Left San Antonio Saturday Morning. Headed towards Houston. Had an invitation to visit with the Angelos from the RV Chat Room http://rvchat.com at their “Last Re-sort” in High Island on the gulf. Parked in their driveway, used their spare hook ups, and had a very enjoyable visit Saturday night and sunday Morning
Balloon-Fiesta-2006/Angeli_6253
Meet the Angelos and their friends from RV Chat at their web site http://jatexas.com

album25/CRW_6211
Got to San Antonio Wednesday afternoon. Spent the evening at Dick’s last resort on the river walk. Got lost trying to find our way back to the campground. OnStar got us straightened out. Big rain storm that evening. Thursday was Beautiful toured the Alamo, took the riverboat cruise, and had lunch at the first restaurant on the River Walk.
We had such a good time we decided to stay an extra day and tour the 4 other Missions in San Antonio. Friday was another beautiful day. We toured 3 of the missions, had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe back on the River Walk, and finished up by visiting the last of the 5 San Antonio Missions. All in all a very interesting visit.

album24/CRW_6088
Left Albuquerque Sunday morning 10/15, drove most of the day to just outside Carlesbad NM. Spending Monday the 16th exploring Carlesbad Caverns National Park, and the town.

album21/CRW_5884 Morning
album22/CRW_5997 Evening
Fantastic Morning. Perfect weather. You will want to see all the photo’s in the gallery. We had a full day of Balloon Fiesta, and you can spend a lot of time checking out our galleries of photo’s from both events.

album20/CRW_5771
Visited the nearby Petroglyph National Monument this morning. Did some shopping at Home Depot and spent the afternoon at “home” doing housekeeping and making minor repairs to the coach.

album19/CRW_5765
Rain finally stopped. Weather was clear temps were in the 50’s and 60’s. There’s snow on the higher peaks near Eagles Nest. Beautiful day for a drive. Had Lunch in Taos, drove through the mountains to Cimarron and Philmont. Ate sundaes at the Soda Fountain, and took photos of the tooth of time, and Waite Phillips House.
It was a long drive but had a really nice time.

album18/CRW_5733
It’s been raining for the last 2 days. The Balloon Fiesta is having a big washout. One news report today said that the 6 inches of rain in the last 48 hours is more than the normal rainfall for New Mexico in the entire month of October. It’s supposed to clear up by tomorrow, and be nice until at least this coming weekend. Hopefully we’ll have an opportunity to attend another event at the Fiesta.
Today we went about 40 miles west to the Acoma Pueblo. We visited the museum, and toured the oldest continuously occupied in North America.
The Acoma have a long and colorful history. Since the end of the 19th century they have been careful to ensure that the protect and preserve their culture while working and building their economy in the modern world.

album16/DSC01944
Had a liesurely morning, and spent the afternoon at the Pueblo Indian culture center watching the dancers, touring the museum, and looking at the Jewelry, pottery, and crafts by the indian artisans. There’s a lot to learn about native american culture and history. More photos to join the galleries.

album14/CRW_5474
It’s hard to believe we actually woke up at 4:00 AM this morning to make it to the bus that took us to the Fiesta Grounds. It was still dark when we left the campground at 5:30 AM. They said there were +/- 70,000 people there for the Grand Ascension. We have more than 200 photos to post to the gallery.
We were back at the campground before Noon. Would have been sooner, but there was another phoobar by the organizers from the campground so we spent more than an hour riding around in circles on a School Bus. It was still worth it. The show was spectacular.
album15/CRW_5662 album23/CRW_6037
We spent the Afternoon shopping and eating at Old Town Albuquerque.

Got a fairly early start from Tucumcari. Made pretty good time until a car pulled along side and waved us down. The big Winnebago mud flap was falling off the back of the coach. We pulled over and Richard managed to get the flap off and into the coach.
After that we managed to get to the American RV Park to check in. The place was a mad house. Our prepaid reserved pull through site had been reassigned and we were assigned to a small back-in site that wouldn’t hold our rig. After several go arounds, we were assigned to another pull through site that was assigned to a no-show.
We got in and got hooked up. Then we took a drive down Central Avenue (Old route US 66) through town. Got to see a Police stand off, found the local Winnebago service shop, and the Balloon Fiesta park.
We’ll be here until Sunday October 15.

Not much to say about today. Left El Reno about 10:00 AM Central time which is in keeping with our comfort level. Stopped about 2:00 PM in Amarillo TX, to buy fuel, and have lunch. The Leftovers from Montana Mikes were just as good today as yesterday. Karen finished up her shrimp from lastnight, and I had a blackened sirloin steak sandwich with cheese and mushrooms on a yeast roll. “YUM!”
We shifted from Central to Mountain time when we crossed the border from Texas into New Mexico. Arrived in at the Mountain Road RV Campground in Tucumcari around 3:30 PM. That puts us 2 hours behind our home base in Georgia.
Met some folks with a retired military RV club that are heading our way to Albuquerque, staying at the American RV park same as us. Maybe we’ll get to know them better in the next few days.

Balloon-Fiesta-2006/DSC01898
This is a landmark day in the history of Karen and Richard and their Journeys in their Journey. We left Russellville aroud 10:00 AM Central time this morning, Interstate 40 is pretty much a straight shot west all the way to Albuquerque. The traffic was relatively light, and the weather was clear and hot. Here’s the important part. We stopped at the first rest area we came to, and Karen took the wheel for the first time in our 2+ years of traveling in the motor home. She was a bit nervous at first, but settled down quickly. She drove more than 100 miles today. Excellent outing for her first try.

We have photos and a movie clip that we’ll post here shortly to prove that it was really her.

We got to El Reno around 4:30 PM set up camp, rested a bit and then went for a drive. Took a look aroune El Reno. and then cruised up the highway to a “Cherokee Trading Post” that we’d seen signs for along the highway. You really have to know what you’re shopping for in these places.
There were several displays of authentic native america pottery and baskets. But there was also pottery labeled “Hecho en Mexico”, and some replicas of western american firearms labled made in Spain. Many of the items in the store had no identification of where they came from.
For diner, we followed our noses and found a restaurant near the campground called Montana Mike’s Steak House. There were a lot of local license plates in the parking lot so we gave it a try. We were pleasantly surprised. They had an fried zuccini on the menu and it was so good, we really pigged out on it. There was nothing left by the time my blackened Sirloin, and Karen’s fried shrimp came to the table. Altogether it was an excellent and reasonably priced meal. We both have left overs for lunch tomorrow.
Balloon-Fiesta-2006/CRW_5442

album14/CRW_5474
Monday October 2nd left home before 11:00 AM. Took a different route to get to I40 west of Memphis. Went out across 278 to 78. Spent our first night in Tupelo MS. Elvis birthplace, but not the most photogenic site we’ve visited. Left early Tuesday Morning and headed west. Picked up I40 at Memphis TN. Roads were a disaster connecting from US 78 to I240.

Spent Tuesday Night October 3rd in Russellville Arkansas just off exit 81 on I40. We’ll be on I40 all the way to Albuquerque.