November 28 - December 2, 2019 (Albuquerque, New Mexico)

For the third time in three years, I traveled to Albuquerque N.M. while on my annual road trip to visit a longtime friend, Chiquita. Before I left Austin we touched base and decided that not only should I drop by for yet another visit, but that it should include celebrating Thanksgiving (on Thanksgiving day!). NOT coincidentally, that is precisely what I did last year. So it was, that after a very slow, cautious, and tense drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque (snow and icy roads!), I pulled into the parking lot of her new, quadplex apartment on Coal Ave. When I turned the engine off, I experienced the combo feelings of relief and excitement. When Cheekies came out to greet me, it had started snowing again.

I was glad to see my longtime friend. We proceeded to collect my gear, food, and drink stuff from inside the van and march it into her place - snow flakes, the big kind, were landing on our head and shoulders. It was Thanksgiving day, but it would be a Thanksgiving evening dinner. We had to catch up first. And we did, over fermented grape juice and cheese. It was like old times, a history that stretches clear back to Austin, a good ten years. Fun and familiar, old friends, and what's the mater with that?

One good turn deserves another and like the previous year, the main course was not turkey but chicken. When the largish bird finally went into the oven there was just a little sunlight left, but that had more to do with the mountain time zone and awful short winter days (I know I know, it was still fall). My contribution to the eats was two largish cans of green beans and spinach. An aisle worker at the Austin Walmart had recommended the canned veggies and they were not bad. I also brought along some cookies (of which I partook but of a single cookie), and some dark chocolate. I did not hold back on the chocolate. It took a while, and with the help of mindfulness techniques, the meal arrived just in time. And like every Thanksgiving meal I can recall, the eating part went by real fast! We cleaned up and got down to the business relaxing while watching a movie. On my computer, I had transferred 20 or so movies for travel entertainment so we had a plenty to pick from. There is a movie I enjoy watching on Thanksgiving, "Footlight Parade", and when I suggested we watch it, Chiquita did not protest. It's a Busby Berkeley picture with all the familiar elements in spades: BIG, darn near surreal dance numbers, wall to wall, from fade up to fade out. Generously light on substance countered with copious turbocharged entertainment, just the way I lke it. And with me, the older the picture better. Classic cast: Cagney, Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell, Joan Blondell and Guy Kibbe, now that's entertainment.

We slept in the next day, and when sufficiently roused with lots-o-coffee, I got to work and set the TV up with an antenna and scanned for channels (over 60!). I was preparing for a load of shameless football/TV watching Saturday and I figured no time like the present. Chiquita has no internet connection, so while she rearranged her place and did some unpacking (she'd been soooo busy up until my arrival that her stuff was still in boxes), I left for Java Joe's, a familiar coffee shop with solid internet connection. I found a perfect table and the next few hours flew by as I worked on this website, surfed, and people watched. When I returned to her place the livingroom had been rearranged and was now easier to navigate and much more comfortable to be in. Dinner, was great, leftovers! After that, uncorked a bottle and chose another movie, a beaut, It's a Wonderful World (WORLD, not life) Terrific screwball comedy with non-stop, snappy, rapid fire, and I mean rapid, dialogue and action. Field day for Jimmy Stewart and Claudette Colbert who chew up the dialogue and screen over and over. Clever, side splitting, delightful repartee, supported by the one and only Guy Kibbe and a colorfu cast of familiar character actors. Vastly entertaining picture penned by the one and only Ben Hecht (which explains a lot). Highly recommended.

Wrung out by all the travel, late nights and spirits, next day we generously slept in. 10:30, near 11AM slept in. When we finally got going, we kicked the Saturday off with a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, cheese + a whole lotta coffee. Then my football/TV/Antenna prep work was put to the test. When I turned the TV on, three games were already in progress, on all three networks. I love college football. I was in heaven. Chiquita was a good sport and watched some of the action before heading off to another one of her part-time jobs.

BETWEEN GAMES I felt a pang of altruism, and I decided to do a little plumbing with a problem she'd been plagued with for a while now: a clogged bathtub drain. I decided to UNclog it. It was old business, by the way. I knew about the plumbing problem in advance, weeks before I left on my road trip, learning about it during a text exchange. So yessiree, I had packed along a plastic snake in anticipation. I retrieved it from my cargo container and put it to work, in and out of the drain, over and over. I drew some crud out, a modest amount of hair, all to no avail. The drain drained only a tiny tiny bit faster. I gave up.

Returning from work, Chiquita and I commenced to snacking and sipping of the red, getting started earlier than usual. The gridiron action began again, extended clear into the 9 o'clock hour when the clock finally went to zero on the night's final game. Like the previous evenings, it was now time for a movie. I chose "Sisters," an early Brian DePalma scary movie starring Margot Kidder doing a French version of Norman Bates at his worst. It wasn't quite as scary or as good as I remembered it, but it was sufficiently entertaining. As the final credits began to roll, I began to yawn. It was time for bed.

Next day, after a coffee breakfast, Chiquita had to go into another one of her part-time jobs. She runs, on Sundays, a small, independent bookstore. I was gonna hit the Starbucks that morning so I gladly gave her a lift. It was not very far away. I went inside with her to have a look. Lots and lots of books and that unmistakeable smell of old paper which was not at all unpleasant. We had discussed my Perry Mason TV show fandom and that had led to Earle Stanley Gardnder, inventor and writer of the books that inspired the TV show. With her help, I found a bunch of paperbacks, chose two familiar titles, paid two bucks apiece for them. When I left I foolishly headed to a Walmart (weekend, holiday season, NEVER DO THIS!). I was in search of a Apple Watch charger (ugh,I had left imy charger in Santa Fe). The shelves at Wally World were stripped bare, kids, carts, not a clerk to be found. I left for Home Depot next. Chiquita and I had decided that I should have my own key to her place (my departure date was unsure. I wanted to come and go. She would be working long hours). Anyway, I was at the HD to make a duplicate. The brick and mortar store was packed too. Overwhelmed clerks, surrounded by customers, you get the picture. I went into mindful and patient overdrive. It was that or a public freakout. Gandhi would have been proud. I remained calm, eventually getting my dupe. I got out of there.

I don't remember what our last dinner consisted of, but I do know the movie we watched, Le Notti Bianche, an Italian, bittersweet, one sided love story (aren't they all?). It's one of Chiquita's fav's, I'd seen it once before, and enjoyed it, but not quite as much the first time. Another day had come to a close. I had pretty much decided to leave in the morning, but I would decide for sure in the morning. Lights out, and the fourth night was suddenly over.

Next morning Chiquita had a very early job to get to (as some kind of polling judge) and I headed to a Starbucks for coffee and wifi. I needed to do my due travel diligence. I was heading to California next and, altho I was to take a familiar route, needed to reacquaint myself with the roads and get up to speed on anticipated weather.

I tanked up and got on the road. I wanted to get to a familiar rest stop, Burnt Wells, near the California border, in Arizona. I was to travel 469 miles in 7.5 hours. Drowsy driving here and there along the way but I got to my destination with about an hour of daylight left.

December 12 (returned after 11 days on the road to California)

My plan was to drive from Indio to a rest stop in Gallup, spend a frigind night in the ATXBreeze Van, then tackle the short 2.5 hour trip to Albuquerque in the morning (just as I had done the previous year). The entire trip time and length would be 10 hours and 700 miles, by the way, which was above my time/trip average heretofore. But from the moment I got on the road that morning, I was feeling alert. The hours and miles rolled by, and I never felt sleepy or drowsy. As I got closer to Gallup, and my overnight rest stop destinatiopn, I was on the fence whether I should stop. When I saw a sign that my rest stop was "closed", I pushed on. About an hour from Albuquerque I gassed up, sent a text to Chiquita telling I'd be there tonight instead of tomorrow morning and if it was ok (it was). I got to her front door an hour later, moved food, drink and grip inside to her very warm apartment, and we got the evening rocking and rolling in no time flat

There was an over indulgence of wine. The music was played a little too loud. And we danced at our own peril. At least once, I prevented Chiquita from toppling over. And at least once, she kept me from going "timber!"

It was close to 2am before we put an end to the evening.

December 13 (Friday!)

The previous evenings merry-making had taken its toll, and the clock was close to noon before we finally roused. We decided to kick-off the day with a nice restaurant breakfast. After that we'd run a few errands for Cheekies, shop for dinner, re-supply on the spirits and attend whatever else may pop up while we're on the city road.

Had breakfast at a place called Duran's, which is popular among the hip locals and zeitgeist influenced tourists. Duran's started out as pharmacy and and now it's a pharmacy and restaurant. Most of the folks eating there (and there were a few genuine "old time locals") reminded me of a typical "Magnolia Cafe" crowd (Austin eatery not too far from my front door back home). Young people, clear to middle-aged and beyond, at a minimum of hip and often much more, served by a friendly, dynamic staff, old and young, the gamut. If I had to catergorize, a little on the famous for being famous side, ok grub, priced ok, no real reason for me (who thinks eating out is over priced and over rated) to return.

Bought a nice NM van sticker which I attached directly. Then we went to TWO Walmarts in search of cheap wine and BOTH were too close to a church's and didn't sell any (religion ruins everything). Bought a cooked chicken and a salad at the second one and now we had dinner. We stopped at a CVS on the way home and they had plenty of the red stuff and I bought one bottle and Chiquita bought two.

Back home I had coffee and knoshed on cheese and cold cuts while we killed time till happy hour arrived, and dinner, too.

Round 7p, we uncorked the bottles. And later we ate a very good meal. And by the way, the very filling dinner of pretty good chicken and a nice salad priced out at about 8 dollars. The "breakfast" at Duran's had totatled out (w tip) at $25. Yes, I know, eating out is fun and you're paying for more than the meal but still, jeeeez...

We were gonna see a movie but I wanted to talk instead and we did that. The wine flowed, so did the opinions, and this in turn prompted our natural contrarian impulses. They were stoked and prodded and they spiked and waned. We sniped, spoke loudly to one another, laughed and lots of stuff in between. In short, we behaved/interacted in the same way that we always have since we first met nearly 10 years ago.

December 14

Generous sleep-in, up and about, I was the first into the kitchen where I commenced to boil water for my instant coffee (Taster's Choice!). Cheekies roused and we chattted over coffee and tea, ate a little cheese, discussed the day ahead. I was to head back to Santa Fe today, she had to go to work at 1p. I scrambled some eggs, fried a couple of pieces of Dollar Tree salami (frugal, and possibly dangerous meat fix!) and the warm meal hit the spot. Leisurly went about the morn, then began to round my suff up, wasn't too spread out, gathered all and began the transfer of my belongings to the van. Snapped a few pics for posterity, hugged Chiquita goodbye, and got on the raod again. It was around noon, and I was headed for Downtown Sbscription Coffee shop in Santa Fe where my brother Robert was waiting for me.

December 17-18

I was on the short, one hour highway trip from Santa Fe to Albuquerque by 9am headed for the 3rd stop at my friend Chiquita's. I was there for an overnight stay, my last stop in good old New Mexico. Before I knew it I was pulling into her quadplex on Coal Street. When she came out Cheekies was in an agitated mood. She told me there was a "water leak" in the court yard and for some inexplicable reason (to me, anyway) it had sent her into a tizzy. Well, there was a water leak. But it was a tiny flexible pipe that went from a water faucet into one a swamp cooler. I "fixed" it on the spot by plugging it back in and waited (patience!) for her to calm down.

She eventually did simmer down. And things became tolerable. But for a hot moment I vasciallted between speniding the night there or packing up and pushing on to Fort Davis. But she had errands to do and I wanted to help so I decided to stay. Among the errands we attended to were buying paint at Lowe's, doing her laundry, and a little grocery store shopping. Along the way we mangaed to take a brief trip to Old Town. Behaving quite like tourists, we took a bunch of pictures of one another and together in a variety of settings. By the time we returned home things were ok. I just wasnted to have a nice relaxed dinner and evening and that's exactly what transpired. We watched Casablanca to close the evening out and it was as great as ever.

Next morn I was up early. I was going to Fort Davis today, a 7.5 hour, 475 mile drive. I was pretty pre-packed, so I set about making breakfast for Chiquita and me. Bacon and eggs! In the old days I used to make Cheekies "breakfast in bed" and that what it did this morning. Chiquita played along and let me. I made coffee for myself and tea for her and it all went very well.

Soon, I was by the door saying goodbye and it was a pleasant goodbye. It had been a short, not even 24hr visit and I wondered if perhaps this was not the perfect length.

I started the van, warmed up it a bit, strapped in and pulled out. In no time, I was on I-25 South, back on the road, aiming the ATXBreeze Van straight toward Texas, Fort Davis bound, where my longtime friend Victoria was waiting for me.