Even more balloon pictures

More balloon pictures

Balloon Fest One

On Friday, after the breakfast, we drove to ABQ. Got gas, went grocery shopping, and picked up a prescription at Wal-Mart. About 2:00 we went to the Balloon Fest. There are 30 LD’s here. There are more RV’s here then we have ever seen in one place. There must be a thousand at least. According to the newspaper, over one million people will attend at least one day of the Fest. It’s the largest collection of balloons in the world. There are 632 registered balloons.
On Friday there was a pot luck dinner. We made brownies. The only desert and a real hit. On Saturday morning, the first mass ascension took place at 7am. I was up by 6am. Carol watched the balloons out the back window while propped up in bed.  Quite a sight. Later in the morning we walked down to the launch field. The evening “glow” was cancelled because of rain & wind. If it’s too windy it’s not safe for the balloons. A “glow” is when a balloon is tethered to the ground but ignites the propane burner. The balloon glows in the dark. At 8:00 pm, there was a great fireworks show. We watched it out of our back window. Had a wonderful, unobstructed view. The insulated windows blocked out enough of the sound so Gopher wasn’t frightened as she is when she hears very loud noises.

Sunday: Rained almost all night. The field where the RV’s are parked is dirt. It’s an absolute quagmire in places. Our immediate area is OK. Mushy, but we can walk around. Other areas are impassable. A tow truck has been here most of the day pulling RV’s out of the mud. A friend let us borrow there car so we could go in town and do laundry. At 5:00 we had a pot luck supper in front of our parking space because it was one of the few dry places around. We walked down to the Glow around 6:00. There are dozens of food vendors, places selling souvenirs, and everything else you can imagine. There was a Spam booth giving away samples. We passed on that. Carol bought herself two long sleeve shirts. Watched the evening fireworks from the comfort of the camper. What an enjoyable time we both had.

Monday: The morning Mass Ascension was limited because of the wind. We went to the Balloon Museum then out to dinner with friends.

Southwest Lazy Daze Campout

September 29 through October 3

Drove to Mountainair for the Southwest Lazy Daze campout.
On the way, we stopped at the Gran Quivira, the largest of the Salinas pueblos. It was an important trade center for many years before and after, the arrival of the Spanish.
Picked up our mail at the post office. Had lunch at the Ancient Ways Restaurant. The campground is the Manzano Mountain SP. Our friends Don & Carol Ashley are here. Carol Ashley taught Carol how to play Mexican Train. They also took us to the Caravan Club Campout at La Paz, AZ last year. Two wonderful people. There were 12 LD’s here. Some of the people we knew; some are new friends. Had a pot luck dinner, a social hour each night then a pot luck breakfast on the last day. As always, we had a wonderful time. One couple from Scottsdale, AZ invited us to their house for Thanksgiving. We’ll see.

Valley of Fires

September 28.

Drove to Alamogordo to visit the New Mexico Museum of Space History. The White Sands Missile Test Range has played a major part in the development of our space program. After WW-II, the leading German missile scientists, like Werner Von Braun, were brought here to work on the American program. The site of the first nuclear test, the Trinity Site, is nearby. Later in the day we continued to our destination. The Valley of Fires Recreation Area near Carrizozo, NM. “As you look west from the campground the Malpais (Spanish for bad land) dominates the view of the Tularosa Valley. The valley was covered by lava spewing from volcanic vents on at least two occasions , which flowed south along the valley floor for 44 miles. As the molten lava flowed southward, it covered the original valley floor of gypsum and stream gravel. The lava would surround areas of higher ground. These islands of older rock are called kipukas. The campground is on a kipuka made of sandstone. The lava covers over 125 square miles and is more than 160’ deep at the center”. The best feature ,from our perspective, is the ¾ mile raised and paved, nature trail that winds through the lava field. There is a printed guide map that discusses various features at 14 stations. The three of us thoroughly enjoyed the walk. Later we read our books and enjoyed another wonderful day. It’s starting to cool off. Carol, who gets very cold very quickly, has changed from shorts to “longs” as she sometimes refers to them.  An added bonus. Today was the annual “camper appreciation day”. Free camping for everyone. Can’t beat that!!.

Las Cruces area

September 25

Continued south. We drove on NM Hwy 185 to Las Cruces. Along the way we passed lots of fields of chili peppers, some corn & pecan orchards. This area, the town of Hatch in particular, bills itself as the chili pepper capital of the US. The land around here is all irrigated by the Rio Grande River and the different dams & impoundments. With this much agricultural runoff there’s no telling what sort of chemicals are in the water. Las Cruces is the second largest city in NM after Albuquerque. It has all the big box stores, traffic, etc. We picked up our mail at the Post Office. Suzanne & Martha Harris had sent accumulated mail to us General Delivery. Next time I’ll pick a smaller, rural post office. The line to pick up the mail was very long. Went grocery shopping, did our laundry and stopped at Lowe’s to buy a new Bar-B-Que grill. Our old one died. A very productive day. About 4:00 we went to the Leasburg Dam State Park Campground. Got the very last spot with electric service. The afternoon temp. is in the mid-80’so a/c is nice. Took a short walk after dinner through the cactus garden. Some of the plants were labeled; very informative. Wish more places did that. On Friday we just hung around. Took some walks, read our books. I went through the action items in the mail we recently received. We would have a difficult time travelling were it not for Suzanne forwarding our mail and the Verizon internet access. I renewed the registration on one of the cars, got Carol signed up for Medicare Part D, verified her new insurance coverage and cancelled the old. All without mailing anything.
Saturday morning. Off to the 28th Annual Whole Enchilada Fiesta. Found a good parking place near where the parade was forming up. A very typical, small town parade. There were marching bands, horses, beauty queens, school groups, ROTC groups, car clubs, on & on. Things don’t get much more typical American than this. We thoroughly enjoyed it. After the parade we went to the Fiesta. During our travels, we have found local fairs, festivals, etc., to be a great way to really get to see the “natives”. It’s a sad sign of our times, but as people entered the fiesta the police were using a metal detector searching for weapons. Based on the fiesta, I would guess Las Cruces is overwhelmingly Mexican. A lot of the signs on the booths were in Spanish only. We ate ourselves silly. The standard burritos (very hot) and something new to us called a chichuron burrito. Chichuron is refried beans and deep fried pork rinds mixed together. Sounds gross but we’re going to look for it again while in NM. We both enjoyed it. It was you typical fair with a Mexican accent. The foods were primarily Mexican, the things for sale, the entertainment, etc. A wonderful experience.
After the fiesta, we drove to the White Sands National Monument. It’s at the northern end of the Chihuahuan Desert. 275 square miles of great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand. The largest gypsum dune field in the world.
Late in the day we went to the Oliver Lee State Park for the night. Took a nice walk through the cactus garden. Must have been 50 types of desert plants all labeled. Now we only wish we could remember the names.
Another wonderful day.

Caballo Lake & Percha Dam SP's

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