Journey: Albuquerque, NM to Flagstaff, AZ
Number of times I gave the finger: It was dark for much of my drive, so why bother?
Cups of coffee: One mug brewed by Mr. JBV himself; strong, dark, delicious. The man has eight different ways to brew coffee in his kitchen, so I expected nothing less than perfection.
Biggest accomplishment: I peeled and ate 2 hardboiled eggs while driving. Didn’t take my eyes off the road, didn’t drop below 80mph, didn’t eat any shell. HELL YEAH. This is going on my resume.
After leaving Canyon, TX, I drove to Albuquerque, NM (which I spell by typing “albuququq” and waiting for autocorrect to step in) to spend the night at John Verheul‘s house. We’d previously only interacted online, but when he saw I was driving west, he kindly offered to host me. After telling my parents that I planned to spend the week in strangers’ homes that I booked through a website, telling them that I was staying with a guy from Twitter seemed almost normal.
John was a great host; we chatted at length after I arrived and he managed to mock me for being both old and young. Talented man. He was gone by the time I got up the next morning, but left me a cup of coffee and provided a great route to ride. I repaid his kindness by scrubbing his toilet with his toothbrush. No prob, John, happy to help.
Because I had a specific workout to do, I started the ride on the trainer in John’s driveway, much to the bemusement of his neighbor, the mailman, and the random dude handing out fliers door-to-door. (The flier guy had the good sense to stick the paper in the fence versus handing it to me; pretty sure my DO NOT SPEAK TO ME OR I WILL KILL YOU face and the gasping/sweating/grunting scared him away). Once the workout was done, I went out on the road for a few hours and fell completely in love with Albuquerque. Everything is basically a shade of beige/terra cotta, but it manages to be absolutely beautiful all the same. I waved and smiled at strangers, I took pictures, I motorpaced with a friendly landscaping truck.
On the way out of town, I picked up food at the New Mexican place John recommended and pulled over at a particularly scenic spot to plop down on the pavement and eat. There are times on this trip where I’ve thought about not doing things because they make me look weird or ridiculous, but I’ve gone out of my way to not care or hold back. Those times usually end up being the ones I remember the most.
Thanks for the trick on spelling Albuquerque. I usually just spell it out reaaallllyyy slowly as I type it but I think I’ll try your method instead.
You have a great eye for producing some really stunning (and hilarious) photos. You should consider taking up photography as a serious hobby if you ever have the time (maybe when you retire from the pro ranks).
Good luck with the rest of your journey!