More additions to the rig

We are starting to get organized to leave Hidden Valley Ranch RV Resort outside of Deming NM.  The owners and residents and transients have been friendly and very interesting.   Lots of them are from Wisconsin, Michigan, Quebec (3), Missouri, and other cold and miserable places..all fleeing the weather hammering the entire northern part of the country.  We actually had a dusting of snow here yesterday but it was gone by mid-morning.  It has been cold (under 40's during the day, 20's at night) and the wind has been howling.  Makes it feel a lot colder than it really is.  It was nice early this morning, sunny and bright, with a light breeze.  As the day goes on, the wind is getting stronger and stronger.

Both dogs were very sick last week so off to see Doctor Haynes.  He is a graduate of K-State's Veterinary Medicine School.  He said their digestive issues were probably caused by eating something icky in the desert.  Almost impossible to have them off leash and police what they are doing because they split up.  They are still on meds and not quite back to their usual operating mode but they are lots better.

Next stop is Tempe AZ for four days so Mike can fly back to KC.  Because of the way the flights are scheduled, he can fly in one day and back the next and see both of his doctors.

Our friends from the Port Townsend WA park were two doors down from us here.  Scott had a wi-fi signal booster to improve internet access.  So we now have one as well.  It really does help and took Mike only a day to get it installed and working.  We are now looking at a wireless phone signal booster as we seem to pick parks which have poor coverage...in other words, out in the wilderness areas.

Also new in our freezer which fits into the closet for laundry equipment.  We decided it was easier and cheaper to use parks' laundry equipment and that make the space available for something more useful.

January in NM - it's 60 today

I've thought every day for six weeks I should update the blog .  And at the end of the day, no, I didn't get it done.  We have been having a great time and getting lots done on the rig  before heading out west and then north in March.

I believe we have had two or three cloudy days.  Gets cold at night but days are glorious.  LOTS of sunshine, occasionally very windy, but hey, Kansas is windy...and cloudy...and icy...and snowy.

There are several expert rock hounds who live in the park.  Since this part of NM was at one time geologically active, there are lots of interesting things to find in the area.

Petrified pork chop?

Muppet and Lola get their exercise with our daily walks in the desert.  There's a ridge just south of the park which has trails.  By the time we get home, they are ready for a nap.

Up the hill

Mike got a new smoker for Christmas since we cannot live indefinitely without barbecue.  Did a couple of small briskets and remembered this time to allow for the altitude (4700 feet).  Beef here is not the same quality/tenderness as beef at Price Chopper so he needs to make some adjustments to his marinades and rubs to compensate.  

I am still struggling with the new computer.  Seem to have mastered the blog part but not much else.  Mike put in a WiFi signal repeater antenna which has greatly improved the internet access, both on the phones and the computer.  Next comes a wireless phone signal repeater.  We have almost no signal at all here in the park but the office does have a landline in case of emergency.

Continue to love the quiet and the solitude here.  

Exceptionally heavy traffic on the ranch road

More from New Mexico - Christmas Day

The Great Poker Run:  we lost.  We are in the middle of a 7000 acre ranch; there's an annual event called the Great Poker Run.  Lots of the semi-permanent and permanent residents have ATVs for exploring the desert and the park owner has four of his own.  (We rode with him.)  There is a course onto the 18 miles of trails and at four stops, you draw a card.  When you return to the camp, you draw a 5th card and the best poker hand wins.  Mike and I together couldn't  get a decent hand.  It was lots of fun and I was glad the camp owner was driving, as it was a rough ride in spots.

The dogs are living their dream here.  Once we are off the park grounds, they can be free and explore.  So far they have been good about coming back when called.  The ranch has cattle, horses, goats, jack rabbits, coyotes and who knows what else so they are busy cataloging new smells.  As the weather warms up, we will need to watch for rattlesnakes, as they are also common here.  Needless to say, they come home from their walks exhausted (see photo). 

Mike went back to KC to have his new cornea checked and he is doing fine.  Our daughter-in-law Michelle is improving every day and we are feeling pretty good about the important stuff. 

We will be here until March.  When we were staying at the park in Sequim WA we had an offer to work camp this coming summer.  Mike will contact the park owner to see if her offer is still good.  If it is, we will head north and travel up the West Coast and then on to Sequim for the summer.  Plan to return here to Hidden Valley next winter.  It's just a great place.

We bought a new barbecue smoker which is propane-fired and about 25% of the size of the one we had in Leawood.  Mike has done a test run with brisket.  It was tasty but not as tender as he likes.  Wyatt says that the beef here is not equal to the Midwest beef we are accustomed to using so Mike will need to adjust his techniques.  We have problems remembering the altitude here in 4800 feet.  Stuff cooks differently than at 700 feet.

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday and we will be reporting again soon.  (Mike has ordered a signal booster for the park WiFi so I should be able to get onto the internet more reliably.)

Catching up at last

Mike is on his way back to KC to get his new cornea checked so I have some time to update without his assistance.  Below is a photo of what we see in front of our trailer:

We watched the Chicago-Dallas game last night and don't miss Chicago one bit.  By the end of the game it was something like -11 with the wind chill.  Kansas City has also been slammed with the extreme temps and assorted other bad weather.  While it can be chilly and sometimes windy here, I will take it over snow/ice/sub-zero temps.

The park is lovely and very, very quiet.  And we are in the middle of the WEST of yesteryear.  See below.

Note the bullet holes in the sign.  You have to watch for loose cattle on this road as they can pop up out of nowhere. 

The dogs are in a state of ecstasy....all these new sights, sounds, and especially smells.  Coyotes and bobcats are known to come onto the park so we are careful with Snack1 and Snack 2.  They, of course, have no sense of danger (or any other type of sense for that matter).  Lots of other dogs around but all on leashes and well-behaved. 

The park specializes in ATV'ers.  There are lots of ATV trails out into the desert and we are hoping to get an invitation to take a ride one of these days.  Until then we are walking the dogs.  Just have to be careful to keep them out of the various spikey, spiny, sticky vegetation.  All new to them and Muppet likes to stick his nose into everything. 

We have been into the closest town, Deming, a couple of times.  Although it's the county seat, it's really small and doesn't look much changed in the past 40 years.  Just on the other side of Deming is the border with Mexico.  My son's mother-in-law has offered to take us into Palomas, the town across the border, after the holidays. 

We are giving each other a propane-fired bbq smoker for Christmas since our old smoker from the house was way too big to bring.  I am looking forward to good 'cue again soon as the local joints leave a lot to be desired.  Mexican food here, obviously, is great everywhere. 

The Weather

Bright sunshine here and  temps will hit 50 today.  We are grateful we are NOWHERE IN THE MIDWEST as it seems everyone is getting slammed with snow, sleet, ice, temps in the teens and lower. 

On the Road Again, Finally

My, my, it certainly has  been an interesting four months.  Our return to Kansas City for Mike's unexpected cornea transplant went well.  Except for the 14 degree night that froze our hoses, etc.  That wasn't all that great.

As soon as Mike could see clearly enough to drive we left Kansas City one jump ahead of a winter storm.  Stayed ahead of it until Amarillo when we had to get off the road for two days due to high winds.  And of course it was very cold.  And I picked a park that was right at the end of a private airport runway.  Nothing personal, you understand, but I will try not to go through Amarillo again...ever.  Tucumcari is only 113 miles from Amarillo and we had to get off again, this time for snow.  Sat three days in that park waiting for roads to clear and then finally drifted into Albuquerque.

We were supposed to have Thanksgiving with my son Wyatt, his wife Michelle, and their two daughters, Taylor and Madison.  By the time we got to Albuquerque, Michelle was very ill, in the hospital, and had three hours of surgery the day before Thanksgiving.  Mike and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner and Wyatt spent most of the day at the hospital with Michelle.  She is now doing much better and hopes to leave the hospital this week. 

We left Albuquerque headed south to a wonderful park outside Deming NM.  I will try to post a photo (I am still figuring out this application.)  Both of us hope your Thanksgivings were a lot less stressful than ours. 

October 18th - we are still out here

Been out of touch for some time due to:  1)  being in areas so remote we didn't even have a cellphone signal; 2) RV Park WiFi that is so anemic you can't get on it; 3) racing from place to place.  We should now SLOW DOWN. 4) Operator errors using this new PC...can't get my pages to post.

Since August, when we finally got our truck back, we have been three weeks in KC, a week in Council Grove at the COE Park, a week at Chanute in a sleazy motel while we waited for repairs to the Hitchhiker, four days at Coffeyville for my 50th high school reunion (a hoot!), four days at Tahlequah, OK for a Hitchhiker Rally, five days at Little Rock just doing nothing and another week at West Memphis AR on the banks of the Mississippi watching the tugboats/barges. 

We also spent 10 days at a Corps of Engineers park at Cherryvale and got kicked out during the shutdown.  A local reporter interviewed us, complete with photo, so we have now had our 15 minutes of fame.

One day we went to see Big Brutus,  See  photo.

 

Now the not-so-fun news:  Mike's right cornea (less than a year old) has gone bad and we are on our way back to KC to see about a(nother) transplant.