<– Day 4 – Wed. Apr. 15th: Salmon and Subway | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 6 – Fri. Apr. 17th: Art Fair in Alamogordo, NM –>

Ann in front of ‘her’ plane, a B-52 (though technically not this model). Back in her Air Force Days before Bin Laden blew her up, she used to load it with weapons. @ the National Museum of Nuclear Science and Technology.

For years I”d read and heard about the television series Breaking Bad. This past summer, lacking any good TV, Ann and I decided to watch the episode’s pilot to see if we’d enjoy it. We were hooked from the very beginning. Within a couple weeks we watched the entire six-year series. In case you haven’t seen it, the show is about an Albuquerue science teacher named Walter White who feels forced to produce meth to save his family’s finances. If you haven’t watched the show and don’t want to know the ending, leave the post now!

With that background in mind, our first item of business was to find the real gravestone marker for the mythical Walter White. The headstone was initially put into a real cemetary, but some reasonable complaints caused it to be moved to a small strip mall. When we arrived at the mall, the location of the headstone wasn’t obvious. We had to look around before spotting it in an outdoor alcove. Ann was particularly pleased, because this was her idea.

There are both guide-tours and self-guided tours of Breaking Bad film sites in Albuquerque. You can learn all kinds of things here.

Following that quick stop we headed to the touristy area of old town Albuquerque. Anchored by a church established in 1702, the area is typical of New Mexican town squares. In the center is a square bordered on all sides by a road with shops/restaurants lining the road. I was surprised to see that the square was much quieter and subdued than the square in Santa Fe (or it was on this day).

Perhaps the most striking difference between the Santa Fe and Albuquerque shops are the proliferation of Break Bad memorabilia. There were also some Better Caul Saul shirts as well, the prequel to Breaking Bad.

Believe it or not, there are some confederate soldiers buried in Albuquerque.

Next on our list of things was to cruise Route 66 from old town to the Nuclear museum. We followed the historic road through downtown Albuquerque and past the University of New Mexico. There were some wonderful (and a few odd) murals along the way. A few odd pedestrians made the drive all that more colorful.

I wished Mike’s Quality Painting wouldn’t have been parked there!

After the University, Ann became very animated. She’d spotted a Bounder motorhome that had been transformed into a Breaking Bad tour bus. We might have to take that bus, just becasue it would make Ann happy.

Soon we arrived at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History. Since Ann’s grandfather worked on the Manhattan project and Ann herself was involved nuclear tech, the museum was of particular interest. I thought the museum was nicely arranged with interest exhibits. It told the nucelar story, included hands on exhibits, and was arranged in discontinous dioramas that made the experience an interesting one.

We then went outside to look at “Ann’s plane”, the B-52. She showed me how to load a bomb and pointed out where she broke her hand one day in the bombay door (ouch). She was a candy-store-kid while looking at all the planes! Perhaps even better was the giftshop. She got some bomb earings, some periodic table cards, and I got a plane shirt. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget the bomb shotglasses!

I only spotted one jeep during our visit and it was in this photo. It looks to be a CJ-3A.

As we left the museum we could feel some hunger pangs, so I yelped a location. We decided upon Mr. Powdrells Barbeque. Since they claimed to be in business since 1870, we figured they just might know what they were doing. And it seems they did. We enjoyed our meal of catfish and ribs.

After our late lunch we had one more task. We wanted to try the newly built ‘singing’ road. Located on Route 66 east of Albuquerque and west of Tijeras is a section of road specially repaved (east bound lane only). If you travel 45 over the specially spaced rumble strips, the road will sing America the Beautiful. Silly, yes, but we did it twice and giggled the whole time.

Almost as soon as we left Tijeras, the winds increased dramatically. For about an hour poor Henry was battered by flying debris and tumbleweeds. One hit the side so hard we think it scratched, if not dented the jeep. As I type this report we are heading south to Tularosa and have continued to endure heavy wins. Fortunatley, no dust storms have limited visibility.

Tonight we land at Ann’s aunt and uncle’s place. We’ll think we will be there through Sunday and will head south at that time for El Paso. Tomorrow we have a robot show at an art fair in Tularosa, otherwise it will probably be a quiet day.

<– Day 4 – Wed. Apr. 15th: Salmon and Subway | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 6 – Fri. Apr. 17th: Art Fair in Alamogordo, NM –>