This morning we bought our first souvenirs, from a shop outside of Oklahoma City. They had a field where Savannah chased butterflies and a large pen with actual buffalo. Neat. We crossed into Texas and stopped for lunch at the first rest area, which offered an INCREDIBLE panoramic view of the windswept valley beyond. The wind had been sweeping nicely all day, so I assumed this was just par for the course. Next we stopped at the actual Texas Welcome Center, where the highlight was seeing a prairie dog in the adjacent field. Although, since there was a 'prairie' dog in it, it must have been, by definition, a 'prairie'. It may have been a marmot, come to think of it, because I'm pretty sure it was a field and not a prairie. I could be wrong, but I just don't think it was big enough for even a 'little house'. We weren't in Texas long, so our next stop was the New Mexico Welcome Center, where signs about how we shouldn't drink the water and should watch out for dangerous snakes and insects greeted us. Inside there were aliens to remind us of Roswell and something about a naval submarine, but all I really paid any attention to was the FREE COFFEE!
When we reached Albuquerque, the first thing to strike us was the modesty of everything we saw. It appeared the entire population was stuck in the lower middle class. Needless to say, we fit right in, but it wasn't at all what we expected. We checked into the hotel and mentioned that we needed a place to eat. We were directed to a local New Mexican eatery, where they used so many chilies that they offered to use their spicy sauce as a dressing for the salad I ordered. Apparently they couldn't dispose of it fast enough. I just got the Ranch. They also had NO sweet tea, which is something I had often heard about the West but never really believed. What's so hard about brewing sweet tea that a restaurant owner would say 'No thanks, I just don't have the energy to dedicate to such a complex undertaking'. But this letdown was just a taste of what was to come.
The Sandia Peak tram is an elevated tram that takes passengers through the mountains that surround Albuquerque. For Rebekah, this was the only redeeming quality of New Mexico, the only thing she could find that justified staying in Albuquerque. I should have known that the constant wind we drove through all the way there would be a problem, but honestly it never crossed my mind. After we finished dinner and went back to the hotel to freshen up before going up to the tram, a random guest overheard our conversation about it and told us the bad news. The tram wasn't running on account of the wind. Rebekah, refusing to simply believe just some guy in a hotel lobby, called and confirmed the truth. No Sandia Peak tram ride. It was the first real bump our well laid plans had hit. Suddenly, staying in Albuquerque seemed like a total waste of time. We pulled it together, though, and tried to make the best of things. And then the Internet connection refused to work in our room, and the hotel assured us the problem was with our computer, which is one way of saying they didn't want to deal with it. Little did we know, this would not be the last time we would hear this. The fine people at Verizon, the company that bought our previous cellphone service provider, refused to upgrade our service to include Nationwide minutes without our signatures on a new contract for service, which would include an additional $20 charge on our monthly bill. We deemed the change unnecessary and decided to depend on our computer as our only means of communication with our loved ones back home. And now it refused to work. Great. Tomorrow, the Grand Canyon awaits. And, on the bright side, we have extra money in the budget. Ain't optimism grand.
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