Tuesday, November 30, 2010 - Travel Day to Carlsbad, NM

Overnight it rained, sleeted and snowed, and then we woke up to a freezing fog, with many of the bushes and small trees covered with a layer of ice. We didn't cover the hay (the forecast for precipitation was a measly 10% and the sky was clear when we went to bed), so it was wet this morning, but should dry out as we drive south today. The horses managed to make it through the night, though they were happy to get into the warmth of the trailer, practically running us over to get inside. Dumped at the park, and were on the road before noon, not it too much of a hurry because it was only a short trip to Carlsbad and we had no stops to make except for a meal. Found the Arena with no problem, it's a fairly impressive facility with two long rows of stalls, both concrete and open pipe, but we it was only 2:00, and we have arranged to meet with Luanne at 4:00, so we went back into town to fill up the truck with diesel and find a place for lunch. We settled on a rather unimpressive Chinese restaurant called Hunan, but Hubby felt guilty after walking in, because it had a full buffet set up and no one in the room, so we had the buffet (so naturally ate too much, something I've been trying to avoid!). He's such a softy... Arrived back at the Arena, met with Luanne, who very generously also said we were welcome to hook up to electric if we wanted. She had cleaned out some stalls and unlocked two for us before leaving us to our own resources. We were fully set up in short order, including satellite dish, before dark, settling in for an evening of relaxation.

Monday, November 29, 2010 - Visit to the UFO Museum

The night was very cold last night, and we worried about the horses on the highline. Our original plan had been to ride today or tomorrow and leave on Wednesday, but this weather is just not getting any better, and the terrain here, frankly, seems like it would be a pretty boring ride, so we decided to use today to get caught up and head out tomorrow to Carlsbad. Managed to contact Luanne from the Carlsbad Horsemen's Association, who said we were welcome to stay at the Sheriff's Posse Arena, where there were stalls and water available, at no charge. Since our other option was either Brantley Lake State Park, which was a good 30 minutes further away from the Caverns (our main purpose for going there), or find a farm or ranch nearby, as the only campground near Carlsbad was White's City, which had such terrible reviews on the internet we didn't want to go there. So we decided on the Arena for a few days, as horses apparently aren't allowed anywhere near the National Park, so trail riding here wasn't something in the plans. Once those plans were made, we headed off to Roswell to visit the International UFO Museum, which proved to be a very interesting walk through reams of affidavits from people who claim to have come in different contact with all aspects of "The Roswell Incident," as well as a number of other fascinating exhibits. We spent a couple of hours there, then ran a few more errands before returning to the park and spending the rest of the day getting ready to depart in the morning.

Monday, November 29, 2010 - Visit to the UFO Museum

The night was very cold last night, and we worried about the horses on the highline. Our original plan had been to ride today or tomorrow and leave on Wednesday, but this weather is just not getting any better, and the terrain here, frankly, seems like it would be a pretty boring ride, so we decided to use today to get caught up and head out tomorrow to Carlsbad. Managed to contact Luanne from the Carlsbad Horsemen's Association, who said we were welcome to stay at the Sheriff's Posse Arena, where there were stalls and water available, at no charge. Since our other option was either Brantley Lake State Park, which was a good 30 minutes further away from the Caverns (our main purpose for going there), or find a farm or ranch nearby, as the only campground near Carlsbad was White's City, which had such terrible reviews on the internet we didn't want to go there. So we decided on the Arena for a few days, as horses apparently aren't allowed anywhere near the National Park, so trail riding here wasn't something in the plans. Once those plans were made, we headed off to Roswell to visit the International UFO Museum, which proved to be a very interesting walk through reams of affidavits from people who claim to have come in different contact with all aspects of "The Roswell Incident," as well as a number of other fascinating exhibits. We spent a couple of hours there, then ran a few more errands before returning to the park and spending the rest of the day getting ready to depart in the morning.

Sunday, November 28, 2010 - Another Rest Day

Couldn't believe we slept past 10:00 this morning! Bed didn't go down as much, so it must have been temp and elevation after all. Spent the day watching TV and catching up on my long overdue blog.

Saturday, November 27, 2010 - Tried To Do Nothing Today

Slept till well past 9:00, horses were whinnying for breakfast as soon as they saw movement in the RV. Fed them, cleaned up after them, took the dogs for a walk, down to where the pay station was, picked up an envelope and came back, eventually wrote a check and took it back to drop it in the pay slot. Spent the rest of the day utterly exhausted, and stayed as immobile as possible, except for a time when Hubby and I had to try to find a leak in the airbed, both sides seemed low this morning, but more on his side. Couldn't find anything, so we just pumped it up again and we're hoping it was just the change in temperature and elevation (we're at 3500 feet, down from 6100 in Albuquerque). We also spent some time on the computer, making plans for the next few weeks. Mostly just watched TV until we went to bed about 11:00.

Friday, November 26, 2010 - Travel Day to Alien Land, Roswell, NM

 Set the alarm for 7:00, as Diane was leaving at 9:00 and we needed to be out before then. Just made coffee, then packed up everything and was ready to leave by just before 9:00. Said our good-byes and more apologies to Diane on our way out, and headed down to a farm up the road to pick up hay. We thought we were getting grass hay, but it turned out to be an alfalfa grass mix, which I'm sure the horses will love. Then we headed back to a gas station, having discovered the tires on the truck were a bit low (actually, WAY low), and we put in enough to get us down the highway to Belen, about 20 miles south, where we figured we could finish it off while we were dumping and getting gas, which we did (and they even had free air, as opposed to the first station where $1.00 got one tire filled). Then we stopped to fill up a propane bottle, grabbed a sandwich at a Subway in the Wal-mart before heading south, a bit later than we hoped but with still enough time to get to Roswell an hour before dark as we had planned. Had conflicting directions between Google Maps and Gracie (my Verizon GPS), but I stuck with Google Maps this time, which took us across one of the most desolate, empty areas we've ever been. I can understand why aliens would want to land near here, they were sure to be seen by very few people! Arrived at Bottomless Lake State Park right on schedule at 4:00, stopped by the office to pick up a map, then headed down to the Lea Lake Campground, which has about 5 sites set aside for equestrians, though there are no actual facilities here, and high lining was a challenge as all the "trees" are more like tall dry bushes which required some imagination to accomplish. It was more like a head-high picket line rather than a high line, but the horses as so accustomed to that now they were very cooperative. Managed to get set up, even the satellite dish, before it got too dark. Crashed for the evening, all the more fatigued after having such a stressful day yesterday.

Thursday, November 25, 2010 - A Memorable Thanksgiving, Though Not in a Good Way

Slept late, but still felt exhausted today. It's obviously going to take some time to recover. Did a few chores around the house, then Hubby decided to take the van down the road to a car wash to wash it and vacuum it out. When he got back, he made a critical mistake. Diane's dogs were in the yard, and she had left explicit instructions to be careful not to let the dogs escape. Rather than come and get me first, Hubby opened the gate to drive the van in, and two of the dogs, Romeo and Mitzi, took off fast and far. We ended up spending the entire afternoon looking for them, with no luck. We were mortified, but there wasn't anything we could do but hope and pray they would come home. Diane arrived just after 4:00, meeting Hubby on the road as he was still looking. Naturally, she was very upset, and promptly went out looking for them as soon as she took care of her other boarders. It was getting dark, and the forecast was for the coldest night of the year, in the teens overnight, and still nothing. We kept looking out with the flashlight at the back gate, which is apparently where they came last time they had escaped, and only saw Diane out looking on several occasions. Then at about 8:00 or so, Diane called to say the dogs had returned, but that Romeo had encountered a porcupine, and could I come in and help. Naturally I was relieved the dogs had returned, sorry one had been injured, but was grateful for the opportunity to help out, hoping to make up some for Hubby's error. I instructed Hubby to get on the internet and find out the best way to remove the quills, while I went to the house. When I saw Romeo, my heart went out to him, his entire muzzle was a pincushion, including his nose, his tongue, and inside his mouth. Diane had collected some towels, and I got on the floor and started plucking the easier ones with my fingers. Thankfully, Romeo, despite his pain, let us handle him with no hesitation. He whimpered occasionally, but never growled or showed any anger. A few minutes later, Hubby showed up with instructions to use pliers, and a moment later, Diane's friend Patricia showed up with a pair of pliers in her hand. Together, we spent the next hour plucking quills out of poor Romeo's face, taking breaks whenever the pain got too much for him. Toward the end, he started to crash, either from exhaustion, gratitude or shock, I'm not sure which, but it made getting the ones inside his mouth easier. When we finished, I helped Diane give him an aspirin with peanut butter and putting him to bed with a blanket to avert any shock. Patricia issued instructions for Diane to pick up some antibiotics at the farm store in the morning and administer it to him. Fortunately, Mitzi managed to escape the quills and spent the evening watching the surgery. We again apologized profusely, and Diane forgave us and thanked us for the help. She's a real animal lover, just not too good in a crisis, but has the good sense to call friends that are! Went back to the RV happy that we would be able to sleep knowing the dogs were now safe, which would certainly not have been the case if they hadn't come back! Glad this day is over!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - Laundry Day

Our original plan had been to head down to Roswell today, where we were going to meet my brother for Thanksgiving, but he had a change of plans and couldn't make it, which is just as well considering our debilitated state. Despite our deep fatigue, I figured I should do laundry today, so I arranged with Diane to leave the laundry room open for me, as well as to stay through Friday. She doesn't have a dryer, so I had to both hang clothes on her line and put some in my RV dryer, which was a balancing act to not over burden the 15-amp breaker. Tried to spend as much of the day recovering as possible, but we are both well and truly beat from our busy schedule. Wrote Diane a check for her board, gave it to her when she got home, and she seemed pleased. (I threw in a little extra, she's been such a good hostess!) Looking forward to a day off tomorrow doing nothing!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - Another Runaround Day

Slept late, had breakfast, then headed out to pick up the van and turn in the rental. Also found a post office to mail some checks to the bank, as we had sold a number of books last week during our various sessions and had received mail while we were at the Ritz. Had rec'd one check from Bank of America, and went to a branch to cash it. After a LONG wait, we were told there "might" be a $6 charge to cash it, but they weren't sure, and then they couldn't find the account it was written from, and we were told we needed to speak to customer service so they can do "more research." After another 10 minute wait, we left without having cashed the check, confirming our bad feelings about Bank of America. We found a nice Indian Restaurant nearby and had a meal, then suddenly remembered that it was in Albuquerque many years before when I had stocked up on a lot of Indian spices at a place called Talin Market, though we couldn't remember the name. We thought it was on Central Ave., so after we finished shopping at Wal-mart, we went on an expedition to find it, and re-discovered it at the corner of Central and Louisiana. This is truly a fabulous store, with aisles separated by cuisine from all areas around the world, both packaged a fresh. I stocked up again, delighted we found the place. Headed back to Diane's, arriving just before dark, found she had already fed the horses for us (thanks Diane!), and settled down for the night, truly exhausted.

Monday, November 22, 2010 - Travel Day back to Albuquerque

Slept until 10:00, discovered that checkout was at 11:00 (we had expected 12:00), so we raced around packing, getting out just in time. Ran errands for a while before finding a nice Indian restaurant on our way to the airport. We realized we would be arriving too late to pick up our van at the repair shop, so I decided to rent a car rather than getting a taxi. Went onto priceline.com (my first time!), and managed to secure a car from Hertz for $20, plus another $18 in "fees" (how do they get away with that?), but still figured we came out ahead. Had a safe and uneventful flight home, had no trouble picking up the rental car, arrived back at Diane's before 9:00. Dogs were super excited to see us (once they woke up enough to realize we were back), and even the horses whinnied at us when they saw us. We left everything in the car, exhausted, so we just had a quick nightcap and went off to bed!

Sunday, November 21, 2010 - More Coaching

 Attended breakfast plenary again, then headed straight back to work, same busy schedule again, worked up until almost 7:00 before attending the closing dinner, featuring Mary White (formerly of the Supremes), a good friend of the Executive Director of the foundation, who provided entertainment after all the new officer installations. Headed back to the room around 9:00, watched a bit more of the activities from our balcony before crashing, aware that though we could sleep later, we still had a lot to do before catching our flight at 3:25.

Saturday, November 20, 2010 - Plenary and Coaching Day

At breakfast, while Hubby had already gone to start coaching, I delivered a two-minute plug about our upcoming Plenary workshop in the room next door at 10:00. After breakfast we moved over there (we had blocked off the hour from coaching so that Hubby could attend), and we had excellent attendance. It started out about 2/3 full, then by 10 minutes after we began, the room was packed. It was very well received, lots of notes taken, enough time for a few good questions before we ended. Naturally, shortly afterward, just about every open coaching slot was taken, right through Sunday night). Spent the rest of the day coaching, tag teaming lunch again, very busy and very well-received, with lots of compliments from some pretty important women. Too tired to go out for dinner (we worked until 8:00), so we had Chinese take-out brought in, watched a Mel Gibson movie, then went to bed as early as we could.

Friday, November 19, 2010 - Coaching Day

 Started out with the breakfast plenary, then headed back to our coaching room. We managed to attract quite a few women in for some coaching, primarily due to the nice bio in the Conference Program, and it wasn't long before the word started spreading. Had to tag team lunch, as our slots were starting to fill in fast. Decided to change from one hour sessions to half-hour sessions in order to accommodate more people. Were busy all day, right up to 8:00. We had a break at 6:00, and met with our old friend Leslie Sanchez, who will be speaking tomorrow at lunch. Decided to split a burger from room service so we could rest the remainder of the evening.

Thursday, November 18, 2010 - Moved to the Ritz

Packed up and moved over to the Ritz Carlton Grande Lakes just a few miles away, to participate in a national conference of Women Legislators. We were introduced during the initial Leadership meeting (which included a brief presentation by Governor Charlie Crist), then checked into the hotel, which was a challenge. The first room they gave us was (would you believe!) right next to the elevator, which I told them was unacceptable. The only other room they claimed to have had double beds instead of a king. Hubby went to look at them, and somehow (I still don't know how!) managed to finagle a suite at no extra charge. It was beautiful! Two large rooms, both had balconies overlooking the pool and the golf course, extremely comfortable furniture, lots of space, a huge bathroom with a glass enclosed shower, a separate bathtub (though not a jacuzzi), an enclosed toilet area and double sinks. Really spectacular, exactly what you'd expect from a Ritz suite! It pays to have a husband that looks professorial and has that enticing English accent! Once we were settled in, we worked with the planners on arranging a room where we could offer one-on-one coaching sessions, and they found one right along the main corridor, guaranteeing we would be able to attract some folks in. Attended a welcome reception on the patio, met a few interesting people, then headed up to the comfy room for a relaxed evening and an early morning. 

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 - Advanced Workshop Day

Spent the day facilitating our Advanced Workshop, which is normally two days but was abbreviated for logistical reasons. Celebrated with chocolate covered strawberries and sparkling wine that we received as a gift basket on Sunday.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010 - Workshop Day

Spent the day facilitating Day Two of our Training Camp.

Monday, November 15, 2010 - Workshop Day

Spent the day facilitating Day One of our Training Camp.

Sunday, November 14, 2010 - Runaround and Moving Day

Sunday, November 14, 2010 - Runaround and Moving Day
Didn't sleep very well despite the nice bed, primarily because we kept hearing noises all night, sounded like bumper cars to me. Hubby finally figured out it was the elevator across the hall, and it was busy most of the night. Worse, he woke up feeling very ill (it always happens after going to a store where there are coughing kids), so he stayed at the hotel while I ran around getting things we needed for the workshops and some cold remedies for him, as well as groceries, as we managed to get a small refrigerator brought to the room. Got back after several hours, repacked and moved to another room, though when I checked it out, I discovered it, too, was directly across from the elevator, so I insisted we be moved again. They finally found us a room on a higher floor (always a good thing) and away from the elevator. This room, too, had a jacuzzi, and the furniture wasn't quite as worn as the previous room, though it wasn't a suite. Bed wasn't as big, but was comfortable. Once we got everything ready for the workshop tomorrow, I decided to partake of the jacuzzi to help me recover from all the activity which had made me ache. Hubby spent the day in bed taking cold remedies, and was slowly feeling better. Went to bed early, knowing we had to get up early as well.

Saturday, November 13, 2010 - Travel Day

Dropped off the van at the GMC dealer so that they can get some work done while we're going, but they didn't have anyone who could take us to the airport, so we had to call a cab. Flew through DFW to Orlando, where we will be until a week from Monday, with three jobs to do while we're there. Arrived at the hotel, the Royal Plaza in Disney World, where we discovered an error had been made in the reservation, and they weren't expecting us until tomorrow. Worse, they were fully booked up. After a long time, they finally managed to put us in a suite which had a very comfortable, HUGE king bed, but the furniture in the sitting room looked original from the 70's, with most of the padding worn out so that you could feel the metal framework underneath. The bathroom was huge as well, with a jacuzzi tub, but too tired to use it tonight. Got to bed late, with plans to sleep late as well.

Friday, November 12, 2010 - Laundry and Packing

Spent the day doing laundry and packing for our trip. This one's going to be a bit longer than usual, so packing efficiently was a must! Showed Diane all the ropes for feeding the dogs, who will have the rare privilege of being able to stay in their own beds (or rather, our bed) while we're gone, she's just going to let them out and feed them regularly. Going to miss them, but we've got to keep everyone fed, including us!

Thursday, November 11, 2010 - Travel Day to Albuquerque

Wished we had found Red Canyon sooner, but c'est la vie! Today we headed up to the city to get the animals and vehicles settled in at their new digs. We had a relatively leisurely trip, arriving just as 4:00 as agreed. Our host Diane was there to meet us, and it didn't take long to get everything and everyone where they were supposed to be. It was cooler than we expected in the evening, so we arranged to plug into electricity so we could keep the little space heaters on rather than run the furnace and burn propane the whole time. Otherwise an uneventful day.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 - Ride Day at Red Canyon in the Snow!

After a very cold night, woke up wondering which was crazier, driving all this way and not taking a ride, or taking a ride when it was freezing outside. There was, in fact, some snow on the ground in the campground when we arrived, but the temps weren't too bad, in the forties and fifties, but there was a very cold wind coming from the west, which, fortunately, we were somewhat sheltered from, being on the east side of the mountain range. After getting outside and realizing it wasn't too bad, or at least, wouldn't be too bad if we dressed properly, we saddled and booted the horses and left the camp about noon, heading out the Red Canyon Trail, which was the beginning of a loop of about 7.2 miles. The first part of the trail was the most difficult, which was fine because the horses were fresh, and apparently quite happy to go for a ride. After the initial easy bit, we headed into rockier terrain, criss-crossing a creek up fairly steep terrain, but like mountain goats, our horses sailed up them with no problem. We were confronted once by a downed tree across the trail, and I wasn't sure we could get past it, because the cliff dropped away down toward the creek, and the upside seemed to have unsure footing, so I got down and walked it to see how safe it was. My trusty gelding followed right along, climbing up like it was nothing, and Hubby and his mare followed right along. I felt a little silly for not trusting him to take me on his back, but I quickly climbed back up and we proceeded onward. The trail was difficult in some places at first, but once we got past about a quarter mile of rough stuff, it became simply moderate for quite some time. The horses took quite a few breathers as we got closer to the top, understandable considering they climbed about 1100 feet in 2.5 miles. When we reached the intersection at the top, there was a clearing with some grass, so we let them graze for a bit, cognizant that we couldn't waste much time, what with the time change back to standard time this past weekend, and it getting dark here by about 5:00. We certainly didn't want to be late getting back. There were spectacular views, though, on both sides of the mountain range we had just climbed, we could even see Albuquerque in the distance! After the horses had a few minutes rest, which they needed, as evidenced by the goodly amount of sweat they had accumulated, we headed north on the Crest Trail. I had made the assumption that the Crest Trail would stay fairly level and that the returning trail would be all downhill, but I was wrong. The Crest Trail actually descended for 1.2 miles on this particular stretch (the entire trail is upwards of 18 miles), then the rest of the loop was mostly level and gradually downhill, skirting the mid-section of the mountain all the way around. Apollo sensed we were heading home, and his pace picked up a bit as well, and we made the last 3.5 miles in just an hour and fifteen minutes, pretty good considering the trail was still mosting rock and didn't lend itself to trotting, much less cantering. It did get considerably colder on the north side of the mountain, and the snow was a bit deeper, possibly 2 inches or so, which added to the challenge. It was harder to actually see the rocks on the trail, and it made it much more slippery, which made us once again grateful we were using Easy Boots rather than horseshoes, which would have slipped even worse on the rocks. Having dressed in parkas and double socks, we managed to get back without being completely frozen, and in fact, really enjoyed ourselves. We made such good time that we actually made it back by 3:15, even though I had predicted closer to four. We had the horses settled in and fed by four, and relaxed the rest of the evening, happy that we had made the decision to come here, wishing we had done it sooner. We hadn't wanted to ride in snow, but were glad that we had experienced it. The rest of the winter, however, we hope to try to stay in 70 degree weather!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 - Travel Day to Red Canyon

Packed up and moved out of this spooky place, heading straight north to the Cibola NF, or at least a portion of it. I had discovered a horse camp that was only about an hour from Albuquerque, and couldn't understand why I hadn't found it before, except that I thought I remembered calling and either they didn't call back or they told me they didn't have a horse camp, I can't remember which. In any event, it was ideally located, but the only drawback was there wasn't any water there, so we stopped at the Ranger Station in Mountainair to pick up maps, and while we were there we filled out RV water tank as well as the 55 gallon drum for the horses, knowing that would be more than enough for two nights. The temperatures dropped a bit as we headed north, and the folks at the Ranger Station mentioned that they had had a "dusting" of snow up at the Red Canyon campground, so we were prepared for a cooler experience than where we had left. We arrived at the well-marked horse camp, which was only slated for RV's 22 feet in length on their website, but found a pull-through that was more than adequate for both our units, so I don't know where these numbers come from! Put the horses in each of their own 10X10 corral, realized there was no chance of a satellite signal, which didn't really matter as we had so much on DVR anyway, and were fully settled in by 4:00. The only unfortunate thing was that one of our dogs got into something that upset her stomach, and she wasn't up to eating dinner, which for her is unheard of. We were worried about her, but could only leave her to her own devices, namely eating grass and throwing up when it suited her. Went to bed concerned, but looking forward to a ride tomorrow.

Monday, November 8, 2010 - A Second Ride Day at Three Rivers Wilderness

Once again saddled and booted the horses for another ride. No sooner had we passed the trailhead when my horse froze, with ears pricked and eyes alert. He even "trumpeted," a strange occurrence I hadn't heard him do in a very, very long time. For the uninitiated, it a quick intake of breath followed by a sharp exhale that comes from the bottom of the horse's diaphragm, almost as if he's using his whole body as a sounding board. It's usually performed as a scare tactic, I think, like a dragon giving a warning before the next flaming exhale comes out. Anyway, we finally moved on but the trumpeting continued every few hundred yards. He was obviously agitated about something, especially after we turned up a new trail, the Dry Canyon Trail. It was pretty unnerving, but we kept going. The woods felt very claustrophonic, and we kept our eyes open for wildlife, thinking maybe it was the smell of bears or mountain lions that was upsetting the horses. As we climbed up and up, the rocks got worse on the trail, and it kept getting very close, and the horses just stayed nervous, until we just couldn't enjoy ourselves anymore and headed back. It felt strangely haunted here, as though bad things had happened and there were evil spirits, or at least unsettled spirits, still hanging around. Though we had expected to stay until Thursday, with another ride on Wednesday, we decided that it just wouldn't be enjoyable, so I spent the afternoon finding another place closer to Albuquerque where we could go and hopefully get another ride day in, in an atmosphere that was better than here. Once I found a place, we decided we would leave in the morning, and went to bed happy with that decision.

Sunday, November 7, 2010 - Rest Day

Decided to really take a Sunday off for a change, and spent the whole day relaxing, finishing off the rest of the Jaws series, III and The Revenge, both a pathetic shadow of the original and even 2. A terrifically relaxing day that we obviously needed!

Saturday, November 6, 2010 - Ride Day in Three Rivers

Slept late again, so obviously we're still recovering from our late hours earlier in the week. After brunch, we saddled and booted up the horses and hit the trail about 12:45. The trail was pretty rocky in a lot of places, but some areas weren't too bad. It was a gentle climb for the first couple of miles, but then started getting very rough, so we decided to return, since this was the horses' first day out in over two weeks, and we wanted to make it easy for them. They were already sweating just on this short, easy ride, so we knew they'd gotten out of shape, so we have to work them up again slowly. I can't say it was as enjoyable as it could've been, mostly because hostess Christy had regailed us with stories of running away from bears, almost getting leaped on by a mountain lion, rattlesnakes and a whole litany of other wildlife horror stories that kept us on a paranoic edge for a while, before we finally settled down, comforted by a lack of activity of wildlife all around us. In fact, the only thing we saw was a flock of wild turkeys crossing the trail in front of us. Meanwhile, the horses were brilliant, well-behaved, not at all spooky though their ears and noses did prick up on a few occasions. So well-seasoned now, even a two-plus week break hasn't phased them. Was out for a total of almost two hours, just about the right length for our first day out. Spent the rest of the day watching movies, beginning with Jaws and Jaws 2, having DVR'ed the whole epic in recent weeks, before switching to a couple of network shows. Went to bed happy that we're living the dream!

Friday, November 5, 2010 - Rest Day

Had an excellent night sleep, not getting out of bed until well past 10:00! Went to feed the horses and discovered the camp hosts had let two of their horses wander, which was fine (as long as they don't steal our hay or try to chew the paint off our vehicles, especially my new truck!). Our horses weren't bothered by them, but they were happy to be fed, considering the late hour. Spent the day getting caught up on work. I had been having trouble getting on the internet for several days in Colorado (I think our host's Wild Blue satellite dish had moved), and here, amazingly enough, I have two bars of cell phone signal, making a Verizon broadband connection quite fast. The hostess, Christy, stopped by and hand-drew a map for us, as I haven't been able to find one on the internet for this area, and had a beer with us. Despite our long night sleep last night, we're still both a bit tired, so I made a pot of chicken soup we can munch on all evening before we crash!

Thursday, November 4, 2010 - Travel Day to Three Rivers Campground, NM

Got up early as planned, and were pulling out by 7:45 a.m. Stopped at a Denny's about 10 miles south (since when was a "strip" of bacon 2 inches long?), got fuel and propane and went shopping at Wal-mart before heading down to the Lincoln National Forest. It was one of the more boring landscapes we've seen for a long time. Though there were some mountain ranges in the background, it was mostly a desert. The only interesting area as what looked like a lava field, full of black rock chunks for miles near the end of the trip. The roads were fine until the last five miles, where the gravel got a little washboard-y. We were met by the camp hostess Christy, who showed us around. We picked our spot, put the horses in a round-pen sized corral and didn't take long to pick up water in the RV and get settled in. We were both tired, so we called it an early night.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - Travel Day to Albuquerque

 Up early, got packed up and moved out by 10:00. Stopped in LaVeta to dump at the Country Store, then headed West on 160, deciding we wanted a more scenic route than I-25. Although we though it would be more mountainous, it actually turned out to be less so, traveling down a long flat valley for most of the way (other than the climb over LaVeta Pass), with just a few twists and curves and hills around Taos and Santa Fe. Picked up lunch at Wendys along the way, and arrived at our overnight stop south of Albuquerque, a private residence with a good-sized paddock and a run-in shed in the back that boards animals. We wanted to check it out before we left our animals there for our long trip later this month. Friendly dogs were everywhere, and our guys socialized immediately, the horses loved having so much space to run around in. We didn't have a lot of room to maneuver the RV around the house, but we managed with care. Spent a restful evening, knowing that in order to accommodate our hostess we need to be out before 8:00 when she left for work.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 - Election Day

Spent the day doing laundry and watching the election returns. Have been having a lot of problems getting on the internet, I think perhaps the satellite dish has moved, so now I'm behind again on our planning. Stayed up WAY too late watching returns, especially since we're leaving in the morning, but it was just so addictive I couldn't help myself! I'll catch up later. Other than that, an uneventful day.