Albuquerque, New
Mexico
We got to Albuquerque about dinner time and checked
into another La Piņata
Motel. It was snowing in Denver, so the old folks decided to spend
another couple of nights in Albuquerque cuz it wouldn't do no good to try
to drive home and end up in a blizzard. On the
way in from Carlsbad we ended up driving along old Route 66, which is a
famous road that Jim's family drove on when they moved out from New Jersey
in 1950. We got to see the hill where the truck steamed over on that
trip. Then pretty soon we got to see the next hill where the truck
steamed over. Then we got to see the hill where the truck and the
station wagon both steamed over. We didn't get to see where the fuel
pump burned out, though, cuz that happened farther East than we
were. You ken see more about Route 66 by clicking below: Route
66 Website
or Another
Route 66 Website Jim
grew up in Albuquerque, so he took us around and showed us where he went
to school and the houses where he used to live. The
house in the pitcher at right shows where Jim and his 3 sisters
and mom and dad lived when they first got there in 1950. That house
was only about 20 feet square back then, but it has had an addition added
onto the back since then, and a little air conditioner in the front
window. They got there in August of 1950, and stayed there for about
6 months. They
moved into the next house in about January of 1951, and lived there for
about a year and a half.  Then
they moved to a much larger house on Fruit Avenue, and they lived there
for about 12 years. At that time the trim was pink and the house was
painted white, and there was a very thirsty lawn in front.
In
1966 the family moved to California for several months, but it didn't work
out, so they moved back to Albuquerque into the house shown at right, on
Harvard Drive.  After
a year and a half they moved into the home at right, on Burton Drive, in
the Southeast end of town. Jim's room was a little room in back of
the garage.
Then after a couple of years Jim
moved to Denver, and then that's a whole new story that's too long to tell
here. Next we got to see the schools where Jim
went to school.
This was La Mesa School, about 4 blocks from that first house shown
above. Poor Jim had to walk all the way there and back every
day. On the first day in the first grade, the recess bell rang and
all the kids went out into the playground, and Jim went home, cuz he
figgered that was already a pretty long day! After a few weeks of
school, he decided he really didn't like the idea of continuing to go, but
his mom told him he only had another 11 years and some months until he
could graduate, so that
would be his goal. One thing that made life bearable during the 4
months he had to go to that school, was the "great big" candy
store directly across from the school. It would have been much
better if he would have hade enough cash to go there once in a while and
buy something. The next school was named
Douglas MacArthur Elementary Scho ol,
and he went there for half of the first grade and all of the third
grade. Unfortunately, there was no candy
store in the area! And also, he had to walk about 7 blocks to get
there, cuz back then school buses weren't invented
yet. Then he went to the Lew Wallace
Elementary School for the 4th gr ade
and 5th grade. That was a reely great school cuz there were actually
2 candy stores jest across from the playground, and both of them were on
the way home, which was only 4 blocks. What a great school.
And money from cutting grass provided the cash to buy candy! Then
his mom located another school named Lourdes High School, out in the
country, where he cou ld
learn printing cuz they had a reel printing shop where he could go a
couple of days a week instead of learning physics. The pitcher shows
the main building, but when Jim went there, the windows weren't
broken. He went there for 7 years, and graduated in 1962. The
school closed down several years later, and is now owned by a charitable
organization named www.joyjunction.org
that you ken click here and read about. Another
thing that we did there in Albuquerque, was to go and che ck
out the Petroglyph Monument, and me and Sniffy almost got into trubble cuz
we wrote on some of those prehistoric rocks. Them injuns that used
to live here wrote on those rocks all the time with little chisels, and
they din't get into no trubble, so we don't know what the problem is. Anyhow,
if they din't want us to wri te
on those old, dirty rocks, they should say so on a sign. The only
sign we saw said to not take away any rocks or plants or animals, and we
din't do none of that. And we also din't throw no trash on the
ground or walk the wrong way on the one way road. If
you're interested in any more about that Petroglyp h
place you ken jest click below on their website, but be sure to not tell
them about what us guys did cuz some of them park guys have big guns and
get reel serious about some things. Petroglyph
Website Always
remember when things like this happen, "It's not your fault!"  While
we was walking around checking out things and looking fer jest the right
rock to write our names on, we seen this wild rabbit sneaking around
through the weeds, but he wasn't too friendly. He had a mouth full
of weeds that he was taking home to make a nice warm nest, we
decided. Cuz if he lives between any of the rocks we found it's reel
cold in there and a feller would definitely need something to make it warm
inside. If he wasn't wild he could probably find a nice home where
the people would give him his own blanket and pillow like some of us guys
have.
When we got back to the van, Spinnaker
told us that while we was checking out Petroglyphic thing, he got out of
the van and walked over near a fence where there was some cows talking
(Spinnaker used to be a moose, so he can understand cows when they're
talking). Anyway, there was some snow on the grass toward the bottom
of the hill, and one of the cows said to the other, "You know, Betty,
that white stuff all over the grass sure is cold on my teeth."
And the other one replied, "Yeah, Marge, I know, but I never get
thirsty like I do when I eat the grass without it." Next we went to see the Balloon Museum
that was advertised in the bo ok
we ha d
with us, so we went to check it out. Well, there wasn't much to see
yet, cuz it's not built yet. There is a big field with a bunch of
sticks in the ground, and some of them have little rags tied to them, but
no museum, so if you decide to go and check it out, you probably better
wait a while, cuz on March 22, 2003 it wasn't there yet. That was about it fer that trip to Texas
and New Mexico. After checking out some more sights, like downtown
Albuquerque, we left to go home, cuz the blizzard in Denver was melting
and it was then safe to head fer home. The
only other exciting thing that happened was that Spinnaker go t
out of the van to stretch his legs and paws and he found a ancient coin
sitting on the tar in the parking lot next to the parking bumper thing
that you're supposed to run your tires into when you park. We could
tell it was reel old cuz on the back the date says, "347 B. C.,"
and that's reely old and worth at least four bucks! We
don't know who the lady is in the pitcher on the coin, but she looks
zaktly like Mrs. Murphy, whose cow kicked over the lantern and started the
earthquake in San Francisco back in 1906.
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