Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Rolling On Down The Road

It was about 6:00 am and it was time to rise and try to shine.  Thank goodness it wasn’t as cold this morning as it was yesterday, but we did wake to the sound of rain on the rooftop.  Too bad we had to get up, however, there were things to be done as this was a travel day.

Soon we were ready and heading east on I-40.  We are going as far as  Albuquerque for the night.  We didn’t have a firm plan in place when we left this morning, so, once we were on the road that was my task…to make a plan.  We

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continued to enjoy the rock formations that are so specific to this part of the country.

We made a stop at the Flying J in Winslow for fuel.  Considering all the hills from Vegas to Flagstaff, we got 8mpg.  Mark seemed good with that figure.

Once we were back on the road, I continued to work on our afternoon plan.  Soon, I looked up and realized that we were in

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New Mexico.  Wow…that means we just lost another hour and it is almost lunch time and I just had breakfast.  We decided to just have a snack for lunch and go out tonight for dinner.  You know the rule…no cooking on a travel day.

The winds have really picked up this afternoon and we are still about 100 miles out of Albuquerque making for a not so smooth of a drive.  I know Mark will be glad to get stopped for the day.

Finally, I have a plan in place.  We are going to stay on the parking lot at the Sandia Resort and Casino, about 12 miles north of I-40  and just off of I-25.  We will have to dry camp, but it is just for the evening.  This will work out great because we have a couple of other things we need to do that are on that side of town.

Yesterday, Mark backed into a tree at the RV Park and busted a tail light.  We located a Jeep dealership in Flagstaff, but they were out of the replacement lens.  The service tech found one in Albuquerque for us and they said they would hold it until we got here today.

We also realized that we would be in Albuquerque right in the middle of the Balloon Festival, which also takes place not too far from where we are parked.

In fact, we saw

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this sign just before our turn off to the

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casino.  Little did we know that this parking lot has been transformed into an

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RV Park for balloon watchers and

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we are right in the middle of it.  Jacks down, slides out…and we are ready for a great $12.00 buffet dinner at the Casino, $20 each worth of free play.  And, very hopefully come morning we will be able to enjoy some beautiful balloons.

But, for now, the sky

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is calling for rain, but

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the sunset just might scare the rain away.

2 comments:

  1. Hopefully you will see some great balloon shots. Say hi to Bill and Marty - our Habitat friends. His has long gray hair in a pony tail and looks a little like Cochise.

    Buckhorn is great! $30 a night is only $5 above our budget so we are indulging for a few days.

    Will we get to see you in FW this time? Kelly got a job in Dallas (yeah) and we will be hanging out there in a week.

    Be safe!

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