As we prepared for our Friday and the extremely strong winds that were forecast for us (sustained winds at 30-40, gusts at 60-65mph), we pulled our two slides in to make us less of a target while we were gone for the day. Our destination this morning was Los Alamos--about an hour from our park and quite a nice drive.
As probably all of you know, the "Manhattan Project" was developed here and really was a big deal to the physicists and their families to move here. They were notified of their "offer" via mail with no information about the job or location. One man stated: "who wouldn't take the offer of an unknown job at an unknown location for an unknown amount of time?" They took over a boys "ranch school" that had been built in 1928 at Los Alamos and was a well-built series of log buildings providing schooling for 40+ high school-age boys from the well-to-do eastern families. There were many well known graduates, including the brother of Lady Bird Johnson, Gore Vidal, and Presidents of Quaker Oats and Sears. They focused on the "complete young man" which included community service, horsemanship, athletics, and a unique approach to education based on what they knew when the boys came to the school.
Apparently the boys had one "official" chance to court the ladies during the school year when they hosted a dance for the young ladies from a girls' school not far away. The girls arrived in full formal attire and the boys received them in their usual shorts, green shirt, etc as their boy scout basis dictated!
The Bandelier National Park was well done and provided us an opportunity to see the remains of the cliff dwellers caves and the pueblos of Tyuonyi--quite a large pueblo-- the area eventually was home to 500+ people. This 1 1/2 mi trail was easy with some climbs into the actual cliff dwellings--how small! Claustrophobia!
Coming back the ole moho was a windy trip and when we got back to the ranch we were assaulted with wind. At the cliff dwellings it was like being sandblasted with sand and grit so that you have it in your teeth, hair and painfully in the eyes. Exhausting! We definitely feel like Judy Garland in the scene where she tries to lift the cellar door but it blows back and she is unable to move it! Not to diminish the suffering and anguish of the people involved in the awful tornadoes sweeping the south, we can't imagine how devasatating that must be. Ours is only a small taste of that.
We were rockin and rollin in our RV for dinner prep and listening to the Mariners game...well, Boston, take that!! We still can't seem to get in touch with the guy that was to order our stabilization part for us in Colorado Springs; and of course won't hear until Monday now. In any event it looks like we will head that way next week, assuming weather and winds comply. Happy Weekend!
Yesterday we were scheduled to do the front-end alignment but we got all hooked up and drove to the Freightliner place to find that they can't do the alignment after all. No problem, we just go back to the plan of driving to Santa Fe to take in that beautiful area and hunker down for the next onslaught of winds on Friday and Saturday here.
It's been years since we were in Santa Fe---what a delightful area. I used to travel here on business, but never saw "the sights". We are in a great RV park here where the mgrs really love the area and sharing it with visitors. There are lots of trees in the park and a great hiking trail around the perimeter that has beautiful views from the higher elevations. We are at approx 7000' now and so a little chillier than the rest of NM.
We spent the afternoon at the New Mexico History Museum which was well worth it--history of the conflicts this area has endured from the Spanish invasion in the early 1700s through the Santa Fe Trail that brought Americans into the area and into the Mexican-American war and then the Civil War...the westernmost battle of the Civil War was fought in Santa Fe. Part of the museum was the Palace of the Governors, over 300 years of continuous occupation. Beautifully done museum and recommended to all. I thought the best quote in the museum was something to the effect that "whether it's six-guns, a law book or a friend in congress, it's all dangerous".
Today we traveled to Taos, via the "high road" (you take the high road and I'll take the low road...") which was a beautiful drive--little traffic, nice roads and beautiful mountain scenery which reminded us of home. Our main objective in Taos was to visit the Taos Pueblo--which is a Pueblo that has ongoing commerce and inhabitants in the ancient adobe buildings--some as old as 1000 years. These have been continuously occupied for that length of time!
Then on the way back we stopped at "Black Mesa" winery. All the grapes they use are from NM and some interesting wines to taste. As part of our tasting we got great wine glasses to add to our collection plus Jeff got a bottle of cab he liked.
Because of the severe tornadoes, high winds, thunderstorms and flooding throughout the southwest, midwest and east, we have decided to curtail our trip this year (the worst weather in 40 years according to the ABQ weather station) and just continue north from here and then back to Seattle through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho.
It's with great regret that we have to forego our east coast visit with dear friends,but we don't want to add to the problems of people in the areas already hard hit by this string of tornadoes and flooding. We certainly send our most sincere prayers and best wishes to those that are in that area and will try again next year or the next to visit our friends out east.
Today is Caroline's birthday, and we wish her the very best birthday yet! We'll see you in June.
Albuquerque is a great city to visit--if you haven't spent any time here, please do...so much to do and see. We have traveled quite a lot and think the roads/bridges/medians/plantings along the roads within the metropolitan area to be some of the finest we've seen. The bridges are spectacular and so beautifully planted.
We visited the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History today---what a FANTASTIC museum! This is one that I was not overly excited about, but WOW what a great find! Super well done and only about 3 years old. Lots of information about the atomic bomb development and testing and put in context of WWII history. Replicas of the "little boy" and the "fat man" bombs were there, as well as information about the complete takeover of Trinity NM to house the scientists and test the bomb (the gvt bought out the whole town and the residents had 2 weeks to move out!). An interesting aside in the museum was the pop culture take-off from the atomic bomb...from the 40's to current ie: comic books, sodas and even a current expression: "da bomb!".
The winds continue, gusts to 55-60 mph, but settling down by midnight they say. We have investigated getting our front end aligned and will get that done tomorrow at 7 am, taking off from there for Santa Fe area, bagging our previous route through Amarillo TX and east through TX due to huge winds, wildfires and continuing tornado threats throughout the area.
We have ordered a "super stabilizer" from Camping World that will be sent to the Colorado Springs CW for them to install for us in 7-10 days...so that means we will have time to really enjoy northern NM and southern CO---so many lakes and trails and parks to see along the way! We're very lucky...
We left at 7:15 am from Holbrook, AZ heading for Albuq, NM, hoping to beat the worst of the winds and weather. Just to give you the lowdown to those who have not done a RV trip before, it really takes a while to get ready to go: briefly, the moho needs to be prepped (all gear stowed, all cupboards secured with plates and glasses protected, pots cushioned so that they don't rattle and make us crazy(ier), everything removed from countertops, tables, sink areas, shower stall, etc. Then the slides have to be brought in but checked so no obstacle is in the way first (we have learned this the hard way!), the water, sewer, power and cable (if available---many places there is no TV hookup) needs to be emptied, cleaned and stowed, the maps, RV park catalogues, guides, phones and gps needs to be set upfront for the co-pilot (that's me!) and waters, etc. provided for the drive. Also, beforehand, gps coordinates, road conditions, weather conditions and pee spot information needs to be retrieved and ready.
This is to say nothing of the jacks, tow car prep and maneuvering out of the parking spot, plus doing a final check and confirming all lights are in working order. (You would laugh at us on this point, since Jeff flashes the lights and we do various impersonations of Lucy, Desi, Jackie Gleason, etc as we signal to the other that all is in working order).
All that to say a 7:15 start out of the park is very early! Anyway, we had a lovely first 100 miles or so, having a banana and hardboiled egg en route to tide us over to our prepared lunch about 11. The winds were picking up and we just made a quick stop for gas and Casey to do his thing, then for the final leg into Albuq. --really beautiful along the way with the painted hills, mesas and stormy sky above. We again had the trucks going bananas fast but felt good getting into our RV Park by 1:30 or so. Even so, we were drained.
The RV wind experience is hard to describe...it's a bit like your first time on a bike without training wheels and your wheels are constantly being pulled by unforeseen forces in random directions. En route we saw signs that read "Zero visibility possible due to dust storms...don't stop in traffic lanes" and "wind gusts may blow RV's over"...just kidding on the last one, but it sure seemed possible!
After we settled in at the Albuq RV park, the gusts continued in the 50-60 mph neighborhood and really shook the parked, jacks down moho. In talking to others here, it has been horrific for everyone going east or west. Some have been in this RV park as long as 2 weeks waiting for better weather to travel on to their destination. Tomorrow we are staying put due to 30-40 mph sustained winds and gusts to 65 mph...not great traveling conditions but we'll do some sightseeing.
Today we went hiking in the Petroglyph park--really interesting and very different from the big island (HI) petroglyphs. These images (20,000+ in all) speak to the natives and travelers through the Rio Grande valley long ago. The images of birds, snakes, people and weather are intriguing. Unfortunately, Casey stepped on an ant hill when we were nearly at the end and a nice person gave us neosporin for his foot but he couldn't put weight on it so we took turns carrying him out for part of the return. He's fine now! We also took a walk around Old Town--really nice and not touristy like Santa Fe's old downtown. Super nice people!
We took the kayaks and bikes off the car for today and tomorrow (and got the car washed, too--what a dusty mess!). Jeff has determined that the steering is too (squishy is my word) "loose-it floats"--which makes it even more difficult to control on ruts, bumps and most importantly of late, in the wind! So, he's investigated and determined a couple things to add to the suspension to stop the sway. He's smartly gone online to ask other RVer's their opinion of these additions, and Camping World is right down the road from us here, so we can order it, set up an appointment and then have it installed at the next Camping World. Yeah!!! We'll both feel much more comfortable we're predicting.
Note: the last post was out of sequence (it was a draft I had put in a different file and then we added pictures to it, so it inadvertently got published...sorry to get it out of place!)
So, hope you all had a great Easter and we're being careful! Thanks for all your great emails!
So, last night was the Twin Lakes Rv Park in Newberry Springs. We are not particularly picky about quick overnight stays, but this was a strange experience. We used our "passport" catalog (this is like the 'Entertainment' coupon book except for RV parks) to find a place along the I-40 corridor because we couldn't make it any further in one day. Note the name "Twin Lakes"--one would expect 2 lakes, right? Well, one might say we found less than that.
There are many types of RV Parks, and we have expected a variety and have found them really pretty interesting as we go along. This one, however was VERY interesting...This is in the middle of the desert, and viewing the abodes we passed by enroute, determined that there are many "desert dwellers" along the I-40 corridor...this was a misnomer in caps. There were no "lakes" and the place was clearly less than kept. The bathrooms had cobwebs spanning the mirror/sink/toilet "expanse" (complete with spiders). We loved that we could
take Casey over to play ball and let him run free--and frankly, we're fine with this but it does make for good blogging...;-)
Yesterday we had a "down" day given all the wind, the stress of driving slow with the trucks barreling down your whitey-tightey's, etc. We had a nice hike around the perimeter of Kaibab Lake and then had our picnic lunch. Lots of fishermen there and they were catching trout! We noticed all the pines that appeared to be dying and then discovered that the pine beetle is the cause...what destruction those tiny guys can produce! The trees have been stressed due to drought conditions in the last couple of years and so the sap can't easily stop an infestation in the tree, and then they slowly kill the tree. Really a problem throughout CA and AZ apparently.
We came back and did the "downtown walking tour" of the historic buildings along Route 66 that went through Williams. Interesting to think about what it must have been like to do the Chicago to LA Route 66 back in the day...now the poor towns are subsisting on nostalgia for those "good ole days" and the Nation Parks along the way.
We enjoyed seeing all the children out--for the long Easter holiday(?) We later had a nice relaxing dinner at the RV and then listened to the Mariners actually win a game!
Today we decided to go to our Easter Brunch a day early and wanted to get going pretty early but didn't actually get out of the RV Park until about 9:45. The winds were continuing and we were looking forward to today's drive with trepidation. The day started poorly since we decided to take a "loop" that really produced nothing of interest and was very stressful since we had to unhook, take the car with the "kayak sails" on a SE direction with W winds (winds 20-25, gusts to 45+) and then get hooked back up to the RV. We continued on after some "interesting discussion" and then took the meteor crater park exit and again with the SE direction and W winds to the museum and center. Really super interesting and impossible to imagine what it must have been like to experience this meteor hitting the earth.
The crater is 550' deep, 2.4 miles in circumference, and nearly a mile across...the devastation when this hit must have been unbelievable to see from space! Wouldn't want to be here on the planet, though!
We managed to go about 50 mph the rest of the way to Holbrook as the winds howled and rocked us as we went along, not to mention the horrific truck traffic and ridiculous speeds they maintain! All the RVer's commiserate when we reach a park in the late afternoon, lamenting the winds, the trucks, etc. On we go tomorrow to Albuquerque (but early, as they say the winds won't be bad until noon or so....really??).
Happy Easter to you all!!!
Well, we decided we had to do some of the Route 66 (just south of I-40) on Wednesday as we're traveling east. We unfortunately chose an exit about 50 miles too soon...it was really a pot-holey, desolate road! We eventually got back to I-40 and it was almost as bad, except with lots of trucks. We mentioned the enormous amount of commerce taking place on this route----probably 50% or more of the traffic is trucks, plus many rail tracks and very long trains traveling each way. A note about the truck drivers: you may have noticed on long hauls, truckers tend to race downhill to gain momentum and then try to coast and use their momentum up the next hill...DON'T GET IN THEIR WAY!
We had lots and lots of wind (40 mph gusts) and rutty roads and 300 miles to go, so it was a long day. Interesting to see how the desert dwellers live and how few people live along these 300 miles in such a populated state. Lots of the houses (?) were boarded up. We didn't get to the RV park soon enough for me!
What a charming, unique town Williams, AZ is! We will spend more time tomorrow roaming around the town, but had a great dinner out at the Red Raven last night and then the Grand Canyon today!
As those of you who have been, know, it's GORGEOUS! I had never been before but Jeff had done a raft trip down the Colorado 35+ years ago, but hadn't spent any time on the rim. We went to all the normal tourist stops and enjoyed the beauty of it all. Really amazing beautiful colors. I found it calming yet it made me alarmingly aware of the ease of stepping off the edge given the strong winds, super long drop and lack of guardrails or ped protection from the edge. We were looking through a book in the gift shop that was about the deaths that have occurred in the Grand Canyon...so many that just step off inadvertently!
Tonight we went out for dinner again (this is very unusual for us...I purchased and froze fresh fish (salmon, halibut, cod) before we left along with homemade soup I froze, plus some hamburger and flank steak all in the freezer! So super treat to go out twice in a week! We went to a nostalgic route 66 restaurant "Twisters" and had hamburgers...Jeff had a butterscotch malt---he was in heaven!
