Katie assured me that the trip north to Flagstaff would turn my frown upside down, and that it did. Not only did the air cool with the increase in altitude, but the once lifeless nightmare landscape was slowly replaced with tall trees and grass. Here’s a picture that doesn’t show any of that, but even this is more interesting than Blythe:

Alright, Katie, I’ll get on board with your desert love, but only in so far as it doesn’t require I get skin cancer and start loving razor ice.

The day was pretty uneventful except for this train which I kept passing and then re-passing after I had to stop for gas:

By now I had surmised that I get somewhere close to 50 MPG, which is awesome, but I can only hold about 3 gallons in the tank. Knowing this I avoided a bunch of close calls as far as hitting gas stations goes, but as a result I saw a lot more of Arizona/New Mexico’s isolated job atmospheres. No one seemed too excited about manning the Exxon/Subway 400 miles from the nearest WIFI connection. Every 30 miles was a sign that read “Don’t Drink and Drive” very plainly or “Report Drunk Driving” which leads me to believe there’s a connection between these gas station attendants and depression. But very fancy depression, because below the words on these signs were pictures of keys and martini glasses– “GIVE ME ANOTHER BARKEEP, AND HOW ABOUT THIS ONE IN A FANCY SHALLOW GLASS, EH?”

Whatever it takes to get gas in the middle of the desert, is what I always say.

470 miles later I decided to spend the night in Albuquerque. On the east side I was told there was a KOA campground on the west side, but I couldn’t find it for the life of me. Instead I got some nice pictures of the inevitable rain storm that offered to soak me if I didn’t find shelter:

I didn’t push the issue and found a place at the Budget Inn for the night. Cheap hotels are much less exciting when you’re alone, and I began to wonder if this is what comedians are always bitching about during their stand up tours. There was CNN and plenty of coverage about John Edwards and his mistress to keep me company, though.

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