Yuma and Casa Grande

We made new friends at the rally and have plans to meet up again next summer with some of them. Right no it's time to think about moving on again to get closer to Casa Grande. Won't be long before we're back in Sundance for the winter!

The evenings had been getting cool in Albuquerque and heading south was in order. We overnighted in Las Cruces at a really nice park called the Hacienda RV Resort which was pricey at $45 a night but very clean and with lots of facilities. While we were there we called our old friend Jess who lives down the road in El Paso TX and we all went out for dinner at Cracker Barrel. We caught up on 2 years worth of news and the evening flashed by.

It was REALLY cold in Las Cruces down in the low 40's at night, so we decided to head to Yuma AZ for some RV accessory shopping and to warm up. The forecast was for 80's daytime and 60's at night there, much more to our taste.

Cold evenings in Las Cruces

Yuma has always been our “Go To” place for RV stuff as there are so many places there that specialize in RV related stuff. We were shocked then to find one of our favorites was gone. Al's RV seemed to always have what we needed, but when we got there the store was empty and locked up tight. There was no notice to say why. Another local store told us they couldn't make any money lately and had closed the business down. Our other favorite the Arizona Market Place was closed until November 1^st too and we didn't get the things we wanted.

Gene and Annette

So we went back to the campground (The Escapees KOFA Park) and caught up with laundry and other chores around the rig.

Celebrating 47 years together in Algadones Mexico

We posted on Facebook that we were in Yuma and our phone started ringing. Our friends Annette and Gene Stout from the Shanty Shakers in San Diego were also in Yuma. We all went down to Algadones across the border in Mexico and went for lunch and drinks to celebrate our 47^th wedding anniversary! It was so much fun catching up with all the news. The next day we all went for brunch and planned on dinner for our last night together before we head off to Casa Grande.

Shrimp La Diablo Algadones

Dinner was excellent and Annette was cleaning out their freezer prior to storing their rig for the winter, so she loaded up several bags of food for us to take home with us! We will be the stars of the snack table at our darts nights in Casa Grande for a couple of weeks.

The artists in Algadones will decorate anything, this is an insulated cup.

And then we were there in Casa Grande being welcomed at the gate, the office and around the park by people we've come to know over the last several years. Paul and Karen rolled up in their golf cart and we exchanged news, Mike dropped by and kindly gave us some beer he thought we'd like to try. Scott and Suzanne sent us a message that they'd be dropping by for a couple of days on their way somewhere.

It's like slipping on a familiar warm jacket when the temperature drops on an autumn day. That warm cozy feeling.

And then the activities to keep us busy. The Plein Air painters have several outings coming up, the Photo Club is next weekend, art on Tuesday and Wednesday, darts 2 evenings a week, shuffleboard 3 mornings. “Welcome Home” says the lady in the activities office.

It really does feel like home.

New Mexico adventures

Time to move on. We decided that New Mexico deserved some more exploring and perhaps we could ride the steam train at Chama. Off we go.

Well we made plans. That's not what we do but we decided that because the train ride looked pretty full to the end of their season in a month or so that we better buy tickets in advance. Not wanting to be stuck without a place to camp we made reservations in the campground too.

We left Amarillo and crossed into New Mexico, heading for Las Vegas (Yes there's a Las Vegas in New Mexico as well as the one in Nevada). Outside of Tucumari there is a LONG steep climb up to the plateau. The Rexhall was going 30 mph screaming flat out in 1^st gear in places. No problem, we're driven roads like this before.

At the top I glanced down and the temperature needle was in the red. Hurriedly we pulled over and I took a look under the hood. Couldn't see much. Obvious signs of overheating like light smoke of course, and the coolant header tank was empty. We let it cool for ½ hr then I filled it up again. There were no signs of leaks so maybe we got away with it.

We pulled into the Las Vegas Elks Lodge and when we got out there was coolant dripping from under the engine. When I investigated it was coming from on top of the engine, not the radiator or that area.

We started calling around. Nobody in Las Vegas could look at it. Santa Fe was 60 miles away and the Ford Dealer recommended an independent company Hal Burns. We took a chance, filled the engine up with coolant again and drove to Santa Fe. The engine overheated again 1 mile from the mechanic. We let it cool and filled it up and made the mechanic's place.

Sunset at the Santa Fe Elks Lodge

They couldn't look at it immediately so they said we could stay the night in their compound and they had an electric hookup for us.

The diagnosis was a cracked cylinder head.

While the problem was being resolved we decided to drive in the car another 60 miles to Albuquerque. We did some exploring and shopping, sampled some local brew pubs and restaurants including the best Indian Restaurant I've been to in 35 years in the States. Namaste. Great food and very friendly people.

We realized that the balloon fiesta was on here the next week. Not knowing when our problem might get resolved we asked for reservations at the hotel into the next week. We could always cancel them without it costing us anything. The price jumped from $70 a night to $180 once the Fiesta started!!

And then the no plan kids struck lucky again. The RV problem got resolved (see the bottom of the page!) and we saw on Facebook that the “Boomers” RV club had a cancellation for a spot at the Fiesta, camping right at the Balloon Park itself!! How lucky could we be?

The next thing we knew we were at the park, right on the front row. And guess what? The site for the Happy Hour was right in front of our rig!! Amazing.

Lining up to get into the RV area. reservations only.

Next morning we were up at 4am and heading out to crew for a balloon pilot who was on his own. 5 of us piled into his van and we went to find a launch point that would hopefully position him to drop a marker on a target on the flying field.

A cold morning, as the launch crew gather. "Our pilot" Brian closest on the right

It was FUN! The pilot (also Brian!) was with a couple of other teams and they found a good launch point. It was the lawn of a beautiful house with an big apple orchard. The owner kindly let about 6 balloons fly from the lawn right in front of her front window, and told us to help ourselves to as many apples as we wanted too as there was a bumper crop this year.

Beautiful Adobe home where we launched right off her front lawn!

We all helped pull the balloon envelope, basket, burner etc out of the van then helped as it was inflated. Brian invited one of the helpers to fly with him and off they went.

Barbara holds open the mouth of the balloon while they fire up the huge burners.

We followed in the van and Brian made our job of finding and retrieving him easy by landing in a parking lot across the street from the Balloon Park. We helped deflate the envelope and pack everything back in the van.

Another crew prepping for launch

An excellent day and more proof that the less you plan the better the experience.

"Dawn Patrol" every morning at 7am at the flying field

The following day we crewed again but the wind was stronger and the majority of pilots wisely decided to stay on the ground. We ran around the field with our phones and cameras taking pictures of the ones that did fly.

With our new friends Tim and Linda outside the NASA exhibit

Called "Zebras" they control launches at the flying field for safety purposes.

Every evening we had a happy hour and people related their adventures crewing and sometimes flying. Lots of fun. We had a “CARE” auction and raised some money for that worthy cause.

That evening I started sneezing and coughing and a nasty cold hit me. We had to cancel our plans to crew for the next few days and hung around in the rig. Luckily our front window faced across the street towards the flying field so we sat with the heater on and watched the fantastic “Shapes” fly.

Mass launch of "Shapes" as well as regular balloons

Amazing creations

Corcadova the Christ Statue from Rio De Janeiro

Darth Veda and Yoda

A happy Goldfish swims by the from window of our rig

I got over the cold almost as suddenly as it hit me and by Saturday we were catching up on laundry and doing the dump/fill routine at the local Flying J truck stop. Those places are great for RV'ers as they have dedicated RV islands and for a price you can dump the holding tanks and refill your fresh water tank. Better yet is if you are a Good Sam member your card gets you a discount on the price of dumping and also on gas or diesel.

We made new friends at the rally and have plans to meet up again next summer with some of them. Right now it's time to think about moving on again to get closer to Casa Grande. Won't be long before we're back in Sundance for the winter!

OK we were keeping it a secret so we could surprise a few people, but the resolution to the RV problem was buying a new (to us) RV!! More later!!

Amarillo

We were treated to a talk about his flutes and songs and a sampling of his beautiful music.

https://www.last.fm/music/Keith+Bear

The weather has been getting cooler. Our general plan is to head South down Rt 83 which runs thru North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Basically a single two lane road that we'll take for 950 miles. That's an amazing thought, ONE road. I don't think there is anything like it in Europe.

Conveniently it takes us thru Nebraska which completes my personal total of 50 states visited over the 35 years we've spent in the US. Barbara has 49 as she hasn't been to Alaska and expresses no interest in doing so.

Just one night stops had us stay at a few different spots. One in the back of a hotel and next to the railroad tracks with train horns going all night. It's amazing what you can get used to. We hear the trains all winter in Casa Grande but not this close. We must be acclimatized as we slept like logs here!

Mid America Air Museum

We also stopped at the Mid America Air Museum where they said they had a big parking lot suitable for RV's. When I asked them if we could overnight they told us to help ourselves! A free night and airplanes, doesn't get much netter than that (For me anyway).

The road surface varies so much on this road as you go from State to State and even county to county. South Dakota was terrible with broken concrete and potholes shaking the rig for hours. Kansas was average, Oklahoma smooth, and Texas alternating between OK and horrible as we crossed from county to county.

Amarillo Elks Camping. HEY TWO REXHALLS!!

Finally we got to Amarillo where we decided to spend a week and explore, staying at the Eks Lodge which has water and electric hookups but no dump station. Our favorite truck stops “Flying J” has a place about 1 minutes away from the lodge and one of the reasons we like them is because they are RV friendly with dedicated RV fill stations complete with dump station and potable water fill. Even better they give discounts on the gas and dump fees for having a Good Sam membership and about 25% of them have our favorite Blue Beacon truck washes that we get the rig washed at.

Yes Amarillo is on rt 66

Not too far away is the official Mid Point of Rt 66

We have been to Amarillo before, once on the motorcycle and once passing thru going east, but we've never explored the area in depth. Searching thru some leaflets and googling “10 best things to see in Amarillo” brought up some likely spots.

One of the big sights is Palo Dura Canyon which is the second biggest canyon in North America after the Grand Canyon. It's a State Park rather than a National Park and was a CCC project in the 1930's. We drove all around it and stopped for a picnic along the way.

Palo Dura Canyon from the top

Red rocks at the bottom

Near there is the Plains History Museum in the city of Canyon. It's part of the Texas A&M campus and very impressive. It shows mans history in the area and how man has exploited the area from early days of hunting deer and mammoths to modern day oil and gas production. Exhibits have houses, wagons, cars, airplanes, oil drilling rigs. A full day is needed to see the whole thing.

From Dinosaurs to airplanes at the Plains Museum

Amarillo has a quirky side too! Most people have heard of the “Cadillac Ranch”. It's a living art statement. Old Cadillac cars are buried nose down in the ground and people can walk up to them and spray whatever they like on them so they change minute by minute. After years of this the paint is several inches thick in places. Unfortunately people just throw their empty paint cans in the dirt, together with their trash which I was disappointing at.

Cadillac Ranch

Our contribution

Not so well known is the “Slug Bug Ranch”. Similar to the Cadillac Ranch but with VW Beatles.

Slug Bug Ranch

Big draw here is the “Big Texas Steakhouse” which offers a FREE 72 ounce steak with all the fixings like baked potato, bread vegetables etc. BUT it's only free if you can eat the whole lot in less than an hour!! They do have a brewery too so we made do with a beer!

Big Texas home of the free 72 oz steak

The sign for the Big Texas is a huge cowboy in a yellow shirt. Big cowboys in yellow shirts must be important here as we found 2 more! One not far from the Cadillac Ranch. He has three Cadillacs next to him and the drivers are Elvis, John Wayne and who else but Willie Nelson! The third one has a quizzical look.

Called the "2nd Amendment Cowboy

3 Caddillacs driven by John Wayne, Willie Nelson and Elvis

The 3rd cowboy looking puzzled

We managed to fit in a visit to an RV museum which was very interesting. They had the bus from our favorite Robin Williams movie RV.

The bus from RV

Time to move on. We decided that New Mexico deserved some more exploring and perhaps we could ride the steam train at Chama. Off we go.