It is night two, approximately Mile 1,300. We have made our way to western New Mexico off of I-40 at a campsite at Bluewater State Park. Starting the day off with a divey coffee shop in a small town. When mentioning that we had car troubles the previous night, the barista joked that that was the main reason why anyone lived there at all, they were driving through and their car broke down.

We took it easier on the road today, keeping the speedometer around or below 60. We stopped to let the car cool down at a Walmart parking lot, where we made pancakes for brunch. The Uphill sections were particularly difficult as the engine did not want to go more than 45 at times.

The heat was blistering, not being able to run the A/C brought the temperature in the car to around 105 even with the windows down. That exhausted Austin and I pretty quick, and when we sat down for dinner in Albuquerque, we both were pretty tired of it all. However, we sparked good conversations, and the last miles flew by.

We arrived at the state park in the late afternoon, giving us just enough time to catch a great view of the sunset and converse with some of the other campers. We closed the nigh off with some grilled chicken and chicken noodle soup and the best sleep I’ve had in a while.