2015 Trip – Albuquerque, NM to Williams, AZ

Thurs. 7/9… (Albuquerque, NM)  Our last day here in Albuquerque…. Our plan was to go first to the balloon museum. Then we wanted to go back to Old Town and pick up some jewelry Lydia had spotted before.  Then we hit a Post office so we could mail something and Rick could send some photo albums to Kelli that he forgot to give her earlier. The balloon museum was priced right – only $2.00 for seniors!  It was bigger than I expected and very well done. We saw some exhibits of historical flights and learned about early balloon bombings by the Japanese during the war.  We also stopped at the Fiesta Center to learn about where the camping sites were as well as transportation (park & ride) if we camped in another location and drove in.  We decided that we would not come back in 2015 but will look into reservations for 2016. 

 

 

Afterward, we hit old town again and everyone bought something (except me) and Lydia mailed her package and Rick mailed his.  We stopped at Subway for lunch and went back to walk the dogs and rest a bit before heading out again to La Mesa RV just down the road.  We saw a few nice coaches but nothing we needed to see more of.  We came back home and watched some taped shows and then headed back out to Garcia’s Kitchen for dinner.  I had pretty much the same meal I had a few days ago just to compare.  It was very good but my favorite is still La Placita. We came back and played with Bailey before calling it a night. I did take a picture of my neighbors rig.  He's got a diesel truck/tractor pulling a fifth wheel which is pulling a Smart car.  He's illegal in California where you can't tow triples and also illegal in all other states because he's over total length.  He says no problem. He won't go to Calif and will take his chances elsewhere.  He left this morning. I also got a picture of a plant in bloom in the park....

 

 

 

 

Fri. 7/10…  (Holbrook, NM)  This morning we had 235 miles to drive so we left at 9:00am after walking the dogs one last time.  We crossed into Arizona and into Pacific Time and are now at OK RV Park in Holbrook, AZ. This park has only basic amenities (no pool) and they charge $34.50 w/Good Sam/AAA/FMCA etc.  It’s an ‘Ok’ park but a little overpriced for us.  It’s only for one night so we’re good.  After we got set up we fixed lunch and rested a while.  It is our turn to drive today but Rick volunteered to so we left the car hooked up (unplugged and ignition off!) and took off with them.  We cruised around the city a bit and found a grocery store. Lydia is fixing dinner tonight so we went in to check out things to go with her chicken/egg hash casserole thingy. We stopped at a local street fair called Cowboy Days. It was small so we walked through it quickly and then headed for home to get dinner prepped. The meal was delicious.  I helped her make a pistachio pineapple fruit salad which was good too.  We hung around a bit and then watched some more of our shows that we had taped.    

 

Sat.. 7/11… (Williams, AZ) Happy birthday Jeff! We had a short 140 mile drive today to reach our next stop.  We are now at Gran Canyon Railway & Hotel RV Park, in Williams, AZ.  I had booked this park and the train trip way out ahead so all we had to do was check in and get our space assignments.  Once we got set up we headed over to the train depot (we were told to pick up our tickets at will call today rather than wait in some serious lines tomorrow so we got that done.  We went back to put things away then we headed back to the check in desk to reserve doggy day care for tomorrow while we are on the train trip.  We decided to go back to town and have linner.  We chose the Cruisers Café 66 and all of us had hamburgers of some version.  All were very good, though not my favorite on this trip.

 

 

 

Afterward, we walked the street a bit (no funny remarks!) and bought a few souvenirs and then headed back home. Back at the rig I worked on my tow car light hookup.  I wasn’t getting a right turn signal.  I took the connection apart and found I had a loose wire so it works as of now so I think all is good.       

 

Sun. 7/12… (Williams, AZ)  Today was train day!  We got up early and ate breakfast.  We had to walk Bailey (and Daisy & Little Bit) over to the kennel before we went over to the gunfight before boarding began. The dogs will have a day of rest (if you can call it rest in a kennel with other yappy dogs!).  We have never boarded Bailey before so we’ll have to see how she does.  They will get her out for play so she’ll like that. We saw the shootout and walked back over to board the train. 

 

 

 

They are busy in the summer months so they have two trains leaving one behind the other.  We are on the second train so we leave at 9:45.  I chose the air conditioned cars over the older Pullman cars with the open windows.  I’m not sure which was better but we had good seats. You are allowed drinks so we packed a cooler and had water and soft drinks on the way in. We were on Coach D (seats 7C& 7D) and had Finn as our coach conductor (he also had double duty in Coach E). He was a young man with only a few months experience but he did an outstanding job!

 

The trip in was ok.  There’s not much to see but mesquite bushes leading to pine trees as we got into Grand Canyon Park.  You get dropped off just below El Tovar Hotel and are free to go anywhere you chose.  They offered bus tours direct from the train but we opted to just walk around for the 2 ½ hours we had there.  We took the obligatory pictures of the canyon and then went to the Bright Angel Café for lunch.  I had buffalo chili and Lydia and Rick & Janie all had the turkey sandwich plate. Both were very good.  The server was late in waiting on us and another fellow came over and asked about us and then took our table. Since we were not happy he offered us a free dessert which we accepted.  He did a great job so he got a good tip.  Afterward we walked to Bright Angel Trail and saw the folks walking down the trail.  They tend to go farther – hey it’s easy walking here! Little did they realize that they had to turn around and walk back up!  We saw a lot of young daring (stupid) folks out on ledges testing the rocks.  Scary. 

 

 

We then went over to the Hopi Village to see the Indian dance exhibition which was very entertaining. 

We walked over to the El Tovar and found some rockers out front and rested a bit before going into some of the gift shops and then making our way back to the train.  We boarded and made the trip back with no issues – oh yeah, we were robbed!  It was fun even though Finn told us what they expected and when they were coming.  You roll up a dollar bill and place it behind your ear and the guys come in and find it and take it. It’s more of a tip for their little show and it was fun.  Janie decided to put hers in her blouse and that caused them a little concern with Rick watching!

 

We got back to the station around 6:15 or so.  The day started with dropping off Bailey at 8:10 and the cowboy show was at 9:00am.  We boarded at 9:45am and left at 10:00am and left the canyon at 4:00pm and got back around 6:30 so it was a long day!!!  We went and got Bailey and walked her back home.  She sure was glad to see us.  They said she did fine but that place was something she was not used to.  On the train, we made dinner plans.  We had decided to go eat at a local pizza place in town but it was just closing (7:00pm) so we went to another Italian Restaurant called Station 66 and split a pizza and Rick and I enjoyed flights of beer from the local brewery. There were some I liked some not so much.

 

 

 

 

We got back and I walked Bailey a few laps and then came home and crashed for the night.           

 

2015 Trip – Amarillo, TX to Albuquerque, NM

Sun. 7/5… (Amarillo, TX)  Today was a do nothing day.  The park pretty much emptied out as folks headed on their travels or probably back home and to work tomorrow.  We did decide to go back to the Big Texan to try their breakfast buffet.  It was ok, not as good as I remember it from times before.  Their cook-to-order omelettes were really good though. We drove back home and did some laundry and watched some of our programs we had taped.  Later Janie fixed dinner and we sat out for a while.  Tomorrow we only have a short drive to our next stop.

 

Mon. 7/6…  (Tucumcari, NM) Ok, we are officially out of Texas!  The drive today was 113 miles, and very mild weather and good roads on I40.  We’ve traveled I40 many times so we know how bad this interstate highway is when it comes to the road itself, but in Texas it was very well maintained and in New Mexico so far so good.  We are now at Cactus RV Park on Route 66 in Tucumcari, NM.  This is a very old park, complete with really old motel rooms next door, that I’m guessing are shut down but we haven’t checked.  But the park is clean, level, easy in and out and I’d stay here again when we are in this area. 

 

 

Bailey liked this park.  It was very relaxing!

 

 

 

Now the town itself doesn’t have all that much to offer.  They have a few museums but they are closed on Sundays and Mondays.  We stopped for lunch at Del’s Restaurant in town on Route 66.  I would rate this high as well.  Again, it’s an old steakhouse that probably was pretty fancy when new and had the tourist traffic before I40 but now it’s just a normal American/Mexican restaurant that we might just go back to for dinner.  We stopped at the Big K-Mart, which is the only major store around here, and bought a few things.  As I was checking out, I noticed my credit/debit card was missing.  I knew where I left it immediately so I called the Big Texan and they had it!  Pheeww!  They were very nice and the manager offered to mail it to the house. There’s no activity on it as of yesterday and I think I’m good but I’ll be watching just in case.  After returning home we lounged around and planned dinner. We went back to town but this time chose Rockin Y’s Roadhouse.  They have $5.00 burger night and the locals told us this is where they eat.  Well, they were all there even though we had to dodge the huge raindrops as we made our way in.  This was also a good place to eat and we would go back again. We ended the evening back at our rig watching the rerun of America’s Funniest Videos.  I had been taping these since we missed the original showing of the Thanksgiving show that we went to see.  This was that night!  We saw all nine of us (GG & Gary, Donna, Lydia & Terry, Janie & Rick, and Gary & Jayne).  I think we all looked good and we had great seats with a lot of airtime!  After they left I had a bit of time to play with my spreadsheet and calculated that of the 5,063 miles we will travel on this trip,1,550 were in the state of Texas!       

Tues. 7/7… (Albuquerque, NM) This morning we took off and left beautiful downtown Tucumcari behind and drove 181 miles and are now at the Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post, just outside of Albuquerque, NM. 

 

They have set up a little vignette of period rv's which have been featured on travel shows.  Here's one...

 

 

We are here for three days. A quick report on the roads – not too bad. It seems that they have worked on the westbound road a bit so we’re hoping it continues as we continue westward.  We have been to this park before (it’s a Passport America park and we used it enroute on many trips to Branson) and Janie and Rick liked it as soon as they parked. We ate lunch in and then drove literally next door to Camping World. We picked up some things we needed and some we didn’t. We went home and hung around the rigs watching the weather.  There were huge dark rainy clouds to the north of us so we set out for Old Town for dinner at La Placita. This has always been a required stop for us and we were happy to take Rick & Janie.  It was as good as always and they enjoyed it as well.  The best sopapillas! Janie has a friend who frequents this area and has given her the name of her favorite restaurant which we will try as well.  Later we kicked back and planned our day tomorrow.  We are driving up to Santa Fe for the day.    

 

Wed. 7/8… (Albuquerque, NM)  We didn’t decide on a time to leave for Santa Fe this morning so we slept in and had breakfast and kicked back and left a little after 10:00am.  We got stuck on I40 for about 20 minutes due to a traffic accident.  Once I got off the freeway and worked my way around it we were off and made good time in driving the 50 miles into the city. Santa Fe architecture has never been my favorite but the town has a certain charm and also historical influence to New Mexico culture.  We found the old town square and the churches with no problem and parked and walked around.  The girls visited the street merchants selling jewelry. Janie bought quite a bit of stuff.  Lydia only found a couple of items.

 

We visited many shops in the square and found some interesting things, including a Lucchese Boot shop.  I managed to pick up the most expensive pair of boots in the store – only $7,750!  I put them down very carefully and walked away!  We decided we needed a bite to eat and ducked in to The Famous Plaza Café.  Their menu was a little pricey but we split a chicken sandwich and fries so it was ok.  Plus we had room for coconut cream pie! Both were very good. It also was good we stopped when we did. A pretty good rainstorm passed and dumped pea sized hail which we got to watch from under cover! 

 

The ride home was uneventful, unless you count stopping at another Walmart.  We needed water and a few other things.  Later we went over to Janie’s for dinner.  She wanted to clean out her leftover pasta sauce and such so we enjoyed that.    

2015 Trip – Dallas, TX to Amarillo, TX

Wed. 7/1… (Dallas, TX)  This morning we left about 9:00 to head up to Dallas to go see The Sixth Floor Museum.  If the name doesn’t sound familiar, this is the location of President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and is on the sixth floor of the Texas Book Depository at Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, TX. We arrived just before they opened at 10:00am (note – wait until the initial line dies down before going in – we didn’t L). We paid the $14. (senior) admission and were given our audio device w/headphones and headed up the elevator to the sixth floor. You work your way through various stations on this floor while you listen to a narrative about the timeline leading up to and after the assassination. We saw videos from the day from many sources. The corner window that Oswald set up in and fired the shots that killed the President is glassed off with the book boxes (reproductions since most of the originals went into evidence) in their locations.  I must say here I am of the theory that Lee Harvey Oswald was acting alone when he shot Kennedy. There are many opinions of their being a grassy knoll shooter and a conspiracy so these are my opinions only.  From the second window next to the corner you could look down and see the path of the Presidential motorcade as it went down Main St. to Houston St. and turned onto Elm St. It was very moving to stand there and picture that day.  I think I paused the narrative for ten minutes as I couldn’t leave that spot. You could see the grassy knoll and the monitors there showed the exact spots where the car was when each shot was fired. It was a sad day for all of us and I’m sure you all can remember exactly where you where when you heard the news.  We also saw the rifle that was found in a stack of boxes and they showed us where the pullsheet was left that Oswald was working on that day.  It was unfilled. The exhibit hits on the Warren report, complete with the Zapruder film images and everything, but also examines the conspiracy and other theories of a second gunman, so believe what you will. In all, the exhibit was beautifully done and well worth the time if you are in the area. As I mentioned we went in with a line of folks.  That caused a bunchup of people in front of each exhibit.  We had to nose our way through the crowds.  My advice – wait for a break to go upstairs and start the tour. They do not allow photography on that floor so I only have a shot of the building and a photo collage from the 7^th floor art exhibit.

 

Afterwards, I decided to drive home via Ft Worth so we headed west on I30 and drove to the Stockyard area in old town.  We went past Billy Bob’s and then stopped for lunch at Riscky’s Steakhouse for a terrific meal. Lydia and I both had the chicken fried steak sandwich and it was reaaallly good!  Great place to go back to. This is the street that they walk the cattle down twice each day but we missed the morning run and couldn’t stay for the late afternoon drive.  So we headed home and drove our own cattle - oops I mean we walked the dogs.

 

We had next door neighbors move in so we chatted with them for a while and came in and rested for the evening.  We watched TV for a while but since tomorrow we have a 200 plus mile drive and will leave early (if 9:00am is early?) we started putting some stuff away before heading to bed.    

Thurs. 7/2…  (Goodlett, TX) As I said yesterday, the drive today was longer than most.  We want to get through Texas!  This morning we drove the 220 miles to get to Goodlett, TX.  This means we only have 140 miles to go tomorrow to get to Amarillo where we will spend 3 nights, including the 4^th of July. We are at Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park.  The office and rec room and laundry room are actually an old refurbished cotton processing plant. Pretty neat. This place doesn’t have too many rigs in it now but we’ll see how it fills up later.  They have a pool, which wasn’t quite up to Lydia’s temperature (bathwater!) plus it was small and other folks showed up with kids so we didn’t go in…..  It’s later in the evening now and the campground has been constantly getting a rig in the registration area.  Our row is now filled with rv’s!  I noticed most have not unhooked their tow cars or trucks from their trailers and 5^th wheels.  This park is perfect for folks crossing the state and looking for a one nighter stop as we are.  

 

Fri. 7/3… (Amarillo, TX) Our drive today was 140 miles to Amarillo Ranch RV Park, Amarillo, TX.  We have been here several times before so I knew which spaces to ask for.  We are parked in nice pull thrus with shade but a satellite signal.

 

 

 

 

After getting set up we got together to plan out our three days here.  We know on the 4^th we’re going to Palo Duro Canyon to have dinner and see the play Texas. We decided to go out to dinner tonight and where else do you go than the Big Texan!  They have a challenge – if you can eat a 72oz steak complete with all the trimmings, in an hour, it is a free meal for you.  They have a large table elevated so anyone taking this challenge can be seen by all.  If you can’t finish it you pay for the meal - $72.00! Lydia and I split a 12oz ribeye and that was more than enough!   

No one was trying it when we were there but it was early and the place was just starting to get busy.  We took some pictures out in the patio area and then headed home. 

 

We sat out for a while and decided to go to Walmart. When we left the store clouds were starting to build northeast of us and it was heading our way.  When we returned to the rigs the campground sent out a person to our rigs.  He was telling everyone they expected 70mph winds and that we should put all of our awnings in.  If there was a requirement they would come get us to go to shelter. We waited it out and the winds and the rain did come and lightning and thunder hit right around us.  I even brought the big slide in just to be sure.  The slide topper (awning cover that comes out with the slides) was flopping pretty good and I was afraid it would rip off so we didn’t take chances.  After an hour or so everything settled down enough where we could go to bed.  Tomorrow’s weather looks good.

 

Sat. 7/4… (Amarillo, TX)   We woke up to a nice morning.  We ate in and then took off to go see the RV Museum.   This place is actually in a part of an RV dealer’s lot.  Turns out they were closed for each of the 3 days we are here.  Oh well, the reviews said it was just ok so we weren’t disappointed.  We came back to the rigs and walked the dogs and then fixed lunch and relaxed.  We had several hours to just hang out before taking off (around 4:30) to drive to Palo Duro Canyon.  For fifty years they have been putting on this show in the outdoor theater in Palo Duro Canyon, located about 25 minutes south of Amarillo.  We had seen the show in 1987 on our way to the National Square Dance Convention in Houston but were anxious to see it again.  I had purchased the tickets online several months ago so I got to pick the seats.  I noticed that those already filled were toward the top so I chose four seats two rows down from the top.  Turns out they were terrific seats!  We got there before 6:00 as we also had tickets for their dinner (bbq complete with all the trimmings) which was pretty good.  The show started at 8:30 and lasted until about 10:30pm.  They added extra fireworks after the show.  We then made our way out and actually got going before the crowds so we made it home by 11:15 or so and after walking the dogs we stayed up a bit then went to bed. The pictures are from before the show started as they do not allow photography of the play.