Moving on....

Well, we always say, if you want to hear God laugh, just tell him your plans.  Well, haha, the joke was on us, today!  We have had standing reservations down at Raton Pass, NM, for several weeks now. We stayed there on the way UP to Colorado Springs, too, just to break the trip up and make it not such a long ride in one day.  We weren't overly thrilled, nor impressed, during our overnight stop, but, hey, any port in a storm, right?  You may recall the only thing to do there was watch the hummingbirds on the feeders.  There was no TV to speak of, internet was satellite, therefore, super slow (remember dial-up?), and absolutely NO phone reception.  But, again, the campground was in the right spot, so we had arranged 2 nights there.  Why 2?  Neither of us could remember, and we weren't looking forward to it.  Well, maybe one of us was - I have a couple of orders to sew (hi Marie!), so I really do need a couple of consecutive days in one place.  And I have another order that will take a few days all by itself.  So, I was set.  After an uneventful (thank you, Lord!) trip, with lots of scenery like this...

we arrived safely, around noon.  Didn't even have any trouble getting off the interstate, even though the exit was under reconstruction and shared with the weigh station.  Noooo sweat.  As is our custom, Driver went inside to register, while I walked the pup.  I saw him come back to the camper, so we hurried on down the hill to join him.  I figured we would just pull around back, hook up and get settled in and start sewing.  HA!  When I hopped in, I was asked to sit down and buckle up, we were moving on.  Excuse me??  In fact, that was exactly my reaction, Excuse me?  Turns out, the owner wasn't going to let us camp out back, as we had on the first go-round.  We were too long (we are STILL 44 feet, tow a car and don't bend in the middle!) for the lead site (we wouldn't be able to make the mandatory sharp turn to get out of the lot), and if she put us in the trailing spot, then no one could go in the spot in front of us, so she might lose $80 (2 nights' rent).  Instead, she wanted us to go around the building and on up the hill.  The loose gravel road hill.  About 45 degree grade, loose gravel hill.  With a sharp turn at the top.  Driver told her he really didn't want to go up that hill, we'd throw gravel back on our car, possibly fishtail, or worse.  Plus, when we were ready to leave, we'd have to come down that same gravel hill, and make a HARRRRD U-turn back to the right, and try not to fall off the frontage road as we went.  She suggested then that we should just move on.  Excuse me?  She offered to refund the money we had already paid, less $20 cancellation fee.  Excuse me????  Dick agreed to it, but, personally, I would have insisted the entire fee be refunded, as it seemed to me that the campground couldn't provide a suitable site.  Sometimes, though, I guess the best way out is not necessarily the least expensive.  So, we moved on.  This was the last really tall mountain we saw today.  Not that I minded.  I am not fond of heights, as you know.  So long, Colorado.  Sorry we missed you, Cindy & Bob; maybe we'll see you in a square somewhere down the road.

Ahhhh, flat land again.  Now we're back in my comfort zone.  Even though we're about 7200 feet above sea level, it's still pretty flat.

At Love's Travel Plaza, in Las Vegas (NM!), we found this piece of farm equipment being transported.  Its tires are so large, they had to be removed to fit within a lane!  There are two in front, and two stacked in back.  Allen, this one's for you!  Looks like a reaper of some sort, with that big shoot on it.

One last mountain pass to cross, and we're in Santa Fe!

We are so grateful that all our friends in Florida have been spared the wrath of Hurricane Dorian, and property damage there has been minimal.  For them, life is going back to normal.  I'm sure Mike is back out on the road, everyone else is back to dancing on their normal schedules, and window plywood can be taken back down (till next time).  The devastation of the Bahamas is just heartbreaking to see, though.   Wonder if any cruise lines will be sending ships down there to help out?  

So, Friday night is a regular club dance night for the one and only club here in Santa Fe.  We were sad to miss the dance in Colorado Springs, so we are going to try again here.  I hope we remember how!!  I'm not sure what else is in store for us, or even what's to see in the area.  All I know for certain, is we're here for 9 nights and there are no refunds.  And we'll move to our originally-planned site in 2 days.  (We're in a temporary holding site until then, since we came in earlier than our scheduled reservation) 

Anybody have any must-see or do's for Santa Fe and Albuquerque?  

Till next time....