Benson, Arizona

We high-tailed it out of Gallup, delaying our trip south an extra day due to 6 inches of snow in Flagstaff.  We travelled down on Wednesday, taking about 7 hours to comoplete the journey.  The weather was sunny and got warm once we got into lower altitudes (Gallup is around 6,400 feet, and Flagstaff is higher yet).

We are happy to be back here in Benson, where the weather is nice and sunny and warm, and the pool and spa are great.  Who knows, maybe we'll even see the Dark Rider again!

Gallup, New Mexico

We're heading out of Roswell, New Mexico, today and going up to about 6,400 feet elevation into the heart of Navajo country.  Our journey will take us through Albuquerque, and it will take about 5 1/2 hours to get there.  We will be saying hasta luego to our friends here at Trailer Village.  It won't be good-bye, as we plan to return here next winter and visit for a month or longer.  We're really going to miss their kick-butt WiFi that's serviced by wireless internet service, and really going to miss these generous and hospitable people.

Just busy packing up the caravan now.  More from Gallup (cross your fingers for decent internet up there!)

Back in Roswell Again

Spring break started on Mustang Island on Saturday, March 12th, and things were heating up down on the beach literally.  There were hundreds of people camping out down there, mostly teenager/college kids, driving up and down in their vehicles, playing volleyball, guys in gorilla suits, large pickup trucks with equally large smoker BBQs in tow, and more than a smattering of large Confederate flags being flown on the back of pickups and on the dunes.

 
We left Mustang Island on Saturday, March 12th, and headed for Ingram, Texas, which is about 12 miles NW of Kerrville, where we stayed about a month before.  The RV park in Ingram was actually a working pecan orchard with large mature trees, and they had made a smaller RV park at the back of the property by the river, so it was very quiet and serene, with birds singing and deer romping around in the trees.  It's a little early for the leaves to be on the trees yet, though, and the temperatures were definitely lower than we have been used to on the island!

We then drove about 4 hours NW and stayed at Fort Stockton overnight at the same RV park we had stayed in on the way down.  This is the first time we have stayed in a place we knew, and it was far less stressful getting there because we knew where it was and what to expect.

When we arrived at Trailer Village in Roswell the next afternoon, it was like returning home.  We stayed about a week here in January on the way down to Texas, checking out the old stomping grounds of Billy the Kid in Lincoln and Fort Sumner, and we had made friends with the family who owns the RV park we stayed in called Trailer Village.  When we pulled up at the office, one of the owners came out and said, "Didn't you see the sign?  It said 'No Suntanned Gypsies,'"  Ha, ha. 

It has been great staying here and visiting with them again.  The weather has been nice and hot during the day (80 to 90 degrees F.) but, being the desert, it tends to cool down at night to around 5 degrees C., something that we are adjusting to after the steady and humid temperatures of Mustang Island.  Spring has arrived here, though, and the trees are all leafing out and the blackbirds are singing in the trees. 

We will be heading out of here on Saturday to head up north to Albuquerque and over to Gallup, New Mexico for a few days to check things out up there. 

From Mustang Island to Roswell, New Mexico

We left the island on March 12 and are now en route to Roswell this morning. Will write some detailed posts over the next couple of days. Weather sunny and around 21 to 28 degrees C. :)