Our first stop in New Mexico, the “Land of Enchantment”, was Albuquerque. Never having been to New Mexico before, we were both excited at what was in store.

Trike Flying:

When we saw this online, I knew I wanted to try it! I’ve always had a fascination with all modes of transportation from planes to trains to boats. For a time, I was taking flight lessons but never got around to completing the requirements necessary for a pilot’s license. It’s still on my list of to-dos!

We flew with Jim, owner and instructor at Trike Flights. The wind didn’t cooperate the first couple of times we tried to fly, but we persevered and third times the charm! (Thank you, Jim!)

The trike has a surprisingly large wing span and is like a motorized hang glider. When flying out of Double Eagle airport in Albuquerque, our pilot Jim follows similar protocols that planes do by calling into the airport tower and waiting for confirmation to taxi, takeoff and land.

We took off around 5 pm and enjoyed sweeping views of the Rio Puerco valley. At times we were as high as 900 to 1,000 ft and as low as 70 ft off the ground. We left a few startled cattle in our wake. 🙂 We flew for a little over an hour and I enjoyed every second of it, even if my fingers felt a little frozen. Luckily I was wearing a flight suit on top of my layers of clothing – it definitely came in handy!

What I loved the most about the experience was how connected you feel to the act of flying. Unlike being in a plane, the trike is open on all sides so you feel the wind on your face, you can see the ground below you…in short, it was awesome! I can’t recommend it enough. If you find yourself in Albuquerque, contact Jim to have your own trike flight experience. You could also search Google to see if there are local trike flight instructors near you.

Sights

It struck us that the city of Albuquerque is quite spread out and there were many new developments springing up. Many points of interest were located outside city proper, with the two main tourist destinations being Old Town Albuquerque and the Sandia Mountain Tramway. We only visited Old Town Albuquerque and as other locals had cautioned, it was quite touristy with touristy prices. We went anyway to have a look for ourselves and while we found parts of it charming, we weren’t overly excited by our experience.

Camping

We stayed at the Enchanted Trails RV park, located 10 miles west of Old Town Albuquerque. It’s conveniently located  next to a Camping World. Uber rides from the campground to Old Town were approximately $14/way.

 

*Images shown were taken from go-pro video of our flight provided by http://www.trike.flights