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Saturday we took the most spectacular drive across New Mexico. The land, flat with mesas, slowly became hillier and mountains appeared in the distance. When we got to the mountains we visited Tinkertown in the Sandia Mtns. just outside Albuquerque. It is a house/yard created by a man who loved to collect things and it was just incredible. So much random old stuff. Walls were made of glass bottles, and there were ironworks everywhere. Inside was a 'museum' of carvings and collectables - houses, saloons, circuses, everything! It was like a page from I Spy and around each corner, machines to drop a quarter into to play something. And the floor was patched up with license plates from everywhere.

We squandered an hour or so there. Then, on to Albuquerque. We road a small stretch of Rt. 66 when we got into town. I decided I would not enjoy a 66 road trip – the traffic lights and slow traffic…but just once seeing the 50s/60s stores & cafes on the road was good.

We walked around old town and suddenly it became windy. In a few minutes it was so windy that dust was blowing through town, in our eyes and on our faces, covering my car. Then, it ended, just like that. Elizabeth’s teeth were gritty and our faces felt sandy. I went into a store and bought a hat. We had sopapillas after a small lunch/dinner at La Placita as directed by Leslie. Then we drove up 550 to Aztec and WoW. The land was incredible. You could see strata on the rock. There were arroyos – dried up river beds that were sunk like canyons. It was dry-dry-dry, with old shrubs everywhere, but the landforms were crazy – spots of hilly-ness, mesas, arroyos.













It’s too hard to describe in words and pictures don’t do it justice either. We got to Leslie’s parents’ house just at dark. Then I discovered that I know their son, Warren. So crazy to arrive at someone’s house – in another state, whom you’ve never met – to discover that you know them.











(the Coles')


Another cool thing that happened on Saturday was that I found a cell phone car-charger. The one that I originally bought at Verizon was $30 and I returned it when I found it cheaper on the Internet. But when it came, it didn’t fit! The ones at Walmart didn’t work. So, in Albuquerque I found a Verizon store and resolved to get it from there. On the way I prayed that it wouldn’t cost so much, and when the lady rang up my order, she said, “Guess what? This used to cost $30 but it just went on sale for $7." I almost did a dance in the store. When I got back in my car I remembered the prayer, and how God amazingly answered it. Why was I surprised?