The 2006 Travels of Richard n Shirley

We arrived here in shorts and short sleeve shirts. We should have been in jeans and long sleeve or had a jacket. That wind was cold for 72. DW got so cold we had to get in the car to ecsape the wind. We did do some window shopping, visited a few stores and saw the ski lift. Not much wind but it was chilly.
Up and down the street was quiet. Not alot of traffic for a thursday. Not many shoppers here either. The rv parking along the way was pretty full. Here is a place you can park and get a good nights sleep at a probable upper 30's. Check out the rates at the national forest campground before you come.


This lift is in operation ferring visitors up and down the slope. When I did ski many years ago, I did not come down steep slopes like this. We Texans get to ski once a year usually during spring break.


This is visitor/tourist pedal power mode of transportation. An easy way to see the town slowely. Red River is about 3 blocks wide by a mile long. Not big but very pretty nestled in the valley. And there are some specticular homes in the mountains. More later.


Looking the way we came in and all the traffic. There is a zillion condos here and some are for sale. We drove on to Angel Fire and around to Taos where we begain. if you like cool weather then this is the place to be. There are lots of rv camping and commerical campgrounds along the way. Angel Fire has several and is probably the coolest. The rates I remember were in the low $300 range per month. We saw vacancies but not many.

This trip took ALL day. We got back about 5 pm from 8 am. This is the plaza in Taos, NM. We walked and shopped the stores around the plaza. The weather was warm or just above cool. Very pleasant.


We walked by this restaurant and I loved the appearance especially the roses. Could not resist taking a pic. Just look at the rose bushes. They are hybrid teas and floribundas and full of blooms. We had already eaten a very late breakfast, or brunch. Taos is full of places to eat. So come hungry and bring money, it aint cheap or add $2 to Dennys prices.


This was nearly across the street from the restraunt above. A well designed sculpture of creatures dancing.


And last is this place by our parking lot. it is an indoor "mall" of little stores. Sad part is there were lots of vacant stores inside. The main traffic is not on this street or even this corner.


There is more but not tonight. We walked and walked several blocks and saw the basic type of "tourist" store. The main theme is t shirts, hats, jewelry and lots of cheap stuff. There were some higher quality stores selling fine jewelry. I will post in the morning more of the area and some interesting "rides" for the younger at heart. As DW and I were talking, when I was younger, this was not available. Now that it is, I'm to old to be able to enjoy it.

Our weatherbug alert for today says we will have windy conditions this afternoon from 3pm to 8 pm. The wind started about 1:30 and has not ceased. At times it is really blowing and then it gets rather calm. We are getting our wind and temps from Espanola which is the closest reporting station. Thats 27 miles from NM96 at US84. Chama is the other way and close to 50 miles. Santa Fe is south and 51 miles. It is cloudy with winds at 30 and gusts to 45. The wind is hitting the left rear of the coach and the satellite is around the corner by the bedroom slide and out of the wind. We closed the living room slide to keep the cover from ripping.

I was at the door looking out at the satellite when I looked at the solar panel and saw the red light for low battery and no incomimg AC power. I went out and tripped the breaker and DW said we had no power. I then unplugged the power cord and started the genset. And went to the camp host and reported in. They said we were out and so was Espanola. The hydr plant here was down. Hmm. no backup switching. NM power is out of date or in the wrong grid. This never happens in Texas unless a power pole or transformer is down. Texas is on their own grid and not connected to adjoining states, check it out.

Anyway, we are doing the wet to dry gauze thing on the leg to get the scab off. We have decide to drive in monday and see what is required by the Dr after that. Since we must move the coach tuesday, we will see where, back to Conchiti Lake area or on to Chama and Aztec. The cost to move the rv is in yesterdays blogg.

Other than that, not much else going on. getting more pics scanned. Will get the rest done in the next few days. And then I'm hopefully done. My next endeaver is to learn to play the keyboard. I have an electronic keyboard and will start spending time learning to play. Wish me luck, my fingers are not to nimble. Now, if I could remember the d flat major chord or any chord.

We went to the VA hospital this morning and checked in to the emergency room. We had a short, less than an hour, wait before we were escorted into the ER to be seen. Our Dr looked at the "mess" and decided it was not a staph infection. This is from the antibiotics I had. He felt it was a fungial infection. He called the Demertology Dr and made an appointment for Monday at 9 am. Since we are about 122 miles away, thats a 2 1/2 hour drive, we are talking about moving back to Cochiti Lake which is a 91 mile trip but 50 miles from Albg. Or we could leave here by 6:00 am and drive it. It is daylight by then. We have to move Tuesday morning so a Sunday move would fit in with emptying tanks. Its just 91 miles and back. Thats 26 gallons and $74.00 in gas. Hmmm.

We came back with 50 gauze pads, two rolls of tape and 20 rolls of bandage wrap and a quart of saline solution. All this to put on the leg to get the scab off for a Monday morning swab and probable culture. I just love the VA when it comes to cost of medical care. next to nothing. My copay is zero. I have put in for Agent Orange exposure and hearing loss. I spent my time, 8 months plus, assigned to a 105mm artillary unit in VN. So, hearing was compromised. We are just starting with this as a service connected disability.

We got pics of the car on the rack and of me in a G6. Didnt see anything we liked at the chevy dealer. We are just doing some looking in case the car decides to quit and be to much to fix. Shirley loves her picture camera. She has sent them to her dad and this bunch to herself to look at.

We went to Espanola this morning and bought two new tires for the front of the car. In the process of tightening the lug nuts with the torque wrench, one of the LR lug bolts snapped. We were directed to go to a tire store down the street to have a new bolt and nut installed. But the store did not have our parts. And we needed to setup an appointment for having this done. So, we drove to the chevy house and got the parts and had the work done. We were back in the car going to Walmart to get our refund. By 2:00 pm it was finished. A simple trip took an extra couple of hours. Shut down any hopes we had to sight see the town. We did look at the new cars, Malibue, G6, Cobalt, but either to high priced for us our didnt like the car. We will stop by the ford house someplace and see what they have.

We had good Mexican or NM-Mex at a place next to Sonic. We had chicken fajitas and they were good. We recommend Dos Amigos in Espanola. The Fajitas were $9.99 each plus tea, tax for $23.00 and tip. Once we were finished it was back to Walmart for groceries and home. We finally got back about 4:30 pm.

Now we got good rubber to meet the road and one year old brakes. Tomorrow is our trip to the VA hospital to get my leg fixed. Probably be all day since I have no appointment and will go in at the emergency room. Its a long 2.5 hours down, back plus the wait to be seen. If we get back by 3 pm we will be lucky. Hmmmm, sounds like buying tires doesn't it.

With the trip south, there will be no planned blogg update tomorrow. For sure, no pictures as we will not be taking the camera. If we get back in time, I will try to update the visit and Rx to take. All I am going to tell ya is I have a burn like scab that is ozzing fluid. The 10 days of antibiotics did not do anything. Makes we wonder if I have a stapy infection, probably something else. We will know tomorrow when the Dr takes a look. Then we will plan our trip next week to Chama and on to Aztec. Check the weather at Chama, NICE........

Our drive out NM96 took us by this ranger station. We left our place with cedar and short pines to this area with the tall pine trees you would expect to see. From the photo it may not look like but there are tall pines here. Notice the fire danger.


We passed this abandoned adobe home along the highway. The roof had fell in and part of one wall and collapsed. The roof was supported by pine logs. We dont know if the people who lived in it now live in the mobile home in the background. What we do see lots of in NM is mobile homes and junk cars. Lots of junk cars.


A general photo of the hill side. This photo goes with the one below . See if you can find the standing rock in the above photo.


DW liked the rock so I stopped and took this pic. We have seen lots more that we did not photgraph. Some where just to far away or to difficult to get a pic of. Not everything is photo able.

Blogger is slow today. When or if its working, we will upload the pics we took on this day trip.
Tomorrow we are going to Espanola to buy two new tires for the car, get the oil changed, have lunch out and sight see the town. Since its about 30 miles, we will pick up what ever we need on the grocery list before coming home.

We will go to the VA hospital wednesday to have the DR look at my leg. I have an incession that has gotten infected and needs further attention. We went to the clinic in Santa Fe and have finished a 10 day round of antibiotics that have had no effect. We want to get this taken care of before we get further from ABQ. We are already about 118 miles away now. We will do this after the car is taken care of and before we go to Taos. Hence there will be no update wednesdy.

Later this week, its to Taos and that area for sure. I was a little boy when my grandparents took me there. Will see the sights and maybe by a souvenir. Right now root for blogger to work. They must have finised their what ever as it is now working.

Here we are traveling north from the lake and stopping to take this of the mountains as we approach. The colors are much better here but really show up in the following photos.

This is the same range from a different view. Now the color show up. This area is rugged and pretty. We found that there have been some six movies filed here. I can see why.


This is the sign at the amphitheater that explains the different soils. View the next photo when reading this and it will all make better sence. Its a lot more interesting when you are there verses just being here.


A close up of the amphitheater. Water has darkened the walls. There was no place for anyone to live here as the floor was severly slopped and had lots of broken stones.


We got this critter on the sidewalk. There were many of these as we went to and from the amphitheater. We never saw any sign of a water spring. I guess they get their mosture from the grasses they eat.

Another close up of this ridge line.


Another view of the standing rock formation.


I hope you are enjoying our blogg. The purpose of this is to let our family keep up with us and for the reader to see what we see thru our eyes. We are able to stop with the rv which may not be possible with a car traveler. RV travel as we are doing it and so many others are also is not for everyone. To give up what you have to travel and live full time in an rv is something to think about before actually doing this. We did this trial in 2001 and liked it. We kept up with the forums and got answers and asked questions. Its only when you make this step that you find out if this is for you. Our rv is 36 feet long by 8'6" wide. Probably a net 240 sf of living area. Living in such close quarters can be taxing if you are not prepared. But the fun you can have being able to see what you want and where you want and stay as long as you want is worth this to us. This is one side of the coin.

The other side is to get up at 5:30 am, get dressed and fight the traffic to go to work. I only have one tie and one suit and its for those times when I will have too. I have several pairs of slacks for those times when we want to dress up and go out. Otherwise its shorts and sandels. Dont put yourselves in my place, just enjoy the view.