We drove our coach 185 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Tucumcari, New Mexico to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to attend the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading southwest:

An interactive map, with our two stops (a rest area and a fuel stop), plus several waypoints for a detour and the exact route to the balloon fiesta RV lot:

Turning left to I-40 West:

Tucumcari Mountain:

I-40:

A rather rough road surface:

Lots of trucks:

A motorhome and trailer:

Fun with camera zoom:

An interesting load:

Another oversize load (smaller than we experienced on the previous travel day on a highway):

Ruined building:

Mountain:

More fun with zoom:

A rest stop with parallel truck parking; not ideal:

Flying C Ranch got a bit carried away with their billboards:

More fun with zoom:

A fuel stop:

I noticed that there was significant stoppage on I-40, so quickly found an alternative route (that was still RV-safe). We took exit 187 onto Route 66:

A view of the miles of stopped traffic on I-40:

The map shows the traffic, not just the red of heavy traffic, but almost black of totally stopped:

Route 66 Travel Center:

Old US Highway 66:

When we were in Albuquerque, of course we had to play Weird Al’s epic song Albuquerque (or music video):

Approaching Balloon Fiesta Park:

We regretted taking the right lane, as the trees brushed against our coach:

Arriving at the VIP North RV lot:

Passing through the raceway:

While Jenn checked in, I untoaded, then followed the coach to our site:

Parking the coach in the site:

Stay tuned for lots of pictures from the balloon fiesta!