CuRVWander

Today we traveled from Albuquerque, NM to Winslow, AZ.  For Cyndee and I both, this is the farthest west we have ever driven.  We've both been further west, but by plane.  We are now enjoying being up close and personal with things we had only seen from thirty thousand feet. Our final destination is a state park just outside Winslow; Homolovi Ruins .  The drive on I-40 between Alb. and Winslow is probably the most pleasant part of I-40 I have ever been on.  There were a few long, shallow climbs that drained off some of the speed Big Gulp managed to build but the road was smooth and once leveled back out on the valley floor the speed came back easily. We had one stop for fuel at a Flying J truck stop about half way.  As we got on down the road later I learned that I probably picked the highest priced gas on the whole trip route at just a few pennies short of $4.00/gal. Homolovi Ruins was a short distance off to the north of I-40, about two ex...

We were to leave for Gallup, NM on this Monday but after a drive through the old part of Albuquerque yesterday we decided to stay another day and explore. It was a short trip down Central Avenue/Route 66 to get to Old Town, parking spots big enough for Big Gulp were a little hard to come by but we found a spot where we had to feed a meter $3.00 for a couple of hours of parking. Like many old town and cities there is a square.  It is a very nice park and surrounded with adobe buildings and courtyards that date back to 1706. Along the front of one of the long buildings bordering the park were mostly Navaho artists selling their creations.  Silver and turquoise were in prominence.  A couple of these folks were making their jewelry on the spot.  A beautiful Catholic Church and Convent along the square.  Our time on the parking meter was running short so we did not get to investigate the inside. Having this extra day we also took the opportunit...

While Saturday was a day for running the traps, Sunday was family day, with a little sight-seeing thrown in.  Our free WiFi at Enchanted Trails went Tango-Uniform so it has been a few days before I could make this post. I have a cousin, Ray, that is an Albuquerque(ian, ite???).  My other cousin in Sugarland, TX, Sandra (Ray's sister) sent me a text Saturday night saying that she had been reading the blog and saw that we were in Albuquerque and that we should contact Ray right away and let him know we were in town.  By coincidence, Ray was having an "open land" party on a ten acre plot of land he had been developing on the side of a mountain east and north of Albuquerque.  His mom, my aunt had come in from Texas and a number of friends were going to gather on the mountain for a bar-b-q, tour of the development work and an Indian artifact demonstration.  I made contact with Ray immediately and he was happy to give me a long set of directions on how to get there....

With no hard plans in mind for Albuquerque, today was a day we spent doing all the things anybody has to do to keep the household running; pay bills, clean the house, grocery shop, maintenance on the truck - just running the traps. Most of the morning was spent in the waiting room at the Ford House while they changed the transmission fluid in Big Gulp.  After the long pull over Raton Pass yesterday plus 97,000 miles and 7 years the fluid was in need of change.  I also changed out the 7-year old air filter.  By the time I got out of there I had a $300 hole in my pocket.  But keeping the transmission healthy by changing the fluid is way cheaper than the alternative. We got out in the afternoon and found a Sam's Club for routine purchase of 15 lbs of apples and 40 lbs of oranges.  If we stay on schedule with our fruit intake for the diet, we have to do this replenishment twice a month.  I have serious doubts about whether we will be able to sustain this on...

We have really enjoyed Cheyenne mountain, and Colorado Springs, and Manitou Springs, and Denver.  There is still way too much left to do before going, but we have to get to Albuquerque. We are thinking that Cheyenne Mountain is a place we will have to put our resume in for a camp host volunteer position.  We just might get to do all the things we want to in a whole summer. But we are off, heading south on I-25 for about 300 miles and then west on I-40 to a commercial campground a few miles out of Albuquerque.  To cross from Colorado to New Mexico on I-25 one has to go over Raton Pass.  The last time I remember going over this pass was in 1974 with a grain truck pulling a huge combine.  It was not much of a road back then, completely different than today's multi-lane, divided highway.  There were still some pretty long, steep climbs.  My transmission temperatures got as high as 225 deg, about 15 degrees higher than I would have been happy ...

The previous couple of days have been kind of free-form, we just got up and picked something to do on a whim.  However for this day's activities we needed a little more pre-planning.  With Cyndee and I online simultaneously the night before we spent about an hour investigating the Royal Gorge. We had visited the Royal Gorge Park & Bridge with the kids back in 2001 and had a really good time.  But this year there had been massive fires in the area and 48 of 52 structures were destroyed.  Luckily, the bridge itself only had a few boards scorched but almost everything else was lost, the park was closed for the foreseeable future.   The fire however did not reach down into the gorge, it stayed up on the plateau and left river rafting operations intact as well as the railroad.  We snagged a couple of train tickets online and planned on spending the day exploring the Royal Gorge and Arkansas River by rail. The drive to Canon City (pronounced as canyo...

The past few days have been full of getting up sort of early, leaving and not coming back to the camper until nearly bedtime.  There are more things to do in the Colorado Springs area than you can shake a stick at.  We have been trying to get in a few of them. Right in Colorado Springs is the magnificent Garden of the Gods.  The rock formations are amazing and the park has constructed some great trails so that you can get down into the structures.  The start of our day in Garden of the Gods was foggy and rainy It was not long before the skies started to clear and the cliffs revealed themselves   One of dozens of prominent natural features are the Kissing Camels  Cyndee taking in the sites of the Garden of the Gods We also made a trip to the local Camping World.  Cyndee had a couple of small items she wanted to pick up for the camper.  And I have been looking for a new set of fittings for the sewer hose.  The ones we have...