Bits and Pieces

We have spent a lot of time driving around town the past week, buying supplies for our new house. During this time I have made several observations about New Mexico that I want to share. First off is the drivers. They have this annoying habit of driving close to the speed limit! What's up with that? We all know in CA that, more important than following the speed limit, the golden rule of driving is to keep up with the flow of traffic. Which sort of gives Californians a license to drive as fast as they want. In New Mexico, on the other hand, when the speed limit says 65 it is rare to find anyone going over 70. And as soon as the speed limit changes, everyone slows down. My California lead foot is having trouble adjusting.

This leads nicely into the ABQ freeway system, although I think people refer to it properly by the name "Interstate" around here. There are two main interstates going through town, the East-West I40 and the North-South I25. On either side of both of these freeways are frontage streets that funnel traffic onto and off of the freeways. At first glance, this seems like a smart idea- keep traffic moving, make it easy for people to get on and off the freeways, etc. The reality is far different. When the frontage streets are 5 or 6 lanes across and there is 50 yards to get from the right lane of merging traffic onto the frontage street to the left lane for merging traffic to the freeway, things get hairy. And often slow. There is a lot of confusion, and not just on my part- I've seen some interesting lane changes and driving tricks on the part of natives as well. Hah!

With no transition whatsoever, we will move on to food. Yes, this is the southwest. Yes, there is a lot of southwest and spicy food around here. And when you see something on a menu that includes chile of any kind, know that it is going to be hot, even if the server says it is mild. Evidently these people cut their baby teeth on raw hatch chiles, because they love their spicy food! And you can get your chile sauce two ways- red or green, or both, which they call Xmas style. Oh, and every restaurant has chopped green chiles you can add to your food. And I mean every single restaurant- Carl's Jr? Yup. McDonald's? Yup. Denny's and IHOP? Yes and yes. And even Papa John's, where in addition to jalapenos you can get chopped green chiles and banana peppers on your pizza. With more on the side. This is a spicy town!

A spicy sign I saw at the Lube Express the other day- "If Lubin' You is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right." At least people have a sense of humor here too.