Wintering in New Mexico

If you are checking in to see if we are on the move again, the answer is yes we are. Just not in the fashion that we were last year.

We made a very difficult decision not to re-launch the boat and head south. We already had our house sitters lined up and our dining room was starting to look a lot like a warehouse. A lot of factors played a part in this decision. After we made the decision Jeff took the opportunity to go back to work (for what period of time we don’t know). He is working/living in Eunice, New Mexico in our RV. Talk about different from last year at this time – wow! He is in the middle of the desert out here. Cactus and red sand everywhere, along with rattlesnakes, although we haven’t seen any snakes up close and personal yet and I hope we don’t! It is so flat here we can see the edge of the earth. There are oil and gas wells everywhere. If we go outside and look off to the right we can see an oil well in someone’s back yard. Neither of us had been west of the Mississippi and look at this as another opportunity to see what this great country of ours has to offer. We plan to take advantage of the time out here to do some sightseeing.

The first weekend I was here we drove north to Albuquerque and Sante Fe. It was the 37th annual Balloon Fiesta with over 600 hot-air balloons participating. Spectacular doesn’t come close to describing seeing all those balloons inflate, lift off and drift away from you. There was every color, shape and size of balloon imaginable. As we got close to Albuquerque the landscape started to change appearance – there were mountains – the Sandia Mountains, although they sure look different than the ones we see on the eastern side of the country – they are barren dirt and rock, with some small scrubby bushes that we were told are mesquite and lots of cactus. We took in horse racing last Sunday. There is a horse track/racing/training facility here with the season ending sometime in December.

I have been out here for two weeks now and it isn’t such a shock when I go outside anymore. I must be getting used to it. But I will be glad to get home and see some trees and rolling hills. I will be leaving here in a couple of days to drive home and from then on I think I will fly when I come out. Three days on the road was a long time, although without pulling the RV it will only take two, but still!