NEW MEXICO             NEW MEXICO
We arrived in Bernalillo, New Mexico on November 1, 2013.  We went straight west on the I40 from Amarillo.  Bernalillo is about 8 miles out of Alburquerque.  It is a smaller centre and this KOA campground is off the highway so it is nice and quiet and has good internet.  We started to see the mountains when we were halfway between the Texas border and Alburquerque (ABQ from now on - LOL).  It was hilly and lots of green on the hills, a lot of cedar bushes.  By the time we got here Don was very tired of up and down driving.  The highways were very busy and there was truck after truck both directions.  We are not used to seeing that many big trucks.
We were both pretty RV lagged and were happy to land somewhere for a week.

We spent a day doing absolutely nothing, a little shopping and looking at the scenery.  We stopped in at a Casino and spent a couple of relaxing hours.  Between the 2 of us we spent 25.00 and that included lunch and all the non-alcoholic drinks we could handle.
Yesterday we went out on a National Scenic Byway to Jemez Mountain.  The day started out sunny but as we climbed up to 8500 feet in the mountains we experienced a variety of weather including some snow.
The temperature at the top was fairly chilly as well  7 C.  The byway was absolutely beautiful and was about 150 miles round trip.

I love the Pueblo style homes, this one was way up on top of a mountain and seems an extension of the landscape and colors.   We passed through some Pueblos and many of these old adobe buildings were abandoned but a lot of the homes that were occupied had beautiful ristras (strings of dried red chili peppers) hanging in the sun to dry.  We stopped in at the Jemez Pueblo visitor centre to see some ruins and learn about the history of the area.   We both enjoyed the ruins a lot!

 The Jemez State Monument is a small ruins area in the town of Jemez Springs, NM. It features the ruins of a 500 year old Indian village and a church dating back to 1610.

I will be looking this up and reading more about it when I have time.  This was a beautiful area and it is amazing that these buildings were built in the 1600's.

This is a Spanish Horno which is a wood fired oven used to cook bread, make corn pudding or roast chilis.  These were introduced to New Mexico by the early Spanish colonists.
http://www.nmmonuments.org/jemez
The byway took us through the Valles Caldera National preserve.  This is where we started to climb to a elevation of 8500 feet and then,

yup, we started to see some snow.  Along the way there were so many beautiful things to see like this pretty little waterfall. 

At this overlook  you can see the remains of one of the 3 super volcano's in the United States.  Not what I expected at all.  You could drive down and view elk and what not but we decided we could see elk at home (hee hee).

We got out and walked about at this pretty little overlook - Don had to turn around and go back as we went right by it at first.  My only complaint about this whole drive was that the stops and attractions were not well marked.

 Can you see the road we took way, way down there?

The oak trees were a gorgeous shade of rusty brown and the pine trees had the most beautiful bark (like my sister Jen said, it looks like brownies)
We meant to go to White Rock and then through Santa Fe and then back on the interstate to ABQ.  But . . . somehow we ended up in Los Alamos.  As we drove into the city we were stopped at a check point where we had to produce our ID.  It it because we were entering the Los Alamos nuclear lab area.  We decided to have lunch and go to a museum there.  We plugged in the address for a diner and thought the GPS was on crack as it did not seem possible for a diner to be tucked away off the main street.  But there it was and it was very rustic, but we had a great lunch! The history of this area was also very interesting and something I want to read more about.  In the 1940's there was a wartime mission here to develop the atomic bomb - it was called the Manhattan Project.  The museum showed us how it was to live a life of secrecy that all who worked here and their families were subjected to.

 I love the colors of the leaves mixed in with rabbit brush and pine - amazing.

The scenery was made even more amazing by the scattered clouds that let light shine through and light up certain trees and parts of the mountain.

Some more beautiful adobe/pueblo architecture as we drove through Santa Fe.  We will be going to Santa Fe in a couple of days on another scenic byway.

Today was a really nice day, no wind and mostly sunny.  We set out to find me a purse and try to get my glasses fixed and also a new glass for my phone.  Guess I have broken everything I have now so should be good to go.  This was a high tech parking system that we used at Old Town ABQ.  Basically, your car spot has a number on it and they correspond to the slots in the blue box.  You fold your 5.00 bill up very small and stick it in the slot - using the metal pusher if necessary.  This made me giggle!

Old Town follows the traditional Spanish pattern of a central plaza and church surrounded by homes and businesses.  Many of the historic homes are still standing and some have been renovated.  There are shops, galleries and restaurants.  The colors of the shops and patios were lovely.

 Don found himself a friend while I was checking out the shops.

This church is the oldest continuous used church in ABQ.
We went to a restaurant called Casa de Ruiz Church Street Cafe. This property was originally the residence of the Ruiz family and was built in the early 1700's. It is the oldest residence in ABQ and one of the oldest structures in the state of New Mexico.

We sat outside on the back patio and other than a couple of pesky wasps and some sparrows who were eyeing up our crumbs had an enjoyable lunch.

They brought us amazing tortilla chips with fresh salsa to start.  I ordered this enchilada meal, it came with beans and my choice of squash, rice or spinach.  They have red chili and green so I asked for "Christmas" which is both. I got them on the side as I was not sure how spicy they would be.  They were both great but I loved the green more.

 Luckily our waiter brought out these sopapillas before we had finished eating our meals.  I decided to leave the rest of my enchilada and have one of these delicious little beauties dipped in honey and go back to the enchilada if I could.    Nope - couldn't do it

Finally, the sparrow says!

There is a museum a couple of blocks from the Old town.  One of us did not want to go inside - ahem!
This was a life sized sculpture representing the settlers who made the difficulty journey from Mexico, Spain and Portugal in 1598 to establish their homes in what used to be called New Spain (and of course now called New Mexico),  All along the sculptures are the names of the settlers and where they came from.  Very impressive.

These last 2 are just shots from the car while driving around ABQ.  Gotta love those mountains.








    

                                Texas!
We left Liberal, Kansas and drove on highway 54 kitty corner across Oklahoma on the advice of our next door neighbor at the Western Star RV Ranch.  It was a great highway and for the most part divided so easier than the last few days of driving.  We hooked up with the 287 straight into Amarillo.
 We met up with a couple, Glenn and Susan from Alberta in North Platt and they stayed at the same place in Kansas as we did as well.  We went over to their 5th wheel after supper and played a dice game.  They are also going to spend most of the winter in Mesa so we will likely see them again!

We checked into the Amarillo RV park which is a nicely laid out park, very nice staff and all amenities, except for terrible internet.  I am using the club house internet to do this blog and the staff assure me they are working on getting better internet.
We drove past may ranches, milo and corn crops, and feed lots. For the most part we have seen ranch after ranch since we left Estevan. This is definitely cattle country!  It became more apparent as we hit Texas.   The RV park told us about a restaurant called the Big Texan Ranch.  They advertise a 72 oz steak with all the fixings.  If you can eat it all in an hour it is free!  We just had to check it out.  We were picked up in a limo - check it out.  Apparently they have shot some scenes for  movies in this restaurant. |It was also on an episode of Man vs. Food.

                                                    The horn moo'd which was pretty amusing

                                           There was a hotel attached - also in bright colors and there is a gambling area as well as a photo shoot area with a maze.  They also have a huge gift shop, and a bar and a fudge store.  Lots of places to spend your money here!

                                              Heh, I think these are funny, but they drive Don crazy
http://bigtexan.com/live-stream/   you can click on this link and watch people trying to eat the monster steak.  Sounds disgusting to me  - if it was a 72 oz Mars bar I might give it a shot.

 This is my 6 oz filet - which was really good and a raspberry wheat beer which was also really good - they make their own beer.

                                           This is where they sit and try to eat the meal in an hour.  

It is hard to show you how big these pieces of cake are, but the plates are big dinner plates - not the little plates they usually show the desert on.

                    Remember the plate with my steak on?  well its the same plate under this half a cow.

Look how many people have actually eaten that - yikes!  Seriously that steak could feed a whole family of 8 I bet.  As we were eating a trio of men came along to each table and sang country music (you would have LOVED it mom).  They were pretty cute.  This was a fun place to go once but by they time you tip the limo driver (twice), the singers and the waiter plus pay for a fairly expensive steak . . .

                                       This was free however - and pretty hilarious I might add!
The next day was nice and warm and I was able to start the day out in capris and sandals.  You know its a good day when you can get up and do that!  We headed out to an RV museum which was really fun.

                                       I just love the blue stove and sink in this 1970's model.

This is the motor home driven by the Gornike family in the Robin Williams movie RV.  Notice that cool van in the background too!

Can you believe that this is an air conditioner for cars from 1940's?  It is called a Kool air and sold for 13.00 and attached to the outside of the car.

This was the way oil was dispensed until the mid 40's when they started using 1 quart cans.  All of the items in this museum were really well taken care of or restored beautifully.  It was a fun (and free) place that we both enjoyed.
http://www.rvmuseum.net/1974-winnebago.htm
The golds and greens and blue interiors of these vintage motor homes was super fun to see.

Then we headed out to the Cadillac Ranch

 It was very windy!  If it wasn't for the wind it would have been hot out but the wind was cool.

" Standing along Route 66 west of Amarillo, Texas, Cadillac Ranch was invented and built by a group of art-hippies imported from San Francisco. They called themselves The Ant Farm, and their silent partner was Amarillo billionaire Stanley Marsh 3. He wanted a piece of public art that would baffle the locals, and the hippies came up with a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin. Ten Caddies were driven into one of Stanley Marsh 3's fields, then half-buried, nose-down, in the dirt (supposedly at the same angle as the Great Pyramid of Giza). They faced west in a line, from the 1949 Club Sedan to the 1963 Sedan de Ville, their tail fins held high for all to see on the empty Texas panhandle."

 http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2220

Look how the paint is just caked on and dripping down even.  There are layers upon layers of paint on these old cars.  I would say each persons art work has a very short life span before it is painted over.

Today we drove out to the Palo Duro Canyon.  It is about 30 minutes south of Amarillo and is the second largest canyon in the U.S.
This canyon is quite unique in that you can pretty much drive all through the canyon floor and get out to hike and sight see at a number of locations.

                                                      I never get tired of the beautiful red rock.

              the trees are just starting to lose their leaves so the colors in the canyon were really amazing.

At a few spots along the driving path the water is right up to the road and there are markers showing you how high the water is if the road is not visible.  A lot of the roads were covered with red dirt so we assume there was rain here in the last little while

We were not lucky enough to see any wildlife or birds up close. We had packed a lunch so after  lunch we went on a little hike down to a creek.  It was very enjoyable but chilly, socks and shoes and jacket needed today. The temperature wasn't bad but the wind was cool again today.

The Civilian Conservation Corps sent 7 companies to this park from 1933 to 1937 to develop the road access to the canyon floor and the visitor centre, cabins and shelters.

This was their daily routine which I found really interesting.  The workers first consisted of young men and then grew to include veterans. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) were created as part of an unemployment relief measure in the 1930's.  They were paid about a dollar a day. The average enrolee was between 18 and 19 years old, weighed 147 lbs and was 5 ft 8 inches tall.  In the first 3 months in the camps they averaged a weight gain of 11 lbs.  Total cost of this program was 3 billion dollars and the value of the work was 2 billion dollars.  It was a pretty smart way for the government to get a lot of these projects done and help a lot of people at the same time.

Campgrounds - Amarillo RV Park  - would give this a 10 out of 10 - once they fix the wifi
Restaurants - The Big Texan and Cracker Barrel ( we love cracker barrel, but I am smarter this trip and stuck to the veggie soup and salad special)

I forgot to show the tower at the train station in North Platt and also the big piles of grains that we would see periodically along the way.  We saw one pile of corn that looked like a pile of gold - of course I was too busy gawking at it and forgot to snap a pic.

Off to New Mexico tomorrow - we will be there for a week or longer!

                        Four States - Four Nights

After a very enjoyable and busy summer we began our trip south by crossing the border at Noonan on October 25, 2013.   There was no one in front of us at the crossing so it was a quick stop and the border guard was very pleasant.  We spent the week prior visiting with family in Estevan and it was great fun!  We enjoyed the muffins my mom sent for the last 3 on the run breakfasts.

We headed towards Minot and then basically followed highway 83 all the way to Liberal, Kansas where we are right now.  We also overnighted  in Bismarck ,ND, Valentine, NE, North Platte NE.

 The landscape was interesting as there were lots of corn and sunflower crops in the process of being harvested.  The contrast between the black sunflowers (which looked like silly little aliens with their huge heads and scrawny bodies) and the pale yellow corn was very pleasing.  There were lots of hills and what not to keep it interesting, however the last half of Kansas was very flat much like southern Sask.  So far this sounds like a Les Nessman crop report I think.

 Sorry, blurry again, but drive by shootings are not the best.  These are sunflowers.  I was dying to get out and take pictures but you are not able to just pull over in a big unit.  Also shoulders here are pretty narrow!

This last picture is a crop of Milo ready to be harvested.  The picture is blurry but you get the idea of the beautiful color.  We saw some of this crop in NE and a lot in Kansas.  Turns out this is the number one crop harvested in Kansas.

http://www.ksgrains.com/sorghum/MiloMania04.pdf     

I was reminded of both my nephews on this trip.

Of course this one is self explanatory, but the other was when we went by Lake Sakakawea which always reminds me of my nephew Ben.

                                                     We saw a lot of these in North Dakota.

This town was called Valentine and there were hearts everywhere!  Street signs even had hearts on them.

This was the night we stayed right on the borders of Nebraska and South Dakota.  If we would have pulled the motorhome up a few feet we could have each slept in a different state.

                                    this was at the worlds largest railway yard in North Platte, Nebraska.

                                                          That's a whole lot of humping!

                                                        I totally should have been a farmer!

We saw a bit of wildlife along the way, the usual raptors, ducks and geese.  We also saw some pelicans, cormorants and pheasants.  Not many hooved animals dead or alive.  We saw a huge flock,  I am guessing, thousands of black birds.  They looked really cool flying in huge flocks turning and making pretty decorations in the sky.

                                                  This is at our campground spot in Kansas

 I think that is Dorothy's house in the background,  it was a very windy day and Don had to hold on tight for most of the trip.   He was glad to get stopped.  There is a storm warning for this area tonight until midnight.  There are dark clouds and thunder in the distance.  Hopefully it will just pass by.  They are saying chance of big hail, but of course we are in Kansas so we immediately think - you know!

                                                    that thing was really rotating in the wind today.  

                                                                     Yes, yes we are
                        Off to Amarillo Texas tomorrow - hopefully we will land there for a few days.

Sorry - the next stuff is just so we can remember the places we stayed and the restaurants we ate at
Campgrounds -Bismark KOA  - nice place, clean, friendly, expensive like all KOA's
                        - North Platte Holiday Park RV - nice, clean, trees, friendly staff
Restaurants   - Olive Garden  -  mmmm I missed Olive garden, they have the best all you can eat salad!