October 24, 2011 – Travel to Farmington

Well, we had an interesting start to our travel day. 

This morning our black tank was full…no more would go down…ok, so good thing we are going – :-)).   We get everything put away and go to start the MH – nothing.  Check all the batteries – ok – still nothing.  Now what????  Keep in mind that we have a FULL BLACK TANK so the thought of staying put for a few more days MIGHT be a problem..   Anyway, Andy does some more checking and found out the wire to the starter was loose.   Boom…it starts and we are on our way to the dump to empty both our tanks.   Whew…our angels are looking out for us – :-))

(One note – we did not have a smell even though we were full to the brim.  I started doing the Geo Method with the tanks (Calgon, Tide, but no bleach) and it really does a nice job.)

Once we turned onto US-550 and went north of Bernalillo, the scenery was WOW!!   We climbed steadily until we were over 6000’ and stayed on that plateau all the way to Farmington.  I took over 200 pictures and here is a sampling:

OR

 https://picasaweb.google.com/gardenhavens/102411Travel?authuser=0&feat=directlink

If you cannot get to the slideshows, please email me at gardenhavens@hotmail.com.   Sometimes I just go crazy with photos and just want to share them all. 

A little background… from what I was told there were many volcanoes in this area thousands of years ago.   When they exploded, they left over 1000 feet of volcanic “tuft” – dust, that is…   Now think about that – over 1000’ of dust – holy moly…    Anyway, many of our native Americans built dwellings in this dust – hence, the many cliff dwellings in this area.   As you look at the above photos, you can see that layer of volcanic dust.

Andy and I have been “blown away” by New Mexico.   We have been thru this state a few times since 2008 and never spent the time to explore.  Well, we are going to do some exploring now and expect to be back next spring to do more.

We arrived in Farmington, stopping first for propane, and then settling in at the Elks (thanks Pam and Steve for the info).   We did a short trip to Wal-Mart, then a ride around town.  Farmington has about every store and then some.  Before heading back to the MH, I made a stop at Hobby Lobby to pick up some plastic canvas (for containers for the fridge) and other items – I love that store -

Back at the MH, we stopped in at the Elks for a drink and then just settled in for the evening.   Tomorrow we are heading to the four corners area so stay tuned.

 

Stats:

Miles Traveled: 202 Miles

Routes Traveled:

New Mexico: Cochiti Dam Road; SR-22; I-25 S; US-550 W; US-64 W (with a stop for Propane – thanks Pam and Steve); US-64 E; Main Street – SR-516 E; Airport Road/Municipal Drive