Day 10: Chamulet, OK to Albuquerque, NM

Last night I went to sleep at an empty campsite. I woke p at 6:30 to the sounds of 3 sirens packing up their tent at the site next to mine. They were three hippie chicks from NY. I want to know when these girls got here? And why did I go to bed so earlier? I wish there was a memo or something. I would've stayed up to welcome them. Damn. They booked it out of the campsite as I was getting out of my tent. Oh what could've been.

I hit the road not too long after the hippie chicks to start my 7 hour drive to NM. The campsite was literally right off of I-40. My hotel in Albuquerque was literally right off of I-40. I spent the entire 7 hours on I-40. Long boring ride through three starts. OK was OK (I'm pretty sure that pun was intended). Texas was not big (well besides the gas station employees). NM looked alot like old Mexico.

Albuquerque was over 100 degrees, so when I got the hotel I stayed inside for a while. I watched ESPN for about 1.5 hours to see what the hell was happening to my beloved Red Sox, but all I got was talk about the Dodgers. Now I know how other teams feel when they want coverage of the ball team.

I took a quick litttle nap and decided to brave the heat wave to explore Old Town. Old Town kind of really blew. Not much to see. Since it was still a million degrees out I went to a bar and started drinking. Talk to this lady briefly. For about 2 minutes. Apparently I made an impact on her because she bought my first two drinks. She never said anything to though, and the bartender told me about 2 hours after she left. I got an order of Nachos and talked a pair of volunteer EMTs who were in town from Santa Fe for a conference. The guy was an old retired EE who retired early and is now a biker. The girl came over from England, lived in Wisconsin for 14 years and is now a genetisist. Interesting group. The dude used to live in MA, so we talked about the Manny deal and pre-football season. The lady piped in with her gripes about Brett Favre. Fun topic to push.

I finally left the bar and headed to a sports bar to watch Manny's first game as a Dodger. I really wanted him to fall on his face for some reason. I'm kind of hurt he left in the way he did. But I drank through the game and talked to some more old people then headed back to the hotel. On the way back I saw some kids sitting on the side of the street so I went over to join them. I was drunk and didn't really understand what was going on. They were 18-19 year olds living in Albuquerque working for Jobcore. My complete lack of understanding is that Jobcore is for dumb kids that were taking the wrong track in life. Atleast thats what these kids seemed like. One of the kids was from VT, so that was pretty cool. Another one of the kids kept talking about my body. Asking me if my stomach was flat and if they could see it. It wasn't until 15 minutes in the conversation that I realized the kid was a dude and gay. A couple of the kids were gay. I guess it's nice to know I'm attractive to gay teens. They all had to get back to their dorms and I went back to my hotel to pass out.

Strange night in Albuquerque. Can't say I ever want to go back.