Now he wants a horse...

We've had different weather this last week.  I'm sure I jinxed it when I said in my last post how we get constant sunshine.  Lots of rain and wind this week.  Finally, Thursday was forecast to be a good day, so we planned to go with our RV neighbors, Ian and Sandra, to the San Mateo Mountains.  They have a 4WD jeep, and had promised to not lead us anywhere our 4WD truck couldn't go.  One of the exciting parts of the adventure was that we got to try out our new CB radio.  We had to get one for our upcoming Mexico caravan trip.  I wanted a cheap ole' portable version, but Richard thought we should go all out and get the kind you install.  Here he is, talking to Ian about the scenery.  Happy boy with his new toy.

So up the mountains we bounced.  At first I had thought Ian and Sandra were silly, saying they wouldn't take us anywhere we couldn't go.  I mean, we have 4 wheel drive, what's the big deal?  But as their little jeep smoothly rode along with us bouncing behind, I started to understand.  We stopped at a few abandoned silver mines, and ended up at a picnic ground in the Cibola National Forest for lunch.  The scenery was breathtaking, the pictures just don't do it justice.

Then we had to head back down the mountains.  It was hard to show the narrowness and twistiness of the roads, but here is a shot that might give you an idea:

Friday morning Richard jumped out of bed to run down to the clubhouse to play guitar again, and I headed out on my regular run over Elephant Butte Dam.  Friday afternoon we had the RV service guy out AGAIN.  This time to work on why every time the wind blows, we get carbon monoxide in from our water heater.  He figured it out and will pull the water heater out and re-install it correctly on Tuesday.  Hopefully this will be the end of our "shake-down cruise" issues.
Friday night Richard was watching videos on the internet of horses.  He was explaining to me the the difference between quarter horses and thoroughbreds, going on and on, like he was giving me all these facts so I could decide which type of horse was best.  I was confused.  I looked at him and said, "Richard, I don't want a horse."  His response, "I kinda want a horse, I want to ride out into the desert."  Here I was thinking he was going to want a jeep or a dirt bike after our jaunt through the mountains, but no.  He wants a horse.  I suppose we can fit a horse in the RV...

Land of Entrapment

So this place is starting to grow on us.  Constant sunshine makes it hard to be grumpy. 

Friday the 13th we rode our bikes down to Elephant Butte Lake for a look around.  Then that evening we went to Cafe Groovy Gritz and listened to a group who sung a song about the town of Truth or Consequences.  They called it the "Land of Entrapment", an obvious play on New Mexico's slogan
                                                                                                                                             

The folks at the Jungle Gym (Elephant Butte, Jungle Gym, punny, huh?) had told me pedestrians could run across the small dam at Elephant Butte lake (not the one we had walked across the week before) so on Saturday I headed out for my long run and ran across the small dam to the big dam and back, then all the way to the other side of the big dam.  It is perfect running weather here, and lots of hills.  We are at approx 4700' elevation so this should help me be prepared for The Sedona Marathon on Feb. 4th.  

On Friday the 20th I headed out on my run again, but was tired of carrying my water with me, so I asked Richard to ride his bike and carry my water.  I should have known something was up when he decided to ride my bike...  

On the little Elephant Butte Dam

Almost to the big Elephant Butte Dam

See, my bike has the big knobby tires, his has these little skinny road tires.  My plans were to stay on the road, but Richard The Adventurer had different plans.  Off he went up a dirt path to try to get a far-away picture of me.  I really am in that picture, down on the road, waving.  Can you see me?  Well, Richard's adventure didn't end there, he proceeded on, far off any road or path.  I thought he was turning around to come back to the road, so I ran on.  After a mile, when I still didn't see him behind me (and I was parched, remember he had my water!) I turned around to go rescue him, just sure he had fallen off and broken a leg or something.  When I got back on top of the little dam, I looked down and on the non-lake side of the dam, behind the no trespassing signs, way below on a dirt/sand road, Richard was pushing his bike.  Sheesh.  After taking a drink and hollering at him for making me worry, I once again headed towards home.  Once we got there, he informed me that we had to go on a walk later to look for his cell phone which had fallen out of his pocket while he bounced down the mountain.  So we hopped back on the bikes - making sure he was on his ROAD bike this time, and headed back in search of the cell phone.  As we approached the little dam, we saw a guy walking down the sand path that Richard had pushed his bike up.  I was a little afraid that he was an official guy looking for evidence of Richard's wrong-doing, but I hollered at him anyway to please be on the lookout for a cell phone.  We proceeded on to where Richard originally rode off the road, and started walking in, calling the phone as we went.  About half way, here came the guy, holding Richard's cell phone.  He said something about Richard making crazy looking tracks and how surprised he was that he had ridden his bike there.  Aren't we all...  Further talk with this guy revealed that he had just purchased a foreclosed house in Truth or Consequences, and that he thinks investing in property now is a great plan since Spaceport America is so close by.  I'm kinda addicted to real estate, and it's been all I could do to not look at property here.  We've been talking how it's growing on us, this 'Land of Entrapment' and now I'm being encouraged by random strangers to buy property.  Ack!!  Got to resist!  

Marathon Planning

**Updated 1-17-12**  to include HAWAII!!

It hasn't been easy, but I think I have my 2012 schedule put together.  There are several near the end of the year that are up in the air since official dates aren't posted yet, but here's what I've got so far, pink are 2012 states.

2/4/2012	Sedona Marathon	Sedona, AZ
3/10/2012	Red Rock Canyon	Las Vegas, NV
4/15/2012	Vernonia Marathon	Vernonia, OR
5/6/2012	Michelob Ultra Tacoma City Marathon	Tacoma, WA
5/19/2012	Great Potato Marathon	Boise, ID
6/3/2012	Casper Wyoming Marathon	Casper, WY
6/9/2012	Utah Valley	Provo UT
6/24/2012	Kona Marathon	Kona, HI
8/19/2012	Pike's Peak	Pikes Peak, CO
9/3/2012	Turtle Marathon	Roswell, NM
9/9/2012	Bozeman Marathon	Bozeman, MT
9/15/2012	Kroll's Diner	Bismark, ND
9/22/2012	Berkebeiner Trail Run	Hayward, WI
10/7/2012	Twin Cities Marathon	Minneapolis, MN
10/14/2012	On the Road for Education	Mason City, IA
10/21/2012	Grand Rapids	Grand Rapids, MI

Who is running these with me?  

Lazy, lazy and ignorance is bliss

Lots of lazy on Friday.  Then on Saturday, Jan 7th for the New Mexico centennial, they opened up the Elephant Butte Dam to pedestrians (first time since 9-11).  So we headed to the dam to check it out and take a walk across.

Lazy again on Sunday, then Monday we had an RV service guy out to work on our long list of little issues.  On Tuesday we finally headed to Truth or Consequences to soak in one of the many hot springs.  We chose one that was right on the Rio Grande, so we had a good view while we got took our hot mineral soak.  

As soon as we pulled back into the RV park, Richard (who just minutes previous had been tired and "all relaxed" from the hot soak) saw that his guitar buddies were down at the clubhouse, so like a little kid he jumped out of the truck, grabbed his Dobro, and was gone.  He had started asking about guitar players the first day in the park, and had played with these guys a few times before.  I walked down to the clubhouse about an hour later to check on him, and saw that he had left in such a hurry, he still had his sunglasses on.  It's only a 2 minute walk from the clubhouse to the RV, but he hadn't wanted to miss any excitement so he hadn't come back to change them.  Silly boy!  

Today we headed out to the Gila National Forest, with plans to see the cliff dwellings.  Richard had checked it out on the map, and off we went.  I asked if he had mapquested it, but didn't push the issue.  Up through the mountains, twisty turny roads.  Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful.  (And Richard is pretty handsome too!) 

But it was taking forever!  About two hours into our trip (which we both had assumed would take about and hour and a half) we saw a sign that said the cliff dwellings were two hours away.  Yikes!  We hadn't planned an all day trip, so turned around, back up through the mountains, and found a few trails to check out.

So while riding in the truck today, I thought about why this time around feels different?  Last time we headed out in the RV it was all fun and adventure, even web posting was a blast.  This time, not so much.  I've decided that ignorance is bliss.  Last time we hadn't yet ciphered how much gas costs in the truck.  We hadn't yet realized that hoping from park to park wasn't economical and staying at least for the weekly rate was required, even better the monthly rate.  This time we know all that, and it's holding us back!  Also, last time having a website was unique, now everyone has a blog.  I feel so boring.  We're going to have to make some wild, gas guzzling, fast moving traveling plans and jazz this life up.      

Who said this was a nice climate?

The main goal of our travels is to find the perfect place to live.  Ideally we would like 70 degrees year round, low humidity, lush vegetation, inexpensive and not over-crowded.  Should be easy to find, right?  So, rather than head south from Brady to hang out on the beach, we headed west and slightly north to Truth or Consequences, NM.  This area was highly recommended to us for year round mildness.  We got up early on Monday, Jan 2nd and started the long drive.  Long drives wear me out, so as we started getting closer to our destination, and Richard said, "What's that white stuff on the side of the road?" it made me a bit cranky.  We had no choice but to press on, trying to get to the park before sundown so we wouldn't have to set up in the dark.



I almost cussed (okay, I probably did cuss) when we pulled up to the office at Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort and parked right next to a giant pile of snow.  It is 60 degrees back 'home' in Kansas City, and here we are in New Mexico, settling in for a month-long stay, next to a pile of snow.  If you notice, it's almost dark too!  After too much time trying to get checked in, we finally got to our site in the pitch black evening and set up in the cold.

The next morning wasn't much better.  Frost on everything, but the sun beats down all day and warms things up to comfortable temperature, then back down cold in the evening.  Our first day here, Tuesday, we went for coffee in the clubhouse to be social, then hit WalMart and were lazy the rest of the day.  Wednesday was coffee AND donuts in the clubhouse, then, before settling in to be lazy again, I got in a quick 4 mile run.

Internet here has not been good, and I've been struggling with how to set up this blog on the old website, without losing any of the old stuff.  That burned through a few days.  Today, Thursday 1-5, we ventured into Truth or Consequences to take a look around.  Remember the link above showing the beautiful scenery.  Nope, not so, the town is a dump, no way to put it nicely.  They have tried to revive the downtown area, but still have a ways to go.  We found a thrift store and I got a few books in Spanish so I can get some of my language back before we head to Mexico, then when we got back, the internet was working and I spent the rest of the afternoon online.  Tomorrow, no more laziness!  Maybe we will try to find some hotsprings or go see a ghost town.

Texas Residents Y'all

Since we left so late on Wednesday, we drove as far as we could before stopping at the WalMart in Chickasha, OK for the night.  We wanted to get up early, but it was so cold in the RV when we woke up that we had to stay under the covers for a while.  We still managed to get back on the road by about 6:30, and finally got back to our old stomping grounds in Brady, TX at 1:30 Thursday afternoon.  Then had to go through a bunch of run around to get the trailer weighed (proudly weighed in at only 2,000 lbs over the maximum carrying capacity, no wonder we're getting such bad gas mileage) and inspected (injected, detected, infected, neglected and selected).  Finally got everything changed to Texas - even my drivers license photo with non-washed hairdo and all - and headed out to Mike and Marsha's house where they kindly let us park the trailer and hook up to some electricity.

On Friday, 12-30 we met with our other neighbor and our renters who are doing a great job of keeping the dirt in place out on our ranch, then we went into town for supper with the Finlays and a piano concert put on by Mike's nephew.  With our new freedom, I've decided to try to learn to play the piano (we even crammed a keyboard into our RV) but I'll never be that good!  

Saturday we went to check out the new Waldrip bridge.  It had been closed for over 6 years, and the "Waldrip Bridge Closed" signs were so permanent that we had been using them as a landmark when giving directions to our place.  No one uses the bridge, or needs to, but our fine government had spent 1.3 million to put it back in service, so we figured we better drive over it and back and brag on it a bit.  It is just a few miles from our place, and crosses the Colorado River.

We stayed until today so Richard could find some time to do some pickin'and grinin' with Mike.  We plan to head out early tomorrow morning for warmer weather.

The adventure (finally) begins

After almost a year of planning and preparation, we finally managed to pull out of Stadium RV Park at 3:00 to start our adventures.  We're off to find the world's best place to live.