As you know I don't get this thing updated as we go so I will try and do a little catch up.
When you last read we were in or near Cortez CO. Well from there we took 491 south to US64 and headed east to Chama NM. Chama is an old cow and railroad town. One of the things we wanted to do was ride the narrow gauge railroad. We had camped one night back in 1991 on our way to Philmont Scout Ranch and new we wanted to return. We stayed at Sky Mountain RV park. This is a nice park with excellent hosts/owners. At the campground we were given a 15% off cupon for the Cumbers-Toltec Scenic Railroad. We made our reservations and couldn't have picked a better day. It was a great ride and included an excellent lunch at the halfway point on our way to Antonito CO.
We took some driving tours of the area and also picked up mail we had sent to us General Delivery. A nice restful few days before attending the Albuguerque Balloon Fiesta.
Wow, Wow, Wow. We were with the Monaco International group which has some of the best parking for RV's. We would look our our front windshield and see the 83 acre launch field. Since there were no scheduled events for the evening we took a walk down on the launch field and took a tour of the vendor area. As we were returning to the coach we were asked to help crew one of the balloons that evening. Volunteer spirit, we said ok. We wound up on the largest balloon at the fiesta, the Pirate Ship which had been damaged in shipment from England. What a thrill and hard work since that balloon weighs over 800 lbs. All we managed to do that evening was lay it out and pack it so it would be ready to inflate the next day. We had a great time and will likely go again some time.
After the Balloon Fiesta we headed west on I40 with plans to spend a night in USA Campground in Gallup NM. We knew that Sue and Glen who are also fulltime RV'ers were at a campground along our route so we pulled off to visit with them for an hour or so. Really nice to catch up and see their new rig.
Our overnight stop was Root 66 campground near Painted Desert, Petrified Forest NP. Not much for amenities but the price and location were right. After visiting the NP and local area we were on the road again.
Next stop was to stand on a corner and see Meteor Crater. We stayed at Meteor Crater Campground and of course went to Winslow AZ to stand on the famous corner buy some soveners, eat some ice cream and visit the La Posada Hotel. There was more to see and do in that area but the Grand Canyon was waiting.
We stayed at Canyon RV and Motel in Wilson AZ where we had a nice long site. The weather was a little on the chilly side and with some rain. Out trip to the south rim was on what started as a gloomy day. We took in the Imax presentation on the canyon before we arrived at the park. By the time we left the movie the weather started to clear but was still quite overcast. As usual the first place we went in the park was the visitors center where we watched the NPS video before we went to the rim. As we approached the rim the clouds were lifting but there were still clouds below the rim.
Along our travels we received a couple of text messages from Joan W and arranged to meet here and her grown children in Flagstaff AZ. We hooked up in the WalMart parking lot and went to a local Mexican restaurant for late lunch early supper. We had a nice but to short visit. We had come up from Camp Verde thru Sedona and new we had about an hour or more return trip.
After seeing the sites in the Camp Verde area we were of to the AZ/NM Holiday Rambler rally in Buckeye. We met a few folks that we had gotten to know in Michigan and West Virginia. What a small world.
The rally was our last stop before we arrived at our winter home, Voyager RV Resort and Hotel, in Tucson AZ.
As usual you can see our pictures here.
