Our Road Trips

10/11/2016 9/30-10/10/2016

Santa Fe, NM was our next stop. We rode into town from our campground and spent the afternoon on a trolley tour, followed by a couple hours in the highest spot in town, the rooftop bar at La Fonda Hotel on the plaza downtown. Soon after sunset, we were on our way back to the camper with a stop for some groceries on the way. The Arts District in Santa Fe is huge, lots of sculptures outside as you ride through. The city reminded me of St Augustine, FL, same types of architecture and ambiance.

The next morning, we drove about 10 miles to Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument and looked at all the strange rock formations, like cones with a ball on the top. Then we went looking for internet so I could post the blog. Then we went into town, stopped & did a little shopping, and went to dinner at Red Lobster. It had been a couple of years, so it was fun to try it again with the new owners. We had a nice quiet dinner at a very full restaurant.

On Sunday, we spent the day at the camper, getting ready for our next adventure in Albuquerque. So in the am, we packed up and left shortly before 11. The drive into ABQ was an hour, so nothing too exciting. We arrived at the entrance gate and were led to our spot for the next 3 days. The guy who took us to our site was a retired Houston Firefighter, so we had some chatting to do, nice to find a brother at a place like this. The wind was howling when we arrived, and the events for the day had already been cancelled. So we went & found an Outback and had a nice dinner.

At 6 am, we were out watching balloons launch & sail away. Not only had the wind calmed down, but it had changed direction by 180 degrees, so the balloons were flying overhead of where we were sitting. By about 10 am, all the balloons had taken off and I had run the battery dead on my phone taking 100s of pictures. With all of the balloons there flying that morning, it was a spectacular day. We took a nap and then went looking for some friends, which was basically unsuccessful.

The next morning was more balloons, this time with a weird wind situation. The balloons would launch, head west for a 1/4 mile and then head back east, get over the launch field and turn north. So we saw lots of every balloon, sometimes 3 times. After all of the balloons had launched, we went back to the camper for some lunch and then we went to the Balloon Hall of Fame, within a couple of blocks of where we were parked. They had a goofy movie that had nothing to do with ballooning and then a lot of displays that were ballooning related but nothing to explain how they were related, so we were thankful we only spent $4 to get in, good way to kill time is about how it is best described.

On Thursday morning, it was more balloons launching, plus competition day, where about 100 balloons went off site and launched from where they thought the wind would carry them back to the launch field. They had pylons set up, and the object was to fly close enough to the pylon to place a ring over the pylon or throw a beanbag close to the base of the pylon, closest to it win the prizes put up by sponsors. The wind was so light, it was almost impossible to compete. They also inflated 114 special shape balloons, but did not launch them. With the wind so light, it was not exciting to watch, balloons in slow motion. We decided to pack up & head out, begin our drive to Amarillo, TX. 4.5 hours later, we arrived at Palo Duro State Park. about 30 miles south of Amarillo. The campground is at the bottom of the canyon and about 10 miles from the entrance. By the time we got to our site & set up, it was beginning to get dark. We took a short walk to see the place and it was getting dark. So we settled in for the evening and watched the Thursday Night NFL game, it had been a long day.

We had also decided to leave the next day, as Barb had discovered that it was over 7 hours to our next place, and with hurricane Matthew going by at home, we thought being without any cell service was not cool, so we had decided to split it into 2 days. So we did some sight seeing of the canyon and checked out about noon, with Elk City, OK as our destination. We arrived there about 3 pm and Barb decided to get the laundry caught up. I did some projects I had been putting off, caught up on emails, etc. When Barb was finished, we went to town and had a nice dinner at a restaurant the guy at the RV park had recommended. The next morning we went to the National Route 66 Museum on a section of the famous highway on the west end of town. We spent a couple of hours walking down memory lane, lots of stuff in 17 buildings that also included a Wild West Museum in the group of buildings. Then we went back and got all hooked up and left for Keystone Lake, about 30 miles west of Tulsa. We got there about 430 and got settled in, beautiful spot on the water, a reservoir on the Arkansas River, which will be our home for 5 nights. The next day, we spent the day watching football on TV.

On Monday, we headed to Oklahoma City, with our chosen route being Route 66 again. Driving that highway, takes you though lots of little towns with storefronts dating back to the 30's and reminding us both of our childhoods. We made several stops at different attractions, round barn, Pops (200+ flavors of soda), and other less important ones. When we got to I-35, we headed south into OKC and stopped at the State Capitol and made a short tour. Then we went to the NW corner of town and stopped to see my cousin Gary and his wife Joan, who is recovering from knee surgery. We spent the next 4+ hours chatting & going to lunch across the street from the oncology clinic where Gary is Chief of Staff. We had a nice visit, nice to see the parts of our family who are a long ways away. We headed back as to try to avoid driving after dark if possible, as the drive back is about 2 hours. We made it back shortly after dark and spent the rest of the evening watching Tampa Bay & Carolina.

We are headed to Kansas City to watch NASCAR but first things first, getting our ballots from our friend Becky who just got back from Florida yesterday. Voting is very important this year, a right we would never miss performing. So we are off to Tulsa in the morning so we can do that. Stay tuned.

Steve & Barb Larson