When leaving on a Labor Day weekend, make note that it is better to depart on Thursday, a day before everyone else is about to hit the road for the last long weekend of summer. It was already after 3:00 in the afternoon when we joined the barely moving cluster of holidaygoers that had us inching out of the city.

What should have taken about 45 minutes to reach the Bloody Basin Road exit took about 90 minutes today, but once we got to this point on the highway we were moving fast and were well on our way.

We passed through Flagstaff at 6:00 p.m. and drove east on the I-40 as sunset was approaching. Caroline was pointing out how long it had been since we last traveled this highway and how much she enjoyed seeing the Painted Desert, the various Trading Posts with their faux teepees, and the roadside dinosaurs that try to pull people into Holbrook for petrified tree souvenirs.

It was 9:00 p.m. when we passed through Lupton, Arizona, and already 10:01 p.m. when we hit the New Mexico state line less than a mile later. Oh yeah, we changed time zones! By 11:30, we are checked into our $26-a-night Interstate Inn on the western edge of Albuquerque. At the time I took this photo, I was too tired and bleary-eyed to notice the urine stain carnage, but what does one expect for $26? I took the photo because of the toilet mint, which perfumed our room with its men’s room odor. No time to worry about these things as we’ll be back on the road in little more than six hours.