(humm “Singing in the rain”) Drivin’ in the Rain……

8/2
Had coffee with Blake and Karen for breakfast. Sat with the door open, cool breeze coming through, and warm sun on my face. Ah, relaxing…………….

Headed south on I-25. New Mexico scared me as about every five miles was a sign saying “Report Drunk Drivers”. The other billboard I enjoyed was one that said something like “Welcome to New Mexico, a non-smoking state”. The icon on the billboard was an ashtray turned upside down. I don’t think everyone got the word, as several were smoking in the restroom at the rest areas we stopped at.

Rain, rain rain. We must have driven through 100 rain showers, some very heavy! It would rain hard for 5 miles, then stop, then 10 miles later, it would start again. I thought New Mexico didn’t get rain, but it sure did today, in fact, there are flash flood warnings out here.

Someone must have told everyone in Santa Fe to drive to Albuquerque tonight about 4PM. It was bumper to bumper at 75 all the way, and sometimes in the pouring rain. Scared me. Then we hit a traffic jam here, but it only took 30 minutes to go the last five miles.

Edit: We walked around the neighborhood and ended up eating at the Owl Cafe. Wow, was it good. Neither of us were too hungry, so we split a hamburger (it came with fries). The cafe was 50's vintage burger joint, with that style soda fountain. We each ordered a shake. Mistake! The glasses were thin, but there was enough in the metal can to fill them TWICE MORE. Next time we will ASK about the sizes................

We'll need to hit the exercise room before leaving tomorrow.................

Destination: Albuquerque, NM Holiday Inn Express
Miles driven: About 450
Fuel used: (still ciphering this one)
Most interesting sightings: (tie, maybe)
** A family on two motorcycles heading south. Mom had a sidecar on hers maybe with a child in it, we couldn’t see. Dad had his son on the back. When we passed, we could see the boy was FOCUSING on his handheld video game!
** New Toyota car “lot” in Colorado Springs was a 4 or 5 story parking garage. Land is expensive there I guess.
Misc: 10,000 strokes of the windshield wipers today.
Highest Elevation today: 7500 ft
Morale: EXCELLENT!