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!

Sort of a Busy Saturday!

Sunset at White Sands

If you look really close you can see the ripples in the sand

Pretty dunes! Looks kinda like waves

Bib accompanied us to White Sands but mostly stayed in the truck

Sandra standing beside a yucca with the dunes in the background (Note-no coat!)

Wow! What a beautiful day today. Sunny with a few clouds and about 77F.

As I’ve mentioned I’ve had trouble breathing the last little while and not being sure what it might be, I’ve sort of done nothing about it but stopped all allergy medications that I’ve been taking. I’ve taken Actifed at night for years but you can’t buy it down here so I’ve gotten other things and they just don’t work the same. So last night I was thinking if I wasn’t better today I should probably go to Emergency. I decided last night to take a Benadryl and send in the big guns. This morning I woke up very groggy but as the day went on I seemed to be feeling better and wasn’t having as much trouble breathing so no Emergency Room for me today. I just lay on the couch all morning and watched two Julia Roberts movies.

So, this afternoon I decided to go for a walk since I hadn’t walked this morning. I walked about ½ mile to the Dollar General Store and then back to WalMart to get groceries in preparation for us leaving on Monday for Albuquerque. I called Gordon when I was finished and he came and picked me up with the groceries and then we drove to the water kiosk to get our water jugs filled. Then back home to find a place for groceries. It always amazes me how much groceries I buy when all we seem to eat is stew, lunch (sandwich/wraps) and breakfast (cereal/grits).

At about 5:00 p.m. we left for White Sands National Monument to take late afternoon and sunset photos. I got quite a few good ones, I think. The ones I took during the day this week didn’t have any shadows so tonight I got lots of shadows and depth in my photos. Sunset wasn’t wonderful but okay.

On the way back we stopped and had dinner at Taco Bell. Now it’s TV time!

By the way, in case anyone is interested, did you know that Alamogordo means fat cottonwood in Spanish? Just a bit of trivia for today.

Trip to Ruidoso

Sierra Blanca

Sudderth Street, Ruidoso with Sierra Blanca in the background

Gordon at outside cafe at Ruidoso

Today was bright and sunny and reached 66F. Gordon got up early and went out for sunrise photos at White Sands again. This time there weren’t closed for missile testing.

He got back around 10:00 a.m. and we decided to drive the 48 miles to Ruidoso, NM. We were there last year very briefly and thought it was a cute little town. It sort of reminded me of Lake Placid, NY.

Ruidoso is nestled in the Rocky Mountains of southern New Mexico. Towering above the village is Sierra Blanca (more on that below) and the New Mexico ski resort, Ski Apache. Ruidoso is a year round resort with skiing, casinos, bicycling and a multitude of other things to do there.

Anyway, I packed a lunch and we headed out arriving there around 11:30 a.m. On the way, we stopped and took photos of Sierra Blanca, shown above. Sierra Blanca is a complex ancient volcano, rising more than 7,300 ft above Tularosa Basin to peak at 12,003 ft.

We parked just off Sudderth St. which is the main street in Ruidoso. I looked in the shops in about a two block area but didn’t see anything that tripped my trigger. On our way back out of town we stopped at a small indoor flea market, again nothing very interesting but a huge mothball smell which was making breathing difficult. Needless to say, we didn’t stay long. It was a bit cooler in Ruidoso but better than earlier in the week. They had snow this past Sunday and Tuesday!

On our way to Ruidoso we went through Tularosa, another little New Mexico town. Gordon had taken a photo of the church there last year but the sun wasn’t in the right position so we stopped there again on our way back to Alamogordo. He took various photos of the buildings and the church again and we stopped at a little shop called Del Sol. We had bought some things at Del Sol in Mesilla last week and this shop is owned by the same people. We bought a couple more items and then headed home.

Time for reading and my nap again. This is getting to be a habit!

I got my second wind around 5:00 p.m. and walked over to WalMart to get some strawberries for my cereal tomorrow. I also got an extra pillow as I’ve been having trouble breathing and I need to prop myself up for sleeping.

After dinner, we watched Deal or No Deal and various other shows before turning in for the night.

Trip to Cloudcroft

View of White Sands from 8000ft

Downtown Cloudcroft

This morning was sunny but cold, only about 36F at 7:30 a.m. Gordon went out before sunrise to photograph the White Sands again but I got a phone call late in the morning from him indicating that White Sands National Monument was closed this morning for missile testing so he had gone to the Dodge dealer in town to get our service done so that’s out of the way for a few thousand miles.

When he got back we got ready and drove to Cloudcroft. It’s a small town about 16 miles away from Alamogordo but that 16 miles takes us from 4500 ft to over 8000 ft. I had heard that Cloudcroft was a cute little town with all kinds of shops. It wasn’t as cute as I had expected and while it did have some shops, some were also closed. It had snowed there recently as was evident more outside the town that in the town itself however some of the sidewalks were very slippery.

When we got back we stopped at the Visitor Center and found out that Hwy 54 which heads toward Albuquerque is a decent road so rather than returning to Las Cruces to pick up I-25, we’ll take Hwy54 to Hwy380 which will take us to I-25, a distance of about 209 miles. We haven’t made a final decision yet on returning to Ohio by going through Albuquerque but it looks like the weather at least in that area is good next week.

On our travels around Alamogordo, we found another adobe double wide modular home so we stopped in to see it today. It’s exactly the same as the one we saw near Benson a couple of weeks ago, made by the same company except it’s $80,000 not $109,000. Quite a difference! However, we’re still not sure what we’ll be doing down the road so right now it’s just looking.

When we got back I settled down to my book and a nap and Gordon went out to White Sands again for sunset. He was quite happy with his photos. His White Sands Gallery can be found here: http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf/79th_camp_white_sands

That about sums up today’s events!

Boring Day!

It was cloudy and 44F when I got up this morning. The forecast had said it would be cloudy today however the sun came out late in the afternoon.

After walks and breakfast, we watched TV for a while. Around 11:00 a.m. I decided I would walk over to WalMart. It was looking very dark and cloudy and I had just made it to WalMart when I heard someone say that it was raining mixed with snow. It didn’t last long though as when I came out after about an hour, it had stopped and there was a bit of sunshine.

This afternoon, I watched TV and took a couple of brief naps.

Other than my walk to WalMart we didn’t go out all day. Very boring! The temperature only got up to about 53F.

Yesterday when we were at White Sands there was a front loader moving sand off the road. They have to plough the road to keep the sand off it just like snow. It’s so white it looks like snow. The photo above is of the front end loader moving the sand.

White Sands National Monument

Yucca in the sand dunes

Walking on the dunes in bare feet

Sand dunes with mountains in the background

Today dawned bright and sunny again. It was in the high 40sF at about 7:30 a.m. We decided that since it was nice morning and was supposed to cloud over later in the day that we would go to White Sands National Monument this morning. We walked a short ways on one of the trails and I got to take my shoes off and walk in the sand. The sand is so white but it’s a different consistency than the sand in Mexico Beach, Florida. It’s so silky there.

Walking on the dunes is interesting. You’d think you’d sink in sand up to your knees but it’s actually hard packed sand. I guess all the loose sand blows off because the winds are pretty strong down here most of the time.

We left White Sands around noon and came back and drove through Alamogordo just to get the lay of the land and see what’s here. That didn’t take long, then we stopped and had lunch at Taco Bell which means I don’t have to cook dinner tonight. If we go out like that during the day, we just have a sandwich or wrap at night.

However when I got back I did make a pot of our favorite stew so that will sit an extra day to make the flavor better!

Contrary to the forecast it didn’t get cloudy so this afternoon I called my younger sister to see how things are with them and sat outside at the picnic table near the playground in the sun. It was about 66F then. There’s a breeze blowing making the new leaves on the trees look like they’re dancing. There’s a big cottonwood tree in the park where I was sitting so I watched it while I was talking to Margie.

Gordon went back to White Sands National Monument for sunset. I decided to stay home and have a shower and veg.

Since we had lunch out, I didn’t have to make dinner. YEAH! Then just TV and writing my blog!

Moved to Alamogordo, NM

We left Las Cruces, NM at about 9:30 a.m. today and headed to Alamogordo, NM, a distance of about 67 miles. We arrived at White Sands Community RV & Manufactured Home Park in the southern end of Alamogordo. Again it’s not the prettiest campground we’ve been at and it’s a bit of a tight squeeze to get into our site but here we are! Unfortunately we weren’t able to get a 50 amp site so we’re functioning on 30 amp which means our electric heater can only run on low and we have to be careful what else we run at the same time. We do have cable TV with lots of channels and the internet satellite is working. We’ve booked a week here so hopefully the wind will calm down so Gordon can get his photos of White Sands National Monument.

It’s windy and quite cool here today. It was sunny with a few clouds when we arrived but turned mostly cloudy shortly after we got set up, around 1:00 p.m. I think it managed to get up to about 62F but it’s supposed to warm up as the week goes by.

About 2:30 p.m. Gordon decided he was going to White Sands National Monument and would probably stay for sunset so not wanting to be out that long I elected to stay at home. I watched some TV, did some interneting, had a nap and took a walk around the area. We’re right in the thick of US fast food heaven. There’s every kind of fast food imaginable within walking distance, also a Staples a short distance away and SuperWalMart right behind us also within walking distance. The nice thing about Alamogordo is it’s sort of a small town with a population of about 35,000 or so.

The campground itself is quite spacious though the sites aren’t. It’s obviously an older park made for RVs that were much smaller and had no slides. It does have a large laundry facility and a hairdresser on the lot and it’s quite large so lots of place for me to take my morning walks. I can also go out of the park and walk as well.

When we were here last year it was only for the day so we didn’t see that much of the town. I remember we stopped at Visitor Information and Verizon but that was about it. This is about the size of town that I like. It has everything that you need but the traffic isn’t horrendous.

The photo today is of our site S14 at White Sands Community RV Park.

Another Very Windy Day!

It must be Spring! Willow leaves are growing!

Organ Mountains

Hot Air Balloon flew over me on my walk this morning

Today dawned bright and sunny and the brown skies were gone. There was some cloud cover but still basically a nice, but a bit cooler day. Again it was windy.

Gordon had heard that there was a market at Old Mesilla today so we drove over there around 9:30 a.m. but no market to be found so we took a drive to the northwest of Las Cruces and found the Leasburg Dam. The viewpoint for the dam is in the Leasburg State Park and we found that they had rv sites with electric and water. They were quite nice pull through sites, don’t know how much they were but there was a train track that ran basically through one end of the park. Maybe next year when we hopefully have satellite TV, we’ll be able to take advantage of some of the state parks.

We headed back to Las Cruces and stopped again at Dripping Springs which is the foothills of the Organ Mountains then on into Mesilla again. The market was up and running if you call a couple of tables of jewelry a market so we just drove through and then back to the RV to get some lunch.

I called White Sands Community RV Park this morning and they don’t take reservations. She said she had one 50 amp site that might free up today but there would be no problem with 30 amp sites so we’ll have to take our chances if we want to stay at this park. It’s the closest park to White Sands National Monument and that’s probably where Gordon will be spending most of his time this week as long as it’s not windy. This time of year is usually quite windy in New Mexico as we found out last year when we stayed in Carlsbad.

When we got back I had a nap and watched some home decorating TV. Don’t do much of that anymore. I always used to have HGTV on at home.

After my nap, I went and got some groceries at SuperWalMart in preparation for leaving tomorrow. It was still really windy. I almost lost my favorite hat for the third time today!

Called my older sister, Betty. They are leaving for Florida this week and then going on a cruise of the Amazon. Lucky them!

Gordon went out to take photos at sunset but it turned out to be a wash.

Tonight’s one of my favorite TV nights!