Rocks to Dot and Little Green Men

Sandia Mountains.
Yes, it is snowing just across the river.

We left Durango on Wednesday, 3/20 and had a happily uneventful drive to Coronado Campground in Bernalillo, NM. We’ve stayed here before and it has a lot going for it. Beautiful views of the Sandia Mountains, access to the Rio Grande (if you don’t mind a little bush whacking) and rocks!  Lots and lots of river smoothed rocks that are perfect for dot painting. I picked up a dot rock on our travels last year and decided to give it a try. Randi gave me the tools for Christmas and I’ve had fun with it. Painting that requires absolutely no artistic talent – yep, that’s for me! Anyhow I had a grand time hunting for the perfect rocks for painting and filled a tote. That should keep me busy!

It didn't take me very long to go rock hunting!
Looking for smooth, round rocks perfect for...

...making these!
A fun, relaxing project that requires no talent.

After we got parked, we took the pups for walkies and I was shocked when Riley made a bee-line for the trail to the river. He remembered! We’ve only been here once before and it was a year ago. He headed straight for the big sandy play area and through the brush to the river.

The pup's favorite spot for zoomies on the Rio Grande.

I love the peaceful view.
At least until you're strafed by 400 pounds of crazed mastiff.

Rog and I were both jonesing for a really good hatch green chili burger and where better to scratch that itch than New Mexico. We checked all the Yelp reviews and finally decided we would return to the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid. We’d gone there in 2019 when we were here for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta and had their awesome Mad Chile Burger. It’s a bit of a drive, but Google maps promised us a shortcut that would shorten it to about 47 miles. What Google failed to mention was about 20 miles of that was dirt road! Lol. It started off paved, then we kept passing huge dump trucks going to/from a gravel mine. The asphalt was more pothole than paving and then they just quit pretending and it went to a dirt/gravel county road.  Rog was not amused. Good thing the burgers, beer, and Mad Chile Margaritas made it worth the drive! Oh, and we took the somewhat longer but paved route home. Lol.  

County road sans asphalt. Lol.

Luckily, the Mine Shaft Tavern made it totally worth the drive.

Love those Mad Chile Burgers!!

Friday, 3/22, was a busy day. We wanted to try something new, so headed to Old Town in Albuquerque. The town has a long history and has flown the flags of three countries– Spain, Mexico, and the US. Established in 1706 by the governor of the Spanish province of New Mexico, it was the regional seat of government. When Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1821, New Mexico joined the new nation to the south. Then in 1846, during the Mexican–American War, American General Stephen W. Kearny raised the US flag over the plaza. It became part of the New Mexico Territory and was later made a state in 1912. A centerpiece of the central plaza is the catholic church, San Felipe de Neri Parish, which has existed for over 300 years. The current building was constructed in 1793 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

San Felipe de Neri Parish.

While a lot of Old Town consisted of your typical touristy boutiques, t-shirt shops and art galleries, we did find a few gems. We absolutely loved Puzzled, which boasts the largest selection of handcrafted wooden puzzles and games in New Mexico. They bill themselves as the land before Nintendo! We browsed some amazing local artist galleries and then shared a Key Lime Croissant at Flying Roadrunner Bakery. Another fun stop was the Breaking Bad shop. I confess I’ve never watched a single episode, but it’s a favorite of friends and family so we didn’t want to miss it.

Old Town Albuquerque. 

Two mind-benders from Puzzled.
No, we haven't solved either one. But we're working on it!

Flying Roadrunner Bakery for the win. 

Riley had been having some tummy troubles, so he had a lazy day on the couch while we took Raney for a trail walk in the afternoon. We wanted to check out the 16-mile paved Paseo del Bosque Trail in Albuquerque. But opted for the much closer Rio Rancho Bosque Preserve. (FYI – Bosque is Spanish for “forest”, had to look that up since every other thing seemed to be named Bosque. Lol.) We parked at Rio Vista Park and then walked down to Trailhead Beach. Raney got to stretch her legs, get her paws wet, and sniff to her heart’s content. We went back to the RV to check on Riley and feed the kids dinner. He didn’t finish all his kibble, so he’s still not feeling that great. We’ll keep an eye on him, he has a long history of delicate tummy so this isn’t that out of the ordinary.

Raney loves exploring new places.

For dinner, Rog found another local brewery he wanted to check out – Kaktus Brewing Company. We don’t usually eat out this often, but then we aren’t usually camped within striking distance of a large urban center with so many delicious options. Apparently, there is good reason for that. Lol.  Kaktus is considered a nano-brewery, with a small two-barrel brewing system. They also serve a very interesting menu with local and natural foods. The spicy elk sausage pizza was excellent! They also had live music, Spanish guitar and Flamenco dancers tonight.

Another fun stop - Kaktus Brewing Company.

We also spent some time adjusting our itinerary due to high wind warnings. The weather service had an advisory for Sunday calling for sustained winds of 35-50mph with gusts up to 65mph! Nope, nope, nope! Not moving in that.  We decided to skip our next two planned stops and head for Roswell, NM on Saturday where we could wait out the storm. That would position us to make the drive on Monday to San Angelo State Park in Texas and get us back on schedule. We struck out on our first choice, then scored the last spot at Trailer Village RV Park. Looks like EVERYBODY is looking for a place to land. Lol.

Not a chance.
High profile vehicle - that would be us!

We wanted to get on the road early, isn’t that always went Murphy strikes. I was quickly running a comb through my hair when it snagged one of the little diamond studs that I always wear and popped it right out. I did not hear it hit the floor and found the earring back in the sink. Uh-oh. I frantically searched the bathroom counter, floor, rug and everywhere I could think of. Shook out my shirt and pants, nothing. No time for further delay, as we needed to get on the road. I was sure it was down the sink and gone for good. ☹

We made it into Roswell about 2pm. Yes, that Roswell. Home of ALL the little green men. Lol. The town has a lot of fun with the aliens/UFO theme and we were happy for a place to hunker down and wait out the storm, even if we did run the risk of alien abduction.  

Hanging with the locals.

This is Paul. He lives at the RV Park.
Innocent tree frog or direct decendent of the Area 51 visitors? You decide.

And hunker down we did. The winds kicked up Saturday around 3pm and there was a virtual parade of rigs pulling into the park to get off the road. We're sqeezed in tight, but on the upside we can use the other rigs as a windbreak. Lol.  Rog, being the sweetheart he is, started pulling apart the bathroom plumbing to see if my earring might be stuck in the P-trap of the sink. He had it pretty much disassembled with no sign of my sparkly, when he asked if I’d checked my clothes and bra. Well, I did check my shirt and pants, but didn’t think to check my underwear! Not expecting any luck, I ran my hand along the underwire. Wait! Sure enough it was stuck in the lining! Success!!! The funny thing is, we have a stay planned for Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas where we will go rock hunting for diamonds. I’ve already found mine! 😊

Waiting out the winds in Roswell.

Found it!
Such a tiny thing to cause such a fuss.

The wind howled all day Sunday, so we had a quiet coach day. Our next stop, if the weather would cooperate, was a state park in Texas. It was a 6-7 hour pull, so we weren’t sure if we would make it that far.

We are back on track! The winds had calmed a bit on Monday, so we got another early start. We identified several places along the way where we could land if it proved to be too gusty. We had sustained winds in the 20+mph range, but wonder of wonders, we had a tailwind about 85% of the way! Woohoo! The few times that it caught us crossways, Rog said there was no way he could have driven all day like that. But we made it to San Angelo State Park in Texas around 2pm on Monday, 3/25. Yay us! (Actually, yay Rog since he did all the driving! Lol)

A long driving day, but we are back on schedule.

We had just one night booked at San Angelo and it’s too bad because there were mountain bike and hiking trails and a small lake. We didn’t stray too far from the rig, given the weather. But we wouldn’t mind coming back and staying for a few days. The sites were HUGE and spread way out, which is very much appreciated but unusual for sites with hook-ups. 

Huge sites at San Angelo State Park.

Not a day for kayaking - maybe next time.
The white on the left is a huge flock of pelicans!

The pups had a blast blowing off some steam. One of their favorite games is chasing the “red light” – a laser pointer. Riley can be maniacal about it, so we don’t do it very often. Raney likes to play too, but this time she got smart and went straight for the source, trying to snag the light out of Daddy’s hand. Now we know who has the brains in the family. Lol.

Chasing the red light is a favorite game!

Forget chasing it - Raney went right for the source!

Our next stop is New Braunfels, TX. We’ll be parked there for a week visiting Randi and Jose. Looking forward to seeing my girl!