A Day with RVillage Friends

This past Saturday we drove to Socorro, NM about 70 miles south of Albuquerque to meet with RVillage friends, Bob and Trish whom we met here in Albuquerque last May before leaving on our travels.  Trish and Bob were from New Jersey and had been on the road for about a year before we met them heading back to the east coast for the summer. 

They also have a Tiffin motorhome so we had much to talk about when we met.  Trish writes an almost daily blog so we have kept up with their travels though had not been close together since last year.  They are currently volunteering at a dog/cat rescue facility in T or C (for those outside New Mexico, that stands for Truth or Consequences.  Yes, named after the once TV program.  Check on the internet for info regarding how the name came about.).  Since it is over 100 miles between the two cities, we agreed to meet half way to show them the sites in the Socorro area before they leave on the southern route into Arizona. 

We met at the Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge which is located about 18 miles south of Socoro and near the Rio Grande River.  Wildlife such as Sandhill Cranes, Snow and Canadian Guess, Egrets, ducks and other birds migrate from the north in Canada to this area and south for the winter each year beginning in about October through December and return starting in about March.  There are also lots of other kinds of wildlife in the refuge such as coyotes, roadrunners, bobcats, rabbits, etc.  On any given day you never know if or where you will see such wildlife and unfortunately, today was one of the days when we saw little.  We did manage to see this eagle sitting on an old dead tree in the middle of the marsh,

some snow geese in a pond,

 an assortment of birds outside the Visitor Center feeding at the feeders, an egret, but no Sandhill Cranes.  While Ron and I see them here in Albuquerque and we did see some prior to arriving at the Bosque, none were in the areas we traveled through the area.

After our visit to the Bosque we travelled 8 miles north to have lunch at the Buckhorn Restaurant in San Antonio, a favorite of Ron and me.  The owner won a throwdown with Bobby Flay back in about 2004 and has been written up in Sunset Magazine as well as others..  The parking lot was busy and we did have to wait a few minutes for a table since it was right at the lunch hour.  We all ordered the Buckhorn Burger consisting of a hamburger, chopped green chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and mustard (a specialty of the house) as well as fries and a drink.  While the wait is long for the meal, it is worth it.  They advertise that they are not a fast food restaurant and they are right.  The owner visited with us several times and is there overseeing things at all times.  He is quite a character.

With our tummies full, we headed to Socorro (9 miles north) to take in the sites there.  Even though Ron and I have travelled through Socorro many, many times, purchased gas and even stopped at the local McDonald’s, we had never taken in the sites there. 

Socorro got its name in 1598 from explorer Juan de Onate whose tired and hungry men were given food and shelter by the Piros Indians.  He named the Pilabo pueblo “Socorro” which means “help” or “succor” in Spanish.  In the 1600’s Franciscan friars built mission at Socorro and other nearby communities.  It was not until the early 1800’s that the actual settlement of Socorro began.  In 1815, 21 families were given land grants to settle there.    A Civil War battle was fought a short distance south of Socorro on February 21, 1862.  After the Civil War, lead and zince mining as well as silver and the arrival of the railroad made the area a center for diverse mining activity.  In 1889 the government chose Socorro as the site for its new School of Mines (now known as the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology).

Arriving in town, we attempted to find some addresses for places I had seen on line, but to no avail.  In a small town, even the Visitor Center is closed on Saturday so no help there to find the locations.  The one place we did see; however, was the old San Miguel Mission Church (founded in 1598) which recently underwent a renovation.  Much to our delight, the Church is now open and we were able to take a look inside. 

We also came across this very old house with the turret.  You all know by now that Ron and I have a fascination for old homes.

It was getting late in the afternoon, so we returned Bob and Trish to their car in San Antonio and we began our trek back to Albuquerque but not before stopping in the town of Lemitar to take a picture of this old Mission church.  It is called “La Sagrada Familia” which in Spanish means “Holy Family.”

It was a wonderful day full of conversation, catching up and learning more about Bob and Trish while sharing a meal and seeing the sights.  We hope to see them again this year if they pass through this way on their way to San Antonio in June.  Thanks to RVillage for giving us the opportunity to meet more RVers and share experiences with others living the RV lifestyle.

Life In the RV

Happy Valentine’s  Day

Ron and I have done a great deal of traveling since we have been together both here in our home state of New Mexico, but also traveling by car and plane and in our RV to other states mostly in the western part of the US until this past summer when we were able to go to the east coast as many of you have seen in my blogs beginning in May of this past year.  We are not hikers though we enjoy being in the mountains and forests so our travels include short walks at local and national historic sites along the way.   Local small towns offer some interesting sites to see which you would not see if only taking in the well known places.  Some like our visit at the Coon Dog Cemetery in Alabama this summer proved to be quaint and unique. 

That being said, I have not written about sites in New Mexico since we are not visiting them and because, due to recent circumstances, we have not really ventured out much but stayed close to home visiting with friends, shopping, eating out in town and enjoying quiet time in the RV.  We are both home bodies so enjoy the time in the RV in this quiet park watching the neighbors and kids come and go.  There is a park across from our site which is regularly used by the children who live in this mobile home/rv park.  Nice to see a park used so much and children outside playing.  That is not to say that we have not kept busy with other projects.

Ron really enjoys doing photography and taking on line classes to learn more about how he can better post process  his pictures as well as using the internet to find things we may need or more to the point, want.  He also enjoys his game shows, police type TV shows and doing some reading on his Kindle.   He never enjoyed reading until he got the Kindle.   Fortunately, we have gotten most of our RV issues resolved for the moment so he has not needed to contact a service provider or do any repairs himself. 

We did, however, decide to replace our hide a bed sofa with two recliner chairs.  We have only used this sofa for company twice in the past year and do not travel with friends or family for the most part.   We had seen these wall hugger recliner chairs this past summer in some friends RV back east.  The chairs were ordered before Christmas from Amish Workbench Furniture and only just this past week arrived for install.  We found another RVer here in the Park who wanted to upgrade his sofa so were able to have our local RV service people take out the sofa and deliver it to our neighbor.  How much nicer they are for watching TV and for taking those late afternoon siesta’s that us seniors seem to need. 

While Ron does his thing, I keep busy with reading, quilting, crocheting and the usual household chores like house cleaning, meals, dishes and wash. Unfortunately those chores do not go away just because you live in an RV.   Last May I put a full plastic container of books in the basement and to date have not read one book from that box.  That is not to say I have not read any books.  I have quite a stash in the RV and of course being the avid reader that I am, have found a few books at flea markets, etc. which I could not resist buying.  I also read books on my Kindle.  Ron keeps saying get rid of the box of books, but I tell him the books are by my favorite authors that I need to read before giving away.  I give books away at RV Parks so we are not carrying all of the books I have read with us still.

Before going full ltime, I took a quilting class and had pieced three baby receiving blanket size quilts to be quilted this winter.  These have now been completed and will be donated along with the crocheted blankets to our local Project Linus group.

 I crochet while Ron drives the RV and in the evenings.  Since we travel so much I cannot donate my time locally so make these blankets as my community service work.  Two blankets were donated in Virginia this past summer as this is a national organization.  I also made my first wall hanging for the RV and have plans to do more cutting before we leave here in June so I can piece more projects while we travel.

We are both ready to be on the road again and have missed being in a regular RV Park and getting out to sight see in the area.  Oh well, there is always next year.   So much for life in our RV in Albuquerque this winter.  Do I miss the house here in town?  No, not at all.  We really like our life in the RV.

About the Ballards

Fourth chemo treatment is now behind me and I did even better than the last two times.  Hooray for that.  I really feel blessed to have done so well and pray I will continue to do so.  There will be two more treatments before I begin radiation therapy some time in early or mid April.  Will know more when that starts when I meet with the  Radiation Oncologist in early March.    I am thankful to have had several friends come to stay with me during infusion which really helps to pass the two hours I am there quickly. 

When arriving in Albuquerque in late August, we did not intend to be here more than a month to do our annual doctor appointments but circumstances dictated otherwise.  Since this has been home for Ron and me for many, many years, I said I would only write in the blog about once a month unless there was something interesting to write which so far there really has not been. Those reading this blog are mostly close friends and family; however, there may be those who would like to know a little about Ron and me, how we arrived in Albuquerque and what we do with our time when we are not traveling.  So, here goes.

I was born in California but grew up on the east coast in New Jersey and New York before heading back west to go to college in Arizona where I met my former husband.  He and I lived in Arizona, California and Michigan before arriving in Albuquerque in 1973 with our two children who were not of school age as yet.  My son and family now live in Virginia while my daughter and her family live in Texas.  Wish they were closer as we do not see them often enough.

Ron was born in Washington state and  other than his time in the Army in the 60’s spent his youth and young married life in South Dakota before taking a transfer in 1984 to Albuquerque bringing his wife and young son.   Ron’s son and his fiancée remain living and working in Albuquerque.   Ron and his son are close and enjoy getting together for guy breakfasts at local restaurants as schedules allow. 

In the 1980’s both Ron and I were divorced from our former spouses.  We were introduced in 1990 by a mutual friend, got married in 1998 and lived in a number of homes on both sides of town, bought our first used RV in 2006 (an old 1996 Newmar in case we did not like it) and looked out for my Mother here in Albuuqerque until her death at the end of 2014.   Ron’s Mom passed away earlier in 2014 leaving us both as the heads of our families since we are both first borns.   At that point, we decided it was time for us to realize our dream to live in our 2008 Tiffin RV and travel full time around the U.S. seeing all this beautiful country has to offer. 

My blog began in late April and tells about our travels this past year.