When I was a child, one of my favorite series of Bugs Bunny cartoons dealt with him failing to make “a left turn in Albuquerque.” The joke was, the rabbit had missed a turn in that fair city and as a result, ended up either at the North Pole, Sahara Desert, in Mexico, in Scotland or in some other far off land.
I tell you that to tell you that I spent the weekend in Albuquerque, New Mexico visiting the wife’s family. It was the weekend of navigational hell. The address for our hotel was on Rio Rancho Road. But unless you live in Albuquerque, you don’t know that Rio Rancho Road, Alameda Boulevard and state route 528 are all the same street. After 20 minutes of driving around in a rush hour purgatory, or what passes for rush hour in Albuquerque, I was honestly afraid that I was going to take one of those Bugs Bunny sightseeing trips. With my luck, I probably would have ended up in Seattle or Tucumcari. Fortunately, the GPS in my phone was a bigger help than all the directions I got from the locals, who couldn’t understand why the out-of-town boy was confused. Ultimately, we got to where we needed to be and had a marvelous time in Albuquerque as the wife reacquainted herself with her Cousins. Sadly, I suspect that we will have to go back there for some unpleasant business within the next year or so.
Yup, it took fifty years, but I finally got the joke. Chuck Jones was right. If you make the wrong turn in Albuquerque you have no idea where you could end up. 🙂
If you take a left at the Big I, you end up in Socorro, which is where Husband went to school. 😀
*will try to think of some fun places in Alb. to suggest for next time*
🙂 Thanks. My wife found a casino (and there wasn’t much traveling after that). But I will hit you up for some travel spots when we return. 😀
*snerk*