We covered the 300 miles to Amarillo, Texas, in fine shape, arriving about 5 p.m. on Tuesday (the time zone change made it later than we would have thought).
Wednesday we drove out to Cadillac Ranch about 14 miles from here where there are ten Cadillacs from 1949 through 1963 buried nose first into the ground at the same angle as the Cheopps Pyramid in Egypt (we don't know why). The wind chill was so bad we would have been in serious trouble if we couldn't get back into the car quickly. (The picture above is from our second visit, in the snow!)Our original plan was to stay three nights and then journey on to Oklahoma City. Our current plan is to survive our stay here and head south! It's cold (in the teens for highs but the wind chill makes it seem as if it is zero or a little lower!). Then there is the snow. It's a fine, drifting powder snow that, when the wind settles down is about zero to a foot deep.
The RV is staying nice and warm thanks to a large supply of propane and a good furnace. We are not connected to the local water supply but have plenty in our own tank. There is frost on the inside of the windows, though, so we don't get too close to the windows.
Thursday afternoon the wind was calmer and we ventured out. Ron pulled enormous (up to five feet or so across) tumble weeds away from the RV and car so we could drive out on the ice and snow to the main roads, which are sanded and plowed. We visited Cadillac Ranch again in the snow and there were cows running around just to add to the general excitement.
Friday and later should be a little warmer (up to 30 degrees!) and sunny so we will be heading south when the storm clears from there, too. We want to follow this Canadian arctic blast storm at a respectful distance.
We ended up staying Saturday night which enabled us to go see the Amarillo Gorillas hockey game. They are in the Central League. It was Ron's first in person game and one in a long continuing series for Joyce.
After the Balloon Fiesta we moved to a campground that Ron had stayed in previously. It is inexpensive if you stay a long time, located right next door to American RV where we had warranty work done, and near Route 66 Casino -- probably our favorite casino to date.
Another casino we visited (especially on Wednesdays for their $5 senior buffet and for Thanksgiving dinner) had a strict dress code for their lounge and it was enforced by armed guards!
During various times the RV was being worked on, we took off in the car for fun trips. One time we went to Colorado Springs for a photography weekend followed by a three-night visit with Ron's daughter and her delightful family. We were there for Halloween -- what a blast with little kids!
Another trip was overnight to Santa Fe where we ate lunch at Tia Sophia's, visited the miraculous staircase, and generally wandered around before heading north to Cities of Gold Casino where we spent the night. We came home on the scenic route the next day.
On that trip we also stopped by Chimayo to photograph the church.
We also visited Bosque del Apache bird reserve for two nights where there were over 50,000 snow geese, 23,000 ducks, 8,500 sandhill cranes, and three bald eagles. Massive birds and we only had to wash the car once (if you get my drift).
We will be taking one more car time before we leave up to Taos but the RV will be staying in the park here as the work is all completed on it.
We have also met friends for dinner several times, attended the local camera club twice, eaten a vast number of $5 senior buffet lunches at two different casinos, and paid full price (horrors!) for the buffet at the fancier casino for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.
Another quick trip was to see the petroglyphs that were just a few miles from our RV resort. This one includes the two birds which is a favorite of Joyce's and is used in some of the advertising for the National Monument.
A highlight of our stay was a four-day visit from sister Sharon and brother-in-law Dave. It's fun when our paths cross.
This was our rest and preparation stop before going into the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. It was also in the schedule as "just in case" days to allow some cushion in the schedule just in case we were delayed on our way in. We weren't delayed though.
Where is Mancos?, you ask? Why, it's right outside of Mesa Verde National Park. We toured ruins on the rim of the canyon including Square House where we met some other photographers we chatted with until sunset. The sunset wasn't as wonderful as we all hoped but the conversation was nice.
We also toured Cliff House, the largest ruin, on the required Ranger-led tour. The cool thing is that we were on a special late tour that only goes occasionally, is limited to 20 people (instead of the 60 people during the main part of the day), and lasts longer than the day-time tours so that we got to just sit and absorb the place.
What a cool place! We had no idea that there was so much to see and photograph around Green River. We only stayed three nights but we will definitely be back -- probably for more like three weeks.
We had learned of Goblin State Park so that was on our list but there was also so many other places, including some that Ron thought might not really be places. He eventually persuaded Joyce to turn around and leave the dirt paths she was driving on. One dirt road wasn't bad except for this one spot where there was only one tire track. We don't mean one set of two tracks, we mean one track: One goes through that section sort of tilted up on one side. But then later on the road got worse and we gave up.
We spent two nights at the KOA right there on North Temple. We took advantage of our proximity to Temple Square to attend the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal. The Tabernacle is under renovation so the performance was in the incredibly huge Conference Center. Joyce had never been in this building and was very interested to see what it looked like inside. We left on Saturday morning, which was not a moment too soon: Conference started that weekend! The place was going to be crawling with extra Mormons (and all the RV parks were booked).
We dipped down into Nevada to stay at Cactus Pete's campground for the night (there isn't much in Jackpot so one night is pretty much all one needs to spend). We ate dinner in the buffet restaurant and gambled some, of course. We were there on Wild Wednesday and Ron was a new card-holder there but he didn't get a T-shirt or anything. How disappointing.
We spent two quiet nights here on the river. Mostly it was just us and a bunch of bugs. A big bunch of bugs. Ron did not like the bugs.
Here's the plan: Acknowledging that I am seriously behind on the blog, I am going to start with the words and then go back and add the photos (probably). Let's get this party going!
