More humidity

Field of Dandelions

Violets and One Dandelion

Gordon with the deer

Deer in the morning mist

Deer frolicking in morning sunrise

We had a rotating thunderstorm last night that lasted from about 8:00 p.m. to the wee hours of the morning. Consequently poor Bib didn’t go outside until this morning at 7:15 a.m. He’s such a good boy. I thought he’d wake me during the night once the storm was over. At one point there was a tornado warning as well. I really miss the southwest!

I didn’t get much sleep. I went to bed but couldn’t breathe so I got up and did some reading and computering and then lay down on the couch about 2:30 a.m.

This morning when I took Bib out it was very misty and the sun was coming up. There were also six or eight deer that seemed almost tame but with the dog there they weren’t taking any chances. I’ve enclosed some photos of them.

I really enjoy seeing wildlife so close without having to leave the park so I think we’ll probably stick with this park and just try to arrange a better site next time.

Gordon and his sister, Carol went to the Cincinnati Conservatory today to photograph the flowers. I decided I didn’t have the energy so stayed at home with Bib and started to get some of the bills ready to cross the border. It’s a big job but I don’t want to wind up paying through the nose for duty and taxes like we did last year so it needs to be properly organized. I also read and went for a walk around the campground. It’s quite humid here again today.

When Gordon got back we both had a nap and then he got the BBQ out for the first time in a while and cooked up the burgers that I had in the freezer. If meat isn’t in it’s original package, there may be a problem crossing the border and I had the burgers made up and in a freezer bag.

It was a nice evening so we ate outside at the picnic table. That was really nice for a change.

The campground is pretty much full, I guess since it’s Easter weekend so it’s interesting to sit outside and watch what’s happening. The people across from us have a wire haired terrier puppy named Mickey Mouse. He’s so cute and also has no clue as to obedience.

The forecast tonight is for more thunderstorms!

It's Humid! We must be in Ohio!

We had a thunderstorm about 5:30 this morning.

I slept late. I think it was almost 10:00 a.m. when I finally got up. Thank goodness the dog didn’t want to go out early! I guess yesterday at Carol and Rick’s wore me out. After walking Bib and having breakfast, Bib and I sat outside for a while. It was a beautiful morning. If there hadn’t been a light breeze it would have been hot and humid.

After lunch we headed out to look at other campgrounds. Cedarbrook is the closest to where Carol lives and is within the Lebanon, OH town limits. The other campground that has a Lebanon address is Olive Branch. It’s quite a ways out of town and in the middle of nowhere. It’s also not the cleanest or prettiest campground I’ve seen and their daily rates are $40 for a back-in and $45 for a pull thru. They don’t have wifi, they don’t have cable. I don’t know how they can get away with charging that kind of money. Based on that $62 in Key West doesn’t sound all that bad! You could rent a motel room in most places around here for that! Nix that one!

Then we drove up to Waynesville. Gordon lived in Waynesville when he first got married and his daughter was born while they lived there. It’s quite a cute little town and claims to be the Antique Capital of the MidWest. We also saw the Frontier Campground but no one was around to talk to us and we drove to Caesar Creek State Park campground which is a possibility except it’s also in the middle of nowhere and quite far from where Carol and Rick live.

We were looking for a campground where they didn’t have many trees so setting up our internet satellite wouldn’t be such a problem. Gordon finally did get it working on Wednesday so we’re okay here but there are very few sites where we could see the satellite. We’re going to take note of those sites for next year.

There’s also a Travel Lodge motel in northern Cincinnati that has 15 RV spots that we want to check out too just so we’ve covered all our bases.

While we drove through Fort Ancient (on the highway) where they have Indian Burial mounds. We also drove past an interesting old tavern which is pictured above.
It was built in 1802 and was operated as The Cross Keys Tavern from 1809 to 1820 and is on the National Registry of Historic Places.

On our way back, Gordon dropped me at WalMart. We’ve needed groceries since we got here but my being in the hospital got in the way of a lot of things. I called him when I was going through the checkout and he picked me up and we went to Taco Bell for dinner. We should own shares in Taco Bell! We had some rain about the time he was coming to get me and when we were taking the groceries to the truck.

It’s cloudy, warm and humid tonight. You can tell we’re back in Ohio!

We Visit Carol & Rick

L to R: My husband, Gordon, his sister, Carol & her husband, Rick

View from Carol & Rick's yard

Today when I got up I had some breathing difficulty and was feeling shaky but I felt better after I was up and around. After walks and breakfast, I decided laundry had to be done so we drove the laundry down to the laundry room at the campground and it wasn’t too taxing but I was tired when I got back. We went for showers and then I sat outside in my chair with Bib for a while.

We were supposed to be at Carol’s for about 2:30 p.m. so we got ready and went over there. We sat and chatted for a while, then I lay down on Carol’s couch in her family room and had a nap. It’s a really comfortable couch! We walked around her yard and saw her spring flowers and then had a really nice dinner. We were home by about 8:30 p.m.

That was enough for me for today!

No posting for April 11th

My apologies for no posting yesterday but I had an excellent reason.

I woke up yesterday morning not feeling the best. I took the dog for his walk and then went for my walk but I was very short of breath and shaky so I came back to the RV and asked Gordon to look for a hospital nearby. We wound up at Bethesda Warren Emergency here in Lebanon at around 8:30 a.m. They were great people. I had five people working with me at once. At one point they gave me a morphine cocktail which made me really high and very sleepy so I slept most of the day.

They took me in right away, took all kinds of blood tests, EKG but they didn’t have a CT scan machine (they are moving in two weeks and will have it then) so they sent me to their hospital in Cincinnati, Bethesda North by ambulance. This was also my first ambulance ride. I went into Emergency at around 1:00 p.m. at Bethesda North, got my CT scan and thought I would be released. In fact one of the clinicians had said that since my CT scan was normal that I would be released. Then the doctor came by and said that my insurance had approved my overnight stay for observation and a stress test in the morning. They finally fed me. I hadn’t eaten all day, not even breakfast. They brought me some really tasty chicken noodle soup!

This was my first time staying overnight in a hospital. Imagine. 57 years old and never been in the hospital for anything serious. I consider myself to be extremely lucky!

Good things about staying in a hospital:

• They wait on you hand and foot


• They have really good cable TV


• They have an adjustable bed

Bad things about staying in a hospital:

• They take too much blood


• They wake you up to take more blood


• They wake you up to take blood pressure


• They starve you until your tests are finished

This morning they told me that my stress test would be at 10:30 a.m. and that I couldn’t eat until after the test so by the time the stress test was done and the heart photos done (this was done by nuclear medicine) and I got back to my room it was well after noon so I got lunch. Then about 2:00 p.m. I had to go back down for more heart photos, then back to my room to wait for results. About 5:15 p.m. the day nurse, Beth (really nice girl and really young) came in and told me that my stress test and photos were completely normal and that she had a call into the cardiologist for instructions but she felt that I would be going home today. The cardiologist came and talked to me, said all my tests were completely normal, he had no idea what the problem was and to increase my Nexium (I have GERD) to twice per day. For those of you that don’t know GERD is Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease. There is a possibility (probability in my opinion) that this is what has been causing my breathing difficulties and shortness of breath. I got released about 6:00 p.m. I have to say their food was pretty good when I finally got to eat but maybe it was because I was starving! I've never told the same story over and over and given out my birth date more often.

So, now I’m home, it’s hot, about 83F at 7:30 p.m! There’s talk of a thunderstorm tonight but it’s supposed to be a really nice day tomorrow.

Needless to say, we didn’t see Carol yesterday but plans are to go to her place for dinner tomorrow night. Unfortunately Lillian has a bit of a fever and Ian and Tracy have plans this weekend so we probably won’t see them until we’re in Columbus next week.

Sorry, no photos today.

Back in Ohio

We left Mulberry Grove, IL around 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Lebanon, OH around 2:15 p.m. We’re now back on Eastern time.

We had another nice day for traveling. We went through Indianapolis around 11:00 a.m. and traffic was fairly good. We arrived at Cincinnati around 1:00 p.m. and traffic on the bypass wasn’t too bad but we didn’t have far to travel.

When I called yesterday for a reservation at the Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon I was told that they had no pull thrus and I asked for an easy back in. We probably had the worst time backing into our spot here than we have anywhere. The guide who took us to our spot probably should have just left and let us do it on our own. We’ve usually been fairly successful but it took almost an hour, I think to get parked. They have wifi internet here throughout the park thank goodness because the park is surrounded by trees and so far we haven’t been able to get our internet satellite set up. I really hate paying for it when we can’t use it. We’ve been lucky on our travels this year, I think there were only two places where we couldn’t use it, Banff and Chilliwack.

Anyway, we’re here safely and that’s what counts.

The photo today shows Gordon just coming out of the door of the RV and it shows our internet satellite set up but unfortunately that’s all it is, just set up not working.

Tomorrow we're going for lunch at Taco Bell with Gordon's sister, Carol.

We are both wiped out and have lots of mundane things to do like laundry, vacuum and get groceries, but not tonight!

We Officially Arrive in the East!

Timber Trails Campground, Mulberry Grove, IL

Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO (taken from the truck en route)

We left America’s Best Campground in Branson, MO at 8:50 a.m. and headed east on I-44. The trip was uneventful except for getting through St. Louis. Driving through large cities is never fun but thank goodness it was Sunday.

We officially arrived in the east as we saw the Gateway Arch in St. Louis – Gateway to the West and then crossed the Mississippi River although we’re still in the Central time zone until we reach Ohio tomorrow. We took I-70 out of St. Louis and arrived at Mulberry Grove, IL around 2:30 p.m.

Our plans had been to stay at a Good Sam Park east of I-70 but when we were traveling I checked the Passport America book and found that the campground north of I-70 was a Passport America campground and only $15/night. We arrived and finding no one in the office, I called and got an answering machine. We were about to move to the other campground when we came upon some pull thrus that faced south so decided to go ahead and set up. As we parked a man came along on a tractor and since we had decided to stay here, paid him and got set up. Gordon then went to fill up with fuel so we can beat a hasty retreat in the morning to get through Cincinnati hopefully shortly after lunch.

I called and made a reservation for a week at Cedarbrook Campground in Lebanon, OH where we stayed in 2004 on our first trip in Big Harv. We are sort of between Dayton where Gordon's son and family live and Middletown where Gordon's sister lives but closer to his sister.

Tomorrow's trip is 318 miles.

I’m looking forward to staying in one spot for a week. I don’t really like packing up and moving daily.

There’s no cable here but our aerial gets ABC TV thank goodness so I get to see Desperate Housewives and Gray’s Anatomy tonight. I would not be a happy camper otherwise!

Our Last Day In Branson

The Neon Lights of Branson

The Titanic

More Branson Neon Lights

Dicks 5 & 10 Downtown Branson

We had another slow morning and after lunch and a movie I was watching we went into downtown Branson and went to Dicks 5 & 10 store. What a flashback! They had kaleidoscopes, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys & Bobbsey Twins books, horehound, imagine! I haven’t had horehound since Grandma Whitteker died 40 years ago! Very interesting store but packed with stuff and people and very narrow aisles. After that I walked around the shops on the main street while David took some photos.

Then we drove out to the glitzy area and I went into a Craft Mall much like the one in Bells Corners. Didn’t see anything I needed or wanted so we came back to the RV and started to get things ready to go for tomorrow.

When I got back I called my younger sister as I hadn’t heard from her in a while. There is lots of news at her house but because some people don’t know yet, I can’t publish anything.

We had decided earlier in the day that we would go into Branson to Taco Bell for dinner and then take some photos of the neon of Branson so we left around 7:00 p.m., had dinner and then took a bunch of photos of the neon lights. We got back about 9:00 p.m. so now it’s time to get things organized and get some sleep. Tomorrow’s a long day!

Our plans are to get as far as Mulberry Grove, IL so we will make it to Ohio by Tuesday.

If I don’t publish my blog tomorrow night it’s because we decided since we’re just overnighting, we wouldn’t hook up the internet satellite. We’ll see!

Trip into Arkansas

Scene along US65 on the way back from Harrison, Arkansas

Sign for Dogpatch, Arkansas

Scene at Buffalo National River, Arkansas

Our site at America's Best Campground, Branson, MO taken at sunrise

We weren’t moving too fast this morning. Last night was rather scary waiting to see if the tornado was going to hit but it didn’t, thank goodness. One went south of us and most of them went north east. Gordon slept in his chair until about 1:30 a.m. and I was on the couch, still dressed just in case we had to make a hasty exit for the clubhouse building.

I finally took a photo of our site this morning just as the sun was coming up and it is shown above. I was out early for our walks as I had a nap yesterday afternoon and then slept all night.

After lunch we headed out for a drive and wound up driving into Arkansas. We stopped at a Tourist Bureau at Harrison and was told to go to the Buffalo National River that the scenery there was very pretty, so we drove there and took a few pictures. On our way there and back we drove through Dogpatch. I took a photo of the sign for fun. Then we drove back on US Route 65 and took some photos along the way. We bypassed Branson coming back and stopped for a few groceries before heading home.

It was 86F and sunny today but tonight it has clouded over and gotten cooler. There is apparently a cold front coming through.

Chandler, OK to Branson, MO in a rainstorm!

We decided to head east today as the weather forecast said 20% chance of rain and tomorrow would be worse so we were on the road by 9:00 a.m. heading east on I-44. We no sooner got onto the freeway than it started to rain. It rained all the way to Tulsa, poured through Tulsa, then stopped for a bit until we were heading east on US Route 65, then it started pouring again.

We arrived at America’s Best Campground just outside of Branson, Missouri a little before 3:00 p.m. The rain let up long enough for us to set up the RV. They have free wifi here so thankfully we didn’t have to set up the internet satellite because it started to pour again.

When we checked into the campground we were given places to go for safety as there has been tornado warnings here all day. So far so good and it appears that the tornadoes are going east and north of us. Let’s hope it stays that way. Gordon doesn’t think that tornadoes can form in the mountains and we are in the Ozarks here. Sure hope he’s right!

Around 6:00 p.m. after the rain had stopped we got in the truck and toured around Branson. It’s a glitzy showy sort of town with all kinds of shows and gimmicks but does have a lot of nice scenery around too. Regis and Joy Philbin are supposed to be here. Doubt we’ll go to see any shows, it’s just not our thing.

No photos today – too much rain!

Amarillo, TX to Chandler, OK

Largest cross in the western hemisphere

Britten, TX leaning water tower

Oklahoma Countryside

Wind turbine

Our site at Oak Glen RV Park, Chandler, OK

We left Amarillo at 9:15 a.m. and headed east on I-40 under cloudy skies. Again it was cloudy for most of our trip and then the sun came out around Oklahoma City.

I forgot to mention yesterday that there is a restaurant in Amarillo that will give you a 72 oz. steak for free if you can eat it in an hour. They send a limo to pick you up and return you. We didn’t take advantage as neither of us could eat that much steak but it’s an interesting concept and I’m sure there are people that I know or once knew that could take advantage of this without a problem.

I’ve put some photos on the blog today that I took from the truck on the way along I-40. One photo is of the largest cross in the western hemisphere. Another is of a water tower that looks like the leaning Tower of Pisa.

I also saw a real cowboy on a horse checking on cattle but couldn’t get my camera ready in time to get a photo.

Another photo is of one of the wind turbines at a wind farm near Weatherford, TX.

We went through quite a bit of construction today but traffic was fairly light so it didn’t hold us up. It’s interesting to go from desert to areas with green grass and lots of trees. We saw creeks, rivers and a lot of standing water today that we haven’t seen in months.

I thought Oklahoma was in the plains, I guess from the song but along I-40 and then onto I-44 coming out of Oklahoma City there are a lot of hills and very red soil as you will see in one of the photos. It was actually quite pretty.

I-44 out of Oklahoma City is a turnpike which I hadn’t realized however it wasn’t very expensive. We paid $3.25 for 60 miles. We’ll probably be getting back on and heading toward Tulsa tomorrow if we don’t decide to stay another day. I wouldn’t mind taking another day off but we want to stay ahead of weather if at all possible. This is tornado country and they have already started.

So, if we’re on the road tomorrow, we’re heading to Branson, Mo. to stop for a few days. I’ve heard so much about this place and it’s only about 35 miles off the interstate and about 290 miles away so that makes it about perfect for a day’s drive.

Anyway, we got to the Oak Glen RV Park about 3:15 p.m., got set up and then took a short drive through Chandler which is a small town about 3 ½ miles from the campground and on into the countryside. Nothing especially interesting there. Oak Glen is a Passport America park - $9/night! Nice park, 50 amp service, level concrete pad but no cable. They are doing lots of work on it or at least have the plans to do the work. We get all kinds of stations from Oklahoma City though so we're not without TV.

86F here today!

That’s about it for today. Time to hit the hay!

A Quiet Day in Amarillo

Robin on the swing - he has some nest building material in his beak

Horse statue - downtown Amarillo

Bib in the doggie walk area - he needs a haircut!

Today after walks and breakfast, I went up to the office and signed us up for another day here. So we spent the morning and part of this afternoon taking it easy, watching TV, computering and taking naps. I got to watch Bob Ross on PBS painting a scene. I love to watch him, he makes painting look so easy.

We have hazy sunshine here today, a stiff breeze and 75F temperatures and we’re back to some humidity. Sure didn’t miss that in the southwest this winter.

This afternoon I made a casserole with hot dogs, rice and frozen vegetables and put it in the slow cooker instead of the oven since it’s so warm. I like to have something ready when we’re traveling so we’ll have that for tomorrow night.

After that I realized I needed a few items from the grocery store and we were out of Contac so we went out and drove around Amarillo. Not a terribly exciting city. It has more truck stops per capita than any city I’ve seen. It is the only city for miles around though. It also has an inordinate number of McDonalds and not very many grocery stores or at least not very many that we could find. There is a SuperWalMart close by but they don’t carry Contac and I wanted to do one stop shopping so we found a United Supermarket with a pharmacy.

There are a lot of buildings all over the city that are empty and boarded up and a lot of banks in the downtown area. Amarillo is also head of the American Quarterhorse Association. In the downtown area there are a lot of horse statues much the same as Lakeland, FL had swans. Above is a photo of one of them.

This afternoon when we got back, I sat outside for a while. It was quite windy but warm so I read some of my book.

It’s really nice to be eating dinner and it’s still light out. It’s 10:00 p.m. and it’s still 74F!

From Albaturkey to Armadillo

Texas Sunset on our way back to the RV Park

Mule Deer at Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Texas Longhorns

Our site at Overnite RV Park

Actually it’s from Albuquerque to Amarillo but I thought the play on words was kind of cute.

We left the American RV Park in Albuquerque at 9:20 a.m. and lost an hour when we entered Texas so we’re now on Central time. We arrived at the Overnite RV Park in Amarillo at 3:30 p.m. Central time, a distance of 301.5 miles. Once we got through Albuquerque the trip wasn’t too bad. We ran into about three instances of I-40 becoming one lane due to construction but traffic was fairly light. We had planned to go farther but we needed to stop for fuel so decided to stop for the night.

We had high cloud for most of the trip but by the time we got to our site and got set up the sun was shining and the temperature reached 72F! BONUS!

Overnite RV Park again isn’t all that pretty but very functional. The only real drawback we’ve seen so far is that it’s on a flight path. When we first arrived I thought a plane was going to land on top of the RV. Hopefully they have quit flying for the night.

When we arrived at the RV park, the office had brochures for a place called Palo Duro Canyon State Park. We were tired from the trip but decided to go and see this place as the brochure looked very interesting. We’re very glad we did! It’s more beautiful there than Big Bend National Park which has been our favorite up until now. Neither of us had heard of this place. The bonus is that there are several campgrounds with electric and water within the park and with beautiful views so it’s on our list to come back. The problem is Amarillo often gets snow so we will either have to make this our early destination in the Fall or on our way back to Ontario as we are doing this time. Some photos are above but check out my Yahoo photo site.

I think we’ve decided to stay another day here for a couple of reasons:

1. We’re tired from spending all day in the truck. We didn’t get back to the RV tonight until 9:00 p.m. or so.


2. It looks like an area we want to explore further.

So, enough said for tonight. Nite all!

Beautiful Sunny Sunday!

Today was a busy day. Not sure what we did but it seems like I haven’t stopped all day.

After walks this morning, I decided I needed to do laundry. I went to the campground Laundromat but there was no parking so I pulled into an empty spot for RVs across from the laundry. One of the maintenance guys told me I couldn’t park there so I went back to the RV, got my purse, and went out to a real Laundromat. Although it cost in fuel, it was cheaper and the equipment was better.

On my walks around the park in the morning I’m always looking at license plates to see where people are from and also on the lookout for different RVs. Pictured here are a couple that are different. The large C Class we’ve seen before. It’s fairly new and a couple of manufacturers are building them. The Peterbilt cab with the trailer on the back looks custom made. There’s no name on the trailer. Looks like it might be a toy hauler. They have a Volkswagen Beetle.

I came back from getting laundry done, had lunch, read a bit and then we went to the new Camping World which is just across I-40 from us. Gordon has been complaining about our water hose kinking all the time so we got a non-kink water hose. We’ve also been buying water for mostly everything except washing dishes and showering and since it’s so expensive to buy bottled water in Ontario, we bought an in line water filter which covers the whole RV rather than putting one under the sink. Our toilet last year turned blue around the rubber ring because of some chemical in their water so hopefully now that won’t happen. Now we just have to decide if we want to replace the ball in the toilet so we have a nice clean ball rather than one with a ring around it. We also got a package of bungee cords which was badly needed.

When we got back I colored my hair which I’ve been putting off for far too long and since we’re headed to places where people know me, I thought I’d better get it done. So that being done, got showered and now I’m sitting here relaxing.

72F today, beautiful and sunny!

Tonight is my favorite TV night again! Also need to get lots of rest. Our hopes are to get past Amarillo, TX tomorrow.

All in all it's been a good stay here except for my breathing problems (but that didn't start here, it actually started in Tucson). The park is clean and well maintained, private showers and bathrooms were clean. They even provide continental breakfast every morning although we didn't partake. It's just outside the city, right along I-40 but we're at the back of the park so the noise wasn't bad. Other than that it was close to downtown and Old Town and also to WalMart which is always a plus.

Last night we set the clocks ahead one hour. It's so nice to see the longer days coming!

More Sightseeing

Ground Rainbow

Old Town, Albuquerque

Spring Flowers

Wendy's Southwestern Style

It was quite warm but cloudy this morning-54F and it started to sprinkle a bit when I was out for my walk but as the morning progressed the sun came out so we decided to do some sightseeing. Since I didn’t want to leave Bib in the truck again when we stopped to look around, he got to stay home. He’s always happy to do that as long as he gets treats.

We started out heading eastbound on I-40, got off at Wyoming Ave and then came back on Route 66 to Old Town. We parked and again went our separate ways, Gordon to take photos and me to shop and take photos. Old Town is more extensive than I originally thought so I didn’t get to see all of it in the 1 ½ hours that we had decided on. We met up for lunch and walked to Wendy’s. Note the adobe style of the building in keeping with the southwest.

After lunch we walked back and got the truck and continued on to WalMart as Gordon needed some new sneakers and I needed to pick up a few more groceries for our journey toward Ohio on Monday.

On our way back to the RV from WalMart it started to rain and we could see ahead that the sun was shining. Great for a rainbow? We stopped along the side of the road first of all because the sky was so interesting, then looked back toward the Sandia Mountains and there was a beautiful ground rainbow. Neither of us had seen one like that before. It kept getting higher and higher and you could see clearly all the colors. The closest I had come to seeing a rainbow like that was on the water at Cumberland Falls some years ago. I thought the blog warranted a photo of the rainbow.

Just as an update to my breathing problems. It gets better and then worse, usually worse at night. I went to Walgreen’s last night and talked to the pharmacist and he thought it might be due to the elevation here so he suggested Sudafed which I’ve been taking. Doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference. I think we’re going to drive on Monday until we’re out of the mountains and see if I’m any better. Gordon thinks it’s more related to allergies with dust and such blowing around. Hope that’s all it is!

Nothing planned for tonight!

The Last Day of March

Today we didn’t do much just recovering from yesterday’s trip. Also today I got the refrigerator defrosted. It’s always a dreaded job.

Other than that, I updated our expenses for the month as shown below.

Campground Fees, $688.44

Groceries, $471.37

Laundry, $16.25

Wine/Spirits, $0.00

Entertainment, $23.79

Snacks, $28.26

Eating out, $81.19

Fuel Truck, $311.65

Propane, $19.17

Dog Food/Vet etc, $0.00

Repairs RV/Truck, $116.38

Misc, $277.37

Insurance, $140.58

Internet, $198.48

Phone Card, $97.55

Medical/Dental, $0.00

Gifts, $34.33

Totals, $2,504.81

It was a lovely day. After I finished defrosting the fridge, I sat outside and read for a while. The temperature got to 75F which wasn’t a whole lot higher than our hometown of Ottawa where it got to 72F!

No photos for today.

We Take in the Sights of Santa Fe

Sandra sitting on a bench in the Plaza park (photo taken by Gordon with his Canon 20D)

Sandra beside adobe structure (photo taken by Gordon with his Canon 20D)

Downtown Santa Fe Southwestern Architecture

Indian Marketplace at the Plaza

Downtown Santa Fe

Bib on the boardwalk at Pecos National Historical Park

Today we got ourselves together fairly early and were on the road to Santa Fe at about 8:50 a.m. We stopped at Visitor Information and he gave us a route to drive through the mountains however we wound up driving to The Plaza in downtown Santa Fe. We parked the truck leaving poor Bib to fend for himself and then went our separate ways deciding to meet back at the truck in two hours. It was fairly cool, about 48F and we covered the front window of the truck so with his rawhide and water, Bib was okay.

I walked around the downtown area and took some photos and went in a few shops but only bought a Route 66 keychain to hang on my purse. I’ve been looking for something and Route 66 has always fascinated me since I was a kid. It even says “Gettin’ your kicks on Route 66”.

At about 11:50 a.m. I started to get hungry and was eyeing a fajita cart on the corner of the Plaza. Instead I phoned Gordon and he was hungry too so we met up at the Plaza and had lunch at the Plaza Café. It was almost full when we arrived at noon, only one table left after we were seated. We left at about 12:20 p.m. and there were people waiting. The food was good, I wouldn’t say exceptional but my taco soup was very good. I also had a turkey burger. Gordon had the enchiladas and he said they were really good. We got back to the parking lot at about 12:25 p.m. and Bib was very happy to see us.

From there we headed to the Pecos National Historical Park at Pecos, NM, about 20 miles southeast of Santa Fe. Gordon did the hike to see ruins of a pueblo and a mission and Bib and I went for a little walk on one of the trails, his photo above and then just relaxed in the truck waiting for him to come back. It was quite a hike especially with all the wind.

We headed home then arriving back at the RV close to 4:00 p.m.

Santa Fe was quite interesting. I liked the Plaza area, lots of shops to see, but unfortunately not enough time. It didn’t get higher than 50F in Santa Fe but as we got back near Albuquerque it got to about 63F. Tomorrow’s supposed to be warmer so maybe we’ll go to Old Town.

Since we had a big lunch, I don’t have to cook tonight!

Haircut, Groceries, Sightseeing

Photo of Laguna, NM taken from I-40 so we weren't on private property. You can see the Laguna Mission (white building) at the top on the right just beside the tree

Albuquerque Volcano

Today I got off to a slow start. Gordon was out before sunrise to take some photos and back before I even got up which was around 7:20 a.m. At 48F it was a bit breezy for our walks but it was pleasant. After breakfast, shower etc. I thought I’d have a nap but decided we needed a few items from the grocery store so I got out my WalMart locator and found a SuperWalMart quite close to us.

Around 11:00 a.m. I set out to find it. You go through a few miles of absolutely nothing to get there. I was about to turn around thinking I was on the wrong road and my Albuquerque map had done it again (read yesterday’s posting) but I persevered and found the place. While I was there I treated myself to a badly needed haircut. My hair had gotten bleached in the ends which stick out from my cap and was quite dry. It wouldn’t turn under anymore so now it’s just below my ears again and feels much better.

After I returned to the RV with the groceries and got them put away, we decided to head west on I-40. We went about 50 miles and saw some nice red mesas and buttes but they are on Indian reservations and there are signs up saying no photography, sketching, and audio/video taping so we didn’t get very many photos.

We also stopped in a little town called Laguna and photographed the Laguna Mission which was completed in 1699 although we apparently were not supposed to so I won’t post any photos.

When we got back we went to the Albuquerque Volcanoes just north of where we’re staying and I took some photos while Gordon hiked up to one of the volcanoes.

It’s very windy here this afternoon and we’re being buffered about in the RV but the temperature did get to a pleasant 70F.

Tonight’s another favorite TV night – LOST! Too bad Invasion isn’t on any more. There was talk of cancellation but I haven’t been able to find out for sure. Looks like it’s off for a while anyway as they have The Evidence scheduled in its time slot.

Plans are to go to Santa Fe tomorrow.

A Tour of Albuquerque

Note that I changed the name of my blog. I’m not exactly original so when I had to put a title to my blog when I was creating it, my brain went dead so I used something simple – Sandras Blog but I decided I didn’t like it, so changed it today. Not sure I won’t change it again so stay tuned….

Today was cloudy with a forecast of some rain. It was about 48F when I got up but the temperature did get to 63F however no rain as of this posting.

Gordon had indicated that he was going to vacuum the sand from White Sands out of the truck so after breakfast, I went out to the truck to clean it out thinking I was being helpful. However, he told me that he was only going to vacuum the sand so since I had the truck cleaned out I vacuumed the interior and wiped it down from all the dust we’ve been through. That took about 1 ½ hours.

This afternoon we finally got our act together and went out for a bit of a tour around Albuquerque. We drove east on the famed Route 66 (Central Ave) to downtown, drove around downtown and then to Old Town. Old Town is very charming and we want to go back there to spend some time.

Then we drove west again on Route 66 to Coors Blvd heading toward Petroglyph National Monument. A couple of the photos I took of the petroglyphs are above. Also above is a photo of the hill I climbed. I can’t believe I did it! Going up was tough because it was a tough climb but coming down was worse with my fear of heights but I made it! Note in the photo of the hill, Gordon is just behind the girl in the white sweater. I actually climbed higher than that!

Trying to get back to the RV Park was almost a case of you can’t get there from here. Every north/south route west of the Rio Grande is under serious construction and the map in their Visitors and Convention Bureau brochure show streets that don’t go where they are supposed to. We had to backtrack a few miles and finally made it home. I can’t believe the city planners put a lot of thought into this!

With the weather being cloudy, we haven’t made a decision as to what day to go to Santa Fe. Looks like Thursday or Friday at this point.

We've Moved North to Albuquerque

We left our campground in Alamogordo at 8:55 a.m. and traveled north on Hwy 54 and then west on Hwy 380 to reach I-25 to take us to Albuquerque arriving about 1:30 p.m. at the American RV Park. We’ve signed up to be here for a week.

The drive was uneventful until we were very close to the campground on I-40 then they had four lanes of traffic merging into one. PLAN AHEAD! I asked at the campground office and there is another way to get back over to I-25 for our trip later in the week to Santa Fe so we can avoid the confusion and backup.

This park is much nicer than the ones that we’ve stayed in the last couple of times and the price reflects it. The only problem with the park (so far) is that it doesn’t have cable unless you want an executive site and pay about $50 more per week for it. No thanks, we’ll use the aerial. We get about 11 stations anyway.

After we got set up we walked around as usual to see the facilities. The pool isn’t open yet as we’re further north here but the hot tub is enclosed and it is open. We rarely use these amenities but pay through the nose for them.

I read a bit then went and had a shower. The showers here are okay but the rooms are small. I’m always banging my elbows on something but they’re clean and I always think it’s easier than using our own. We also don’t have to dump as often if we use the campground showers. We’ll be using our own all summer as most campgrounds in Canada charge for using their shower facilities and I refuse to pay to shower unless it’s absolutely necessary!

So far my breathing has been better the last couple of days but we’re at a higher altitude this week than we’ve been at lately so we’ll have to see. Still not sure what’s causing it.

Well, the next couple of days are supposed to be cloudy with a chance of rain so we may not being doing a lot of traveling but will probably drive around to get the lay of the land or ‘scouting’ as Gordon calls it.

Preparing to Leave Alamagordo

I slept with the window open last night and it was 67F when I woke up this morning. Temperature reached about 83F.

Since we are leaving tomorrow, probably for Albuquerque, I got the laundry done this morning. There’s a full Laundromat right on the grounds of the RV park. That’s always nice. Too many RV parks have two washers and two dryers and it takes forever to get laundry done. It was also reasonably priced and clean.

After the laundry was done and put away, I had a half hour nap and then decided I would check out the White Sands Mall here in Alamogordo. It has a K-Mart and a downsized version of JC Penney as well as a Bealls and a Burke’s Outlet. There are some small stores including a GNC (with a free massage chair) and a Payless. I had a nice massage for about five minutes. It really felt good. There’s also a theatre and a small food court but lots of empty stores. The Army/Navy have moved in to take up some of the store areas for recruitment. Only bought some stuff at GNC, then on to Dollar General who didn’t have what I wanted so I came home and sat outside and read and made yo-yos for a while but it was a little breezy so came inside and attempted to find a campground to stay at in Albuquerque.

I finally got Gordon involved in making a decision on the campground so we’ve booked a week at the American RV Park, http://www.americanrvpark.com/index.html. Unfortunately we won’t have cable but we’re on the western outskirts of Albuquerque so we should be okay with the aerial. There’s a lot to see in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe area and I expect we’ll see lots more southwestern architecture in this area.

So again my best TV night, a new Desperate Housewives, YEAH! I’m ticked that Gray’s Anatomy was a repeat though.

No photos today, maybe tomorrow!