was going out to dinner but unfortunately this time the one night we are transiting through that town we’ll be experiencing an Art Opening followed by the world premiere of “Oppenheimer” in a format not intended by its director at CCA.  Hopefully there’ll be food trucks in the parking lot although I’ve been warned that that’s a little too West Coast for such a sophisticated venue…meanwhile in anticipation we had a brief round of quiet, a bit of Max Disrupt

[days of internet cafe and an evening or two entertaining including the night before leaving]

and Friday were off to the highway, over Raton and down

the Interstate

past Maxwell

and the rest

to Charlie’s Spic & Span in Las Vegas

for some of that old time adovada before the unlikely sighting of not one

but TWO 1939 Chevy sedan deliveries in the wild livened up the highway to Santa Fe after which

the Wide Open changed to four 80 mph lanes bumper to bumper [not shown] from there

to Albuquerque where the thermometer read 108 on the pavement though it was most pleasant in John and Roberta’s backyard…and so on to an evening of elaborate food and

conversations, a leisurely breakfast by the fountain and late morning visit to the Albuquerque Museum of Art for Danny Lyon’s epic show of a lifetime lived on the margins.  I was most

surprised by the recent landscapes, being utterly unfamiliar with that aspect of the oeuvre in

an exhibition so all-encompassing as to leave us utterly exhausted but after that and a light

lunch it was back to those 80 mph lines heading north until, abandoning our ambitious

intentions to see Bruce Nauman at Site and explore the Railyard, we pulled in to our motel and

became temporarily comatose, emerging just in time to take in Meridel’s well-attended opening

 

at the resuscitated CCA, ostensibly to be followed by that “Oppenheimer” screening but, despite

being told that the sound mix was immeasurably better as well as visually more interesting in 

the 35 mm version, we were subsequently lured happily off to dinner once the crowds thinned

out with just Ben and Meridel at the Jambo Cafe, then [despite missing the turn to the motel necessitating a sketchy maneuver to recover] had another wakeful night into Sunday at which

point it was back to Las Vegas and Charlie’s with its excellent service and vibe for breakfast

before driving the long road home, mostly not shown as L. had a bad hand and couldn’t.

Despite the empty open roads the truckstops were mobbed, often as not with four bedroom motorhomes towing six-passenger side by sides [not shown but always left at the pumps].

The same situation prevailed in Walsenburg where after shopping at Safeway we nonetheless

returned to wait in the sun behind a Minnesota SUV whose driver, after fueling, laboriously washing windshield, back window and – tailights ! – waddled off for her Big Gulp, refusing to

move. We drove on to other errands, fortunately finding the Loaf ‘n’ Jug empty so finally fueled, abandoning town and Summer Driving Season at last for Linny’s Laundromat and Slow Internet

Cafe where we unloaded and stumbled around until a last supper with Luz, Izel and Christine which went well well into the evening…home at last, though still overly warm.