Here I sit in Terminal B at Houston's Intercontinental Airport ready to begin my long overdue vacation! It's been a couple of years since I last traveled anywhere, and I am definitely ready.
Today I fly to Albuquerque on United Airlines in one of their small jets, which can be a bit cramped, but it's only a two hour flight. This will be the first flight on United since they merged/killed Continental Airlines a few years ago. I have flown Southwest since the merger out of protest, but I decided to use my leftover miles for a free flight since United recently announced that my miles would expire if I didn't use them.
My eventual destination will be Chama, New Mexico, which is a couple of hours north of ABQ and just south of the Colorado border. I'm meeting some railfan friends there to ride a steam train through the mountains. We always make this trip this time of year as it's already cold up there and the Aspen trees are changing colors to bright yellow, red and orange. A spectacular sight I always look forward to.
I was originally supposed to fly out last Friday the 26th, but due to some complications at work, I couldn't leave until today. When I originally booked my flights, rental car and hotels, everything was reasonably priced. Moving everything up to this week has dropped me into ABQ in the middle of their annual Hot Air Balloon Festival, which is their biggest event of the year and everything jumped in price. My $20 a day rental car went up to $85 a day for the same car, and the $59 hotel rooms went to around $160. Luckily, I was able to use either AAA, AARP, or obtain a government rate, which helped, but it's still outrageous. My cheap getaway just tripled in price. This always happens to me. I usually fly into Denver and drive south, but I wanted to see different scenery since I have made that drive so many times, and look what it got me. Sigh.
I am staying at an airport hotel tonight and will pick up my rental car tomorrow. I've never been to ABQ so I'm not sure what to do tonight. They have a regional commuter train called the Ridge Runner that runs between Santa Fe and Belen, so I might go ride that. We'll see.
The flight is boarding soon, and I'm glad the weather is calm. It's also hot here. In ABQ it's a lot cooler, and when I get to Chama tomorrow, it's getting down to about 32 degrees every night with highs in the 60's during the day. I never know what to pack for that kind of weather, so I pack one of everything....one small windbreaker up to a heavy parka, a knit cap and some gloves. I've made the mistake in the past of not packing like that and froze my butt off a few times. This time, I'm gonna look like I'm mushing across Alaska!
Albuquerque - Late night
The flight was smooth with no problems, other than being sandwiched in a very small jet for two hours. It's one of those that only has three seats across.....a single seat, then two across the aisle. Luckily, I got a single, so not too bad. These jets have low ceilings so if you're over 5'8", you're gonna be walking like a hunchback through the plane. Luckily I'm 5'8", so I was good. I was three rows from the rear "lavatory", and it's the only one. Lucky me.
When we were about 30 minutes out of ABQ, I noticed all the windows had frost built up on them. Let's see.....the temperature drops three degrees for every one thousand feet, and we were around 35,000 feet, and the temperature in Albuquerque was 65 degrees according to the pilot, so that means it was approximately -40 outside. Yep, that'll frost your windows!
On our descent into ABQ the sun was just setting, and that beautiful light was bathing the tops of the mountains all around us. It was spectacular.
I hopped aboard the shuttle to the La Quinta near the airport and got checked in. I got cleaned up and decided to try my luck at the Sandia Casino here in town, so I tried one of those new non-taxi services that are becoming popular around the country, and it's called Uber. I downloaded the app, got signed up quickly, and ordered a car. It was at the hotel in two minutes! Nice young man in his Honda held the door for me, and off we went. It took about 20 minutes to get there, and it cost $30. That's a LOT cheaper than a cab would have cost, and a much more pleasant experience. When you arrive at your destination he hits a button on his cell phone and the bill is sent to your e-mail address immediately, and you approve payment right there. No cash changes hands, and there is no tipping. Very easy and affordable. I used them again for the trip home and it was just as great.
At the casino I did OK for a change. I played slots and blackjack for a few hours and broke even, which is rare. I'm actually down on the night if you include the Uber fares, but I had a good time. I decided to eat dinner at the casino and went to their sit-down restaurant and ordered the half-rack of St. Louis Ribs, which came with fries, pineapple cole slaw, and the best damn charro beans I've had in years! The whole meal was delicious and amazing, and was only $13. The plate was overflowing, and I couldn't eat it all, and for anyone that knows fat little me, that's saying something! They even gave me a warm moist towel to clean my hands and face after dinner, and I needed it.
Overall, it was a great day, and I'm tired. I'm taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport in the morning to pick up my outrageously priced rental car, check out and drive north through Santa Fe to beautiful downtown Chama, NM.
Chama is a very small place. In fact, here's a traffic report for Chama: "The light is green".
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