I was going to title this post, “Stuck in Albuquerque,” but that had too negative a connotation. Abbey and I had the pleasure of exploring Albuquerque and the surrounding areas for two weeks while we waited for Evelyn to be fixed. We were very fortunate that my cousin and his wife live in the city, who were more than willing to share their one bedroom apartment with us.

Side note: I now know how to spell Albuquerque.

The Sandia Mountains loom over Albuquerque. More than just an easy landmark for navigating in the city, these mountains are home to great hiking, great views, and even skiing if you’re into that sort of thing. We chose to take a tram up the 10,000+ ft ridge the day after a snowstorm. It was 15 degrees up there, and clouds were rolling in and out so quickly that the views were radically changing. I took the following two pictures within minutes of each other.

We hiked a trail that went along a ridge to an old CCC hut. We were the first ones on the trail since the fresh snow, so we had the pleasure of 1) trying to figure where the trail went, and 2) wallowing through several feet of snow. At one point I kicked something with my shoe only to realize it was the very top of a trail sign post.

We also spent time in some of Albuquerque’s Open Spaces. This includes arroyos, river banks, and foothills. Sandhill Cranes were everywhere – enjoying their winter before returning to their nesting grounds in the arctic.

Gnarly old Cottonwoods cover the Rio Grande river basin. It’s an unexpected habitat in the West. Supposedly there are porcupines living here, but I only saw their poop.

Cactus Wrens are very common out here, but I think they’re really cool birds and I like to stop and watch them. We saw two calling back and forth to each other.

Petroglyph National Monument is just West of Albuquerque. Many of the images look like robots or aliens or snorks or a combination of the three. Sometimes I try to imagine the person that carved the image 600 years ago, and find it fascinating that I’m now standing in the same spot.

If you want to know the details of the Evelyn saga:

After we dropped Evelyn off at a shop late Friday night, she sat until they had a chance to look at her on Wednesday, at which point they said, “Oh, we don’t have an exhaust sniffer, you should take it to this other shop.” Ugh. Why didn’t you say that in the first place.

The second shop was likewise overbooked and couldn’t look at it until Saturday, at which point they found a badly worn distributor, an out-of-spec AFM, and a couple vacuum leaks. I had to hunt pretty hard to find the parts. I managed to track down the correct distributor (albeit European-spec), but the AFM is unobtanium. The shop put in the distributor and fixed the leaks. They tweaked the AFM to the point that Evelyn is running well, but not perfectly. Abbey and I decide to press forward towards Phoenix, two weeks to the day after we arrived in Albuquerque.

Meanwhile, I did more research on the AFM (a Bosch unit) and found that a Renault Fuego from the early ’80s has almost the same Bosch part number. It also looks identical. They’re also only $30, so I bought one and had it shipped ahead of us to Phoenix. When we get there I’ll decide if I can use it, or at worst scavenge parts off it to repair my damaged one.

After we left Albuquerque, our first stop was El Malpais National Monument for a couple days. The area is unique because of volcanic activity; the most recent being about 3500 years ago. You can hike on the lava fields, around cinder cones, and through lava tubes!

It was cold, rainy, and muddy when we were here, but we still loved the varying landscape. A lot of it reminded me of Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii (geeze, I sound like such a snob).

Abbey the geologist really enjoyed this park too!

It’s a short drive from El Malpais to El Morrow National Monument, which is entirely different. El Morrow is home to a large sandstone bluff known as Inscription Rock, where hundreds of people have added their names and messages over the years.

It was snowing when we arrived. Besides the Park Rangers, Abbey and I were the only ones here!

People passed through this area because it’s home to a large natural basin of water – the only reliable water source for many miles. The petroglyphs are cool, but honestly I found the inscriptions from early Spanish explorers more interesting. This one says “Paso por aqui el adelantado Don Juan Oñate del descubrimiento de la mar del sur a 16 de Abril del 1605.” Yeah, that’s right, 1605. Fifteen years before Plymouth and the Mayflower Pilgrims, Don Juan Oñate was leading an expedition through New Mexico in search of gold!

Petrified Forest National Park was next. It’s a badlands-esque environment with brilliant colors and stark beauty that make your jaw drop.

200 million years ago, this part of Arizona was near the equator in Pangea, and was a lush tropical rainforest with massive trees. A tremendous logjam formed in a large river basin, and the logs were quickly buried and covered so they never had a chance to rot. The trees then slowly turned to rock, and then were uncovered by erosion. They are laying everywhere in the National Park. And once again, 200 million years old!

There is so much petrified wood here that indigenous people used it to make houses; this one is from the 1200’s.

There are some pretty large trees here. Abbey for scale:

After a couple days in Petrified Forest, we headed towards Coconino National Forest. Part of our route took us through Winslow, Arizona via Route 66. They have a pocket park dedicated to the lyrics “Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona” by the famed Eagles. We stood on the corner.

Outside of Winslow, we saw our first Elk of the trip as we entered Coconino National Forest.

Montezuma Castle National Monument is a settlement that was inhabited from about 1100 to 1400. It’s built into a sheer wall and is inaccessible except by ladder. It’s a stunning sight.

Abbey and I are currently camped out in Coconino National Forest. We’re in a remote site down a forest service road with no one else around. We’re heading to Phoenix next, where we’re meeting up with good friends for good times.

Cheers!