News for the Week

Started the week doing things that needed doing, then had lunch with Marc on Wednesday; he looks well and healthy. We're going to try to get together (with kids and Elaine) some time next week; little (?!) Maria turns 13 today and is having a slumber party this weekend, so we'll do something the weekend after that.

Didn't get to see Deb 'til Thursday night after her respite care job; we had dinner at a nearby Chili's and laughed 'til our stomachs ached. Friday night, we had a sort of picnic supper at her house and did a little more laughing. It never ceases to amaze me that we can spend five years and not make a single phone call or write a note, and still pick up like we just talked yesterday.

Saturday we took the dogs to Petroglyphs National Monument, just west of Albuquerque. When I was a kid, the old inactive volcanoes there were nothing special; just a backdrop for the mesa. There was a college there...St Joseph's, I believe, and I think it's still there. The difference is that since my youth, (1) the volcanoes were discovered to hold historical significance in that there are ancient drawings on the volcanic rocks, and (2) the whole area is now surrounded by housing developments. You can see the houses all the way from the base of the Sandia mountains: what used to be just mesas and dunes are now thousands and thousands of houses, both north and south of Coors. Deb led me from there north on Old Coors Road (which I thought never went any further north than West Central Avenue) all the way past Corrales almost to Bernalillo (which is also heavily developed). Rio Rancho and Paradise Hills are now accompanied by something called "Taylor Ranch" and a huge shopping mall, larger than the old Coronado Shopping Center and decrepit old Winrock in the NE heights.

We hiked the Petroglyphs. About thirty minutes was all I could take; it was hilly and the sand was loose so it was quite a trudge. The dogs loved it, and Deb's fit as a fiddle, so....

That evening we went our separate ways, if for no other reason than to get a decent night's rest, all to start up again in the morning...

...which, for Deb, means "noon". We finally got rolling and went to a very large flea market in what is, in September every year, the New Mexico State Fair Grounds. I prefer a flea market that has more antique and craft items, but this one was just one huge, disorganized yard sale. We both found some lovely baskets, native American-designed, but I'm not real sure they were actually produced by native Americans. After a good long walkaround, we went to our respective "homes", me to walk the dogs, who'd been pent up all day in the RV, and Deb to get ready for work the next day.

Monday was a day of rest/laundry, and Tuesday I took the dogs in for their quarterly shampoo/nail clip. They spent over half the day there, so I used their absence as an opportunity to wash all the rugs, vacuum, wash some screens and windows, dust and simonize the dashboard of both VanGo and Oor, clean the bathroom, and get rid of too much "schtuff" in my closets. All this nice, clean space makes me appreciate the rig more. I also managed to get an oil change and new wiper blades on Oor, so I had a good, productive day and wound up with a clean, sweet-smelling house and two dogs in the same condition.

Today (Wed., 4/9) I took VanGo to Myers RV here in Albuquerque and had a satellite antenna installed on the roof. The latest technology, it stands not even as high as the air conditioner up there, and its aim is automatic. I was tired to death of not being able to aim the satellite dish DirecTV had given me, and this will make tv watching better and rig resale easier. While we were without our little abode, the dogs and I took off in the car to try to find something to do.

First off, I needed a new bulb for my right turn signal; it had gone out the day before without my notice. I pulled into Pep Boys on San Mateo and Central, where they had done the oil/wiper change the day before; they were out of my particular bulb. I headed down to Lomas to Quality GMC to see if they had the bulb; nope. (Reminder to self: Don't forget to change the oil drip pan plug on Oor next time you get an oil change.) I gave up, and decided to head downtown just to see what's up.

By the time I reached downtown, I had decided to head for the south valley. I turned south on 4th Street, intending to catch Bridge Street and cross the river there. The City Fathers have redecorated the downtown area to an unrecognizable degree. Fourth Street has been blocked to make a sort of arcade or something from Marquette to Central, so I had to do some fancy backtracking and zigzagging to get to the intersection of Fourth and Central. Finally got there, to find the sole recognizable building in the downtown area: the Simms Building. The parking garage across the street is still there, but I don't think that's where people catch the city (county?) bus any more. I saw no signs nor people there.

Anyway, I kept heading south on Fourth Street, looking for Bridge Street, where I would turn right and go over the bridge. I found the semi-major intersection of Fourth and Cesar Chavez and as I glimpsed to my right, sure enough, I saw the bridge. They had changed Bridge Steet's name.

We crossed the bridge and turned left onto Isleta Blvd. It now takes much less time to go from the head of Isleta Blvd. down to Gun Club Road than it did forty years ago, I swear. It is much changed. I turned on Blake Road before I ever got to Gun Club, just to see how much of it I remember. The only thing I recall is where the road swerves to the left in front of a still-huge cottonwood tree: Dead Man's Curve. It's not named that for nothing. Approaching Coors Road at the end (actually, it's not the end; Blake Road continues west of Coors now), I was stunned at how much development (if you want to call it that) has taken place in that area. From Blake to Gun Club on Coors (and possibly further south; I didn't look) is fast-food joints, auto shops, gas stations, etc., etc. Not a real pretty part of town. Turning left onto Gun Club from Coors, it's houses all the way to Isleta. I could find and recognize only one family home from the '50s/'60s: the Wenks'. The old Buhler house on the corner of Gun Club and Isleta is still there, but is looking pretty trashy. I remember how pretty that place was. What a shame. I could swear half the trees are missing.

By this time, and after all that, it was only around 10:30AM, so we got off Isleta at Rio Bravo and joined up with I-25. I had decided that Santa Fe was a good idea, so off we went. About 40 minutes (possibly more) later, I read a sign that read "Cochito Lake" off to the left. This was quite a ways north of Bernalillo. I had been hoping to see some Indian (is that pc? am I supposed to say "Native American"?) pueblos and possibly look at some jewelry, plus the sign had reminded me that a long, long time ago, Jerry had had a Ducati motorcycle, and I'm pretty sure we went, at least once, on a bike ride up on Cochiti Lake Dam. I was curious to see that again.

It's a nice, lazy type of drive up there; there are several pueblos - Cochiti, Santo Domingo, and a third one, I think. I imagine it's prettier in the summer. I found the town of Pena Blanca, an odd little town with lots and lots of trees and farmland - oh, yeah! and some buffalo! - surrounded by the high desert. I don't know if it's part of one of the pueblos, or what. I eventually found my way just past the Dam Lake, or rather, the Lake Dam and stopped to ask where I'd end up if I continued on my road and was told "Jemez". Well, that was a little farther north than I intended so I turned around, had a look at Cochiti Lake and the Dam (very pretty; they dammed the Rio Grande to make the lake and have installed a prize-winning golf course there), and headed back toward I-25. I turned north again and stopped just south of Santa Fe, having just seen it last year, and went off toward Madrid.

By this time, I had noticed that it was cold as hell, and the clouds, which had started the day only "partly", were thick and dark. I had neglected to watch the weather since Albuquerque's having some very enjoyable days - 70's, almost 80's and dry, dry, dry!

Passed Cerrillos, which is growing like crazy, went through Madrid, which is charming as ever, and finally got to Cedar Crest and Tijeras Canyon. It rained - sprinkled, really - the whole way, and I had the heater going. As I exited Tijeras Canyon (and evidently, the Verizon Badlands) my cell phone signaled that I had a message. It was Deb, telling me that if the dogs and I were bored, we could go hang out at her place; she had left the door unlocked.

The dogs and I grabbed burgers and headed to her place. We couldn't have been there more than ten minutes when Deb showed up, and almost immediately after, Myers RV called to tell me the antenna installation job was finished, and they had lubed the chassis and changed the oil. Impressive! The antenna job alone is usually six or eight hours.

Well, what a good day! Got to do some reminiscent-type sight-seeing (site-seeing?) and got some improvements/maintenance done on my home.

Tonight (7:00PM), it's raining like crazy and we're supposed to have high winds and thunder. In Albuquerque? Where the sun shines more than 300 days out of the year? Actually, this is good news: all the natives have been saying how long it's been since they've had a good rain.

Later.