As you can see, we are crowded at our camping spot.
Lots of birds. The Imperial Blue Jay (last posting), black headed grosbeaks, tons of wrens,and warblers.
This hawk was one of two that spent hours around the motorhome hunting for meals.
Best shot I could take with our small camera, but this gives a little idea of the great color on the bluebirds.
There were three beaver lodges that we were able to see along the creek. The rangers indicated that they were active though we didn't see any --probably needed to get up a lot earlier.
This lodge did show fresh wood on top.
The locals that came on the weekend had a good and successful time fishing here as well.
Not sure how long this was at the campground.
The water was always running into the water trough.
Eustis is always happy to be on the road.
He got excited by the "Watch out for Elk" signs, but we were told they migrate back to higher elevations in the warmer weather.
Maybe next time Eustis!
We made a quick one night stop at Storrie Lake State Park. Our site backed up to what was left of the lake. Most of the lakes are quite low---up to 50 feet or so low.
Storrie Lake looked very sad to us, especially when the rangers told us about years when the water was so high, it went over the road.
On to Villanueva State Park
Villanueva is on the Pecos River, which was running quite full from mountain snow runoff. The road from Route 25 was quite interesting with old adobe buildings, lots of red dirt, and slow --15mph curves.
We would set our chairs out here right at the river's edge.
The sites here were huge. We kept thinking there were supposed to be 2 sites instead of the one.
We could hear the river day and night--a wonderful background.
They had a great, solid bridge crossing the Pecos River to the hiking trails.
We carried a lot of water on this hike. Quite dry and temperatures close to 90.
What do you mean "steep dropoffs?"
Long views from way up.
The river flows south through this canyon.
The green trees follow the river's edge.
You're probably wondering why I have my phone and Kindle out during a hike.
Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, we had no phone signal at our campsite. We could do without internet for a few days, but I knew I would really miss my daily Boston Globe on the Kindle.
So, I kept checking during the hike for a phone signal. And, sure enough, close to the top, there was at least one bar of signal. On goes the "hotspot" connection on the phone and the Kindle picks up the WIFI signal from the phone. A few minutes later(it was a weak signal) I had at least one day of the Boston Globe.
The view from the top.
What do you see Jan?
With very low humidity and good elevation, the views are long and clear. Snow covered mountains, towns, and the Pecos river.
Much easier to see where the river flows through the canyon. Just look for the light green spring foliage on the trees.
The long wide view
Watch out!! Wow , that was close!
Do you see our Lazy Daze?
Finally, the end of the Loop Trail brings us back to the bridge.
The part is over rocks--nothing to the right of the trail but the river--straight down.
On the road again. This time heading south on Route 25 towards Santa Fe.
Great colors in the hills.
And note the heavy traffic----not.
We had a few things to check on with our Lazy Daze. So back to Enchanted Trails in Albuquerque on Route 66/40. A very friendly park right next to Camping World . The owners are very much into antique RV's.
They were happy to take Passport America for two nights--same as our last stay on the way to Santa Fe. Passport America allows half price at campgrounds.
The trailer is a 1954 Vakasunette and the car is a
1950 Hudson Commodore named "Evelyn"
Lady Blue is happy with her furnace running fine(the thermostat needed adjustment), the refrigerator still questionable at elevations over 7,000 feet on propane( but it works), and brand new valve extensions for the dually wheels( so we can easily check the tire pressure)
And here we are , about 90 miles west of Albuquerque, at Bluewater Lake State Park.
Another favorite. No hookups, but to us--with our Annual Camping Pass for New Mexico--the site is free.
The view from our lounge side window.
If you remember, we paid $225 for the pass. Since dry camping is $10 per night, we were camping for free after 22.5 nights. We are now into the mid 30's nights or--we have been camping for free for more than 10 nights. And the pass is good through March 2014!
And--don't spread this too far, but---most of the electric hookup sites do not have views of the water.
Not only free, but we had a fantastic dinner and we both sat on the same side of the table(with the extension for you Lazy Daze fans)and then----
WATCHED THE SUN SET
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