Santa Fe Skies

Been a couple of weeks since posting anything about our travels.   At our RV Park in Gallup,NM, we met an extremely nice couple who unbeknownst to us, were camped next to us in Williams, AZ also.
Anyway, we were together in Gallup and decided to follow them to Santa Fe.  (Hey, we have no schedule remember).  Thank you Lenore and Rick.  You made a huge impact.  One of the bests days was our glass blowing day.  What fun.

Needless to say, Katie had fun.  Because of her, I decided to also "blow some glass."  She made a beautiful vase and I made a Seahawks colored paperwork.  Our friends each made something as well. Her a Chili, and him a paperweight as well.  (Remember, we live in a 420sf home now).

 

Other than some limited time downtown and walking around, we didn't venture far.  Mostly because of the weather and wind.  And also, cuz it kinda felt good just hanging around the trailer.

 

And then it happened!  SNOW, SNOW, SNOW!  We woke up one morning to this.  Not a big snow by any imagination.  But please remember, we were swimming a month earlier in Pahrump, NV.  It was mostly melted by noon, but nonetheless, very pretty.

 

 

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Also in our park was a Newell Motorcoach Ralley.  If youre not familiar with these behemoths, they range from one to two million dollars and are pampered by their owners.  At one time, there were nineteen of these bad boys in the park.

Here's two of them back to back.

They really are pretty, but cant see spending that kind of money on a "Camper".  One that we remember was about 46ft towing three axle trailer painted the same as the coach.  Out of that trailer rolled a huge Harley Davidson and a very beautiful and shiny Porsche Carerra Convertible.  You should've seen them all scurry when it started snowing and raining.  Gotta love men and their toys though.

 

Another great part of Santa Fe though is the beautiful scenery.  The park we were at had a pretty distinctive 360 degree view of the entire Santa Fe and mountainous area.  So as you may imagine, the nighttime skies were impressive.

 

 These were all taken with my phone, no touching up here.

Well, when we left, the forecast was for more snow and high winds.  The morning we left, it was 39 deg and overcast.  Just out of town on I25 we met snow and sleet.  The winds were about 25 to 35 MPH all the way here to Roswell.  At one point, we stopped in a small town cuz I'm a big sis when it comes to that kind of cross wind.  As we then moved on down the road at about 40 MPH, the wind got behind us and as you can imagine, the gas mileage was fantastic.  I'll save that for another time.  Until then, later from Abby's Road Trip.





Gallup, New Mexico

     We stayed at the USA RV Park located on the west side of Gallup.  The staff was extremely friendly and helped in every way to assure we were set up and comfortable.  The entry road into the park is quirky and amusing.

 

Not 10 or 15, but 12.

      After the 1/4 mile entryway, we checked in and proceeded to our assigned spot #97, located in the back.  Notice that all lanes are marked with a state 66 marker (eg., Illinois Arizona, etc).

     We only stayed for 4days and 3nights, so didn't do a lot.  We would come back here in a minute.  Did see this neat Retro Trailer parked a couple of roads away from us.  Its the rage to restore.

     We are currently in Santa Fe, New Mexico at Santa Fe Skies RV Park.  Beautiful park, extreme winds.  More to follow.

Williams, AZ and the Grand Canyon

     We left Laughlin and 95 degree weather for a cooler climate and found ourselves in Williams, AZ.  We stayed in Railside RV Ranch  (http://railsidervranch.com/) for eleven days and had a great time both in Williams and at the Grand Canyon.  Williams is a Rte 66 tourist mecca filled with shopping opportunities, clean streets, and extremely nice people.  Unfortunately, this time of year is mixed with great temperatures and high winds.  On the day we visited the Grand Canyon it was 75 degrees and sunny.  The next day, the temps started dropping and the winds came up big time.  For the next week we were there, the temperature never got over 60 and the winds never let up.  Made for some serious allergy issues. 

     On the positive side however, we did enjoy the Grand Canyon immensely.  No one can prepare you for the enormity of this beautiful location.

    But let me start at the days beginning.  I had made reservations for us to take the Grand Canyon Railway Train from Williams to the South Rim in a beautiful car (complete with a bar and continental breakfast).  We took the RV Parks Shuttle along with other RVers and were droped off at the Depots front door, collected our tickets and then proceeded down the track for an old west setting and a shootout.

 

     After this event, we loaded up and took off for an hour and a half train ride and the Grand Canyon.  Got there around 11AM, walked around a little, took a load of pictures (with my new beautiful camera), met some wonderful people (from the train), ate a great lunch, walked some more, and took a bunch more pictures.  Wow, what a day!

On board bar.  Can you say Bloody Mary, please?

Another happy train rider.  Love you Babe.

Train passes about 200 feet to the back of our trailer.

Getting serenaded.

We really enjoyed this day.

     Again, you are not prepared for the vastness and size of beautiful landmark.  All from a river (the Colorado) and thousands of years of erosion.  I prefer to remember the tale of Paul Bunyon, his axe, and his oxen Blue. 

And then, we happened upon a Historical Marker.  A phone line that had been laid down to the canyon floor.

     At the end of the day, you look back and are amazed at what you just viewed.  I strongly recommend a visit to this beautiful landmark.  And make it two or three days.  You cant see it all in one day.
     We also met some real nice folks from Florida, Utah, and another couple from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Thanks to everyone for making this a real enjoyable day.
    

Pahrump, NV

   First off, we stopped in Bakersfield, CA for a couple of days in the Bakersfield River Run RV Park (riverrunrvpark.com).  What a nice place.  Our only problem was the highway noise.  But please understand, we  were just getting used to living in the trailer and still putting "stuff" away.  Great park with great park hosts and we had really good neighbors.  Would definitely come back here again.  (Camping World about a half a mile away).

   But we wanted to get going and get out of California.  We were thinking about going to Quartzsite, AZ, but decided against that due to temps going up and we had missed all the "big tent" activities.  So, on to Pahrump, NV and Nevada Treasures RV.

As you can see, John got a new cameral and I was in heaven taking and viewing these shots.  More or less, messing with the camera and settings.

Our next door neighbors had a beautiful dog and duck. (OK, you had to be there). 

Well, after two weeks and meeting my cousin (whom I hadn't seen in more than 46 years), we packed up and headed to Laughlin, NV.  What a boo-boo on my part.  Temp 96 deg, and in a dusty bowl.  Needless to say, we packed up the next morning and moved on.