New Mexico! The Land of Enchantment. State tree is the Piñon Pine. State animal is the Black Bear and the State Bird is the Roadrunner. We are enchanted and have seen hundreds, perhaps thousands of Piñon Pines. No bears or roadrunners yet, but can see why they would want to live here.
Another sticker on our map! We were fortunate to find space in a nice little campground in Santa Rosa. Fortunate, because I had no idea what an active town this is, how busy the surrounding towns are and that all campgrounds would be booked.
I learned a valuable lesson about traveling without making reservations in advance: You need to research the surrounding areas for big events, like the HUGE hot air balloon festival going on in the next big town, Albequerque. Two other deterrents I faced were that all the State Parks I searched in this area limit motorhome size to 30 feet or less and reviews for many RV parks leave you searching for a better place. We were very fortunate, indeed to manage a site at Santa Rosa Campground. All pull through sites, a great little restaurant on premises, full hook-ups and security.
The ride here was eerily similar to previous treks where we faced straight roads, sparse trees and no indication of human life for miles and miles. I mentioned to "G" that I felt like we were in an episode of "The Twilight Zone" or "Lost in Space," because of the alien-looking terrain. An interesting observation during this leg of the journey was the amount of abandoned cars, motorhomes and farm equipment that litter the land along Route 84. I guess they don't have a metal pick-up day in these parts. I'm figuring that Jimmy Hoffa could actually be out here somewhere- it would be an ideal body dump location because no one would ever find him here.
A funny sight that we encounter are the infrequent UPS or Fed Ex delivery trucks. We assume they don't have too many stops because we only see sporadic signs of habitation along the way.
A gas station, yet again, caused us some problems by not being RV-friendly, and we found ourselves waiting for parked cars to move out of our way so we could make a break for a bigger station. Another bothersome issue we are facing are flies. Ever since we left Yogi Bear Campground, we have been dealing with a fly infestation. We either kill or set free about six to eight a day. It is driving all of us (yes, Lucy too) crazy.
We were too tired to plan our itinerary for the upcoming weekend. We both want to drive down Historic Route 66, tour an old car museum and possibly take a Jeep tour that looks exciting. Then, there is Billy the Kidd's grave, that site is on my list. Future sightseeing in New Mexico will be Roswell and Carlsbad Caverns. Next blog entry will contain info on those. In the meantime, we will be silly tourists.
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| Raton Pass - Elevation 7823 feet - Watch for bears crossing the road! |
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| Straight roads and "G" finds a Santa Fe caboose! |
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| This is what I get to eat in New Mexico? No burritos or chimichangas? |
Deep thought for the day: Don't take yourself too seriously. Make life fun...live, laugh, love.
Do you type the blog as you go? Or do you wait till the end of the day and hope you remember everything? On my trip via AMTRAC from Croton to Sacramento, I spent the trip with the laptop on my lap and just gazed out the windows, soaked in the sights and let my fingers to the typing. Corrections and embellishments were done at the end of the day. I am looking forward to that part of my bucket list. Someday.........
ReplyDeleteInteresting question. I actually have a notebook where I jot down info I think I would like to include and then compose after dinner or before bed. I just jot down the topic, - llike "no metal day," and remember what I was thinking. I found that writing while I traveled caused me to not enjoy the sights as much. I can't walk and chew gum, apparently.
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