The first time I stayed in Albuquerque it was a total accident.
This was in the late 1980s, right after I had graduated from high school.
I had no desire to join the military, get a job, or attend college classes. Instead I took the few hundred dollars I had saved up, jumped in my van with my girlfriend Ella, and started driving. Initially the plan was to make it to the west coast, but after a few days we stopped looking at maps and just drove wherever the roads took us. It went really well for about 2 weeks, and then the van broke down and we found ourselves stuck in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a period of time. This was a long time ago, remember, so there weren’t any legal cannabis dispensaries in Albuquerque, or anywhere else! Fortunately, even then the city of Albuquerque was very friendly towards marijuana. So long as you didn’t like up a joint and stroll into the Albuquerque police department, chances are nobody would bother you. Ella and I wound up making some friends, and hung around Albuquerque living in our broken van for several months. Eventually Ella found a good job with a local doctor, and I started selling cannabis to make money. One day she left me for the doctor. I decided to move away from Albuquerque and start over fresh somewhere new. It took a while to get over my broken heart, and although I would like to visit Albuquerque again one day, I fear it holds too many painful memories for me.