Day 13--Albuquerque, NM to Santa Fe, NM: A happy father's day indeed

So today is my (Daren) turn to write because Heather is doing wash tonight at the motel. We spent last night in Albuquerque and most of today there as well. Albuquerque is one of our favorite towns. Heather and I have been here before because my cousins, the Nestmans, lived here for many years and we visited them for the balloon festival about ten years ago. I was talking to my aunt today about some sights around town and she commented that the sky is so blue here Albuquerque. I agree. It was deep blue and absolutely gorgeous, about 100 degrees and sunny. A great place to spend father's day.


Jake and I have had our struggles on this trip. He is very strong-headed, stubborn and independent. I think we butt heads because our personalities are a lot alike. I'm not quite sure how we're going to deal with it, but I know we'll figure it out somehow. My struggles with Jake have had me thinking about the hows and whys of making a trip like this. It's funny--when you mention to people that you are taking three young boys on a month-long road trip there are a lot of mixed reactions. Some say, "Wow that will be fun." Others: "I think you are nuts." Some think that the kids are too young to remember or fully enjoy the experience. The most frequent response has been to ask how we can take so much time away from work, home and other responsibilities. So I'll explain my philosophy. This will get long so you who are here mostly for the pictures are welcome to skip ahead.

I love a road trip. The first one I remember was with my grandma and grandpa Cox. They took me to San Francisco when I was four or five--just me and them. I remember riding in the back of their car and talking about things, learning songs they knew, hearing stories from their childhood or about their parents, and learning about the land and places we saw along the way. I remember cheap motels, tuna sandwiches on wheat and Carnation Instant Breakfast Bars that were well past their prime. But more than all those things, I remember just being together for a long time with people who I loved and who loved me. I had the time of my life.

Later on when I was twelve, my dad put together the roadie of all roadies. We went from Salt Lake to Washington D.C. up to Maine and then back across the upper Midwest to home. 7,000 miles, three weeks, as many as 20 people and three cars for a large part of the trip, $2,500 bucks in gas, food and motels, one fried ignition, thirteen thousand whines, fourty two hundred slaps, smacks and punches, twelve hundred screams and one helluva great time. We saw it all. My youngest brother Chad was only five at the time and he remembers the trip well. My grandparents (both sets), two aunts and uncles, and five cousins were along. When we get together to this day we still talk about memories from that trip. In fact, if you asked any one of those 20 people how high the Washington Monument is, they could tell you to the 1/8 inch. Except they'd call it the "Washington Memoriar" (inside joke for all those who were present at the time). We all had the time of our lives, and that side of my family has remained very close ever since then. In fact, we were all together two months ago for my grandpa's funeral, and I remember thinking that he'd be proud of how close we all are to one another.

So that's basically the reason. Time together. Forced time together, in fact. The opportunity to spend so much time together that we learn to work through our differences and enjoy ourselves in spite of them. And I figure you're never too young, too old, to busy or too poor for that.

One of my favorite things in this world is a clean car. We've washed the car just about every day of the trip--even if it's just a spray at the coin wash to get the bugs off the windshield. Jake was kind enough to help me out a little today. He always likes to help when there's work to be done. I love our car. It is fitting to me that this year is the twenty-fifth anniversary of the all time classic road trip movie National Lampoon's Vacation. I share Clark W. Griswold's tremendous pride in his "family truckster." Our family truckster, or "Mommie's Car" as it is known to the inner circle, has served us well on this trip and on many before. It turned over 140K miles just before we left home and it has a lot of life left in it. Literally the day before we left town the XM Radio antenna crapped out. I was in a panic because a trip like this without XM would be awful. Many thanks to my buddy Scott Howe for his hard work to get that fixed before we left, and for all the other work he's done to make this such a sweet car. I fully and unequivocally endorse both Scott Howe and XM Radio.

This is the KiMo theatre on Central Ave. in Albuquerque. A nicely restored old time theatre right on Route 66. The marquis was advertising a showing of Cars, but not until next Sunday. Too bad. They take their Route 66 nostalgia very seriously in this town. Lots and lots of old-time neon signs and restored storefronts. The trip down Central was a treat. We stopped and had ice cream at a beautiful old time car dealership called the Jones Motor Company that has since been restored and turned into an eatery.

This was a great mural on a building on Central. Love the old 'Vette and Impala, and the Easy Rider chopper on the left. This trip would be fun on a motorcycle, but what to do with the kids. Maybe someday Heather and I will do it that way, and we'll stop at every museum and take a picture of every classic sign and old building, and nobody will scream out or slap or punch or whine. But I wouldn't trade that for what I've got with me on this trip. Thanks, dad, for showing me the way. Here I am again, having the time of my life. Happy father's day.

I am a car freak. I love cars, old and new, foreign and domestic, big and small. For fun I love to surf ebay looking at old cars for sale. I like to watch a certain make and model and see what they're going for and what's out there for sale. Lately my favorites have been '65 Lincoln Continental convertibles, '70 Chevy Chevelle convertibles (LS6 454 big block, please), and '67-68 Mustangs. I change the cars I follow every three months or so just for fun. Only a car nut could understand and love the art pictured above. It is called the "Chevy on a Stick" and is found in downtown Albuquerque. That is an actual old car on top that has been tiled over and permanently memorialized. Great stuff.

And these guys are becoming car freaks as well. As my sister-in-law Lori says, it is a disease. Her husband and her boys have it, and my boys and I have it as well. Jake and Ben are showing off their old Chevy and T-Bird at Garduno's, a mexican restaurant in Albuquerque that my aunt and uncle took us to ten years ago when we were down here and has stuck in our memory ever since. It was every bit as good as we remembered.

Today's signage:

All pictures of signs taken in Albuquerque, NM

Total mileage to date: 2,737.5

Weather: Clear, sunny, 100 degrees

Price paid in downtown Albuquerque for Premium Unleaded: $4.19