Before anyone gets excited and wonders what we are up to, the reference in this post's title is to the elevation, not the Two Mile High Club. After breakfast today, we went to the Albuquerque Sandia Tram and rode the first tram of the day up the mountain. The landing platform elevation is 10,378'. My first encounter with stairs convinced me to move a little slower. There isn't much oxygen up there, and I was breathing hard when ascending the ramps or stairs. The view was spectacular! You can look off both sides of the mountain. The back side is the ski area. Our guide said that from this vantage point it is possible to see about 30% of New Mexico. The Balloons taking off at the Fiesta looked like the heads of pins, very small. We looked around, took lots of pictures and headed down the mountain on the next available tram car.

Then we set the GPS for Gallup, NM, 139 miles away but once we entered the west bound freeway we turned off our GPS, pulled out the guide book and went SOP. Trading the interstate for Route 66 as soon as we could, we enjoyed driving through many small towns. At the Route 66 Casino we took the chance to visit the restroom, stop by gift shop, and look around. Joe lost a dollar gambling. Neither of us are the high rollers that our outward appearance portrays.

Route 66 winds around obstacles while the interstate goes straight through them. In Grant at Blake's Lota Burger, store number "1," we stopped and had Lunch. The burger was great! It tasted like it came from a backyard bar-b-q with all the fixin's on it. We'll try Blake's Lota Burger if we come across one again when hungry.

Continuing on to Gallup, we noticed stone buildings in various states of disrepair. Some of the building corners were just piles of rock. This picture shows someone trying to restore one to use as a small shop or out building.

In Gallup we checked into our room at Motel 6 and discussed the possibility of going to the Four Corners Monument. Since we had the time, we headed out. The scenery on the way was many miles of varied and unique f flat land, scrub brush and grass interrupted by plateaus and large rock outcroppings. The colors in the volcanic landscape are tan, red and black.

It was 4:45 when the Millennium Bird arrived at 4 corners. The park closes at 6:00 PM so we had time to find the spot where the last survey said the four corners of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona touch. The survey was done in 1909 (more on this later). People were taking the required foot-hand or butt-in-all-four-states-at-one-time photos, so we waited our turn. A couple of young women from Ireland managed it together by doing back bends. it hurt just to watch them! Later, we talked to them and a gentleman from Salt Lake in the parking lot by our car. The young ladies posed in the car for a picture to show there friends what a true American Classic looks like. They were impressed with how roomy it is.

The fellow from Salt lake was on his way home on his motorcycle and said he might be in Portland, OR this summer for work. He has a classic Firebird in his garage at home, but it is not running at the moment. We told him about the Beaches Cruise In and gave our cards to them all so they can follow our adventures.

Using my trusty cell phone, 6 satellites, and Google Earth, I was able to take this picture with 4 corners right between my feet. It is about 8 feet from the X on the monument. I am surprised that they got it as close as they did in 1909!

We got back to Gallup about 8:00 PM and stopped in at the El Rancho Hotel. This is the place where Hollywood stars stayed in the '40s and '50s while they made movies in the area; John Wayne, Hop-A-Long Cassidy, Mr. Bogart, and others. We chose to sit in the bar because the dinning room was way too quite. After ordering, three sisters at the next table asked where we got our shirts, I was wearing our signature Two 66-ers shirt. That resulted in a conversation about what we were doing and we gave them our cards, too. These sisters were making a partial trip down Route 66 in a yellow '57 Chevy. But they were doing there trip in period costumes; poodle skirts, peddle pushers, neck scarfs and letterman sweaters. The oldest sister was about our age (66, of course). While we were talking they were joined by a fellow (or chap) from England that they had met a few days before at the Mid Point Café.

At the end of our day we had traveled 438 miles to go 139 miles westward. not bad for a couple of old farts!