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Adventures in the Villa

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New Mexico

2018-08-19 – WBCCI 2018 Southwest Adventure Caravan – Day 1 – Albuquerque

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…

 

 

 

 

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2018-08-18 – Traveling East – Day 3 – Gallop and Albuquerque

We pulled out of Williams, AZ, this morning at about 7:30.  We are headed to Albuquerque today to meet up with other Airstreamers.  The caravan officially starts tomorrow, but we wanted to arrive one day early. (Many caravaners arrive several days ahead of the official start…)

The drive was uneventful across the rest of Arizona.  We are in the mountains of Flagstaff, Winslow, and Winona, with elevations from 5,000 ft. to a maximum of 7,275 ft.  The countryside was beautiful – so much more green than it was last year when we came through here in June…

The good news!  Many of the worst roads that we experienced last year have been repaired, or were being repaired as we detoured past the construction zones.

As we approached Gallop, NM, we saw billboard after billboard advertising the El Rancho Hotel .  Since we wanted to stop for lunch, we pulled off onto another remnant of Route 66 and drove through Downtown Gallop.  Our GPS led us to the hotel; it has obviously seen better days…

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We soon realized that we had come in through the rear… The front looks a little better…

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The hotel was built in the 1930s, and for the next 20 years was heavily used by the Hollywood film industry as headquarters for various movies being filmed in the rugged areas around here.  The lobby was very “old west”…

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We had lunch in the restaurant… Not quite the same scenic view as yesterday…

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It was a fascinating place.  We peeked into the bar and also the “49er Room” – a night club type of space that must have been really  hopping in the olden days of the 1950s.

After lunch, as we walked back towards The Villa, it started to rain.  For the next 2 hours or so it continued to rain, with some extremely heavy thunder and lightning showers and amazing cross-winds blowing across the freeway.  A trailer traveling ahead of us was being blown all over the road, but The Villa held firm – sort of like an anchor.

The rain stopped, the skies cleared, and we pulled into American RV Park in Albuquerque.  We beheld a wondrous sight:

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We parked The Villa and set up – we are here for 4 nights…

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We had a little Happy Hours and met a few of the other caravaners.  We also received our Drivers Manual, so we now know where we are going to be for the next 51 days.  We watched the sun set…

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And an enjoyable time was had by all…

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2018-08-16 – Traveling East – Day 1

Our departure to rendezvous with the 2018 Southwest Adventure Caravan came early today – we rolled out of Redlands at 5:00 am. It has been a busy few months and we are looking forward to two months of un-interrupted Airstreaming.

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Since we moved to Redlands in early May we have been living in the constant chaos of construction and remodeling and rehabbing and repair.  We are finally able to put two cars in the garage, the wine is secure and protected against the ravages of 110 degree temperatures, John’s lift is installed and the automatic opening gate is automaticly opening just fine.  John has a raft of very nice and capable caretakers (more than he needs, according to him…).  But the deck isn’t finished, the construction clutter has not been hauled away, and the garage still needs to be reorganized.  And my workbench and tools need to be cleaned up, sorted through, and alphabetized, organized, and categorized…  But all that can either happen while we are gone or when we return.

We are heading to Albuquerque to meet up with other members of the Airstream Club for the Southwest Adventure Caravan. We will leave from Albuquerque, NM, travel for 6 weeks through New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, until we reach our final destination of Albuquerque, NM.  In between, we will see Sante Fe, Moab, Mesa Verde, Zion, Bryce, and many other National Parks and historic and scenic Indian sites.  The grand finale will be the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.

So we are off…

Our first excitement of the day happened as we exited the 10 at Desert center, as we attempted to drive north on Hwy 177 towards Needles:

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Apparently Hwy 177 is closed.  The officer didn’t tell be why it was closed, only that it was going to closed for a long time… Our only choice was to continue east on the 10 to Blythe, where we turned north on Hwy 95.  After checking on the internet we found that Hwy 177 was closed to an accident – an overturned truck carrying many crushed cars…

Not that this area along Hwy 177 doesn’t have interesting features…

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And this convenience has all the essentials:

 

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So onward we go.  The 10 east towards Blythe.  Attention!  All people who think Bend and Eastern Oregon, or Spokane and Eastern Washington, are “deserts”… You are wrong…

THIS is a desert:

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At Blythe we turn north…  Hwy 95 parallels the Colorado River, and it runs through a watershed for the river. Thus the road has many ups and downs as the various washes allow water to make its way to the river.  It must have rained recently, because there was standing water alongside the road and there were road maintenance workers with heavy equipment clearing mud and debris off the road.  But the road was smooth and there was NO traffic, and we had a lovely drive through the Mojave dessert. And the scenery is beautiful…

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As we approached the 40, my GPS led us off Hwy 95 onto a very small road for about 1 1/2 miles.  Just before the on-ramp to the 40 we saw a roadside attraction that begged us to stop.

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We found that we had been travelling on a short portion of “The Mother Road”…

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The maps and descriptions of the area were very interesting.  I had traveled Route 66 along with my family in 1961, when I was 10 years old, from Arcadia to Oklahoma City…

We headed east on the 40.  My GPS tells us our exit, in Williams, AZ, in 156 miles away…  We stopped about halfway there to stretch our legs…

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It’s amazing how green this area is.  We are at about 4,000 feet elevation, and we are going higher.  It really is beautiful, despite the horrible condition of the Arizona roads.

And so we arrived in Williams, AZ, elevation 6,766 ft.  This is another remnant of Route 66, and I’m sure we drove through here in 1961.  Not much has changed,  except that what once was essential services for weary travelers is now very touristy and “nostalgic”.  But is is fun to see an historic place still being active and prosperous…

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We parked The Villa in the local RV park, and walked the town.  We stopped into the Red Raven for a quick and early dinner…

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We even enjoyed a nice bottle of Arizona wine…

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We returned to The Villa.  Despite the threatening skies, it did not rain.  And so an enjoyable time was had by all…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2017-10-11 Westbound; WBCCI Region 12 Rally, Day 2…

Today we are seeing the results of the NorCal fires.  The air is very smokey and it smells smokey as well… There are no fires nearby, but Napa and Sonoma counties are really suffering…

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One of the features of this rally is the “Maintenance with Vinnie” seminar.  Vinnie Lamica runs an Airstream service and maintenance center here in NorCal; he spoke for 2 hours on all the things we need to know to keep our Airstreams in top shape.  Very informative.  I took copious notes and made lists of things for me to ask C&G to do to the Villa.

Otherwise we had a quiet day.  Lots of walks.  The campground sits on a plateau, sloping down into the canyon on most of its perimeter; there is a “nature path” all around the perimeter of the campground, part way down the slope.  It has a few ups and downs, and it is 3/4 mile from the door of the Villa and back again.  We have been walking this path several times each day.  For excitement, we walk clockwise sometimes, and counter- clockwise other times…

The highlight of the day:  Mexican dinner with the Warrens:

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Kathy and Larry Warren were on the Nor’ by Nor’East caravan, and they live about an half hour drive from here.  Since we refuse to eat Mexican food outside of California (some rare exceptions can be made for Arizona and New Mexico…) we have been over four months without having Mexican food.  So tonight was the night.

The Warrens selected El Torero, located down Hwy 88, just past Jackson.  It is located in a storefront in a grocery store strip center, and the interior was nondescript, but the food was just what we were looking for:

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It wasn’t fancy or authentic, but it was very satisfying!

We returned to the Villa, then gathered with several other Airstreamers in the big tent to play various games of Joker.

You’ve never heard of Joker?  Don’t worry – no one has, except Airstreamers.  It is a hokey version of Parcheesi, Sorry, or Kick-in-the-Pants, played on home-made boards.  (Some boards are extremely well made and beautiful art in their own right…)  Except that it uses normal playing cards (Devil Cards, to you Calvinists out there…) instead of dice, and each card does something different.  I hate games like this.  Games of chance that do not require much skill other than remembering all the rules are meaningless to me… We played three games.

 

Another light photo day, so here I present my grandson George X, getting a ride, compliments of his great-grandmother (my mother…):

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An enjoyable time was had by George X…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2017-06-12 Driving across New Mexico, Texas, and into Oklahoma

So this happened:  Sunday night we inadvertently hooked up to bad power. 220V bad power, to be exact… I know, I know… I have an EMS to prevent this, but I was plugging into a 30 amp recommended to me by another Airstreamer.  Oops! Don’t do that! So we made some calls and altered our itinerary and headed to an Airstream Dealer and Service Center in Oklahoma City who could see us at 2:00 on Tuesday.  We didn’t know what the damage was, but the batteries were charging when we were towing, so at least the refrigerator stayed cold.

The drive east through New Mexico was quite green and scenic, although there is very little there… The road was very good, which was a treat. (Public Service Announcement: for those of you who think California has the worst roads in America: you have obviously never driven the 40 between Williams and Flagstaff, AZ…)

We stopped for gas just west of the Texas border, and again in Oklahoma, just east of the Texas border. So we crossed the Texas panhandle (180 miles) without spending any money. We did, however, stop at 2 rest stops, leaving appropriate things behind. There is a beautiful rest stop in Texas a few miles west of the Oklahoma border that is an homage’ to Route 66. We had a nice break, a few minutes of walking, and some time inside the air conditioned building looking at the exhibits.

We arrived in Elk City, OK, about 5:30, at a small RV park. We still didn’t know what our power situation was going to be, so we picked this place because it had a large, air conditioned Rec Room. Except that it didn’t…  Good news: Shore power was good, both AC units worked, electric water heater worked, rear TV worked, and everything else worked, except for the converter/battery charger, and the circuit into which the front TV and satellite receiver are plugged. We’ll have to wait and see about those… We also hooked up to water and sewer, so we both were able to enjoy long hot showers.

After a few adult beverages and some microwaved left-overs for dinner, we retired early. Tomorrow we see what the damage to our electrical system really is…

 

Entering Texas… Note the green countryside… Nothing but miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles…

 

And, finally, Oklahoma…

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2017-06-11 The Odyssey Continues – Arizona and New Mexico

As we love to do, we pulled out of the RV park in Kingman, AZ, at 5:00 am sharp!  It is such a pleasure to drive in the early morning hours when traffic is limited to like-minded drivers. It is always exciting to watch the dark fade to light, and it is especially exciting to see the sun come up right in your face where no sun visor can protect you!  Luckily, on this day, there were low hills at just the right locations to block the worst of the sun.

Our first destination was Winslow, AZ, site of the famous song by The Eagles:

“Take it Easy”

Well, I’m a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
It’s a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin’ down to take a look at me.

No one know where Jackson Brown was actually standing (some say he picked Winslow because the lyric just sounded right), but the city has designated the corner of West 2nd Street and North Kinsley Avenue in downtown Winslow as “Standin’ On The Corner Park”, which officially opened in 1999. There is a mural on the wall, and a flatbed Ford parked on the street…

So we played tourist for awhile and actually drove the Airstream around the corner…  (You’ll need to go to my Facebook page, “Airstream Adventures in the Villa” to see the video…)

 

A short drive past Winslow is Holbrook, site of the famous Wigwam Motel…

 

Then it was on to Albuquerque. At a Rest Stop along the way we happened upon another Airstream Slide-out.  They are headed to the WBCCI International Rally in Michigan, then they are joining the Ores, Shores, Waters, and Lights caravan…

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In Albuquerque, we took advantage of a great WBCCI benefit – Courtesy Parking.  Many Airstream owners have space for another Airstream to park for the night. It’s a great way to meet other Airstreamers and it is often more fun than an RV Park.  So we stayed at a nice home just north of downtown Albuquerque.  Unfortunately, the 30 amp power provided to us was wired as 220v, so we are having a few electrical issues (more on that later…)

Happily, we were picked up by Jennifer and George Foster and we were driven to dinner at El Pinto, a famous Albuquerque “New Mexican” restaurant.

George even helped add our New Mexico sticker to our map…

On Monday we head east out of Albuquerque and we will try to see what we can do about our power situation…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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