Stephen's New Toy

Albuquerque has two race facilities with a variety of tracks.  There is a drag strip at the Albuquerque Dragway at Mesa Del Sol.  NAPA Speedway (formerly Sandia Speedway), just West of Abq, has an asphalt oval, a dirt oval, and a road course where they run both cars and motorcycles.  Stephen is particularly interested in trying out the road course during the open track days.  You can run any car that will pass a safety inspection and there's no competition.  Folks who run in the competitive series use these days for practice.  Instructors are available for a fee as well.  There are separate days for motorcycles and cars.

Stephen carefully figured out exactly what vehicles would be most suited to road course racing and also fit his allotted toy budget.  He was looking at late 90's Mustangs, Camaros, and 3-series BMWs, any of which would need significant work in order to fall into his price range.  Fixing up the car is part of the fun, after all.  He watched Craig's list and went to look at a number of cars on his way home from work, but none was "the one."  A 1973 Camaro caught his eye because it was pretty and had a 5-speed manual transmission.  When he drove it, all his careful analysis went right out the window because he was in love.  The car came home on the trailer that evening.  It has a 454 big block, 4 barrel carburetor, and that Richmond 5-speed.  The body is really solid, and it was priced very well.  Stephen is putting in new seats with harnesses instead of regular seat belts, upgrading the gauges, and will eventually need to rebuild the engine (of course!).  There are a multitude of other small things to fix.  I noticed that the battery is held in with a bungee cord, the windows don't go all the way up (something Stephen discovered when he got soaked going through the car wash), there are no interior door panels, etc.

Here she is the night she came home:

 The new tachometer project snowballed, as frequently happens with projects involving old cars (or old houses, for that matter).

Stephen is hoping to get her on the track by mid-summer.  Stay tuned!

Arroyos

Albuquerque only gets about 9" of rain per year, but flash-flooding has been a danger.  In the 60's, Albuquerque built a system of constructed waterways or arroyos to deal with the issue.  Many of the arroyos have walking or biking trails next to them.  Some are huge, and many are lined with concrete and have storm drains that feed into them.  I pass this sign on my way out of our development.

 Most of the arroyos I've seen have bridges over them, but some do cross roads.  Last August when I was visiting, there were warnings on the radio about the danger of driving into an arroyo, and there was a story of a woman who drowned when her SUV was swept away by the rushing water.  I actually haven't seen more than a trickle of water in any arroyo except for this one near the Rio Grande (the photo was taken in October).

This is the Four Hills Arroyo near our house:

Here is one near our old apartment in the Northeast, with a paved walking/biking trail alongside.  I enjoyed walking on this trail many times.  I never saw more water in the arroyo than is shown in this photo, even though it was supposedly "monsoon season," which as far as I can tell means that there might be a short thunderstorm in the afternoon. 

Presumably I'll get to see an arroyo full of rushing water sooner or later.  I hope I have my camera with me!

Tramway part 1

I'm calling this "part 1" because Stephen won't actually go on the tram with me.  We watched the tram go up the mountain, then we went for a hike on the Tramway Trail.  I'm hoping when my family visits in April I'll actually get to ride on the tram!
 
When we lived in the apartment, we would go home after church to have lunch and then go out for our hike.  But since church is sort of on the way to the tram from our new house, I packed a cooler and we ate our lunch in the parking lot at the trail head. 

The view from the car.

The tram building.

 We checked out the tram building for accessibility and I asked whether you can take a wheelchair right onto the tram (you can!) and we looked at the menu at the restaurant (vegan friendly!).  Then we watched a tram leave and go up the mountain.

 Stephen restated his resolve never to ride on the tram, and we set off on our hike.

 There are lots of places to stop and look out over the city.

The terrain is steep and rocky but the trail isn't difficult aside from some slippery loose sand or gravel.  It was actually easier to go uphill than downhill, at least while wearing sneakers.  I think a good pair of hiking boots would have made a difference.

 The really palatial ABQ houses are up here in the Northeast.  We could look down at some of them at different points on the trail.

 The views are amazing.  The forecast was for wind and clouds, but we didn't experience wind, and the sun was out the whole time we hiked.  In one direction, we looked out over the city.  In the other, we looked at the mountains.  Awesome.

 Once again, I overdressed.  The angle and intensity of the sun is such that it always feels warmer than the thermometer would suggest.  Plus, I haven't quite wrapped my brain around the fact that I don't need a jacket to hike in the mountains in early March.  First my jacket came off, then my scarf, then I pushed up my sleeves and I was still quite warm!