Running the traps.

With no hard plans in mind for Albuquerque, today was a day we spent doing all the things anybody has to do to keep the household running; pay bills, clean the house, grocery shop, maintenance on the truck - just running the traps.

Most of the morning was spent in the waiting room at the Ford House while they changed the transmission fluid in Big Gulp.  After the long pull over Raton Pass yesterday plus 97,000 miles and 7 years the fluid was in need of change.  I also changed out the 7-year old air filter.  By the time I got out of there I had a $300 hole in my pocket.  But keeping the transmission healthy by changing the fluid is way cheaper than the alternative.

We got out in the afternoon and found a Sam's Club for routine purchase of 15 lbs of apples and 40 lbs of oranges.  If we stay on schedule with our fruit intake for the diet, we have to do this replenishment twice a month.  I have serious doubts about whether we will be able to sustain this once we get to the North Rim.  With the nearest place to buy food being a 170 mile round trip I don't think perishables like fruit are going to last between grocery runs.

But the day was not all work and no play.  We, well, mostly me, are fans of a TV show called Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives (triple D).  A celebrity chef by the name of Guy Fieri goes all over the country and finds little eateries that serve up surprisingly good fare despite being places you might not try on your own because of where they are or how they look.

One of the two GPS's that I run (yes, I run two at a time.  Maybe I'll explain in a later post) has the ability to download custom points of interest (POI), files.  I have pulled in a number of campground listing files and also the one for Triple D.  As we go down the road the GPS (a Rand McNally RVND) will issue voice alerts that we are near a campground or a place that Triple D has visited.  It alerts a lot for campgrounds but we have never been close enough to a Triple D for it to alert for one of those.  But Cyndee remembered that we had seen several episodes of Triple D in the Albuquerque area so she got online (free WiFi here at Enchanted Trails) and found 4 places.  One place was a breakfast and lunch only diner that sounded pretty good.  But the timing was wrong, we had to pick a place for supper.  The Monte Carlo Steakhouse sounded interesting and it was relatively close to us.  I manually looked up the steakhouse in the Triple D file and it quickly routed us to our destination about seven minutes away.  While it may have a name that would make you think of a swanky place, it is anything but.  This is a cinder block building and the front is a liquor store, you have to go around to the side of the building to gain access to the restaurant.

As you step in, it is dark.  The walls are dark wood paneling, the tables and booths are medium to dark and most of the lighting comes from red and blue neon beer signs over the bar that is next to the entrance and lining the walls around room.  Of the three kinds of places that Triple D visits, this is definitely one that falls under the heading of a dive.

Both of us ordered a meal that was featured on the show.  Cyndee got the steak sandwich and I the pork kabobs.  Wow, the kabobs were worth the trip, the steak sandwich not so much.  We both agreed that we would go back.  We just wished it was a little more economical.  Our two meals, with just french fries as a side and iced tea for drinks was $40 w/tip.

It was a beautiful evening in Albuquerque.  The temperature was pleasant and the air dry despite heavy thunderstorms we could see clearly a few miles to the north and west.  A lot of Albuquerque has a view to tens of miles into the distance.  You can watch a thunderhead build and send bolts of lightning blasting through the sky from a distance so far away that you never hear a hint of thunder.