Look way down on those posts… remember, I started at 28,000 miles.

This means we’re at 2,000 miles on the trip… WOOHOO!

Nice sign.  I guess Arizona has their own budget problems.

Well, maybe AZ makes up for it with scenery…

So about 25 years ago, I was in Albuquerque on business and ate at a little place called Powdrell’s BBQ.  I put the screws to Kerry to stop there.  The first try resulted in us stopping at the location closed on Mondays.  We had to backtrack 12 miles and wound up eating at a take-out version of Powdrell’s.  They did have some tables under a tent.  And the food was better than average.  But I think it just proves you can’t go back.  I had the Pork Rib lunch with BBQ Beans, Potato Salad and Cornbread… oh baby.  We didn’t get to Holbrook until 7 pm today.  I still wasn’t hungry.  I just had a bowl of soup.

We took the 14 through the “scenic country.  Uh-huh.  I feel duped.  But I do like the bug on the windshield on this pic!

Ohhhh, BABY.  And the Margaritas ain’t bad either.  Let me tell you, Marias in Santa Fe is a great pit stop!

http://www.marias-santafe.com/

Yeah… looks pretty now.  Wait for it…

Nice to see New Mexico has a graffiti problem too.  Still, it’s very pretty.  Wait for it…

Now that’s a dark sky!  I was hoping the road would cut left and we’d miss the rain.

And then it hit. I even had to turn on my wipers!  But woe is me… I’m flat out of gas and the old GPS is saying there ain’t any stations around.

I drove over 20 miles with the gas gauge not moving at all before we pulled into Las Vegas, NM.  Fumes… I was running on fumes.  I couldn’t enjoy all the lightening and rain because I was always looking for where I was going to pull over.  We made this our lunch stop too.

As we came into Santa Fe, this nice family slowed to take a picture of the old hot rod and were surprised when I returned the favor!

Kerry’s GPS sent us past our destination (again).  Mine got us about 200 yards away but we still couldn’t see the Inn so I called.  We arrived at the Santa Fe Inn just in time for another brief shower!  After the rain, Kerry tightened up a loose starter and I caught some loose header bolts before they became missing header bolts.

YES

I’ve been saving this picture since we went through Salt Lake City…. WTF???

It wound up being a great day in Pueblo at the fairgrounds.  A few sprinkles at 5 pm us packing up but the day was mostly a very nice day for hot rodding!  Lucky for us, we had Dan to guide the way and find some spots with a little shade.

Trivia question for today… who’s car has mis-matched hubcaps, left to right?

(Hint… it’s the stealth car)

And so long to the Rocky Mountain Nationals!  On to Santa Fe!

Co-worker Dan (54 Chevy Truck) and his friend Bob (37 Ford Coupe) joined us for the trip south to Pueblo.  I had some indications that the old Flattie was having problems and it started missing on one… then two cylinders as we passed through downtown Denver.  A close inspection found a pinhole leak in the radiator dripping right on the distributor.  I cleaned the plug wire and duct tape was applied to the radiator.  Not so much to stop the leak as to divert the antifreeze away from the high tension electrical system.

Here, Dan, Bob and Randy’s big ass ponder the next move…

It took one more stop and some more cleaning to clean up the problem (for now).

So, ON TO PUEBLO… right?  Then KABLOWIE… two flames shoot out of Bob’s exhaust and he’s on the side of the road.  He was fortunate enought to a) be in a position to push the car down the embankment and off the freeway and b) have a spare coil to replace the fried unit.

Without too much delay we have arrived in Pueblo and completed the registration for the NSRA Rockie Mountaing Nats.

WOOHOO!