Sunday, April 27
While Jim began preparations for leaving Liberal, I took Jaycie over to Leah’s to rejoin her mother for their trip home to Lubbock.
This is another red letter day in the “little” life of full time RVing for me! When I got back to the fairgrounds, Jim had the trailer ready for loading the car. And….I’m the one who drove the car up onto the trailer. How about that? And…I did it right the very first time. Wow!
Once all the trip chores were done, we tootled off down the highway with Glorieta, NM in our sights. (We had really hoped to be heading to Lenexa to see Whitney and her family, but we never could get it arranged.) So…we had been in communication with Rod and Ruth, who are working at Glorieta during April and May.
Jim: There’s not much to say about a travel day. We were out of Liberal 55 minutes after the alarm clock, maybe a new record for us to be up and around. We drove U.S. 54 until we got to Tucumcari, stopped to give Big V a big drink, and then picked up I-40 and drove to Clines Corners, where we turned north on U.S. 285 for a 40 or so mile drive to I-25 and our turn off on the Old Las Vegas Highway that led us a couple of miles to the Rancheros de Santa Fe campground, our “home on the road” for a few days.
Once we got Big V settled in, I called Rod and Ruth to let them know we were in place. After several attempts at trying to contact each other, we finally connected and they said they’d be down in a few minutes. The campground is located nine miles from Glorieta and almost the same distance from the St. Frances Drive exit in Santa Fe, so that worked well for us.
We haven’t seen Rod and Ruth since our trip to Lady Lake, Florida, in December for the dedication of Crossroads Community Church, but time doesn’t seem to mean much to any of us; we immediately started in where we left off after the last visit and began catching up on what has happened in the past few months.
After a bit, we hopped in Rod and Ruth’s car and drove into Santa Fe to pay a visit to Old Town. It’s been years since we last went to that section of the city, but we thought that little, if anything, had changed. We did a little shop-looking in some of the stores and made a couple of purchases before getting back in the car and driving across town to a Red Lobster restaurant for our evening meal.
We had a great dinner (and lots more talk) together, but the time soon came when everyone was worn out, so Rod and Ruth drove us back to the campground and we all said goodnight. They returned to Glorieta and we went into Big V for a good night’s rest.
Monday, April 28
We woke up after a wonderful sleep (must have been the mountain air) and just piddle-paddled around for a bit, enjoying being in the mountains without having anything serious to do. While it wasn’t yet classified as “serious,” we did take time to get a couple of loads of laundry done at the campground.
Rod and Ruth came over for lunch at our place. Since we had all eaten huge meals last night, we settled on chicken sandwiches and chips for our meal.
When we had finished and done some more talking, we followed Rod and Ruth back to their place at Glorieta, where they gave us the grand tour of their housing and the site where Rod is working. Rod is doing maintenance work, and the crew he is currently working with is remodeling old apartment-style units into dormitory rooms that will have beds and facilities for ten.
Once we were done there, we drove over to the registration center so Barbara could give Rod a lesson on signing in to his email service on one of the desktop computers in the commons room. They have their own laptop, but sometimes the service isn’t all that great, so they needed to be able to log in at a permanent station when the wireless isn’t working.
As we were driving across the campus, we received a couple of phone calls…the first was from Dr. Khan’s office in Artesia; they were letting me know that the MRI images had been read and that there didn’t appear to be any damage to the shoulder and muscles other than acute tendonitis…that was good news because there won’t be any surgery required. The other call was from the RV center in Carlsbad…they were letting us know that the new ice-maker for Big V had arrived and that we could make an appointment to come down there and get the units swapped out…great news on both counts!
Ruth had to go back on duty in the dining hall, so we left them to get a little rest before returning to work and we drove back into Santa Fe to do a little exploring on our own for the afternoon. One of the sights we stopped at is one we have seen on nearly every trip to Santa Fe, but haven’t taken the time to explore.
At the intersection of Cerrillos Road and St. Francis Drive is the New Mexico School for the Deaf. Several years ago as we were driving past that spot, we saw a large marquee showing the James A. Little Theater. We always thought about stopping for a picture, but never did it…until today. With time on our hands, we pulled into the school grounds, parked as close as possible to the theater, and got out to start shooting pictures. As we were walking to the theater, a couple of teachers came out. We told them what we were doing (and why) and they laughed and said that they always wondered who the theater was named for. As it turned out, we found that the facility was named for James A. Little, the superintendent of the school in 1982, the year of construction.
After doing a little more sight-seeing, we decided to return to the campground and just veg out for the evening.
Tuesday, April 29
Happy Birthday, Stephanie, in Grand Prairie, TX
Just call us turistas today. Our goal was to make stops at places we’ve seen along the way (or heard of), but have never explored. The first stop was at the Veterans National Cemetery, alongside U.S. 285 on the north side of Santa Fe.
As a veteran, these kinds of cemeteries have always held a certain fascination for me. It is just mind-boggling to look at the rows and rows of white crosses in perfectly straight lines and diagonals reaching the depth and breadth of the fields, and to think, with grateful hearts, of those who served and/or died giving the last full measure of their devotion that we can live freely in our great country.
Our next stop was a few miles farther north at the Santa Fe Opera facilities. We’ve never taken the time to pull over to see what there is to see (which, it turns out, isn’t much during the day or out of season). We weren’t able to go into the theater, but we did manage to get some pictures of the magnificent scenery that surrounds the complex. Maybe this summer we’ll be able to take in one of the productions.
From the opera complex, we continued north on U.S. 285 to the Pojoaque Pueblo, where we turned off and headed west towards Los Alamos and the Bandelier National Monument. After checking the time, we decided to forego a trip all the way into Los Alamos, and decided instead to focus on Bandelier, about 25 miles west of Pojoaque.
Bandolier National Monument is one of New Mexico’s best kept secrets; off the beaten path, it has to be searched out (on some interesting twisting, and turning roads) before it can be enjoyed. 
Named for the self-taught anthropologist and historian, Adolph A. Bandelier, who came to the New Mexico Territory in 1880, the area now known as Bandolier National Monument had at least 3,000 housing/living sites dating back several thousand years. Archeologists think the Ancestral Pueblo people may have descended from groups of hunter/gatherer people who first entered the region nearly 10,000 years ago. By the mid 1200’s, the people began to gather in larger groups, building villages with as many as 40 rooms.
Today, the reminders of the Ancestral Pueblo people, homes, kivas, and petroglyphs, remain for us to explore in the canyons of this rugged, but peaceful area of New Mexico.
Worn out from our hike through Frijoles Canyon, we returned to the Santa Fe area and our campground for a bit of rest before joining Rod and Ruth for the evening meal and more talking at the Glorieta dining hall.
Wednesday, April 30
We had intended for this to be our last day in the area, but looks at the weather stations throughout the morning convinced us that we needed to stay in place. Predictions for the area from Santa Fe to Artesia included constant high winds with frequent gusts up to 50 mph…hardly the sort of thing we were willing to face in Big V. Luckily, our slot was going to be available for another night, so we went to the office and extended our visit until Friday morning.
After that bit of business and some housekeeping chores, we decided to go back to Old Town in Santa Fe to do some extensive exploring of the area. The first order of business was to find a parking place, no easy chore, even on a slow morning. The streets of old town are very narrow and much of the curb space is reserved for loading and unloading for the businesses.
Fortunately, we did find a good spot for 2-hour parking just beyond the Cathedral of St. Francis of Assisi, the huge 400 year-old Catholic structure that, along with the Palace of the Governors, form the focal points of Old Town.
We walked around the square, looked through several shops, bought a few items, and shared a fajita bought from one of the street vendors.
The rest of the day was spent in general sight-seeing and then returning to Big V to get ready for the evening.
We made arrangements this trip to visit with our friends, Max and Marion, who have lived in Santa Fe for a number of years. Max is a longtime high school and college friend who is now retired from the State of New Mexico and the NM National Guard.
We found their house without too much trouble. Max gave great directions, but I didn’t follow them very well, so we did waste a few minutes getting there.
While we talked and got caught up on all the news since we last saw them in August, Max and Marion prepared a great meal. The evening was spent in eating, talking, laughing, and a general good time among friends (not to mention taking pictures).
Thursday, May 1
Since we now had an extra day for adventures, we decided to drive farther north on U.S. 285 for a bit to explore around Espanola. We stayed in Espanola one night a couple of years ago when we made the motorcycle trip to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, and wanted to see how it had changed (if it had changed).
We found the town to be dry and dusty, but there has been quite a bit of new development on the north end…don’t know what is driving the new economy, but it is happening.
While we were there, the winds started building, and the dirt and dust clouds started forming, so we decided it was time to hit the road and get back down through Santa Fe and to our campground to rest up a bit for the night’s activities (mainly, getting all our stuff together for the trip home tomorrow). We did make one stop along the way to take a picture of a natural rock formation that we have seen many times, but haven’t stopped to visit. Camel Rock
, the namesake for the Camel Rock Casino (and, no, we didn’t stop there), is a sandstone formation on the west side of U.S. 285 that has been weathered out over the years to look for all the world like a kneeling camel. Finally, we now have our own picture of it.
Shortly after 6:00 p.m. we made another run up to Glorieta to say goodbye to Rod and Ruth. They were just finishing their evening meal with all the new volunteers who had arrived during the day and were getting ready to go to a meeting, so we just visited for a few minutes and then returned to the campground where we listened to the wind howl and watched television reports of the forest fires that were blazing throughout New Mexico.
Friday, May 2
We got up relatively early this morning and finished our packing and loading. The weather was nice (but a little cool), so it didn’t take long to have Big V ready to pull out for the journey back to Artesia. We took the time last night to get the Vibe loaded on the trailer, so that was one chore we didn’t have to face today.
We were on the road by 8:30…had a good tailwind for most of the trip, so it wasn’t a bad ride except for the few broad curves that caused us to take a beating from strong crosswinds. We had planned to stop in Roswell to do our grocery shopping at Wal-Mart and visit with Carol for a few minutes, but Carol said she wouldn’t be able to see us today, so we just motored on down the road, except for a brief roadside stop to have some lunch.
By 2:00 p.m. we were in place at Grandma’s RV Ranch in good old Artesia, and wasted no time getting everything set up for living for a few days. We elected to do the minimal setup, since we would be driving to Carlsbad on Wednesday to get the new ice-maker.
While we were working around the place, Amanda, Jerry and Nancy’s daughter, came over to make sure we knew we were invited to their place for a catfish fry tonight. Amanda had brought the boys, Daniel and Jonah, to visit the family for a few days, and is leaving tomorrow morning to go back home, so this would be their sendoff dinner. James and Susie would also join the group at some point during the evening.
The evening was a lot of fun; it was good to be with “family” and to enjoy playing with Daniel and Jonah. Of course, the fried catfish and all the trimmings certainly added to the atmosphere, and a good time was had by all. Too soon, we all had to call it a night and head back to our respective homes for the evening.
Saturday, May 3
Today was a really “blah” day for me. We went to town to visit Mother, Ernie, and Billee, then made a trip to Wal-Mart to get groceries. After that, we came back to Big V and put everything away. I spent the rest of the day feeling puny. I think I ended up taking three naps before finally giving the day up as a lot cause and going to bed for the night.
“Do you see difficulties in every opportunity, or opportunities in every difficulty?” – Church Signs
Back home again in Artesia,
Jim & Barbara
