My Journey to Albuquerque

Flagstaff was my first stop on the way to Albuquerque. The temperature was much cooler than Phoenix, but the sun beating down on the roof of the motorhome still made the inside too warm! Once the sun went down, things cooled off fast....down into the 40s! My kind of evening temp!

My next stop was Red Rock State Park, just east of Gallup, New Mexico. I had stopped there before and I like it back then and nothing changed! It's a beautiful RV area that they have. But I don't understand why it's not in the New Mexico State Parks booklet....anyone reading know the answer to that one?

I was on the road by noon the next day, Oct 2nd after getting all my business calls & internet work done. I knew I would be more limited once at the Balloon RV area because I couldn't get a site with electricity.

Between Albuquerque & Red Rock, there's a town called Grant. I'm not sure if Grant normally has high winds or if I just hit the day that they did. It was in this area that I noticed a noise....a noise that sounded like something was loose. I moved to the shoulder of the freeway and slowed down. I still heard the noise, so I decided I better pull off the freeway and take a look outside. My worst fear was tire problems.

Everything looked okay on the drivers side, so did the back side. The passenger side showed a different story. I had velco'd by awning arms so that they couldn't open without removal of the velco. However, even after having a new locking/release lever installed, the level had switched to open! The awning had slowly started to unravel and was about 2/3 unraveled when I stopped. The fix was easy...take the velco off the arms, open up the awning, close it up and resecure the velcro! Twenty minutes later I was on the freeway again, feeling alittle "smug" that I had solved my "first crisis" as a single RVer. I just hope any others that come up will be as easy.

Albuquerque welcomed us (remember 5 cats & me!)....and so did the Balloon Fiesta RV area voluntaries! I was welcomed with smiles and cheerfulness that made me feel like they knew me! I was lucky enough to get a spot at the end of a row, which gives my cats plenty to look at when they aren't sleeping.

My friend, Carol Rayburn, was already here and in the middle of giving her tour group of over 100 guests their orientation. That gave me some time to get setup and organized before visiting with her that evening.

So went my first day in Albuquerque.....not bad so far for a beginner!
Till the next posting....:)