Day 3: Albuquerque to Salt Lake City

Woke up in Albuquerque and hit Kirtland Air Force Base, my old stomping grounds. I was a shark in the pool and ran another 4.5 for some great cardio. A quick word on exercising out West: the weather's so great, the scenery's so awesome and the pace of life is just right that I find the West the perfect place to get outside and run. New York really doesn't size up on that end (although I still love NY).

At the same time, while I love New York and the pace of life here, I'm truly inspired by the West. Moreso than any other place I lived, New Mexico is my favorite place to press the reset button. More on this when I do my post-trip wrapup.

After leaving base, I met up with some of my old base colleagues and then had lunch with loyal morganobrien.com fanatic, Celena Soto. Man, I worked with some terrific folks.

After lunch, it was time to head back to Salt Lake. The GPS took me on a little different route than I would have figured, I didn't take I-40 but 550. A cool part of that route was that I drove through Bloomfield, which has some tie to the Derby winner. I hear that New Mexico is thrilled about Mine That Bird. From there, it was a scenic drive into Utah.

After driving through Moab, which appears to be an awesome mountain town, I came upon Arches National Park. This time, I got a picture of myself in front of the sign, but I have to admit that I didn't get the shot on my first try:


12th time's the charm!

After Arches, I had a couple hundred miles to Salt Lake...piece of cake, right? It was right up until I was about 150 yards from my exit (about 5 miles from the airport) when the flashing lights appeared in my rearview. Man, I was so close--I'd driven more than 600 miles. I was so close. I was exhausted. I had a little work to do before going to bed. I just wanted to get to my hotel. Alas, it wasn't to be.

I was told I was going 90 in a 65! Damn you, Infiniti FX and your 303 horsepower!!!

The officer was nice, however he brought me back a ticket for 76 in a 65 (which honestly did me a favor, and I appreciate it). But before I signed the ticket, the following exchange occurred:

Me: Would it have helped if I told you my brother was a cop?

Officer: (pulls back the ticket) Where's his jurisdiction?

Me: Fairfax.

Officer: Virginia?

Me: Yes.

Officer: (handing me a the ticket) 90 in a 65, I can't let that go. My wife and kids drive these roads.

END SCENE

Hey, I can't begrudge the guy, that's a fair point. I'm just glad he didn't ask about the contents of the Fiji water bottles on the floor of the passengers side. To tell the truth, didn't even put a dent into my overall awesome time. Just the cost of doing business out West, I guess.

Miles Traveled: 621

Daily wrapup

States visited: 3

Trip Stats

Total Miles Traveled: 1921
Total States Visited: 5
Total National Parks: 2