July 2nd, 2010 Cripple Creek, CO

When we planned this trip we thought we would be in Estes Park for the holiday weekend but it didn't work out that way. I called my cousin in Denver and ask if we could hang out with them and their friends over the holiday. Since they all have RV's they make a point of camping out on the holiday weekends and others. The problem was that the state park they were camping in is extremely popular and reservations are made months in advance and at that point the campground was full. However there was a private campground about nine miles from the state park so we got reservations there.
What we didn't know was that the nine miles was mostly straight up. Our campground is one of three in the U.S. over 10,000 feet in elevation! But the view is great. Both Betsy and I think that this is probably the best view of all the campgrounds we've ever stayed. After settling in, we headed over to the park to meet up with "our Colorado friends". They have been friends for years and since my cousin and his wife are in the group they have graciously allowed us to join them in their travels. I'm pretty sure that Betsy and I are on probation status at this point, but we haven't been kicked out yet. With Betsy and I the group consists of four couples with a total of five dogs. What a sight we are when we move about. They are really a fun group.
Top Photo--Starship Avion in the mountains.
Bottom Photo--Local Wildlife

July 1st, 2010 Northern NM & Southern CO

Today was one of those days spent on the interstate system getting from point A to B. It was about 225 miles but the new vehicle pulling the trailer is not as "comfortable" pulling as the truck was. Maybe I'll get used to it one of these days. We flew up I-25 to Trinidad, CO and Trinidad Lake State Park. Our campground directory said that we should use exit 14B off of the interstate. We passed up exit 14 thinking that the next one would be exit 14B. To our surprize the next exit was 13A, with no mention of the state park. So we went north another exit, and turned around for another crack at finding the correct exit. This time, as we headed south, we saw a sign saying that the state park was actually exit 13B. Yeah, we found it! Well, not so fast. When we approached we saw construction and a sign saying that commercial trucks should not use the exit due to tight turns. So we continued south and found an unobstructed exit to use and headed north again for attempt number 3. At this point the old Kingston
Trio song called MTA (Metropolitan Transit Authority) was playing in my head. It was a song about poor old Charley who didn't have a nickel and therefore couldn't get off of the train. We did finally find the correct exit off of the interstate only to find that most of Trinidad was under road construction too. Somehow we found our way through the maze and caught the road to the state park. We wanted to spend some time in Trinidad because it is a neat little town, but by the time we arrived at the park we were exhausted. We pulled into our spot, didn't even unhook, did some laundry, took showers, ate, and went to bed. Another exciting day on the road.

June 29, 30th Ojo Caliente, Santa Fe, Taos

Our next stop was Ojo Caliente, NM which is a tiny town between Santa Fe and Taos. Ojo Caliente Resort is located there and has hot springs and pools. Betsy and I were not interested in the springs and pools but we decided to stay in their campground just for the convient location to both Santa Fe and Taos. We visited Santa Fe first and found it to be pretty much like it was when we visited several years ago. We did have a little scare while there. We used the St. Francis hotel patio to get our bearings and then headed off to see the sights. We stopped at a gallery about three blocks from the hotel and Betsy realized that she had left her purse on the patio. We rushed back and the purse was gone. However some dear soul had taken it to the hotel desk. Thank you, whoever you are. We looked in several stores, found the old plaza where the Indian blanket traders sell their jewelry, and enjoyed ourselves very much. The next day we reversed direction and headed north to Taos. Taos is smaller than Santa Fe but the old plaza is very similiar. It has galleries, tourist shops, cafe's. Betsy visited the Nicholi Fechin museum. As mentioned on the last post, antique stores will let Tipper come in, but museums won't. Tipper and I waited in the car. For some dumb reason I was having a sinus meltdown that day and didn't really feel well so we didn't do the pueblo. However we did return to Ojo Caliente a different route which took us over the Royal Gorge on US 64. The gorge is this steep canyon, created by water erosion, with the highway bridge over it. We stopped by the side of the road and started to walk to the middle of the bridge, but Betsy turned back when she felt the bridge move as traffic went over it. I made it to the middle, took a few pictures and retreated as fast as possible to terra firma.
Top Photo--Royal Gorge. That's the river way down there.
Middle--Camel Rock outside Santa Fe.
Bottom--Taos flower cart.

June 27 & 28 Albuquerque

We have always pretty much considered Albuquerque somewhere to "get thru", but this time we've decided to explore a little bit since we have time. Enchanted Trails RV park is very close to Route 66 and have a ton of info about the sights in Albuquerque. I learned that the original Route 66 thru town was not an east- west route but rather a north-south highway. I believe that was the case until something like 1937 when it was re-routed. The north-south original highway is basically 4th street now. We took the time to drive it and saw several of the old Route 66 survivor gas stations, motels, and tourists courts. The east west route is now Central Ave and it too has several old buildings. We did a typical tourist thing and visited Old Town where all the shops are located. What we discovered was that if you venture into the small streets, and alley's you will find some real neat merchandise as opposed to the tourist junk on the main streets. We also found the "antique mile" and visited some shops. The first one we stopped in was run by a very nice, funny, older couple that we really enjoyed talking to. We found items for both Cuz John and wife Elaine. We always ask if Tipper can come in to the antique shops and almost every time he's been allowed in. He's a very good shopper. Almost as good as Betsy!
Top Photo--Old neon sign. Very cool.
Middle--New Mexico must be the place to grow Hollyhocks. We see them everywhere.
Bottom Photo--2nd story trailer. You don't see this very often.

June 26, 2010 Silver City to Albuquerque

Today was a travel day, but we still managed to find something new and different. We headed out of Silver City headed for northbound I-25 but to get there we first had to go 54 miles SE and then another 50 miles NE.
After what seemed like backtracking for an hour or so we finally arrived in Hatch, NM on I-25. Hatch boasts that it is the Chili Pepper Capital of the World and if they say so it must be true. Cousin John told me that there is a quirky little hamburger stand called Sparky's in Hatch. Sparky's speciality is the world famous green chili cheeseburger. While it was only 10:30 AM we couldn't forgo the opportunity to taste one of these treats. Betsy really liked hers. I liked mine until the green chili's kicked in. Whew!! We had to eat outside because of Tipper but the waitress came out and ask if she could bring him a treat. We said sure, and thought she would return with a doggie biscuit. Well, she returned with a bowl of pulled pork and she sat down and fed Tippy!! Now that's service.
The trip up I-25 was uneventful and we arrived at Enchanted Trails RV Park just in time for a rain squall.
Enchanted Trails is a "vintage friendly" RV park. They even have four vintage trailers that you can rent for the night. Cool.
Photo 1 Sparky's, Hatch, NM
Photo 2 Touch of class inside Sparky's
Photo 3 Hudson Super Six
Photo 4 Hudson Hornet

June 25, 2010 Pinos Altos, NM

Just six miles from Silver City is another mining town called Pinos Altos (Tall Pines). It's higher up in the mountains but much smaller in population. A group of forty-niners drifting home from CA discovered gold in Bear Creek and before you knew it a town had sprung up. When the gold was plentiful the population was around ten thousand but it's dwindled down to less than a thousand hardy souls. The buildings are somewhat ramshackle, a majority of the population appears to be in the geriatric hippie category. But you have to give the old town some credit as it's hanging in there. I wonder why many of the old mining towns seem to attract the hippie element? Actually I think I could be right in there with them, except Betsy has standards. We stopped at the community art gallery and we bought a small painting and it's found a place on the trailer bulkhead. We also found the US Post Office, ice cream parlor, small cafe, antique and collectible store. All of those enterprises were all in the same building. We had an ice cream cone, Betsy wrote post cards, Tipper presented himself to all the patrons in hopes of being petted, and I sat there and tried to remember the words to The Age of Aquarius. We also saw a great bumper sticker. A great afternoon in Pinos Altos.

June 24, 2010 Green Valley to Silver City, NM

Well gang, as promised we are back on the road. Get the women and children out of the streets!! It's been almost seven months since we've had any long term trailer livin'. We arrived in Silver City, NM at about noon, found ye old trailer park, unhooked, set up, ate lunch, and immediately got back into the SUV and headed for downtown. Silver City is an old mining town at 5900 feet above sea level, home to Billy The Kid, and Billy Casper who was a professional golfer years ago. We wanted to visit because it's known as an artist community with a couple of good antique stores. Another draw was the downtown architecture. Shortly after Silver City was founded the city fathers had the good sense to enact a building code that said all commercial buildings had to be build from adobe or brick. They avoided the catastrophic fires that plagued many other western towns. Consequently the downtown section is perfectly preserved. Many of the buildings are decorated in the art deco style, others are brightly colored. Our biggest treat of the day came from nature. On the drive over we commented several times on the beautiful cumulus clouds and that we could actually feel humidity. At dusk we were treated to a thunderstorm. We tried to remember the last time we had been rained upon and decided it was probably back in early April.

June 25,2010 After the rain last evening, we awoke to a perfectly clear blue sky and bright sunshine. Yes it supposed to be almost 90 degrees, but that beats the 109 that we left in Green Valley. In our travel brochures we found something that intrigues us. It's called City of Rocks and is located about 30 miles south of Silver City. It's not really a city with buildings but a grouping of huge boulders in an otherwise rock free landscape. The amazing thing is the theory on how the boulders got there. According to geologists a volcano erupted about 33 million years ago and threw these boulders to their present site. The volcano was located near the Albuquerque which is almost 200 miles away!!! The site is now a state park with a small campground for trailers, but there are also several tent camping sites located right next to the rocks. Some of them are very cool. This would be a good place to bring the whole family and camp for a few days.