ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO GALLUP NEW MEXICO

Currently in Gallup NM (Low 28 Sunny High 75) 

We left Rio Rancho yesterday and drove to Gallup. It was approximately 165 miles, here is the route we took.


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We had trailer brakes the entire way. Maybe, just maybe we have chased all the gremlins away. We are staying at the USA RV Park, here is an image from the web.

It will be three nights in Gallup then off to Arizona.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

STAGECOACH STOP RV PARK IN RIO RANCHO NEW MEXICO

Currently in Rio Rancho NM (Low 40 Cloudy Currently 42)
Heading to Gallup NM (Currently 33 Sunny High 66)

We woke to this great sunrise this morning over the Sandia Mountains.

We had a great time in Rio Rancho near Albuquerque. We ate at a lot of our old time favorites, did some shopping, and maybe, just maybe finally got our trailer brakes fixed (more on that later in a future blog entry).

Stagecoach Stop RV Park is our go to place for the Albuquerque area. Reminds us of Goodyear Arizona in that we are close to Albuquerque (Phoenix in the case of Goodyear) and can go there but we are away from hustle and bustle of the big city. Most everything we need is just a short drive away.

The highlight of the park though is the Sandia Mountains. From the great sunrise shown earlier to later in the day as the sun is setting. This is also the view from the right of our site and out our dining room window.

The Cameo from the front. We are in a pull thru at the end of hte row.

From the rear showing the dish and the Sandias.

To the left.

We have enjoyed our stay but it's time to move on. So, Lord willing, and the slideout comes in, AND the brakes work all the way, we are heading to Gallup New Mexico.

We will let you know about the brakes.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO RIO RANCHO NEW MEXICO

Currently in Rio Rancho NM (Low 40 More Clouds Than Sun High 72) 

Monday we left Eagle Nest New Mexico and headed to Rio Rancho. It was approximately 145 miles, this is the route we took.


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About 70 miles into the trip, luckily after most of the steep downgrades, Bob hit the brakes and got the dreaded 'Fault in Trailer Wiring' again which meant no trailer brakes. With experience driving without trailer brakes we just pushed on. Here is where it gets weirder. There wasn't really a good place to pull off so we kept driving until we got to Stagecoach Stop RV Park in Rio Rancho New Mexico. Before Bob checked in at the park office he checked the plug and it was still firmly attached. He unplugged it and turned off the truck. After about 5 minutes he came back, plugged it back in and turned on the truck. Guess what, we had brakes.

We think we have eliminated everything except raising the back and inspecting the brakes which we will have done while in Albuquerque. Bob called the RV repair places and they were scheduling in the middle of November so we have a mobile tech coming next Monday or Tuesday.

While waiting for these repairs we plan to catch up on shopping and maybe a movie or two while we are here. Here are a couple shots from the park showing the Sandia Mountains from an earlier stay.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

GOLDEN EAGLE RV PARK IN EAGLE NEST NEW MEXICO

Currently in Eagle Nest NM (Low 23 Foggy then Partly Sunny Currently 33)
Heading to Rio Rancho NM (Currently 43 Storms in Spots High 72) 

Golden Eagle RV Park in Eagle Nest New Mexico is a nice park in northern New Mexico along the Enchanted Highway Scenic Byway. More gravel is needed on the sites but other than that it is OK. It is pretty scenic, here is our view out our front door.

The Cameo from the front.

To the right showing the north end of Eagle Nest Lake.

To the left, as you can see we are pretty lonely here this time of the year.

From the back showing the dish with a good line of sight and the mountains on the other side.

JJ and Sandra liked the park, here they are together checking something out.

With overnight temperatures in the low 20s and a temperamental furnace that quit working below freezing we are ready to leave. We are not sure if it is altitude, we are at 8300', or water in the propane or oil in the propane or a bad regulator or a bad thermostat or a bad board on the furnace. We need to do some more troubleshooting down the road. So, Lord willing and the slideout comes in, AND the brakes work all the way, we are heading to Rio Rancho New Mexico just north of Albuquerque.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

TAOS NEW MEXICO

Currently in Eagle Nest NM (Low 20 Mostly Sunny High 70) 

After a chilly start we had an absolutely wonderful day yesterday. Our friends Ed and Diane have a cabin near Angel Fire which is about 10 miles from our park. They served us an excellent brunch of biscuits and gravy and a green chile egg casserole (we are in New Mexico after all). After an excellent meal and great conversation we headed to Taos. A winding scenic drive on the Enchanted Circle through the Santa Fe National Forest and Taos Canyon with yellow aspens throughout.

By now it was warming up and we are walking around the Square in the low 70s and sunny.

We just walked and talked going into the occasional store. We only bought pumpkin spice truffles from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Company, continuing our 2014 pumpkin adventure and they were really good. Here is a view of the mountains from the square.

Kit Carson, the famous western scout, lived in Taos. Here is his home that has been restored. It is located near the Square in old downtown Taos.

We then headed to the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge near Taos, known locally as the Gorge Bridge or the High Bridge. Here is a picture we found on the internet.

The Gorge Bridge is a steel deck arch bridge across the Rio Grande Gorge. At 565 feet above the Rio Grande it is the 7th highest bridge in the United States. Just before the bridge we saw some bighorn sheep. We parked and walked to the gorge with the mountains in the distance. There were vendors selling jewelry and other items in the parking area and Jo bought a nice rayon poncho.

Here is the sunny side of the gorge taken from the bridge. When trucks were on the bridge it got a little shaky.

The shady side.

It was back to Taos and a quick stop at Walmart and then off to lupper at La Cueva which was highly rated on Yelp. One of the reviewers said it was the best chile relleno that they had ever had so we all had to try them. We were disappointed and cannot recommend this place, at least we cannot recommend the chile rellenos. On our way back we got a driving tour of Angel Fire. 

A wonderful day on the Enchanted Circle in northern New Mexico; good friends, scenic drives, beautiful weather and a great brunch.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO EAGLE NEST NEW MEXICO

Eagle Nest NM (Low 16 Sunny and Warmer High 63) 

We drove yesterday to the Golden Eagle RV Park in Eagle Nest New Mexico. It was approximately 215 miles, this is the route we took.


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Golden Eagle RV Park is on the north side of Eagle Nest Lake on the Enchanted Highway. Here is an image we got from the web.

We will be at 8300 feet and it will be colder than Colorado Springs with a low in the teens our first night. Let's hope we don't run into this, also from the web for the park :-)

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN STATE PARK

Currently in Colorado Springs CO (Low 34 Mostly Sunny Currently 38)
Heading to Eagle Nest NM (Currently 20 Mostly Sunny High 53) 

Another great state park in Colorado, Cheyenne Mountain State Park campground is gorgeous. Here is the Cameo from the front in site 39 Swift Puma Loop.

To the right

To the left

The Cameo from the rear.

Here are some views we had while sitting outside and reading. The view out the back window.

From the dining room window.

The mountains from our reading site.

We've had some rain this week, being at 7000 feet interesting to see clouds at just above eye level.

The view of downtown Colorado Springs at night out our back window with the moon.

Today, Lord willing and the slideout comes in AND the brakes work all the way, we are heading to Eagle Nest New Mexico where it will be a little cooler.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

GARDEN OF THE GODS

Currently in Colorado Springs CO (Low 45 Rain High 64) 

The Garden of the Gods Park is a registered National Natural Landmark in Colorado Springs. The visitors center was closed for renovation so we missed getting information and possibly a film before our visit. It is a public park that you drive through with multiple turnouts for picture taking and trail walking. Here are some of the photos we took.

Balanced Rock.

We had a great time enjoying the scenery of Garden of the Gods.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

CATS CHECKING EMAIL

Currently in Colorado Springs CO (Low 49 Partly Sunny High 73) 

Our cats our social media savvy. If we leave the laptop open invariably they will be checking their email, calendar, Facebook, etc. Here is Sandra exhausted after her bout of social media.

They quite haven't learned to type that well though and sometimes things happen that we don't want to happen like appointments on the calendar being edited. Sometimes they launch applications they shouldn't. Here is a recent example:

Always an adventure when you fulltime in 359 sq. ft. with three cats.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - TO COLORADO SPRINGS COLORADO

Currently in Colorado Springs CO (Low 46 Sunny High 75) 

We took a short trip yesterday from Aurora Colorado to Colorado Springs. It was approximately 75 miles, here is the route we took.

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We had brakes all the way again, think we may have eliminated all the gremlins. We have a great backin site at Cheyenne Mountain State Park, here is the view out of our back window.

We plan to be here a week and then continue our trek back to Arizona for the winter.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

CHERRY CREEK STATE PARK

Currently in Aurora CO (Low 45 Sunny Currently 54)
Heading to Colorado Springs CO (Currently 46 Partly Sunny High 79)

Cherry Creek State Park is one of the best laid out campgrounds we have been in. There is an incredible amount of room between sites. We are in an arced pull thru. Here is the Cameo from the front.

There are few trees so easy to get a good line of sight for the dish. Here we are in site 88 from the rear showing the dish again.

To the right

To the left

We paid for a annual pass since 14 days here and a week at Cheyenne Mountain State Park. It makes the $9/day fee at Cherry Creek more palatable reducing it to $3/day.

Today, Lord willing and the slideout comes in AND the brakes work all the way, we are heading to Colorado Springs. Here is an image from the web showing the campground with mountains in the distance.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo

NFL SUNDAY TICKET

Currently in Aurora CO (Low 46 Mostly Sunny High 74) 

We subscribe to NFL Sunday Ticket from DirecTV to make sure we see the Kansas City Chiefs.

Usually we get the games without a hitch either on a NFL Sunday Ticket channel or our Network feeds or over the air but today we ran into something we haven't seen before. Whether the game is blacked out or not Channel 702 has NFL GameMix where all the games are on.

When you tune to the channel only then do you find it is blacked out. Bob hurriedly called DirecTV and found out it was on a local channel in Phoenix and that was our current service address. We don't normally change our service address if we are traveling every week. So we are standing in front of the TV watching the game on a real small window while they change our service address to Aurora Colorado. Once that was setup we recorded the game and stopped watching live. We have a big sports night ahead of us, finish the Chiefs game and then watch the Kansas City Royals (also recorded) in the playoffs. Let's hope for two wins today.

Another thing for Bob to remember to do is to change our service address each week so this does not happen again.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo