Nina and I continue to wait on the people moving out of our new house. No word yet on when we get to move in.

Last weekend Jude planned a spur-of-the-moment camping trip in the Manzano Mountains south of Albuquerque. He and Rob were going to go hiking during the day and then some friends and I would meet them down there in the evening and we would camp.

As Nina and I drove down in a convoy with Richard and Maryann, we got a call from Jude on his cell phone saying that he had torn his oil pan off and his car was dead, and that we needed to rescue him. Turns out the dumbass was going 75mph on a dirt road and bottomed out when the road went through an arroyo. Tore off all the under-armor, put a huge hole in the oil pan, and dented the transmission case.

His girlfriend was also en route, and she was aware of what had happened. Despite this, she did the exact same thing on the same road. She was going about 65 and her Jeep Liberty was much more suited for off-pavement travel than his Passat wagon... so she didn't hurt her car. But still, what a retard.

Anyway, we ended up sitting there waiting for a tow truck forever because we were in the middle of nowhere. By the time his car got carried away, it was late and dark. We tried to find the campground but got severly lost and ended up camping by the side of a dirt road in a field about 10 miles from the mountains.

Just after getting the tents set up, a sherrif pulls up. I'm thinking he's going to tell us to get the hell out, but he turns out to be really nice. He asked if we had anything to protect ourselves with, because there are lots of "weird folks" that come out here. "Car theives, drug deals, meth labs. Oh, and 911 doesn't work out here." Great.

Well, anyway, we made it through unscathed. The trip was pretty much a wash, though. At least Nina and I got in a good hike in Rendija Canyon before we left.

Yesterday Nina, Jude, Nathan, and I helped Robin lay sod in his backyard. It went from a total wasteland to a nice yard in about 2 hours. I was impressed. But damn that stuff is heavy to haul around.

Afterwards, we all went and played ultimate, where I had a nice lay-out which left me with the largest leg scrape I've ever had. It's about 10" long and 4" wide and stings like crazy. Looks like I fell off a motorcycle or something. It'll probably make caving this weekend sorta suck...

But regardless, I'm very excited about this weekend. Thursday after work Nina and I drive down to Albuquerque to meet Dan and Lynne, and we wait in line for 2+ hours to see The Matrix Reloaded. Then Nina and I get some cheap motel in ABQ. She leaves on a plane at 7am for her college reunion. Meanwhile, I drive down to Socorro and wake up Dan and we go drive up to the highpoint of Socorro County, NM. After lunch, I'll drive down and do a couple more highpoints (Lea, Chavez) on the way to Slaughter Canyon and a few days of caving. I pick Nina up at 9pm on Monday and we go back to Los Alamos. Should be a great 4-day weekend.