Checking in...

Sorry for the lack of posts. I am now officially behind by about two weeks. This is primarily because we are currently at the Capitol Reef National Park situated between 4009 foot rock outcropings and there is absolutely zero cell or data service. Our next stop is Zion National Park where we will have cell service again and I will do my best to get caught up.

Here are A couple of teasers about what I will be posting. 

1) Sandia Peak hike

2) The Moab that wasn't (AKA what to do when you can't find a place to park)

3) Colorado National Monument

4) The reality of full time RVing - Things break 😮

5) Capitol Reef National Park

What I can say now is that this country is even more spectacular than I ever imagined. The lifestyle we have chosen is letting us experience the best of it... and I realize we have only just begun. 

Thanks for reading... The Next Hundred Miles. More very soon!

Old Town Albuquerque

Likely to be one of the most recognized areas in Albuquerque is the area around the old town square called simply Old Town. 

The area contains an eclectic assortment of shops and eateries. You can find anything from jalapeno chocolate to $500 skirts.

We partook of samples in an olive oil and balsamic vinegar shop that had every flavor you can imagine. Our favorite oil was "smoke" and my favorite vinegar was "expresso and dark chocolate".

There are musicians playing around the square and Native Americans selling their handmade jewelry and trinkets as well. 

In the end we only purchased some post cards and a "chili" Christmas ornament. 

Then on Monday we took the train we mentioned on the last blog, out to Santa Fe. It was a very nice train and incredible scenery. 

Santa Fe is the state capital and so is home to the capital building. 

The capital building is literally an art museum. We were given free reign of the building and encouraged to visit the Governor's Office, the House and Senate Chambers, and to view the over 600 pieces of artwork spread throughout the building. 

(Zoom in on this one and check the materials used to construct it)

There was also a gallery showing of "Thread Art" which includes everything from the quilting discipline and so very much more. Check out these pics and remember every one is only cloth and thread. 

The streets are cobblestone and the shops are similar to Old Town Albuquerque, but the prices are much higher. Here there were also many galleries where every type of art was displayed from painting to pottery to carvings. 

Of course my favorite art is below but I will leave it to you to decide which one 😁

The town is quaint in every way. We sat on a stone wall in the town square to eat lunch (yes, a bag lunch) while a violinist played for tips beside us. It was magical to say the least. 

This brief blog can't begin to show how cool these areas are. It will have to suffice to say it is already on our bucket list for a return, and a much longer stay.

The next and final post from Albuquerque will cover the day we spent on Sandia Peak. We had incredible vistas and scenery as we hiked about 5 miles through the rocks, woods and snow.

All of that in the next post of... The Next Hundred Miles. 

Albuquerque - Wow!

Today we leave Albuquerque en route to Moab but just have to say that our time in Albuquerque was an unexpected delight. 

We can't thank Kris and Jan enough for the incredible hospitality. They took us through the Breaking Bad hot spots, showed us the balloon fiesta park, shared a couple of thier favorite eateries, and made some must see recommendations that were amazing. 

Kris and Jan at El Pinto

Some of the famous Breaking Bad sites. Can you identify them?

(Note in that last pic the current owner was yelling at us to move on)

We also got to see where the world famous Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is held. Imagine this view of 500 balloons 

We closed out our time with Kris and Jan at a wonderful micro brew (Steel Benders - in a restored / converted steel yard) for some incredible brews and burgers.

One of their recommendations for us was to take the train to Santa Fe. This train has double decker observation cars and the line goes through a reservation that you can't access any other way. In fact the train conductor announced that taking pictures while crossing the reservation was prohibited. And best of all, a day pass ticket was only 6$ pp.

Since this is already long and we have much more to show, I am going to end this post here and continue in a couple to follow where we go through Santa Fe, old town Albuquerque, and some of the most incredible scenery you will ever see as we hiked the trails of Sandia Peak at well over 10k feet  

Thanks again to Kris and Jan. We hope to see you on the road along one of our... Next Hundred Miles 

Moving Westward

Good morning friends,

We have finally gone outside our comfort zone. By that I mean we have left the places we were already familiar with and began staying at places we are visiting for the first time. We are also leaving Texas.

We drove along HWY 29 out of Georgetown and the wild flowers were incredible!  

Our first stop was in Junction TX where we boondocked for free on a city park beside the Llano river. Really nice and the weather was in the high 70s during the day and high 50s at night. No AC required. We parked right beside a small dam and listened to the water all night. Very cool.

This park had flooded pretty severely last year so there were a few trees which had been broken off. A local chain saw artist worked on the stumps and made them an attraction. Here is one of them

We left Junction headed for another free city park in Levelland Tx. Believe it or not this park provides free utilities (electric and water) and they also have a dump station. How cool is that! But when we arrived there was a road construction crew who had the entrance to the park dug up for repairs and there was no way in.  Ugh!

Fortunately there was another similar park 25 miles away in Littlefield TX, which is the home town of country music legend Waylon Jennings. And you guessed it, the park was named in his honor. Because it was late when we got there and was raining pretty steady, we neglected to get pictures (these are web shots). Suffice it to say we had a gravel site with 30A electric and water, and it was all free!

This morning we awoke to 42 degrees and a slight drizzle. We hit the road early, officially going west out of Texas. We we're headed toward New Mexico on Hwy 84. Our destination was Tijeras NM. 

Along the way I found my legacy. I never dreamed there was a Terry county in Texas. Since I am the only Terry, it must be named for me! (Pic of GPS screen showing that we were in Brownfield city, Terry county, and the great state of Texas)

Of course no border crossing would be complete without the welcome sign picture. For us this is the first of many to come. By the way, it seems that crappy little border towns are the norm for both old and New Mexico 😁

The drive into NM took us up in elevation to as high as 7,000 ft. The temps kept dropping and got as low as 33 degrees when our GPS started warning of icy roads. This is what we were seeing. 

Yes, in fact that is snow. We ended up pulling off the side of the road for a bit until the road cleared but we were toasty in our RV. We made lunch and a pot of coffee and watched the snow fall.  It was honestly a pretty cool (no pun intended) drive. 

We made it unscathed to our destination, Hidden Valley RV Park where we have a site perched on the side of a mountain. The park is a bit of a rack-n-stack (small sites side by side) but its only 20 miles outside of Albuquerque with incredible views. 

We plan to be here for 5 days and have a meet-up planned with some friends Kris and Jan.  They are going to show us the memorable locations where Breaking Bad was filmed around Albuquerque. How cool!

When we leave here we head to Moab Utah to visit several national parks. 

That drive will be about 250 miles but we'll just count that as 2 installments of... The Next Hundred Miles 😀

Last day in Georgetown - 20 Mile Bike Ride

Over the years that we have lived in Texas, Cedar Breaks ACOE Park in Georgetown has always been one of our "go to" camping spots. One reason is the incredible hike/bike path that goes from the park all the way into the town square of Georgetown along the San Gabriel River. It does multiple low water crossings, passes several water falls and winds through several small city parks. 

The round trip is over 20 miles, which includes several "walk up" hills. It is not an easy trail but worth every ache and pain. 

And while we did the complete ride, I have to confess that as we crested one of the easier hills, a nice young lady walking her dogs told us "great job guys!". I'm sure that was only because we looked near death 😁.

I'll let the pics tell the rest of the story.  

That's it for today. Tomorrow we'll tick off another small piece of.... The Next Hundred Miles. 

A few contented days in Georgetown

The weather here has been rainy so we have spent time doing things that don't get us wet 😁

On Friday we visited with a dear family friend Alma. One of the sweetest people you could meet. She is as sharp and fiesty as ever. It was a great visit. 

Then we decided to go snake shopping. 

(Actually we went to Ikea. What a great store. It has been at least 10 years since we have been in one and were not disappointed.)

On Saturday we went to Rockdale to visit my youngest son Jon, his lovely wife Amber and got to see their pride and joy, and our newest grand baby Octavia. What a cutie!

We ended the day with some adult beverages and a campfire lakeside that made for a perfect ending.

This morning we hopped on the Harley and rode some incredible Hill Country back roads to visit a piece of property we used to own on the banks of Lake Travis. Not much has changed but it reminded us of why we bought the land in the first place. We had dreams of building there but never made it happen. 

Now we are waiting on the arrival of the kids who are coming to see us at the park. This is likely to be the last time we get to see them for a year or so.

Tuesday we depart this beautiful park and finally begin the real adventure. That is when we head West and visit places we have never been before. Our first stop is Junction Tx where we will be staying at a small but free city park. Then on to Levelland, Tx for another free stay at their city park. On Friday we finally exit Texas and move into Albuquerque New Mexico. 

We are seeing the country little by little and looking forward to... The Next Hundred Miles.