Moving On

On Sunday, Mar. 30, I got bored with Las Cruces so decided to leave the following morning.

Set out that Monday and went straight north on I-25 to Albuquerque, where I arrived around 3:PM. The topography and geography of that route was all new to me; I must have a very bad memory, or maybe I've never been that route. When I left Las Cruces, the Rio Grande (which is very full, I meant to mention earlier) was on the west side of I-25. Not too far north of Cruces, it crosses to the east and stays that way 'til I got to Isleta Pueblo. I-25 bypasses Belen and Los Lunas altogether, so I didn't see but a glance of each town.

I'm at El Rancho Mobile Home Park on Wyoming SE. Friend Deb has informed me that in the last 15 years or so, this area has been designated a war zone. Oh, fine. Now she tells me.

Started getting the rig connected up when I realized the only electricity I had was my lights, which are 12.5 v. Nothing else in the rig, using 110 v., would power up: no refrigerator, no tv, no etc. I called the Park management, who did the usual. They always ask if I'm sure I plugged in right, and then they always say "it must be something with your rig". They never check their own damn facilities first; they blame the renter first. Other RVers I've talked to say it happens to them, too. Must be an occupational hazard. Eventually, they came to have a look, you know, to make sure I was connected correctly. Upon investigation, they discovered that their whole @#$%^ electrical pole was burnt out. No one had been in my spot in the five months previous, and they had no idea. They replaced their breaker and voila! Suddenly I had electricity! No apology, no nothing. Do these people forget that I'm giving them money? Do they forget that when I give money, I'm supposed to get something back? Keee-rist!

After all that, I discover they've blown one of my 12.5 v. fuses. I can't tell which one it is, but I know it's the one that's running the tv antenna booster, which runs on 12.5 v. No tv for the night.

After a decent night's rest (despite that fact that my bed(room) window faces a noisy street), I wake up, feed/walk the dogs, disconnect everything and head to Myer's RV Service up on northeast Central to see about getting the fuse situation fixed. I got extremely lucky at Myer's: two very nice guys in their service department actually came out, took a look around, figured out which fuse was out and replaced it, at no charge. I had spoken to Jarod, one of their electronics wizards, a couple of weeks ago to order a built-in (-on) satellite antenna, and he was more than helpful. My new antenna's still not there yet, but they're going to install in when it arrives.

After a pretty stinky start to my stay in Albuquerque, of which I am very fond, I'm now settled in and pretty damn content. The same network television stations I watched 50 years ago are still in action on the same channels, plus a few new ones.

I emailed Marc and Elaine, and phoned Deb to let everyone know I'm here. Got a return email from Marc almost immediately, and Deb called to let me know that she's doing respite care for someone almost all this week (in addition to her day job), so she and I will get together this coming weekend. Talked to Marc; all the kids are either suffering from or just getting over strep throat, so I won't see them 'til sometime next week.

Am getting around Albuquerque as if I'd never left. There's a Mexican restaurant across the street; not the best, but certainly pretty darn good. Found a dog park out behind the Veteran's Hospital and another one up at Los Altos Park, where Jerry used to golf nearly forty years ago. Found a Walmart and a PetSmart practically across the street from the park. Drove over to Coronado Mall to Sears to get a tool I had misplaced and noticed that Winrock Shopping Center doesn't even exist any more. Changes....

The weather is a little iffy, allergy wise: Monday and Tuesday were windy (very) and the pollen count is way-y-y-y high. Everything I can remember growing here is blooming: the forsythia, the lilacs, and lots of pink or white blooming trees. The dreaded Chinese Elms are bursting forth and will break out into full-size leaves any day now. Today's been quiet and quite warm, and they're predicting rain tomorrow afternoon, which I'll believe when I see. The nights, 'tho, are pretty darn cool, verging on cold. I haven't used any propane in over a month, 'tho, because my tiny little electric space heater is doing a fine job of keeping the three of us toasty-warm.

Albuquerque, NM Elev. 5314'