We packed up early this morning and headed over to Custom Exhaust in Amarillo to finish up the bolt tightening on the motor mounts.

Howard’s ace mechanic, Tommy, helped us out and got us on the road in no time flat. I supervised.

Ah, nice and quiet. This is the life.

The drive over to Albuquerque was pretty uneventful — nothing but cows, hills and scrub brush.

Jim wanted to stick around until tonight and go cow tipping. I thought it would be a great opportunity to supervise. We got out-voted.

The roads were nice and smooth so we didn’t have to worry about any more bolts loosening up.

I think we found Hot Rod Magazine a new sponsor for the Power Tour.

There are enough cars squeezing “The Juice” on the Tour to empty-out this guy in five minutes.

We chose to stick to our plan of bypassing gas stops to stay ahead of the pack. Jim fell into “The Zone,” where driving became a natural extension of oneself.

Sooner than we thought, 289 miles passed and we arrived. Albuquerque is the hot air balloon capitol of the world, and a city of varied styles. It is not, however, the capitol of New Mexico. I only received one e-mail catching the mistake I made in yesterday’s coverage. So much for proofers. By the way, Santa Fe is the capitol.

Ed “The Full” Monty somehow managed to beat us to Albuquerque, and was hard at work cleaning the bugs off the BFG Suburban when we arrived. He’s a quick study in the proper way to hold a product for maximum exposure.

Not to mention he always laughs at my jokes.

Not to be outdone, we detailed both the ’59 and the V-Cruiser until they were, once again, the cleanest cars on the Tour. Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to play a little trick on us by dropping lots of dirty rain on our parade. Must have had lots of dust in the air, because when the rain stopped

both cars looked like they had been through a mud bath. Other Tourers used our Showtime® Instant Detailer to clean-up, but Jim preferred to seek out a coin-operated wash and spray-off the ’59.

Once again we were the cleanest.

Back at the display, Phil, the son of one of the Dupli-Color guys was doing his sixth grade math homework. I helped with a couple of the algebra problems, but then was stumped with a doozie. Fourteen guys offered to help solve it, but no one could do it. So, here it is:

Each letter in the subtraction problem represents a different digit between zero and nine. Three and Five are not used. Replace each letter in the problem so that the answer to the subtraction problem is correct.

With the sun back out, the crowds filled the streets. Cool cars, trucks, motorcycles and folks were everywhere.

At the end of our block was the HyperTech chassis dyno. This was the chance to show your friends that you weren’t blowing smoke about that in-line six making 375 horses.

This nice looking Mercury Comet Caliente pulled 360 rear wheel horsepower.

That’s several more than my current toy, a PT Cruiser.

Todd Ryden (you know, the Wagoon guy from MSD) and his wife, Michelle, gave us a swell present — a personalized air freshener.

Everything was great until we read the fine print. I guess their following us while our windows were open and dirty clothes in the back wasn’t such a good idea.

Things under control, I took a walk around downtown. This ’48 Chevrolet Panel Delivery’s front plate said it all.

It’s one of those timeless vehicles so appropriate for cruising Route 66.

Our lost puppy, Justin, showed up for fresh clothes and batteries for the cameras.

Here he gives our “homework help wanted” friend, Phil, lessons in how to get girls.

“Yeah, just tell ’em you’re a real stud muffin like me. It works every time.”

Note that ultra stylish hat he’s wearing to complete his ensemble. We think it’s permanently attached to his head, and if you look back to the May 14, 1999 Tour coverage you’ll see what we mean.

After giving Phil all the advice he’ll ever need in life, Justin again bugged out for more pictures about the same time this ultra sane shoebox rolled past our display.

Cool, huh?

Not two minutes after Justin’s Houdini act, his long lost new friend showed up looking for him. We convinced her that tatoos were the way to Justin’s heart.

Well, that’s about how long we waited before leaving to go (you guessed it) wash the cars again. Jim and Gary both got into the act,

removing the Albuquerque mud from the cars.

On the ride back to the hotel, Jim got on the radio to tell us the ’59 was making a strange noise upon acceleration. Gary diagnosed it as a possible loose torque converter, so we pulled up on the curb at the hotel to check it out. Here he makes himself at home in front of the chicest hotel in town, the Hotel Blue, “a chic boutique in the heart of the district.”

When I ran up to the room to drop my bags, I could see from the balcony the beautiful view down Central Avenue. But I had supervising to do,

and upon returning to the ’59, Jim got into the act, playing nurse to the surgeon. Here he delicately hands the Doctor a wrench.

Once again we were the center of attention, only this time it was as a pedestrian hazard.

Just our luck, the MSD guys made a command performance. When Todd and Ed found out it wasn’t related to the ignition system, they quickly lost interest. Here Ed gives Gary a few whip strokes for parking on the sidewalk.

Ed seems to be enjoying it, but Gary’s rather bored.

Once again, though, fate smiled on our misfortune. Jack Trepanier walked by, and seeing our difficulty, offered the use of their trailer for the ’59 until we could get it sorted out. Jack, who claims he’s “Chief Fear No Beer” of the “Big Wampum Make-um Car Go Fast” tribe, even helped load up the car.

Jim watched. I supervised.

After the ’59 was safely ensconsed in the Rad Rides By Troy trailer, Jack gave Jim tips on how he could earn his own feathers.

Suffice it to say outsiders weren’t allowed to hear the secret chants required for admission.

Jack’s ace workers even tied down the ’59

so it could ride safely to our next stop, Kingman, Arizona.