Albuquerque, New Mexico   

After our stay at Thackerland, we headed West again.  This time it was West on I-40.  The track crew boys headed out earlier in the day and we drug around as we usually do.  We got going around 6pm on Wednesday evening.  Our plan was to drive to Amarillo that night, then on to Albuquerque on Thursday.  We found a campground late that night just West of Amarillo and packed it in.  It was COLD.  NO, IT WAS FREEZING COLD.  The next morning we wanted to check out the "Cadillac Ranch".  I had been there a couple of times, but the rest of the crew was curious.  We figured out that we were only one exit down from the "Ranch".  We pulled in, checked out the tail fins and took a few pix.  Those caddies have been in the ground since 1974.  They were moved once because of urban sprawl in 1997.  I was there in 1978, 1992 and now this year.  Those cars have about 200 coats of paint now.  Check out Cadillace Ranch on the web.  We headed West again.

We arrived in Albuquerque Thursday afternoon and once again the boys went to work with the track crew.  Tingley Colusiem is located in the New Mexico State Fairgrounds and looks to be very old.  There is a horse track and casino right next door to the arena and of course we had to have lunch there. We had one extra bike with us for Albuquerque and Louisville.  Colt Humphrey needed a lift for his bike and we hooked him up.  The boys were plugged in at the arena and hard at work.  The Team did a promotional gig at the Full Throttle Gaming Center on Friday afternoon.  It had giant projection screens with Guitar Hero and about 50 computers with games.  The boys were challenged by local race fans on a variety of games.  The locals kicked their butts.  One eight year old fan/gamer is pretty famous now since he destroyed everyone on Guitar Hero. One gamer adpoted Chris as a  Big Brother.  And of course, Corey was adopted by one of the moms.  After we got our hotel room, Pam, Tara and I headed for an Indian casino just south of Albuquerque.  Pam did pretty good, winning $400 on the slots.  I played around on the crap table and came away with an extra $150. 

Albuquerque is around 5000 feet above sea level, so we had to rejet the bikes to get the best power at this elevation.  When practice rolled around on Saturday, we were ready to go.  A good group of riders showed up and the afternoon qualifiers had good racing.  Everyone made it to the night program except Corey.  He got landed on in practice and spent most of the weekend in the motorhome on his back.  Saturday night's racing was good.  Chris didn't make either main, due to poor starts.  Brock had a bent front brake rotor and he was done too.  Max was the only member of the team to go to the money rounds.  He pulled an 8th in the Lites and 14th in the Arenacross class.  Sunday was amatuer day and the guys were ready to go again.  Corey was still licking his wounds, but was getting better.  The boys rode the Open Expert class on Sunday.  Chris got third and Max got mauled during the start and just finished.  Our regular announcer, David had an early flight and I was his replacement for the day.  The guys gave me a hand with the mike and we gave Chris some grief when we saw him in the stands with another one of his under age "local" friends. 

After the races were over, the boys helped tear down the track and we headed to the indoor go kart track.   The Albuquerque Indoor Karting facility was one of the event sponsors and they gave us a private group deal.  Fourteen of us took on the course and played out our junior version of Nascar.  They won't forget us anytime soon.  Our referee Travis, tried some local Mexican food from the track owners right before we jumped in the karts.  After a few laps, he was jumping out and hanging over a trash can.  He didn't drive anymore. 

On Monday, we headed up the mountain to Santa Fe for more recreation.  Brock, Max, Pam and I all had some "sliding down the hill on sticks"  experience.  Corey and Chris were "beginners".  Max brought his snowboard and Chris elected to try one too.  Corey went for the two sticks like Brock, Pam and me.  We got a couple of hours in on Monday afternoon and then went back again on Tuesday.  The Santa Fe ski area is in a State Park, so we were able to dock the motorhome right below the ski lifts.  The "beginners" had a few spills and Pam got clubbed in the head by one of her skis when someone in front of her crashed getting off the lift and the operator didn't see it.  She's okay. 

We headed down the mountain when the lifts closed at 4pm.  It was time to head for Arkansas.  We got home around noon on Wednesday and tried to get some rest.  On Thursday, we cleaned up the bikes, the motorhome, washed clothes and got ready to head East.  Around 7pm we pulled out of the driveway headed for Kentucky.