Downtown Chama!

Yesterday we decided to take in downtown Chama!  Downtown is about a mile long.  There are shops and galleries, one bank, a post office, a drug store and several very old hotels. The population is 1,199 and the elevation is 7850'!  Chama became an important site on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad just after 1880.  The Cumbres and Toltec Railroad is the remnant of the narrow gauge line which once served the mining areas of southwestern Colorado.  The railroad was abandoned in 1969 but the most scenic part of its route, equipment and buildings were saved and today is the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad.  The train carries passengers 64 miles along the New Mexico/Colorado border.  It is America's highest and longest coal fired, steam operated, narrow-gauge railroad!

After looking in the shops we walked down to the depot to look around.

We met a couple other couples in town and had lunch together.  After lunch we finished our shopping and found a $5.00 string of red hot chili peppers made out of cloth.  Jack (one of the traveling supremes) loves his peppers and made pepper poppers several times while we were here.   We bought them and hung them on his 5th wheel.  It took all day but when we came back from dinner he finally noticed them!  I don't think he's figured out who put them up there but he sure got a kick out of them!

Today we got some errands done and had our last group dinner.  Three couples (including us) are leaving for different directions tomorrow.  We are going down to Santa Fe and spend a few days there.  It will be a little warmer in Santa Fe.  We've enjoyed the coolness at Chama!

Enjoying a week with some of the "Traveling Supremes"..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A drive through the forest!

We are still enjoying our potlucks!  Sunday evening after dinner we took a drive through the Rio Grande National Forest.  Just north of Chama and into Colorado.  We went about 7:00 p.m. hoping to see some wildlife.  It is about an 8 mile drive.  We finally saw some deer and elk.  The herd of elk were too far away to photograph, but the drive itself was so pretty!

Yesterday Ted and I took charge of the potluck making the main dish.  It was a Mexican Fiesta!  Ted made his mother's enchilada recipe (of course I did the dishes).  It took about an hour and half for him to prepare them and then another 30 minutes to cook.  There was a taco bar, homemade refried beans, homemade guacamole, jaleno poppers (you can bet I had some of those...right!), homemade salsa with chips.  I brought watermelon for the finale!   It was a great meal and and so we decided we needed to relax our tummies around the fire.  One of the RV'ers is parked right on the Chama River so we sat around the fire listening to the water and digested our dinner!  It was a fun evening.

Ted cooking dinner..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Enjoying an eating festival!

We are in an "eating frenzy"!   The group went to dinner Friday night at the Cliffview Restaurant.  The owners were originally from El Segundo, California and now live in Tierra Amarillo, New Mexico.  This is just a few miles south of Chama.  It was raining with some thunder and lightning but that didn't stop us!  The restaurant is like a little log cabin.  Everyone was very friendly and our steaks were delicious!  The view isn't bad either!

After dinner we headed back to the campground.  We came upon a group of does being fed by a couple of young women.  They offered to let us feed them so Linda and I did!  They were pretty hungry!  On down the road we found the bucks!  They are so bold they just come right up to the truck.  With the size of their antlers, we decided to take pictures from inside the truck!

On Saturday Ted and I went to the El Vado Lake State Park to a craft fair they were having. It was a pretty lake and they said 30' low from the drought. Until the turn of the century there were tons of Ponderosa Pines but the loggers came in and have taken them all down without replanting replacement trees. It is still a pretty park.

It was a very small craft fair so Ted and I looked around and headed back to the campground.  We didn't want to miss another chance to eat after all!  We had a potluck and one of the Lindas cooked a couple of pork tenderloins.  The rest of us provided side dishes and dessert!  Everything was great and we were all full again!  After dinner we sat around the fire and found out how everyone mate their mates.  All four of the other couples have been married 40+ years!  I think that is so great!

Today we had brunch at the High Country Restaurant in Chama.  They cook your eggs and waffle to order and have plenty of side dishes.  Everything was delicious!

Not missing any meals in Chama..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Chama, New Mexico

We made it to Chama!  Yay!  The new axle, hub, wheel and tire all did well.  The last 20 miles to Chama were heading up to the mountains.  It was a pretty drive so I took some pictures in the Ghost Ranch area on the way to the campground.

It's a nice little campground nestled in the trees a little over 7800 ft.  There are four couples that are still here from the "Traveling Supremes" group we were on our way to meet up with last week.  They had dinner ready, chicken gumbo (as some of the RVer's are from Louisiana) and all the trimmings.  After a great dinner we sat around a fire and gabbed.  It was chilly enough to put on long pants and a jacket!  After awhile we had some roasted marshmallows followed up by a Bailey's Irish cream.  A nice end to a week of getting the RV repaired!

Today we went into the town of Chama, pretty small town and some places have seen better days.  We got our mail from the post office and some money at the one bank in town for dinner tonight.  Our group is going to dinner at the Cliff View House.  It's a small log type restaurant over looking these cool cliffs, or so they tell us!  It's raining right now (thunder and lightning too) but will hopefully stop before we leave and I'll be able to take some pictures!

Successful RV repairs..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Ready to rock and roll!

The axle finally arrived yesterday afternoon.  We got over there at 9:00 this morning and were back at the campground by 3:00, with new axle, hubs, wheel and tire!  It was a long day and pretty hot (90's).  We were able to sit in the shade of our RV with Max and read our books.  They wanted us to stay hooked up to the truck to support the RV.  For some reason, all three of us are pooped tonight!  Don't know why waiting is so tiring????

Tomorrow we leave Gallup and head for Chama!  It is about 300 miles (about 100 miles north of Santa Fe), almost to Colorado.

I took a picture of one of the pots seen all around Gallup.  They have two headed pots and small pots scattered around randomly as far as I can tell.  They are pretty cool!

Getting on the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Still waiting!

It's Tuesday and we are still waiting for the axle to arrive by a semi from Oklahoma.  The rim did arrive yesterday and we got the new tire mounted so we are ready for the new axle!

This weekend we mostly just hung out at the RV; cleaning, washing clothes and reading.  We've had some rain, thunder and lightning and some mosquito bites as well! The wind pops up and then gets still.  The arroyo next to the campground goes from dry to wet to running and back to dry all within a day!

Being bored in Gallup..."Ain't Life Grand!"

A visit to the historic El Rancho Hotel

Yesterday after I had my nails done, I came out of the parking lot and the whole area was blocked off by fire and police.   We found out later than a semi carrying fuel (but fortunately empty) had careened off the road through the grass and up a slight grade onto a parking lot and took out the side and front of a loan company.  They advertised fast loans but I don't think that's what happened.  They said on the news that the driver was killed along with another person inside the building, two others were in critical condition.  They obviously don't know what happened yet.

I made my way back to the campground and picked up Ted.   We decided to visit the El Rancho Hotel.  The hotel was built in 1937 and it was "the" hotel for movie stars filming in and around Arizona and New Mexico.  They had a 2nd floor lobby that overlooked the main lobby with wall to wall pictures on all four sides.  Many of the pictures were signed by the movie star.  Each room is named for a movie star that stayed at the hotel such as the W. C. Fields room, the John Wayne room and the Ronald Reagan room!  It is a rustic hotel that has been lovingly restored with a big old stone fireplace.  It was built by the brother of movie director D. W. Griffiths.

We took a look in the gift shop and talked about having lunch there, but it was pretty crowded!    Driving back west on Route 66 I saw a sign for the Richardson Cash Pawn shop.  This place was listed in the Road Trip USA book.  It has been family owned since 1913 and is crammed with arts, crafts, pawned goods, Navajo rugs and jewelry, saddles, guitars and much more!

We went on down the road to the Sonic, they were advertising Turtle Sundaes, got my attention!  They were actually milkshakes and were delicious!

Milkshakes for lunch..."Ain't Life Grand!"

USA RV Park

The campground we are in is the USA RV Park.  Most people stop in for the night on their way to or from Albuquerque or Arizona.  It's a desert like park but very nice.  There are interesting metal sculptures as you drive in of buffalo, elk, hummingbirds and other indian symbols.  The pool is really cool with the American flag painted on the bottom!  Every evening they have the barbeques and a pretty good country singer entertaining for three hours.

Yesterday we went to town to pick up a part from Ford and it poured rain with thunder and lightning on all sides!  It was sunny where we were but with clouds all around and 93 degrees.  Five minutes later it was pouring and 63 degrees.  I couldn't believe the change.  The dry creek next to the campground is now running, not full but you can can hear the muddy rapids as they flow down creek bed.  It rained hard for about 30 minutes.

I also found a Starbucks!  Didn't think they had one in town, but there is one if the Safeway grocery store!

Having a white chocolate, nonfat, no whip, extra hot mocha..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Sightseeing and Waiting!

Yesterday we decided to go for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  I normally love the grits but they were only so-so.  The bacon, egg and biscuits were good!  After breakfast we took a drive through the rest of the town and came upon the Red Rock Park.  There is a rodeo center, a museum and a nice little campground with water and electric.  Since there was no rodeo right now, there were only two RV's in the campground.  This was one view from the campground.

There are so many colorful rocks of many kinds, shapes and sizes in the area!

This is what our axle looks like.  You can't really tell anything is broken, just missing!  The tire and hub have been removed.  When the bearing failed bearings had all dropped out somewhere and we were also losing brake fluid!  The damage to the bottom of the RV is a wide space above the axle.

The axle, along with the hub, bearing, braking mechanism and shock absorber has all been ordered so Max and Ted and trying to relax while waiting!

Today we are going to go get the new tire, as long as the DOT (date of tire) is current.  We are leary since the one tire we bought brand new that was actually already five years old and lost the tread which damaged the side of our RV!

Relaxing with the cute little Maxi Dog..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Waiting Game!

More bad news!  The repair guys came out this morning.  When they pulled the bearing off, they found the axle itself was scarred and will have to be replaced.  We are waiting for them to find a new axle and bearing.  So right now, we have no idea how long we will be in Gallup!  They will also have to repair the underside of our RV as some part of what happened tore it up in a couple of places.  It covers our insulation and protects the floor and all of the tanks.  Our underbelly is actually one piece from front to back but it will now have patches.

We drove into town today and looked around.  We saw a Cracker Barrel in town so Ted is taking me there for breakfast in the morning!  They have good breakfasts!  We weren't really in the mood to do much sightseeing so picked up some dog food and a couple of things and are back at the camp site.  When you have nothing you can do about things, I blog and hog the computer so Ted is taking a nap and Max too!

It's 90 degrees here right now and starting to get cloudy.   In Chama it's in the 70's and beautiful...so they tell me!

Being safe and sound..."Ain't Life Grand!" 

Petrified Forest and Painted Desert and the bad news!

Yesterday we drove through the town of Holbrook on the way to the Petrified Forest National Park.   It is a very small town with lots of motels, one grocery store, lots of rock shops, a couple of banks and so on.  The main road through Holbrook is U.S. Route 66!  Route 66 encompasses 2,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles originally.  The interesting historic Wigwam Motel is on Route 66 in Holbrook!

From there we went on a drive through the Petrified Forest National Park.  Our first stop was to the Rainbow Forest Museum.  There were a lot of pieces of trees laying around that were over 200 million years old!  The logs were buried in layers of sediment along a river with silica gradually replacing organic material.  The rainbow of colors come from trace minerals such as iron and manganese oxides!  They are beautiful and mother nature has polished them to a brilliant shine!

 As we drove through the park we were being chased by thunder, lightning and rain!  Most of the hard rain went around us!

The Painted Desert is at one end of the 28 mile road but you can only see a small portion from the road.  We stopped at the Painted Desert Inn, and took a look inside.  There were only 6 very small rooms in the inn, a nice lounge, eating area and beautiful views!  It no longer functions as an inn but as a museum and you can look around.

The colors in the painted desert are amazing. It was a cloudy, rainy day and I'm sure on a sunny day it would even be more beautiful!

This morning we left Holbrook and were planning to drive to Santa Fe, New Mexico.  It was a beautiful day and I took some pictures leaving Arizona...

And arriving in New Mexico!

But the bad news...about 12 miles into New Mexico we heard a loud pop!  We had a blow out on the RV on the driver side.  Ted got pulled over just past the weigh station and managed to back into an area of the weigh station not being used, all the while the trucks were whizzing past us leaving the weigh station.  The tire man came to fix the tire and now for the really bad news...it was another failed bearing!  But they never fail they tell us...sure, this is our second!

So he managed to chain up the axle so it wouldn't touch the ground and we followed the tire guy as we limped 4 miles to the next exit in Gallup and to a repair shop.  Of course it is Sunday and it wasn't open but luckily, the man and his wife happened to drive by and noticed us (all 55 feet or so) in front of his shop and pulled in to see what was going on.  We have an appointment for someone to come out in the morning to see if they have a bearing that will work for us.  Last time it took a few days to get the bearing so we "camped" by the side of the road between Las Vegas and Pahrump, Nevada!  We also will have to buy a new tire and order a new rim from Indiana!

We are safely in an RV park in Gallup which we had been to before, and it is a very nice park.  Tonight they had a man singing country songs, they had a barbecue and an ice cream social.  I cooked our dinner but we attended the social and ate ice cream and talked to some nice people!

Ted says..."Life ain't too Grand today!"

Holbrook, Arizona

We left Cherry Valley yesterday and are now in Holbrook, Arizona.   I always think of Arizona as hot and desert like!  We drove through Flagstaff and it was about 10 degrees cooler at that elevation.  There is one area that has a huge field.  We have seen it filled with snow, green as could be and yesterday it was full of yellow flowers and very pretty!

We decided to spend two nights here and today will visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.  We've been wanting to see the area and we have the day to do it!  We've stayed at this campground before and they have a "Cowboy Cookout".  So we decided to partake.  I had a good steak dinner and Ted had a good old fashioned cheeseburger!

Tomorrow we will be in New Mexico!

Taking time to sightsee..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Last day in Cherry Valley!

Yesterday was soooo relaxing.   We needed to recouperate after our busy week in San Diego.  My excuse to be lazy yesterday!!!! 

Today we took our truck in and they replaced the "drive line".  That is what they call it.  Tomorrow we will see how it works pulling the RV.  It had a "shimmy" when you would start off but didn't last long.  I asked Donald our Commerical Fleet Service Advisor at Sunrise Ford if I could take his picture of where we "used" to spend so much time with our old truck.  He laughed and allowed me to take the picture!

He is a nice man, but more importantly seems to know a lot about trucks and what he doesn't know, he finds out!

Tomorrow we will start out to Chama, New Mexico. 

Back on the road again..."Ain't Life Grand!"

Made it to Cherry Valley!

We had such a good time in San Diego.  We enjoyed time at Jim and Della's.  On Thursday she had her famous spaghetti dinner!  Elaine Williams had made brownies that were to die for!  When we arrived we found Kelli enjoying the spa after her six day bike ride from San Luis Obispo!  I'm not showing the picture of her before she realized we were there, let's just say we could have probably made some $$$$ on it!

The weather was wonderful for sitting out on the patio!  Phil, Elaine and Marion were enjoying!

On Friday we met our friend Jeri Gutowski at Barona.  We had a couple of hours of gambling and lunch in the cafe.  It was a lot of fun!  We hurried home to let Max out and made it to Jim and Della's in time for Jim's yummy ribs and beer can chicken.  Della had made a ton of salads and her yummy sweet and sour beans!  Her friend Kim made a marshmallow/cream cheese sauce for strawberries that was also a big hit!

We got the group together for a red lips picture!

On Saturday I met my friend Peggy Price for lunch in La Mesa.  We enjoyed lunch and then while I was getting my nails done, she came in with pumpkin spice cupcakes and cream cheese frosting...my favorite!  I think I gained 10 pounds this week in San Diego...yikes!

In the afternoon we attended the Su-Hi grand re-opening!  The school looks great.  I managed to get a few more pictures:

Ted, Kelli, Karol, Jim & Della (side picture of the new building)

Kelli and Vicky with one of their former teachers!

Vicky with the High School Mascot!

After listening to speeches, roaming the new halls of the school and buying a t-shirt to help the football team, we headed back to Jim and Della's for left overs and quiet conversation!  It was a fun day!

Sunday we met our friends Jeri and Stach Gutowski for brunch and then we opened birthday presents...past, present and future birthdays!  Stach was May, I was July, Jeri is August and Ted October!  It was fun doing it all together!  Jeri found red lip luggage for me...too cute...and a beautiful Paris neclace and earrings!  She got Ted an Amazon gift certificate (for his Kindle) and two 24 oz Starbucks tumblers that she had added pictures too!  They were so great...loved them!

We are now in Cherry Valley, waiting for a new drive shaft for our truck.  We are hoping it comes in today! 

Week long blogs..."Ain't Life Grand!"

The Blog!

Tomorrow we leave San Diego and  we will have better internet again!  I couldn't even add pics to the blog it is so slow!  Will do the blog after we get settled in Cherry Valley!

We've had a great time in San Diego..."Ain't Life Grand!"

San Diego!!!

We made it to San Diego!  On Monday we took the new truck to the dealer for it's first oil change.  We also had a couple of issues.  When it would shift in and out of 5th it would clunk!  They updated the computer and that problem was fixed (takes a couple of hours)!  The shimmy that happens when it first starts has to do with the drive shaft.  They have to balance the drive shaft with the RV weight to the truck.  They had a fix for that, a new longer drive shaft.  We will take the truck back next Tuesday for the change out!  We still love the new truck!

While in San Diego for the week, we are trying to meet up with friends and get some things done.  Tuesday we got the RV set up and got some errands done.  Tuesday night was Girls Night Out!  I met up with the girls and we had a good time, lots of laughing and some gift exchanging!   Yesterday we met up with our friend David Prime for lunch and then friends Larry and Carol Wallis for dinner!

Today Max goes to the groomer and then tonight we meet up at Jim and Della Crownovers for a Su-Hi Mama Della spaghetti dinner get together! Yummmm!

Seeing friends..."Ain't Life Grand!"