Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Los Alamos

Los Alamos is distributed across the top of several canyon-separated mesas, at an altitude of 8,000ft. Thankfully, it's quite cool here, at only 89 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, Albuquerque, through which we passed on Saturday, is 98 degrees today.

The journey across New Mexico on Interstate 40 was truly eye-boggling. The road often stretches for miles, in a straight line, across a Road-Runner landscape, towards the horizon. And what is truly remarkable here is the speed-discipline of American drivers. The speed limit is only 75mph at most, and yet the vast majority of drivers rarely exceed the limit by more than 5mph. Most drivers in the UK, confronted with an open road stretching literally miles into the distance, would hit 100mph within minutes.

1 comment:

Clare Dudman said...

I am jealous. I was planning on going out to Albuquerque just about now, but had to change plans.

Too true about the UK drivers. If Clarkson were out there I expect he'd be out of the state before he'd got in there.