A terrible day in ABQ (!) (1 Viewer)

[peneumbra2]

I had to drive down to the Insurance Company's wrecking yard today (Friday) from Taos, to take some stuff off my totaled '97 Land Cruiser. Things didn't go so well.
I couldn't get the LED spotlight off the A-pillar. Took all the screws out, pushed/pulled/turned the thing, but no luck.
I had to cut the straps holding the sheepskin seat covers on, as there was no way to access the tie-downs under the seats.
I did manage to recover the three Front Runner metal gas cans off the rear bumper.
By then, it was 1630, and I wanted to go from the yard (4400 Broadway S.E.) to The Owl Cafe on Eubank. Northbound on I-25 was locked up solid, so I got off the freeway and took Central all the way east. Wasn't all that bad - just took about 40 minutes, and I got to pass by ten or twelve felonies in progress - and then there I was at The Owl.
I remember what Albaquacky was like back in the 70s, and, well, it's not like that now. Too much traffic, too many people.
But the Owl Cafe is great!

 

[marcfj60]

I had to drive down to the Insurance Company's wrecking yard today (Friday) from Taos, to take some stuff off my totaled '97 Land Cruiser. Things didn't go so well.
I couldn't get the LED spotlight off the A-pillar. Took all the screws out, pushed/pulled/turned the thing, but no luck.
I had to cut the straps holding the sheepskin seat covers on, as there was no way to access the tie-downs under the seats.
I did manage to recover the three Front Runner metal gas cans off the rear bumper.
By then, it was 1630, and I wanted to go from the yard (4400 Broadway S.E.) to The Owl Cafe on Eubank. Northbound on I-25 was locked up solid, so I got off the freeway and took Central all the way east. Wasn't all that bad - just took about 40 minutes, and I got to pass by ten or twelve felonies in progress - and then there I was at The Owl.
I remember what Albaquacky was like back in the 70s, and, well, it's not like that now. Too much traffic, too many people.
But the Owl Cafe is great!

I have to drive to ABQ at least 4 days a week to go to work. but I barely get into town before I turn off the freeway and head to my office at Kirtland AFB so I'm a little spoiled. I dread when I have to use my weekend days to go there for necessities, dealing with traffic and idiots. I'm old enough to remember when Albuquerque was 1/2 the size it is now (early 80's) and I wasn't constantly looking over my shoulder to try to spot people with bad intentions before they spot me.

 

[vegasfj40]

Ha! I always laugh when I hear people here complain about traffic.

 

[pappy]

Ha! I always laugh when I hear people here complain about traffic.

Ya, I moved here from so. Cal. It's worse now than when I left.

 

[peneumbra2]

In L.A. I drove a fire engine.
Made it a little better...

 

[NMBound]

Ya, I moved here from so. Cal. It's worse now than when I left.

Try Tucson. Same population, no freeway system. Two lane interstate with crowded on ramps and more semi trucks, dump trucks, and commercial vehicles you've ever seen. One of the darkest cities in the country and people drive with one headlight. Trash spread out over the median instead of constructing a proper highway. I may cry when I leave this place.

 

[peneumbra2]

Try Tucson. Same population, no freeway system. Two lane interstate with crowded on ramps and more semi trucks, dump trucks, and commercial vehicles you've ever seen. One of the darkest cities in the country and people drive with one headlight. Trash spread out over the median instead of constructing a proper highway. I may cry when I leave this place.

The first time I went to Tucson was as a kid, in 1967.
At 11 pm, all the traffic signals on Speedway started flashing yellow. Speedway was deserted...

 

[NMBound]

The first time I went to Tucson was as a kid, in 1967.
At 11 pm, all the traffic signals on Speedway started flashing yellow. Speedway was deserted...

Oh it is a different ballgame now. The town is not equipped for this many people and it shows.

 

[peneumbra2]

NO FOOLIN!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

@4Cruisers introduced us to the Owl Cafe while on a cruiser pickin. Love that place.

 

[4Cruisers]

My first experience with the Owl Cafe was at the original location in San Antonio, NM in 1974. My college roommate and I were hitchhiking up to Los Alamos from Las Cruces for the weekend. A businessman driving from El Paso to Albuquerque picked us up on I-25 outside T or C. After a while he said "You boys look hungry, how about some hamburgers?" A little while later we were back on the highway with a bag of Owl Cafe green chile cheeseburgers and fries.

I remember as a kid when the intersection at what's now the Big-I (Menaul Blvd. and NM 422) was a stoplight, the sand and gravel place is still there. Heading east on Menaul Blvd. from that intersection soon brought you to one of the tallest buildings in town - the Bekin's Moving & Storage warehouse (now Baillio's) - on the north side of the street.

Speaking of bad days in Albuquerque, several years ago my youngest son returned from work in the vanpool to the Lowe's parking lot on Paseo del Norte. He couldn't find my '93 4-Runner where he had parked it that morning, and he reported it stolen. About four days later, after 10:00 pm one night, we got a call from the Albuquerque PD that they found it abandoned in a nearby residential area. They said it would be towed in two hours if he didn't come for it before then. He went over and picked it up that night and drove it home. The police officers said it had been used in an armed robbery at a Taco Bell. A few days later he was looking between the drivers seat and the center console and noticed a black, unfamiliar looking object. It turned out it was the handgun used in the robbery! I guess that's not too unusual now down there.

 

[4Cruisers]

Ha! I always laugh when I hear people here complain about traffic.

Traffic, what traffic?

Contrary to the sign ......

 

[krazykat69]

Oh it is a different ballgame now. The town is not equipped for this many people and it shows.

Not just Tucson that's not equipped. The World ain't equipped for this many people, and it Shows!!!

 

[peneumbra2]

Less people, more wolverines!

 

[NMBound]

Not just Tucson that's not equipped. The World ain't equipped for this many people, and it Shows!!!

I totally agree Jeff. But you gotta admit some places at least have the infrastructure (or the facade of one).

 

[peneumbra2]

Infrastructures are buildings you can see in the dark, right?

No, that's something else...

 

[krazykat69]

I totally agree Jeff. But you gotta admit some places at least have the infrastructure (or the facade of one).

Guess I haven't been to that place yet.

 

[NMBound]

Guess I haven't been to that place yet.

It's a comparison.

 

[krazykat69]

It's a comparison.

The worse city I have traveled into in the last few years was Denver, CO. Albuquerque seems like a small town compared to that megalopolis

 

[peneumbra2]

The worse city I have traveled into in the last few years was Denver, CO. Albuquerque seems like a small town compared to that megalopolis

Try driving around Cairo sometime...