Oct 7, 2012 - Day 100

Found out that the "Mass Ascension" yesterday was cancelled due to high winds. Since it and today's event were to occur about 0545, we did not get up to see it. We heard late this afternoon that this morning's "Mass Ascension" did get airborne. Mass Ascension is where as many as possible of the hot air balloons inflate and get airborne. Some of the 'shape' balloons, like the Wells Fargo Stagecoach, did not go due a requirement of lower winds. There are two types of balloons; gas balloons and hot air balloons. Gas balloons are filled with...

Oct 6, 2012 - Day 99

Today was a another fairly quiet day. This afternoon we drove up to Albuquerque to visit my cousin Ray and his wife, Terri. Had a very nice visit. The winds were too strong this morning for the Balloon Fiesta Mass Ascencion. We are planning to go tomorrow afternoon and catch the evening balloon glow.

Oct 4, 2012 - Day 97

We left the Farmington area this morning to drive over to Bloomfield and pick up US-550 and head south, passing Angel Peak National Recreation Site and the cities of Cuba, San Ysidro and Bernalillo to reach I-25 heading towards Albuquerque. We continued south on I-25 to the city of Belen, about 30 miles, and the La Mirada RV Park. We chose this park based on our previous visit 2 years ago and the fact that it is close to my cousin. This evening we drove over to my cousin Rik's house for a visit with him and his sister, Chris.

Oct 1, 2012 - Down the road a bit.

We slept in a bit this morning as I had woken for 2 hours in the middle of the night. But we finally got on the road around 9:30. As we headed down I-40 we had quite a bit of a side wind and a lot of traffic. I was glad to see the Santa Rosa turn off as we would follow Hwy 54 again. First order of business was finding gas. Good old GasBuddy came in handy as most of the stations were $3.769 and $3.79. They listed one for $3.52. We did have one slight problem in that it was full when we drove by and there wasn't enough of a driveway for us...

Oct 13, 2010 - Day 90/91 - Belen, NM

We spent two days in Belen visiting cousins on my mother's side. Unfortunately, we only got to see two of my aunt's three children. I had not seen Christy since 1962 and if my memory is correct, I last saw Rik in 1980. Their brother Ray did not get a chance to come down to Belen. The town of Belen has a tribute to 9-11 and also a permanent Cresch and cutouts of Joseph and Mary and a church. We were surprised and proud to see a permanent Christian display.

Oct 11, 2010 - Day 89 - Holbrook, AZ to Belen, NM

We left Holbrook, AZ this morning on our trek east to visit some cousins near Albuquerque, NM. We’re going to have to return to this area to visit the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert in Arizona and Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Taos in New Mexico. The weather was clear all day. We spent most of the drive above 6000 ft, topping out at 7200 feet just west of Grants. We are srill trying to find out what a Safety Corridor is, but do not know at the present time. After passing Gallup and Fort Wingate, NM, we crossed the Continental Divide again....

Oct 10, 2008 - Another Elks Lodge

It was quite a nice trip across New Mexico - Albuquerque was a bit dicey with hills and a lot of traffic but we got turned left/south on I-25 with no problem. The GPS took us right to the Elks Lodge but, alas, there was no electric as listed in the book. But it was nice to boondock with the slides open. The people there were very friendly. Ron whet over to pay - but none was required. They even sent home a hot dog for me as it was hot dog night. Ron was able to unhitch and go across the street to get diesel at $3.59 which is the best price...