7 Apr 2019 - Arrived at Albuquerque NM KOA

7 Apr 2019

This morning we woke to sub-freezing temps at Black Barts RV Park in Flagstaff, dipping to 28 F for quite a bit of the night.  Ice had apparently began to form on the inside of my unheated water hose as the water flow was reduced.  I find it hard to bring my self to spending $125 or more for a 25 ft heated drinking water hose.  We ran some water and the flow increased, so no issues.  We got packed up, pulled chocks and departed Flagstaff AZ at 0830 hrs (Pacific time this time of the year) and headed towards Albuquerque NM (Mountain time), our next stop. 

The journey was great with, again, changing scenery and interesting things along the way! 

Snow capped mountains neat Flagstaff in the rear view mirror as we head eastbound.

An abandoned roadway and bridge, obviously very old.

Part of the remains of Two Guns Ghost Town

Many more interesting rock formations.

A 'diamond in the rough'?

An old abandoned Indian craft tourist stop

A couple mesas in the distance.

The abandoned baseball fields of Winslow AZ along Route 66. 
All we need is some potato sacks for bases. 'Merica!

Entering the Petrified Forest National Park area.  Tourist stops have petrified wood you can purchase.

 

Teepee on the hill

Make you a good deal, today!

The old Route 66 parallels our journey.  So much history along the way.

Near Sun Valley, I believe.

Part of Fort Courage near Houck AZ

Near Houck AZ we approached the AZ / NM state line and time zone change.  For the most part Arizona does not recognize the daylight savings time change.  There apparently is an exception to the rule.  The Navajo Nation crosses over into Arizona and they decided to keep their three-state Nation on the same time all year.  So now you know!

These pictures are right on the border of AZ and NM, called Window Rock.  Beautiful!

Crossing over into New Mexico and the scenery continued to be awesome. 

A head turner at the Yellowstone Trading Post on the state line. 
They are not live animals but sure had us fooled!!

More of Route 66 right along the Interstate.

Just beyond Coolidge NM, the Continental Divide. 
We crossed it twice in 2017 and twice this year too. 

 About 11 miles west of Albuquerque are the lava fields.  They are made up of lava flows, cinder cones and splatter cones.  From a distance when we first saw them, the area looked like tilled ground in Iowa! 

We arrived at the Albuquerque KOA at 1525 hrs local and 330 travel miles which equated to 5 hrs 55 minutes of travel time.  That is a long day for us pulling the 'condo on wheels'.  I was D.U.N. done when we arrived and in no mood for some jack wagon blocking the RV registration lane with his damn car.  So I could not pull in as far as I needed to and I was blocking the park entrance/exit.  I hobbled in to register and by that time the guy had left.  I was asked to 'hobble back out and move our rig forward.  Sure no problem....  So we registered and got set up.  Nice park, paved/blacktopped sites.  No neighbors was nice.  (These were taken later)

They do have a pool and hot tub and Doreen suggested we climb into the hot tub thinking it might help with my back, and it did.  I don't think it was any relief on the actual back but it did soothe the leg and back muscles that are trying their best to compensate for whatever is ailing my back.

So after a tasty supper of stuffed peppers in the Instant Pot, we sat in the hot tub for a while and then returned to the RV.  I was completely relaxed at that point and could not stay up to do the pictures and blog.  That's my story and I am sticking with it!

We will kick out an update tonight after we go out to eat with an Air Guard comrade, Command Chief Master Sergeant Mitch Brush, now State Command Chief of the New Mexico Air National Guard!  Will be great to see him again!