After a great New Year's Day Brunch at Great Cedars Resort in Branson it was time to hit the road for New Mexico and Arizona. The weather was perfect for the entire trip including stops
in Oklahoma City, Amarillo, Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
We did not drive long days and the first night found us in Oklahoma City. We had dinner at Toby Keith's restaurant in Bricktown and visited the Federal Building Victims Memorial, a beautiful and haunting site in downtown Ok City. We arrived after dark and the lights of the Memorial are a stark reminder of the tragedy.
The next day was an uneventful drive across western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle to Amarillo. We stayed at the Amarillo RV Ranch next to the Big Texan Steakhouse, home of the 72 oz Sirloin. After being picked up at the campground in a limo adorned with lonhorns we enjoyed watching two young male optomists try to consume the steak, salad, and potatoes in an hour without even coming close to finishing. The odds are against you as one in seven guys make it while half of the women get through the whole meal. (Free if you make it, $75.00 if you don't!) A fun way to spend the evening.
Our good traveling came to an end about 60 miles east of Albuquerque when the DeBlieck's Vectra showed a low coolant warning around noon. While our pals had been to proceed to Santa Fe we spent almost six hours waiting for the right wrecker to arrive to load the motorhome and take it to Albuquerque Freightliner.
We did have a day of sightseeing in Sante Fe while the m/h was repaired and before the DeBlieck's left for Tucson. it was great spending a week with RV friends and neighbors from Washington and we plan to meet up with them again in Arizona before they head back to Washington.
After Santa Fe we spent a couple of days visiting with old Illinois friends Bonnie and Gary Ramshaw who have lived in Albuquerque most of the past 8 years. Their home includes RV parking and electrical hookups from the previous owner and is located about 5-6 blocks from the balloon festival field. The picture above was taken from their yard one quiet morning. We plan to be back for the October balloon festival as Gary crews for one of the contestants and has access to the infield
Next was the coldest night we have spent in the Tradewinds. We decided to tke the northern NM route across I-40 into Arizona and spent the next night in Gallup, NM where the temperature dropped to 15 degrees ! Fortunately the next day we dropped down off the Arizona rim onto the Phoenix area where the temps have been 72 degrees, dropping into the the low 50's at night. We are thawed out and enjoying wearing shorts again!
We are really getting a chance to relax at the Good Life RV Resort in Mesa, a block from Sue's sister Pat. The CRV has been repaired after being backed into in Peoria last month. We will spend a couple of weeks here seeing Pat's family and other friends in the area before heading out to Quartzite, AZ for a large RV gathering in the desert. We will be camped out with about 60 coaches who are members of the RV Forum. We have met several members over the past three years and will spend a week or so exporing the Quartzite area. One of Jeff's High School classmates, Mike Keller and his wife Lynda who live in California are planning on making QZ so we plan on meeting up with them there or at an FMCA rally in California in March.
In the meantime Sue hits the pool for water aerobics every morning, Jeff takes a walk and is talking about a golf course to try his new clubs on.
