Sometimes, for me, the best way to let friends and family know where we are and what we are up to is through this blog. So I'm just checking in, so to speak.
First, my implant: it seems to be healing OK. I still have several days of antibiotics to go, and I no longer need the strong pain killer. I think it will be fine.
Second, the Alfa is running wonderfully: we didn't have any problems, but it was time for the regular annual services. One note is that we pulled the same long incline from Phoenix to Flagstaff that had caused us such stress and overheating last spring, and even though it was 100° the temp gauge hardly moved above the normal range. We didn't have to do any manual downshifting either. Seems like the radiator cleaning was the correct thing to do!
Third, our location: we are now happily settled at a small commercial park, Rancheros de Santa Fe, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. One of the theories behind full time RVing is that if you don't like the weather, drive away from it! We sure didn't like the 100°+ temperatures in Yuma or Phoenix, so we headed north. It is now mid-afternoon and we have the windows wide open. The shade side thermometer is reading 79°. Perfect in my mind.
We love Santa Fe, so we may just stay put here until it is time to go down to Albuquerque for the Balloonfest. I have reservations at an Albuquerque park for the two days before the festival, so we can get the rig ready for nine days of dry camping. You know, holding tanks empty; fuel, water, and propane full.
We did have a bit of a stressful morning. I found what sounded like a nice state park just north of Santa Fe. It only had a few sites with electric, and all were first-come first-served. We got up really early and drove up here, but alas there were no openings and no one was planning on leaving. As we drove back out, I located the dump station and decided it would have been almost impossible to get the Alfa into it anyway. Also there was absolutely zero cell service. No cell = no internet. Not something we want to put up with for 9 days, even for a bargain price!
So we drove back down out of the mountain park, about eight winding miles, got to a spot where we could park and make some phone calls, and found this place.
I am more than ready to stay put for a week or so!
Saturday morning we decided to drive up to Santa Fe, New Mexico, by way of Albuquerque. A new air filter for the Alfa was on our list of must do's. Craig changed it the last time about two years ago, and it was not an easy job for him. The air filter is a big cylinder that is about 24 inches long. I know Karen's Steve can do a brake job in a parking lot, but most RV parks discourage DYI on-site repair work. So we decided to take the easy way and have it done at the Albuquerque Freightliner shop. We called ahead, drove in, and they did the job while we went to lunch and then waited in the lounge for a little while.
I had not made any reservations in Santa Fe, so as we headed that way I called several RV parks looking for a spot. Since it was Memorial Day weekend they were all full! No problem. One of my new resource books is Casino Camping. I had checked it a few days earlier and saw there were a couple of casinos near Santa Fe where we could overnight.
We parked at the Camel Rock Casino on US-84/285, where we were the only RV in a large sandy lot, and had a peaceful night.
Personally, I don't mind an overnight at a casino, but we wanted to spend several days in Santa Fe and I am not comfortable boondocking and leaving the rig all day. It was OK in Los Algodones because we were only there for a day and there were a lot of other RVs there too. But at this casino we were away from the building, just off the freeway, and our Verizon reception was weak.
So, Sunday I got back on the phone and found a regular RV park that had a spot for us. We drove over to the Santa Fe Skies RV Park, got settled and went to downtown Santa Fe for the rest of the day.
We wandered thru several galleries and gift shops. The downtown area is a big step up from many of the "gift shop and tee shirt store rows" in some of the other places we have been. Much of the artwork was original and priced in the thousands.
This quartz and stone sculpture was at least six feet tall.
Even though we had a tourist map of the old town area, we felt a bit lost and overwhelmed. We were happy to find an information desk at the Palace of Governors and picked up information about the guided walking tour offered every morning by a POG volunteer.
The fact that it rained overnight and was quite cool worked in our favor, because instead of the usual group size, there were only two others wanting to go on our tour, which lasted over two hours and cost a reasonable $10 each.
I highly recommend this type of guided tour. They are often much better than commercial tours on busses where the guide rattles off a canned patter.
Our guide told us a great deal about the history of Santa Fe as it is shown in the existing architecture.
Most of the buildings, and homes all around, are of the Santa Fe pueblo style. They are all stucco, painted in one of 40 approved adobe colors.
Our tour started at the Palace of the Governors and the main Plaza.
We were taken into a typical court yard that is now a shop that sold colorful yard sculptures.
Another courtyard was a wildly growing garden.
As the walk progressed we hardly noticed the sun was coming out and the streets were getting more crowded.
Our guide pointed out several places we might want to come back to on our own. We learned a lot and enjoyed it very much.
After the tour we took a break for coffee at a charming little restaurant, and then went to the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.
This was one of Craig's favorite pictures of Georgia and a friend.
What a smile!
On the way back to our car we visited a few more galleries and went into the Saint Francis Basilica Cathedral. A typical, but beautiful old church.
We were both very happy to go home to the RV at the end of the day. I love having my own bed to sleep in.
One of the things I noticed all over Santa Fe was the amazing lack of graffiti. All those stucco walls and fences and not a single tag to be seen. Come to think of it, there were no beggars at the intersections, or homeless pushing shopping carts either.
Where are they?
