NewMexico

A Little Bit Of New Mexico For You

While our stay in Santa Rosa was the pits, New Mexico is rather pretty to look at, with some interesting terrain and landscape. Between Santa Rosa and Gallup, we passed through Albuquerque and Lavaland. Albuquerque is a fairly large city with lots of traffic. You have to drive over a large mountain to get there. This combination of traffic and mountain is always scary to me, so I try to distract myself by playing Angry Birds on my Droid. I did manage to get some nice photos though. Enjoy, and know that I sacrificed my nerves to get them:

a truck hauling a wind turbine blade — This is one of those windmill blades on a truck going up the mountain.

sandia mountains albuquerque — Going up the mountain to Albuquerque

new mexico sandia mountains — and up some more!

albuquerque new mexico — Almost through Albuquerque

Between Albuquerque and Gallup, we went through Lavaland, New Mexico. Yes, that is the name of the town. Lavaland. Here is a one minute video of Lavaland, with REO Speedwagon in the background:

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Santa Rosa RV Park In Santa Rosa, New Mexico

Karen · 1 Comment

We stayed at the Santa Rosa RV Park in Santa Rosa, New Mexico on Sunday night. Let’s just say we are marking this one off our list of places to stay on I-40 in New Mexico. The site was level, but it was dirt–no gravel or pavement at all. With the wind that was blowing, it was dusty and miserable while getting the trailer set up. It didn’t help that the electricity connection was on the wrong end of the site, so even with our surge protector box added in our cord still wouldn’t reach. We finally pulled the trailer in backwards and took the electrical cord under the trailer to reach.

After we got all set up and went inside, the breaker in the connector box outside kept popping. Even with the water heater and the refrigerator on gas, and everything else electric turned off, the breaker still popped when we tried to run the A/C, which was needed because it was hot there. FabGrandpa called the office and asked them to send someone down to change out the breaker, and were told they would do “in the morning”. Ok then, we were leaving in the morning.

This place was not worth the $31 we paid to stay there. I kept thinking that the girl who checked us in told me “The water and electric sites don’t have cable TV.” and then thinking to myself “she should have said the water and electric sites don’t have electricity.” I think I can tolerate things that don’t work a whole lot better if the attitude of the people running the place is one of trying to make their customers happy. They didn’t and to me, that is a major FAIL!

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Going To Alabama III

Karen · 2 Comments

We got started late today, after a bite to eat at our favorite breakfast spot in Flagstaff, Miz Zip’s on Route 66. They really do have the best breakfast in town. Didn’t leave the KOA until about 10:00 a.m

PA270016 — Duh, which way did they go???

This is one of my favorite signs in Flagstaff–either way you go, you’ll get to the Grand Canyon. Which way do you go??? We were headed east on I-40 towards Albuquerque, New Mexico, about 325 miles away. This is what we saw for the first three or so hours on the road:

PA270045 — Arizona east of Flagstaff on I-40

Seriously, the scenery didn’t vary much from that. Occasionally there was a little hill, or some scrubby looking trees, but if you blinked, or even slept for an hour, you wouldn’t miss much. Things began to change as we got closer to New Mexico.

PA270057 — I-40 east of Flagstaff, near the New Mexico state line

This is the Rio Puerco, or Pig River, in western New Mexico. There was actually a little water in it today because they had some rain yesterday.

PA270088 — Rio Puerco in western New Mexico

I always love to see these old lava flows along the side of I-40 in Lavaland, New Mexico. Read more about them here.

PA270097 — Those black rocks are ancient lava flows near Grants, New Mexico

Come and ride down the highway with us for a minute in New Mexico. I know you’ll enjoy the scenery: (the conversation in the truck at that time was about a guy at the fuel stop. I was looking at “authentic” Navajo blankets that all had labels on them that said “Made in India”. The guy said, I have some more that I haven’t put out yet if you want to see them, I’ll get them. I told him I was not interested in “Made in India” blankets. He replied “If they were real Navajo blankets you wouldn’t be able to afford them. I wanted to ask him, “How do you know if I could afford them or not?”)

WE finally got into Albuquerque around 6:30 p.m as the sun was going down. It was a long day, so we were glad to see the campground when we got here. This isn’t a very good picture, but the best one that I had of the mountains in Albuquerque as the sun was going down–just gorgeous!

So, the third day is over with, and we are only 550 miles down the road. We have about 1200 or so more to go. See ya tomorrow.

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On The Road To Arizona V

Karen · 1 Comment

01 rainy start — A rainy start to the day in Amarillo, Texas

02 look at all those cows — Cows in a feed lot in west Texas--waiting to because steak and ground beef.

03 another silo — Another granary--lots of these out here.

04 the tea party passed us exceeding the speed limit — The Tea Party Express zipped past us exceeding the speed limit.

05 windy in new mexico — It was very windy at the New Mexico welcome center.

06 the flying j in tucumcari — When we stopped for fuel in Tucumcari, we ran into our neighbor at the North Rim. He was having car trouble. Hope he gets to Albuquerque ok.

09 gorgeous flowers at a rest stop in New Mexico — Gorgeous flowering tree at a New Mexico rest stop.

10 gorgeous scenery — Beautiful scenery in the desert all day in New Mexico

11 mountains ahead — The Sandia Mountains ahead. Albuquerque, New Mexico is on the other side.

12 up hill — Starting up the mountain--I could barely look!

13 fried fish and hush puppies for dinner — Finally got to the KOA in Albuquerque--fried fish and hush puppies for dinner.

14 party time — Looking out my door--beaufitul view of the mountains. Oh, and that building? is the rec hall--where someone was having a private party until after 11:30 p.m. with very loud music. I normally don't mind a party, but this is a campground where people get off the road to rest before they have to drive over the mountains the next morning. How rude of them, and how irresponsible of the management of this campground. We won't be staying here again.

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