Santa, no not that one, Santa….Fe

We left the meteor crater and felt no depression over that. Dad joke had to come out I haven’t been around Jess in a while. Well this trip was a 336 mile 5 plus hour drive so another long day. But what a destination! I had decided to go a bit out of our way to see a town I had heard was worth the trip. The trip was uneventful with lots of interstate driving and up and down. We were both surprised at how big Albuquerque was and like so many towns out west it was very spread out. No need to go up when you can spread out I guess. I was impressed by the multiple over and underpasses at the auction of I25 and I40. Looked like a modern art construction project that we weren’t quick enough to get a picture of. But very impressive. I got a couple that sort of showed it off the internet but I guess you had to be there.

Our next stop was the “Santa Fe Skies RV Park”. As you can imagine there are not infrequent experiences that don’t live up to the name but in this case it di. The campground was easy to find and was on the edge of a nice neighborhood. It was situated on the top of a mini plateau with 360 views of the mountains and Santa Fe. The sunrises and sunset and night lights were all spectacular. Our site was an easy drive thru site meaning no backing up. There were quite a few Airstreams evidently the leftover from a nearby Airstream rally. One of the Airstream neighbor couples came over as I was eating up which is a nice gesture but kind of a non no as we all have routines that result in a smooth process in a predictable order. Unlock trailer and lower stairs so Jo can start setting up inside the trailer. Level the trailer side to side..unhook the weight distribution hitch and level the trailer front to back….ooops don’t unhook til the wheels are chocked so the trailer with Jo and Mocha in it don’t go rolling down the hill. Then unhook trailer with wheels locked. Then hook up the power water and sewer. Then set up Starlink. Then lock trailer coupler. Then remove hitch from truck and lock into receiver on trailer. Put away the weight distribution bars. Oooops put down the stabilizers once trailer is unhooked and leveled so Jo isn’t bouncing around in the trailer. Easy enough to do all this out of order when I am not speaking with neighbors. Most of the mistakes don’t make a big difference but some can be a mess or dangerous. Soooo if you are here camping with or near me etiquette is to wait til I am done to start a new conversation. But they were really nice people who spent 4 months on the road every summer. he is an IT tech and she is a sales person for a book company both able to work remote. Its a new world for sure.

Well trailer was set up including the heated water hose as we were expecting night time temps in the twenties. After many more nights in the twenties and thirties than we had ever experienced in the last cross country I think we finally figured out what combination of heat pumps, furnace and electric heater made us warm but not too warm at night.

The next day was a free day and we decided to go climb and hike to see petroglyphs in the nearby hills above the Santa Fe river. These date from before contact with European settlers to the early Spanish settlers. Where the mesa that these Petroglyphs are on is adjacent to an important trail that the indigenous people used to travel and trade between settlements. This trail was then used by Spanish and then other white European settlers. Jo and I joked that these were early native population’s graffiti. It was really amazing that we could see pictures drawn hundreds of years before we stood there. Unfortunately for Jo I wasn’t clear about what the outing involved as she wore dress boots to climb over fallen boulders and loose stones but she was a trooper and did it.

Oh I almost forgot that I hadn’t had a haircut since we left 5 plus weeks before so was getting a bit shaggy. I decided to find a supercut type place near the campground. How bad could it be I am a simple haircut. Well my GPS gave me circular directions to the Great Clips location that brought me through a car dealership several times with multiple U turns etc until I shut it off and drove by instinct and found it only a few minutes later than I hoped. I had signed in online so the haircutter was ready as I walked in. Im not sure if English wasn’t his native language or he was incredibly shy or ???? but I think he spoke twice after a few attempts on my part. Once done I figured I was just in shock from a new shorter haircut and once I washed and combed it all would be good. I knew it was bigger than that when Jo saw it. She isn’t shy when it comes to opinions on my haircuts lol. Well the rest of the morning involved Jo redoing the haircut lol. And thennnnnn we went to see the petroglyphs. That night despite my dragging Jo into the hinterlands she couldnt me a wonderful comfort food Turkey dinner. Hit the spot on a cold autumn night.

The next day we went in to Santa Fe downtown and discovered it was a big Dio de los Muertos (Day of the dead) celebration. Lots of people and remembrances. Mariachi bands and street vendors. All on a beautiful sunny fall day. And I got to wear my new cowboy hat and dress cowboy boots. We had such a great time and really enjoyed celebrating peoples past lives. We had a really nice dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. And then we attended mass at the local cathedral where the mass was given by the Archbishop. Over thirty names of parishioners that had died over the past year were read out loud with candles lit for all of them. Such a nice day, nice heartfelt mass and an honor to be a part of so many families lives.

I didn’t sleep great the night before we left (no it wasn’t the Mexican food lol) because there was the threat of snow the following morning. Our campground hosts reassured us it would only be rain which while not fun to pack up in wasn’t scary to drive in but snow not so much fun. I had to trust that the plan was for us to have a safe drive the next day so headed to bed ready for another day on the road. This time the destination was a “lucky place” Shamrock Texas and some more Route 66 exploration. No snow…no snow….no snow.