Today we begin the Southwest Adventure Caravan.  Our itinerary is roughly this:

New Mexico:  Albuquerque, Santa Fe

Colorado:  Durango, Silverton, Mesa Verde

Utah:  Bluff (Natural Bridges, Monument Valley), Moab, Torrey, Bryce Canyon

Arizona:  Fredonia (Zion), Grand Canyon North Rim, Page (Lake Powell)

New Mexico:  Gallop, Acoma, Zuni, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

 

But first we have a free day.  We have met some of the other caravaners, and we took several walks arounf the RV park.  I checked out the generators to make sure they were still in good order, and I shifted a bit of out cargo in the back of the truck.

By noon we were ready for a little adventure… We drove down the original Route 66 and made our way to “Old Town” Albuquerque and strolled around the plaza.  There is a 200 year old church, a band playing in the band stand in the plaza, and hundreds of trinket shops that spread around the plaza and throughout the blocks all around.  While we have no use for trinket shops, we did admire the architecture – most buildings have deep verandas facing the streets, providing much needed shade.  Most building have courtyards, again with the shaded areas that made walking around and “shopping” very pleasant, despite the 90+ degrees heat.

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We stopped for a small lunch at the Back Street Grill…

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And we returned to The Villa, ready for a nap…

We had our first orientation meeting where we reviewed the “rules and traditions” of the caravan and went over the drivers manual.  We took a break for happy hours with some of our neighbor caravaners.  At 7:30 we reconvened for dinner and a celebratory cake for dessert…

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And an enjoyable time was had by all…