When we awoke the following morning, I told Steph about my fitful night's sleep, and how I was counting on her ninja-like reflexes to spring into action as soon as she heard our pseudo-attacker cutting into the tent to murder us in our sleep.
She laughed.
Here was our campsite in the light of day. Just beyond the ridge was the lava field.
I wish that we had the time to explore the Valley of Fires further, but as it was it was a great campground. Cheap, with hot showers and clean facilities.
It was going to be a long day, so we bid a farewell and headed...back to Carrizozo.
The town had been spruced up a few years earlier in hopes of attracting a Hollywood movie production, sadly it didn't come to pass, but the town still looked pretty nice.
Nice architectural detailing.
We had cooked and egg and ham and mushroom...omelette thing on the campfire for breakfast, and had come back into town to find some coffee for Steph.
Back on the actual road, we headed northwest, to Albuquerque.
Obligatory shot of the Sonic.
Panoramic view - if you click on the image it should open for the full view.
Whenever I travel to different regions, if I have a craving for junk food I try to buy local junk food, just to see what the different specialties are.
We passed through the small town of Socorro NM.
We saw this fantastic sign, and just had to stop.
The interior was even more fantastic, it was heroically decorated in the late '60's style. The pie wasn't all that great, but well worth the atmosphere.
We eventually made it into ABQ (and I'm going to use the airport code because trying to spell out the name properly every time is going to be annoying).
The city had a fantastic architectural history to it, with dozens of great looking buildings.
This is the ABQ train station.
And here you have the real reason why we came to ABQ: Breaking Bad. Both Steph and I were avid fans of the TV show, having watched the final season with rapt attention together. So part of the trip was a little bit of being geeks. We stopped at a place that made Breaking Bad donuts - they were great.
The car wash that Walk buys and runs, looks exactly like it did in the show.
And of course we had to drive by Walt's house. The owners were standing in the garage, so I didn't want to be all that obnoxious. Steph managed to grab a few shots of the house as we drove by, but I didn't want to come to a full stop.
Our Breaking Bad tour over, we headed down to the University of NM to wander around campus for a little bit. It was a pretty adobe styled campus.
Just across the street was the Frontier Restaurant. This place is what can only be described as an institution.
The dining area spans the entire block, encompassing probably 8 or 9 different store fronts.
It might look sloppy, but it was oh so yummy.
Being a car guy, there were quite a few neat old vehicles to snap shots of.
Of course I'd notice the Volvos.
Also this classic '70's Chevy step-side pickup.
We then headed to the old town part of ABQ, namely to find a place that produced the candy crystal meth for Breaking Bad. The shop was a bit tacky, but in one of the back rooms I managed to spot a few trays of the blue sugar "meth" being produced.
The main plaza in the old town was a beautiful little spot, made even more so by the beautiful weather.
After some souvenir shopping, it was time to load up the Sonic and start heading back to Phoenix.
Trains on the plains.
Steph always has to climb on stuff. Here we are at the Continental Divide.
Not much to say, other than it is a pretty vista.
More Sante Fe trains.
Colorful rock formations.
We turned off of I-10 and headed south, trying to cut some time off of the route back to Phoenix. Little did I know just how long it was going to take.
We stopped in what I am pretty sure is Show Low AZ (but I can't be 100% sure) for gas.
It was a sad, sleepy little town.
On into the dusk we charged, trying to beat the clock for my return flight. We took Route 60, which passed over the Salt River in some very beautiful switchback roads. We could see in the darkness just how pretty it was, but unfortunately the camera couldn't even begin to capture it.
Many blurred hours later, I managed to drop Steph off back at her Scooter, sort out the belongings in the car, repack my suitcase and make it back to the airport. The car was dusty and had a nagging low rear tire pressure, but otherwise had made it through without a single problem.
1633.9 miles. In three days. What a hell of a trip.
