It,s The Gulf

August 24th & 25th

Heading out of San Antonio.

 

 

Heading into Galveston.  It was a beautiful day.  Our RV Park is right on the beach.  I could see the gulf from the motor home.  We set up and went to get dinner.  We had big plans for Sunday but we woke up to heavy rain.  Bruce went to the grocery.  It rained all day.  Oh well the sun will come out tomorrow I hope.

Heading East Across Texas

August 23rd

We headed south out of Pecos on Hwy 285 to Fort Stockton where we turned east on I-10.

We started out and the terrain was flat

When we turned east we saw a hugh windmill farm

The terrain quickly turned hilly.  We arrived at San Antonio and decided to stay in for the night.

We Have Got To Get A Move On

August 22nd

We  headed south on I-25 towards San Antonio, NM

 

New Mexico has a lot more than I thought.

People just seem to pick a spot and put a house there.

We turned east on Hwy 380 towards Roswell, NM

About 5 miles south of this spot is the Trinity Site where they set off the 1st atomic bomb.

We are back to up and down

A field of Cactus

 

 

We go through an area called the Valley of Fire.  It has a large area of malpais.

If you ever watched the John Wayne movie McClintock it was about the Lincoln County wars.  This is the town of Lincoln where Mr. Tusnstell had his store.  A lot of the original buildings are still here.

Bruce was excited.  CORN

When we got to Roswell we took Hwy 285 south to Pecos, TX at Roswell we saw hugh feed lots.

It appears that New Mexico has a lot of oil.

Pecan orchards

Lots and lots of oil

Well we got to Pecos they had one RV Park.  Thank goodness we could fit.

 We got settled and went out to eat.  The office lady told us about a Mexican restaurant so we headed there.  Well we order and they bring the salsa and chips OMG they were so hot.  Bruce said they weren't bad.  Then the food came.  I ate a little of it but my lips burned so bad I quit.  Bruce ate his and most of mine.  He will pay in the morning! 

The Best Made Plans

August 21st

Bruce decided Big Bear needed his oil changed and there was a Freightliner dealer across the road so he gets up early and goes over  to see if they can get us in.  They tell him it will be 3:00 at the earliest so we decide to stay an extra day and do the Turquoise Trail.  We deliver the Big Bear and head out.   We get on the trail and it has changed.  Lots of houses.  We get to Santa Fe and we decide we will do the High Road To Taos.  Well that didn't work we got lost and ended up on the road where the rock fell on the Greyhound Bus and killed all the people.  We get to Taos and Bruce says we don't have time to go to the Pueblo.  So he decides he will look at the map.  Now let me warn you if Bruce says let me see the map and he picks out a short cut.  Prepare yourself for a 2 hour tour.  We set out for Eagles Nest NM.  It is a ski area in the mountains.  It was beautiful and different from Albuquerque.  We continue east to I-25.  By now we are about 20 miles from Colorado and 150 miles from Albuquerque.  Bruce says I think I bit off a little more than I thought.  We head back as fast as we can go.  The Freightliner place closes at 7:00 and if we don't get there we won't have any where to sleep.  We rolled in at 6:30.  Cut it a little close.

Cactus along the Turquoise Trail.  If you look close you will see the flowers.

Sandia Mountains

The Eagle's Nest area.

 

The north east side of New Mexico Is large flat grassland.  Lots of cattle.

 

 

 

 

We Have To Get Serious

August 20th

We got up with a plan to go to the four corners and then head for Albuquerque.  We waited for the herd to leave.  I have to say this is the most beautiful RV Park we have ever stayed at.

 

They have set this park up in a canyon so where ever you look you see the rock.

The entrance to the canyon

They have these stands selling jewelry along the Hwy.

When we leave we find out that we have a problem with our leveling system.  So when we get to Kayenta we pull in for fuel and try to call for help.  We think we are going to have to go back to Flagstaff to a Camping World but Bruce trys calling our Camping World and they had him try pushing different buttons.  It finally worked and it reset and the error light went off.  By now it is getting late so we decide we will skip the Four Corners and head south on Hwy. 191 to I-40 and head into Albuquerque.

 

It is amazing how you drive along and everything is flat and up pops a rock

I think it is a hanging offense to hit a sheep on the Big Res

Lots of nothing

It's a whale!

More nothing

This is a modern day hogan.  Most homes have one of these.

What goes up must come down

Around Grant, NM we started seeing this ugly black stuff.  It is called El Malpais or the bad country in Spanish.  It is lava from a volcano that erupted a couple thousand years ago.

Historic Route 66 Bridge.

This is the Route 66 Casino about 9 miles from our stop.  We get there and get settled and head back to the casino for supper.

Monument Valley

August 19

We decided to take a tour into the valley because it is on the Navajo Reservation and you are only allowed to go in so far.  Last night we took a walk around the park.  We counted 30 rental RV's.  Later Bruce talked to the office girls and they told him there are only 10% Americans here.  Europeans fly into LA and rent an RV.  They have a circuit that they follow and Monument Valley is on it.  It gets kind of wild around 4:00 when they start piling in.  When we got on our tour there were only us and another couple from West Virginia and 14 people from Italy.  They were very polite but the guy in front of me had a deodorant problem.

 

This is our tour bus.  No windows and Bruce didn't fit in the seats.  We made it work.



The tour bus drivers are all Navajo.  They no 2 speeds, fast and stop.

They name all the rocks these are the mittens

This a traditional Navajo Hogan or house.

 

The inside is constructed of either Juniper or Cedar logs

When you enter the hogan you must go to the left and shake every one's hand and then you can sit down.

They call this one the 3 Sisters

This is JOHN FORD POINT.  It was his favorite place in the valley.

There are about 300 Navajos who live in the valley.  Some live in hogans and others have small homes.  The kids go to boarding school.  Even Navajo kids like basketball.

These are petroglyphs from the Anasazi people.

 

These are called the totems.  Scenes fron the Eiger Sanction were filmed on the top of the tall one.

Falling rock?

The cube

 Now if you remember our tour bus was open.  Red rock makes red dust.  They drive like maniacs.  We were covered in red dust when we got back.  I couldn't get a brush through my hair and I am sure glad no one got car sick because there were no car sick bags.  The water turned red when we took showers.  We cleaned up and headed north to the little town of Mexican Hat.

These are rocks from that area

Disney again

We headed back to camp and waited for the 4:00 herd.  We took Ziggy out about 9:00 and there were 2 rent-mes behind us waiting for another.  They were all out looking at the Big Bear.  They were from France.  We seemed to be one of the sights just like one of the monuments.