Tucson trip, part two

So, as soon as we paid the dude, we tore out of Maxwell and drove to Albuquerque, where we had a motel room reserved. We weren't planning on paying for a motel at all, but it was pretty late and both of us were beat. We found the place in a seedy part of town, and as we walked into our room, we saw that the light was on. And the floor had not been vaccuumed. And the air conditioner didn't work. And there were mysterious slips of paper with people's names and phone numbers on them strewn about the place. And there was poop in the toliet. I went back to the front desk and told the lady all this, and she seemed reasonably horrified, so she gave me a new room key. I found our new room, in the very back next to an alley, and went inside. Not only was this room not vaccummed, but there were ashtrays everywhere and the room stank like a bowling alley. So, for the third time, I talked to the front desk lady, and said we needed a new room. Third time was the charm I guess, because our next room was at least clean, smoke free, and not next to an alley. The lady came into our original room to witness the mess herself, and said that she thought the lights were left on because sometimes people pay for one night, leave the windows unlocked, and come back the next night to sleep for free. Hence the names and phone numbers slipped under the door, I guess. Say what? Some random Albuquerquean might have bounded into our room during the night while we were sleeping? I guess that's what you get for $29.99 plus tax per night.
The next morning, we left as soon as we could and headed for Las Cruces, New Mexico. the car seemed to be doing better, but still seemed to be overheating and the air conditioner wasn't working very well. Once in Las Cruces, and well into the hot desert part of the state, I discovered that our coolant level was nonexistant. Fantastic. So I bought a big jug of it and filled it up, briefly considering the possibility of personally chugging down the rest as a solution to all my problems. Once out in the desert between Las Cruces and Tucson, it became obvious (to Cara at least) that we still had a problem, because the engine was way overheating still and the AC was not working. I thought maybe it was just because there were hills and 100+ degree weather outside. Anyway, we finished the last 4 hours of the drive with all the windows down, going about 65, watching the temperature gauge hover one or two lines away from the H, putting wet wipes on Layla's head to keep her cool while we sweated out at least five pounds between us. We finally rolled into Tucson a full 24 hours later than we had planned, significantly poorer, and smelling like a bouquet of spring flowers. We saw some cool things, though, here is Cara at an old mission built out in the desert, and her again on Mt Lemmon, where strangely it was cold enough to warrant sweatshirts. It was really awesome to hang out with Cassy and Taylor, too, and for them to meet Layla. Lest you think the drama is over though, just wait, there is still a part three.....