On the Road to Albuquerque

We left Mesa on Friday, the 3rd and headed for Gallup, NM to spend the night there.  Before we left Mesa, a road sign indicated that SR 87 was closed at Payson, AZ, about 100 miles north.  We were headed to Payson but would be getting on SR 260 there.  We were somewhat concerned that snow would be blocking the road.  But we kept going.  Great scenery along the way.

For you, Bailey.

At Payson we found out why the road was blocked - a tanker had overturned. And the exit for SR 260 was a half mile past the blockage.  So we were stuck in almost stopped traffic and it took us over an hour to get around the blockage thru neighborhood streets!  We did finally make it and got on our way again.

North and East of Payson is the Mogollon Rim, the southern boundary of the Colorado Plateau, with elevations exceeding 7,500 feet.  There are many cold water lakes on top of the rim.

 This area did have a lot of snow on the Monday before but the roads were clear and dry.  But there was snow!

Saw four of these signs within a mile.  Did we see any?

Got to Gallup around 4 and got set up for the night.  Nice CG but cold.

Saturday we got back on the road again (I-40) and made it to Albuquerque around noon.

Got set up in the CG - Enchanted Trails RV Park.  These old cars/RVs apparently can be rented out.

After getting setup we drove into town to see my cousin, Judy Lee, whom we haven't seen in several years.

She lives in an assisted-living home.  Nice place.  We had a good time catching up.  We visited for a couple of hours and then drove back to the CG for the night. On Sunday we drove into town again and went to "Old Town Albuquerque."  Walked around the square and went into some of the shops.  Nothing jumped out at us so we left with money still in our pockets!

This church occupies one corner.

We had lunch here.

Sign on a jewelry store.

This car pulled up as we were walking by.

Another car parked along the Square.

Later on it got cloudy and cold, so we went back to the CG.

A cold front was on the way.  We had planned to leave on Monday morning for Amarillo, TX but the winds   (30-40 MPH) were so bad we decided to stay put for another day.  We hunkered down and waited it out.  By Tuesday morning the winds had died down but the temp was in the 20's and the water hose was frozen.  Fortunately, we carry some water in a tank so we could use that.  So, when we left, the hose ended up in the bed of the truck to thaw out!

This picture was taken as we drive from our CG on I-40 down into Albuquerque.

Winds were much lower and from the West so we had a nice tail wind.  When crossed into Texas, we started seeing windmills, and, they must have gone on for 20 miles!

About 50 miles from Amarillo the winds started coming from the North and I had to fight it.  But we made it.  Nice CG and got the Dish set up for TV for the night.  Palo Duro Canyon is on tap for tomorrow.

Travel to Mesa, AZ

We left Puerto Penasco on Friday, 2/24 and drove to Mesa, AZ.  Along the way we saw the usual (Bailey, remember, Grandma likes cactus!!).

This was at the border crossing.  I think the bird might have been planted there - looking for undocumented individuals attempting to come into the US!!

We got to the town of Ajo around lunch time.

And were hungry so we stopped at Estrellas again for burgers.

Very busy today and service was slow.  Only have one server and then one or two back in the kitchen.  But the food was excellent again.

We stopped for gas (actually diesel - $2.91 per gallon) and saw this wild boar crossing the road!

We got back on the road and made it to Mesa around 4:30.  A security guy met us at the office and directed us to our site.  Glad he was along because he helped me back into our site.

We met up with friends, Ray and Karen Cowan, who are here for the winter.  In the summer they are in New Hampshire.  Last summer they took us around New England for a couple of weeks - we had a great time.
They took us to Fountain Hills, about 20 miles north of Phoenix.  Nice town.  This horse was particularly interesting.

You name it - it was probably there somewhere!

Just in front of Judy was a faucet!

We drove around the town - quite upscale.  There was also a fountain but it was not in operation due to the winds.

We also drove around Mesa's main street - numerous statues on the street corners.

One corner had statues of a pitcher, a batter, and a catcher.  Unfortunately we didn't get a picture.

On Tuesday morning, Ray and Karen come over to our RV Park for some square dancing.  Ray and Karen are front and center.  Fun to watch.

After dancing, we went out to lunch for some Mexican cuisine.  Very good.

Wednesday afternoon we drove over to Denise and Joe Farmer's house in Chandler. Denise is the daughter of Russ and Elvira Diefenbach who are friends of ours in New Jersey.  We had pizza for supper and then Judy wound up helping Asiah build a helicopter with tinker toys.

On Thursday morning, Ray and Karen picked us up and we drove over the Arts Center in Mesa for a free concert outdoors.  We got there in plenty of time and got some good shady seats.

 As the crowd gathered, we noticed several 'Red Hat' ladies.

The entertainment consisted of 3 country singers and a drummer.  They were excellent.  The fiddle player did a great job of entertaining us with his antics!

 He would come into the audience and play.

He would also go behind a curtain, and, then, while the rest of the group was playing, he would come out with a plastic horse around his waist and pretend he was riding, riding a bronco, etc.  He had other get ups as well.  Unforunately, no pictures.

After killing some time at Camping World and visiting an RV dealer to look at a couple of RV's, we went for pizza at this popular place.

While eating, you listen to this man play this organ.  Almost 6,000 pipes!!  This is the largest console type organ ever designed by Wurlitzer and largest in the world.

There are four artists that play.  Charlie Balogh (below) is from Trenton, NJ, and is the primary performer.  He can play almost any tune and boasts that he has played "Phantom of the Opera" over 20,000 times!

Even had cats that danced in tune to the music!

Sorry the pictures aren't brighter, but the lighting wasn't conducive to taking pictures.

After pizza, and after desert of gellato, we said our goodbyes with Ray and Karen and got ready to leave for Gallup, NM on Friday.