old-style bars, restaurants and shops. We found a cheap motel, and the nice chap at reception, Jason, told us that he'd be glad to shuttle us to the best bars and back that evening. We took him up on his offer, and headed onto into a couple of bars for some food, beer and tequila, all of which ended up being rather good in this part of the world. Heading into our last joint of the evening, Adam strolled up to two guys playing pool, and challanged them to a couple of games. You'll be glad to know the Brits triumphed in this little battle!

There was something else that happened today as well - as we drove around Albuquerque, the tripometer on the car clicked over for the third time on our journey, which means that we've now done 3000 miles since arriving. Phew - exhausting stuff! Great fun though.

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CHECK OUT THE PHOTOS FROM THE JOURNEY TO ALBUQUERQUE HERE