Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Goatheads

We had a fairly quiet day at the High Desert RV Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico yesterday. It was windy in the morning, but Donna was determined to go out for a bicycle ride. Wind is the worst on a bicycle. It’s an invisible force that holds you back as you pedal into it. When you climb a hill, you know there’s a summit ahead. When you ride into the wind, it can feel like there’s no end in sight.

Around here, we have hills as well as wind. High Desert RV Park is just west of the city. Albuquerque sits in a valley – more like a basin actually. The Rio Grande River runs through the center of the city. Our location has us high above the Rio Grande. Most of the good bicycling roads run east from here, down into the valley. Of course that means the return trip is all uphill. At least Donna was riding downhill into the wind yesterday and had a tailwind component while climbing. That was the good news.

The bad news was that she got a flat about a mile away from our site. She decided to walk the distance back to our coach which meant pushing her bike uphill most of the way. When she reached our site, she told me her front tire was flat. I pulled the wheel and removed the tire. I found remnants of goathead thorns in the tire.

Goathead stickers (Google file photo)

Goatheads (tribulus terrestris) are a non-native invasive species that thrives in arid climates. The fruit of the plant drops in clusters of five nutlets or burrs. Each burr has two to four sharp spines. They are a hazard to bare feet and dog fur – and also bicycle tires.

I only felt one goathead spine penetrating the inside of the tire. I pulled all of the spines I could find from the tire. Then I patched the tube and pumped the tire up. Then I noticed her rear tire was flat as well. I found more goathead spines in the rear tire. I located the puncture and patched it after pulling all of the spines I could find from the rear tire. Then I noticed the front tire had deflated. I retrieved a bucket from the trailer and filled it with water. I inflated the freshly patched rear tube and dunked it in the water bucket. The patch didn’t leak but I saw a steady stream of air bubbles coming from two other holes in the tube. I wasn’t going to put three patches on, so I replaced the tube.

Then I removed the front tire again and pumped up the tube. When I dunked it, I had the same result – patch was good but two other holes streamed bubbles in the water. Luckily I had four new inner tubes on hand in the trailer. While I was inspecting her tires, I came to the conclusion that it was time to replace them. The tread surface is fine with lots of rubber left, but the sidewalls are looking thin and fragile with cord showing in places. These are handmade racing tires – not the most durable. Donna’s no longer racing and the liveliness and slight speed advantage these tires offer aren’t worth risking a blowout. I ordered two new Continental Gatorskin tires for her. These are durable tires resistant to punctures. With my Amazon Prime account, they’ll deliver here on Saturday.

Our site at High Desert RV Park

I set up the Traeger smoker/grill. Donna had the large mat under our awning with chairs out and the table cloth on the table. I roasted chicken thigh quarters that Donna seasoned with Stubbs dry rub. The Stubbs has become a go-to rub for us.

Chicken thigh quarters hot off the Traeger

Donna served the chicken with forbidden rice and bok choy braised in white wine, chicken broth, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. And it was ready just in time for the Thursday Night Football game.

Chicken thigh quarter with braised bok choy and forbidden rice

The New York Giants pulled off a win against the Washington Redkins, but neither team looks to be real threat.

We have pleasant weather today, no wind. The forecast calls for a high of 77 under clear, sunny skies. I’ll scooter Donna down to old town Albuquerque where she’ll meet up with her friend, Hazel Thornton, for lunch. After dropping her off, I’ll make a Costco run.

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Free Parking and Good Food

I mentioned the Sandia Crest tram in my last post. The Sandia Resort & Casino (map) is approximately 5,300 feet above sea level. The tram is up the road from here at 6,559 feet above sea level. It’s the longest aerial tramway in North America – the third longest in the world. It tops out at Sandia Peak at an elevation of 10,378 feet above sea level. It was built by a Swiss company in 1966. The normal speed of the ascent is 12 mph – it takes about 15 minutes to reach the top.

The weather gods scuttled our trip up the tramway. The peaks of the Sandia mountain range were socked in by low cloud cover all day. There’s no sense in riding the tram up the mountain if all you can do is stare into a fog bank.

Sandia Mountains to the east of us socked in

Our free parking at the Sandia Resort & Casino was terrific. It’s quiet and the employees are very friendly. The views are nice. Ozark loved watching the rabbits on the trails by our coach. She would sit in a window and stare at them – then she would jump down and run into the bedroom, hop on the bed and watch them from the bedroom window as they moved down the trail.

Although it’s just a parking lot, the scenery is nice. Most of the land around us is undeveloped except for the golf course. Donna went for a walk in-between rain showers on Tuesday and enjoyed her hike. At one point, she cut through an employee parking lot. Security caught up with her and told her that only employees were allowed to access the lot – she got kicked out!

View to the west of us looking down at Albuquerque

We will definitely take advantage of this place the next time we pass through Albuquerque.

Late Tuesday afternoon, we saw an Alpine Coach with Texas tags pull into the parking lot. The driver drove quickly around the perimeter of the lot, then parked in front of us. He appeared to be on a mission. He unhooked the black Jeep he was towing behind his rig, then leveled the coach and put the slides out. Then he and his wife (I presume) got into the Jeep and left.

On Wednesday morning, they left early in their Jeep again, so we never had a chance to meet them. I think their Alpine is a 2006 model year judging by the paint scheme.

Alpine parking area

We walked to the casino for their breakfast buffet. It cost $8.95 per person and has everything you could imagine for breakfast – even eggs and omelettes cooked to order. I stuffed myself trying out too many items and getting my money’s worth.

Three days a week, they have a lunch buffet special for people 55 and older – all you can eat for five dollars! We saw a long line of people waiting for the lunch special to open at 10:00am. On Friday and Saturday nights, they have a seafood buffet that includes crab legs, shellfish, salmon and more. It costs $25, but if you have their players card, you get five dollars off. We were told the line gets so long, the wait can be over an hour for the seafood buffet.

We packed up and pulled out of Sandia Resort & Casino a little before noon. We drove down I-25 to I-40 west. Our destination was 19 miles away – the High Desert RV Park. We drove past the Pilot/Flying J travel center where I filled our tank on Monday. We checked in and set up. This park is clean and the setting is nice with open, undeveloped land around us. The sites aren’t level though. I had to place 12″x12″x2″ wood pads under my rear tires. I used four pads to support all four tires. I posted about the importance of this here. I used the pads so the rear tires would still be in contact after I used the leveling jacks to raise the rear of the coach. I don’t like sites that slope down in the rear.

It’s windy this morning. Donna is hoping to go for a bike ride. With the wind and hills around here, it’s going to be challenging. We’ll spend a week here, then move to Larry and Ruth’s place in Albuquerque to begin our next adventure crewing for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Last Weekend in Santa Fe

We’re not in Santa Fe anymore but I need to catch up on our last weekend there. On Saturday, Donna and I rode the scooter to the farmers’ market down by the Railyard Park. We originally planned to ride the bus, but took the scooter instead to save time. It was nearly noon by the time we got there and the market closes at 1pm. We were surprised at the size of the market – this is a big farmers’ market. We’d only been through about half of the vendors when some of them began breaking down their displays around 12:30pm. Donna bought a small bag of roasted Hatch chiles.

I was hungry and hoped to find tamales or street tacos for lunch, but the food vendors were sold out. We thought about stopping at the Second Street Brew Pub, but the food was overpriced and I didn’t want to have a beer that early before riding the scooter home.

We headed back south on Cerrillos Road and stopped at a Mexican restaurant called Los Potrillos. The salsas they provided with a bowl of chips were outstanding and I knew we were in for a good meal.

Tres salsa and chips

I had the enchilada suizas plate and Donna had chicken enchiladas con mole. It was delicious and we took home leftovers.

We made another stop to buy a whole chicken. Donna had invited our neighbors – the ones with the medium-duty truck in my last post – Audrey and Steve – to join us for dinner. Around 5pm, I fired up the Traeger smoker/grill and roasted the whole chicken which Donna prepared by lightly coating it with olive oil, salt and pepper. After about 75 minutes, my new Palermo instant read thermometer showed an internal temperature of 175 degrees. I turned down the Traeger to the smoke setting and basted the chicken with a barbeque sauce Donna had whipped up from scratch. Ten minutes later, we had a nicely roasted barbeque chicken.

Roasted barbeque chicken

I cut the chicken into quarters. This worked out well since Donna and Audrey preferred the leg/thigh quarters while Steve and I took the wing/breast quarters. Donna served it with fresh steamed green beans and cheesy cauliflower biscuits. Audrey contributed mashed potatoes and a couple of bottles of wine.

Chicken dinner plate

We sat together at the table outside and talked for a few hours. At one point Audrey said, “Look, you have a praying mantis on your back.” The praying mantis climbed up my neck onto my head. Donna snapped a couple of photos. I don’t think I’ve ever had a praying mantis land on me before.

Praying mantis walking up my neck

Praying mantis perched on my head

We talked well into the night and finally went indoors after 10pm. Audrey and Steve planned to pull out of Santa Fe Sunday morning.

On Sunday morning, we said our goodbyes to Audrey and Steve. I watched the Formula One race from Singapore, then proceeded to be a couch potato for the rest of the day watching NFL football. Donna went out for one last bike ride on the Santa Fe trails.

The entire time we were in Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV park, there was a 45-foot Beaver Patriot Thunder parked two sites away from us. The Beaver Patriot Thunder is a high-end motorhome with lots of features including powerful engine options. This one had a 15-liter 525 horsepower Caterpillar engine. The thing that piqued my curiosity was the fact that we never saw anyone enter or leave the coach for nine straight days. It was hooked up to water, sewer and electricity and the AC was running, but it just sat there empty. This seems like an awfully expensive way to store a coach.

On Monday morning, I heard the rumble of a large diesel engine running. It was the Beaver. There were two guys walking around the coach, putting away hoses and disconnecting the electricity. There were two cars – one behind the coach and one next to it by our site. The older of the two guys got behind the wheel of the Beaver and drove away followed by the younger man in a Volkswagen GTI. They left the second car – a Porsche Cayman GT4 behind. Curious again. Why did they come in separate cars and leave the $85,000 Porsche behind?

Porsche Cayman GT4 left behind

I took my time packing our trailer and getting ready for the road. We had a short trip planned and I didn’t need to leave the park before the 11am check-out time. Donna had the interior packed early and walked over to the Ross store to buy a skirt she saw there the day before and decided to go back for. She came back just as I fired up the Cummins ISL. The Porsche was still in the empty site hours after the Beaver pulled out.

Our plan was to head down to Albuquerque where we will stay for two nights at the Sandia Casino & Resort. They have free overnight parking in their RV lot. Our route took us south down NM14 which is also known as the Cedar Crest Scenic Byway or Turquoise Trail. It was a pleasant drive. We went through a few old mining towns. I wanted to stop in Madrid – the town featured in the movie Wild Hogs. The town is quaint, but the road through town is very narrow and there’s no place to park a big rig. We drove slowly through and continued on our way. We turned west at the junction of I-40.

I knew there was a Pilot/Flying J travel center off I-40. I programmed it into the GPS and stopped there for fuel. Then I programmed the Sandia Casino as my destination. I should have studied the map. The Pilot/Flying J is about six miles past the casino, near the High Desert RV park which is our next destination.

We found a nice spot at the back of the RV lot at the Sandia Casino. We have a view of mountains to the east and the city in the valley to our west. Donna and I went into the casino where we were given $25 gift cards to play the slots since we’re first-time visitors. Afterwards, we had a beer at one of the casino bars. Then we checked in with security and they gave us a pass for up to four nights of free parking.

We had rain overnight and there’s more rain in the forecast. If the weather clears, we may take the tram up to Sandia Crest which is a 10,000-foot high viewpoint. If the low clouds hang all day though, the tram ride will not be worth it.

By the way, Donna’s doing a book giveaway and today (September 22nd) is the last day you can download her Kindle book, Secrets of Professional Organizer’s Volume I for free at Amazon. Grab your free copy and help her reach her goal of getting listed in the Top 100 Free Kindle Books by the end of the day!

Sour Ale

Thursday was a pretty quiet day around here. My big deal for the day was servicing the scooter. I changed the engine oil and filter and also the gearbox lube. This is required every 3,000 miles. Donna went out for about an hour on her bicycle. Later she walked to the natural foods store half a mile from here. She was disappointed in the quality of their produce though. As usual, Ozark hung out and watched the birds outside.

Ozark keeping an eye on things

I went to the office and extended our stay here at Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV park through Monday. It’s a good thing I did it when I did – the place is sold out next week! The Thursday night NFL game was entertaining. It looked like it was heading to overtime when the Broncos stunned the Chiefs in the waning seconds to win 31-24.

On Friday morning, I rode the scooter over to the community center to play pickleball. Donna walked over about a half hour after I arrived. I played for nearly three hours. I was whipped by the time we were done! We were told about a new outdoor pickleball court that will open Saturday afternoon. I don’t know if my legs can take another day of pickleball at this point though.

On Friday afternoon, I repaired the windshield washer nozzle on the passenger side. I’ve been putting it off since we arrived here. The plastic housing where the hose attaches cracked and separated from the nozzle. After thinking about it, I decided to try gluing it back together with a contact adhesive called Goop. This stuff will adhere to almost anything. The trick is to pre-fit the parts so you know exactly how you want them positioned. I applied a thin bead on both parts and allowed it set for two minutes. Then I pressed the housing into place and held it for a few minutes. That’s all there was to it. By allowing the contact adhesive to set up first, when you press the parts together, they bond immediately. It looks like it will be a good repair – time will tell.

For happy hour, Donna and I went to Duel Brewing – a Belgian-style brewery and tap room (map). Duel isn’t your run-of-the-mill micro-brewery. They specialize in Belgian-style beers that are complex to brew and unique in taste and character. I had a Belgian pale sour ale. Sour ales are so different and can be very tasty. They are made sour by intentionally allowing wild yeasts or certain bacteria to enter the wort. Usually brewmasters do everything possible to keep a sterile environment and only allow specific brewers yeasts into the fermentation. Brewing sour beer is risky – if the wild yeast or bacteria get out of control, the brew is ruined. The sour ale I tried was out of this world! Donna had a Belgian witbier called Marcel – it’s brewed with coriander and bitter orange peel. She really liked it. We shared sardines and olive tapenade and cornichons with sliced baguette.

Belgian pale sour ale

We only had one beer each as we were on the scooter. When we returned to the RV park, it was filling up fast. I saw an unusual outfit in one of the sites. It was a tiny trailer that transforms into an elevated tent with a canvas room trailing behind. I wish I could have watched them put it up.

Small trailer transformed into this

Another unique RV pulled into the site next to us. It’s a medium-duty Freightliner truck with a long wheelbase and living quarters. It also has a gooseneck trailer hitch. I talked to the owners – a friendly couple from Minnesota. They use their RV to haul a horse trailer. They spend the summer in Minnesota, then haul their horses to Georgia in the winter. The truck is fairly new to them and they’re out for a few weeks of travel without the horse trailer.

Freightliner medium-duty truck – RV

Gooseneck hitch in back

On the other side of our site, we have two identical Newmar Dutch Stars. They’re traveling together – I don’t know if they’re related to each other. One has a Mississippi plate, the other Louisiana. Other than that, they are the same with a 4018 floorplan and exactly the same paint scheme. They even have similar name signs on the dashboard.

Today we’ll buy bus passes and head downtown. We’ll decide later if we want to play pickleball this afternoon.

Stay and Play in Santa Fe

Donna and I rode the scooter over to the community center yesterday. The Genoveva Chavez Community Center in Santa Fe houses swimming pools, an ice skating rink, workout rooms and a large gymnasium. They have a ton of scheduled activities, including pickleball on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Non-member visitors pay a $6 fee to use the facility.

I haven’t played pickleball since we were in Branson, Missouri at the end of June. I expected to be rusty but I actually played a decent first game. I thought I would improve after a few games, but I was wrong again. I slumped through games three and four but picked up my level of play again in my fifth and last game. Donna played well and we had a lot of fun. It’s a nice group of people there and we’ll probably go again tomorrow. Overall, the level of competition is somewhat lower than we found in Arizona and San Diego which was good for us getting back into the game.

We’ve worked out our travel schedule for the next few weeks. We’ll extend our stay here in Santa Fe and depart next Monday. Our next destination is Albuquerque. We plan to spend two nights dry-camped at a casino before checking into the High Desert RV Park there. We’ll stay in the RV park for a week before we meet up with Ruth and Larry for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. We met Ruth and Larry when we were in Mesa, Arizona earlier this year. They coordinate volunteers to crew for balloon teams. We’ll be dry-camped at their place while we crew at the balloon fiesta.

After the balloon fiesta, we plan to head to Arizona. We need to figure out where we’ll stay there and for how long. We’re thinking about boondocking at the Phon D Sutton Recreation Area in Mesa. We want to stop in Casa Grande and Yuma as well. From there, we’ll probably spend a night or two at our favorite boondock in the desert before heading back to San Diego. I’ve booked two months at Mission Bay RV Resort in San Diego beginning November 6th.

Last night, I enjoyed a bottle of Stone IPA while we watched the republican presidential debate. As always, the Stone was excellent. I won’t editorialize on the debate as I don’t want this blog to get mired in politics.

The good stuff

Nothing too exciting on the agenda today. I’ll service the scooter – change the engine oil and filter and change the gear box oil. Donna is going out for a bike ride. Tomorrow we’ll hit the pickleball courts again.

Loving Santa Fe

Donna has become totally enamored with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Ask her what she likes about it and she’ll give you a long list.

On Monday morning she went to the recreational center to play pickleball and found the $6 entry fee wasn’t exorbitant at all – they have a 50-meter swimming pool and an ice skating rink! I didn’t go with her because once again, I have a recurrence of the dermatitis on my feet. I’ve been trying to keep up with the last doctor’s instructions and washing my feet twice a day with antibacterial soap.

Around 3pm, we walked south from the park about a mile and a half to the Blue Corn Brewery. This is a local brewery and restaurant. It’s a small but very interesting brewery. James Warren is the brewer – he has a fine arts degree from Baylor University and while working toward a career in art education in Connecticut, he found his passion in brewing.

Donna wanted a stout as usual but they were out of stout. She had a brown ale that was very close in flavor to the stout she wanted. I had their Roadrunner IPA – excellent ale brewed on site.

We made the trek back to our site – my feet weren’t happy. I kicked back and watched most of the Monday night NFL double-header before going to bed.

Ozark the cat seems to be content while we’re away. When we return, we usually find her either sleeping on our bed or on the dashboard watching the world outside the windshield. She’s a fastidious creature grooming herself several times a day.

Ozark grooming

Keeping clean

Nap time

On Tuesday morning, Donna told me that I was kicking and scratching my feet in the night. My feet always seem to be better in the morning and I’m optimistic – but by the end of the day I’m miserable. Donna reminded me of this. I went online and found a couple of clinics that were in-network for our health insurance. Then I looked at maps and bus routes.

I finally gave in and took a bus toward downtown to Roadrunner Clinic near the train station. The bus dropped me off only a couple of blocks from the clinic. When I boarded the bus, I paid $2 for an unlimited, all-day pass in anticipation of making a stop for prescriptions on the way home.

While I was heading to the clinic, Donna went out for a bicycle ride. She rode about 16 miles.

Beautiful paved bike path in Santa Fe

The doctor I saw at Roadrunner was very attentive and had a holistic approach. After reviewing my previous treatments, he said, “Well they certainly shotgunned everything.” He wasn’t surprised to find this resulted in a quick but not long lasting cure. He advised a less aggressive treatment after telling me the systemic (oral) steroids I’d been taking are too hard on my body in his opinion.

He has dealt with dermatitis conditions many times before. He showed me a medical text describing and detailing different skin conditions. He was certain of his diagnosis of eczema dermatitis – not an infection, no need for antibiotics and not contagious. He spent quite a lot of time telling me how he thought we should approach a long-term cure.

He hedged his bet though. He prescribed a topical steroidal cream for the tops of my feet and a couple of antihistamines that aren’t usually used for for this condition – he knew about this approach from a previous stint working for a dermatologist. It turns out one of the drugs will alleviate my pollen allergy at the same time. But he also prescribed oral Prednisone – only to be used if the initial treatment is ineffective. The other difference from my previous treatments is he wants me to use an emollient on my feet at night. I’ll massage Bag Balm on the tops of my feet and go to bed with socks on. I’m hoping the third try is a charm.

After I stopped at the bus stop by the CVS pharmacy and picked up my prescriptions, I phoned Donna and said I would walk from there and pick up lunch on the way. She suggested meeting at the taqueria across the street from the RV park for lunch. It turned out I’d underestimated the distance and walked nearly two miles to the taqueria.

This place was authentic Mexican fare. Although I’m well-versed in Mexican food, we had to ask for explanation on some of the menu items which included things like beef tongue and tripe. We ended with the the usual pork, beef and chicken street tacos. The salsas from the salsa bar were so good, they’re beyond description.

Later, Donna took my bus pass and went out for a couple of errands and shopping at the farmers’ market at the mall south of us. She opted to walk back with the goodies she picked up along the way in her backpack.

Street musicians at the farmers’ market

Today I’m going to push the envelope and go to the community center with Donna for pickleball. I haven’t played in months and I think my feet will withstand a few games.

Santa Fe Fiesta

Santa Fe, New Mexico is a vibrant town with a lot of history. On Saturday, we studied the bus routes and schedule and rode the bus downtown. The bus ride costs one dollar each way or you can buy a one-day unlimited pass for two dollars if you want to make multiple stops. The metro buses are clean and the drivers are friendly.

We exited the bus at Alameda Street (map) and walked a couple of blocks to the plaza. The streets around the plaza were closed due to the Santa Fe Fiesta (Fiestas de Santa Fe). This festival has been held annually since 1712. It’s a celebration of the re-conquest of the city by Spanish colonists in 1692. It’s the longest running annual celebration of its kind in North America.

Plaza ahead on San Francisco Street

The area around the plaza is filled with boutique shops, restaurants and bars. We stopped at a shop called Parts Unknown where Donna looked at sandals and ended buying OluKai flip-flops. When we reached the plaza, it was filled with people and food vendors.

On the north side of the plaza at Palace Avenue, a stage was set up. There was a performance of a traditional Pueblo Indian dance going on. I didn’t understand what it was all about, but a guy was banging a drum and chanting while a woman and two kids danced.

Traditional performers

We wanted to take a look at the Loretto Chapel. This chapel has a unique spiral staircase that seems to defy logic. It winds its way up without any visible support. We arrived at the Loretto Chapel at 3pm and found it was closed to the public after 2:00pm on this day for private weddings. I’d like to go back another time to see it.

We walked back to the plaza and my feet were getting worn. I’m still battling that pesky dermatitis condition – it clears up, then comes back again. We stopped at the Draft Station on the south side of the plaza and sat at their rooftop bar. Donna ordered a locally brewed oatmeal stout and I had an IPA from Le Cumbre Brewing in Albuquerque. It was first rate IPA.

Le Cumbre Brewing IPA

They boast of their artisan pizza at the Draft Station so we ordered a 12-inch supreme. The crust was thin and crispy and it looked as good as it sounded. Unfortunately, we both thought it was lacking flavor.

Artisan pizza

I studied the map and thought I knew where to find the metro bus terminal to catch our ride home. The bus map wasn’t very good. It wasn’t to scale and many street names were missing. We left the Draft Station about 15 minutes before our scheduled bus departure. We walked west on Palace then turned on Grant. Before I knew it, we were walking up Griffen Street and I knew we had gone too far. We asked a woman on the street for directions but although she was local, she didn’t know where the bus terminal was. We backtracked and I asked a parking lot attendant. He directed us around the corner about a block away from where we were. We had missed the bus by then and would have to wait 30 minutes for the next one. When we reached the terminal, a sign said “Closed for Special Event – Buses Staged at Alameda Street.”

We needed to go back to the corner where we got off the bus earlier! You’d think they would have a sign on the bus or something. We walked back to Alameda Street. My S Health app on my smartphone showed about 8,000 steps by then. My feet were feeling it.

On Sunday, I cooled my feet in the coach and watched football. I had the Denver Bronco – Baltimore Ravens game on TV with the sound off while I listened to the San Diego Chargers – Detroit Lions game radio broadcast online. It was an up-and-down affair with Chargers down 21-3 at the half. They won 33-28 in the end.

Donna went out for a bike ride on a great trail that she picked up not far from the rv park. After lunch, she rode the bus downtown again and attended mass (in Latin) at the oldest catholic church building in the US. The adobe structure of the San Miguel Mission was originally built in 1610.

San Miguel Mission

Santa Fe is the second oldest city in the US – only St. Augustine, Florida is older. It can claim the title of the oldest capital city. It was founded in 1607 – well before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.

On her way back, Donna stopped at Sprouts Market to pick up a few items. They were roasting Hatch chiles in the parking lot. The roaster rotates and skins break free of the chilis making them ready for canning or using in a recipe.

Hatch chiles roasting

I finished the day with another entertaining game as the Dallas Cowboys made a comeback to defeat the New York Giants.

Today I’ll rest my feet again. Donna is going to play pickleball at the recreation center a couple of miles from here.

Tire Overload

We left the Flying C Ranch around 10:30am and followed I-40 westbound to US285 north (map). The wind had shifted and we had a tailwind on I-40. Of course this meant a crosswind as soon as we started north. We were going up and down grades with the net result being another gain in elevation.

Our destination was only about 75 miles away. We wanted to spend some time in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A week should allow us to sightsee and get a feel for the place. On the way, Donna looked at different RV parks and campgrounds on her laptop. We debated going to a casino about 15 miles north of town for the weekend. Parking at the casino is free and they offer a shuttle to downtown Santa Fe.

Eventually we decided against it. We wanted to be in Santa Fe where we could walk to restaurants and shopping or take a short transit bus ride to the city center. Our first choice, Trailer Ranch RV Park was full, so we booked a week across the street at Los Suenos de Santa Fe RV Resort. This is a convenient location with everything from taquerias to natural food stores to large department stores within easy walking distance.

We have a long pull-through site. The first site they gave us didn’t work out. It was also a long pull-through, but it had a tree on the left rear corner and a stump on the right rear. It was impossible to turn a rig a long as ours without hitting either the stump or the tree. If I didn’t have the trailer I probably could have jockeyed back and forth and got in. But if I didn’t have the trailer, I wouldn’t need a long pull-through site.

One of the workers told me to move down to another site that was more accessible and we set up without any issues in site 88. There are empty sites on both sides of us.

After we set up, I saw a motorhome trying to get into a back-in site. He had a tow dolly on the rear and couldn’t make it work. He eventually gave up and upgraded to a pull-through – site 86, two sites down from us.

These sites slope from left to right slightly. I saw him back his coach over boards he placed behind the wheels to raise the right side. Then I noticed he had improperly supported the rear of the coach. Here’s a picture – I’ll explain the problem with this.

Coach raised by driving onto boards

The rear wheels are duals. He placed boards under the outer wheel only. The load at the right rear of his coach is intended to be supported by two tires. Having boards under one tire means the entire load is supported by that tire – the inner wheel is just hanging in space.

I’ll use my rig as an example and put some numbers to this. My coach is fitted with 295/75 X 22.5 tires. The tire pressure placard placed by the manufacturer (Western Recreational Vehicles) calls for 110 psi in the front tires and 95 psi in the rear.

I’ve weighed my coach on a certified scale and have the axle weights. My front axle is rated for 12,000 lbs. My actual front axle weight is under that by several hundred pounds. My rear axle is rated for 19,000 lbs – my actual rear axle weight is just over 18,800 lbs.

Looking at the load and inflation tables for my tires (Toyo 295/75 X 22.5 load range H), I can see how much load they can safely carry when inflated to the pressures listed on the placard. The load and inflation table has two columns for each pressure figure – one for tires in single wheel applications (front) and one for tires in dual wheel applications (rear). The dual application always has a lower weight rating due to inconsistencies in how duals carry the load. Things like pressure differential between the two tires or tire diameter variation or even road crown can affect how much load each tire carries in dual configurations.

Back to my example. Toyo says with 110 psi in single wheel application, my tires can support 6,175 lbs. Multiply this times two front tires and I can safely carry 12,350 lbs – a safe margin over the gross axle weight. Since I don’t know my side to side variation, having 110 psi gives me a margin of safety. My 11,000+ lbs front axle weight might be closer to 6,000 on one side rather than evenly distributed. The only way to know that for sure is to have each wheel load weighed separately.

On the rear, Toyo says 95 psi in dual wheel applications can support 5,070 lbs. Multiply this by 4 tires and I have 20,280 pounds of load capacity for the rear axle – again, a safe margin over the 19,000 gross axle rating and my actual weight of 18,800 lbs.

Now, what happens when I place a board under one rear wheel? That makes that wheel equate to a single tire application. The load and inflation tables tell me that a single tire inflated to 95 psi (remember – that’s what my rear tires call for) can support 5,510 lbs. Let’s assume that my rear axle weight is evenly distributed side to side. If we divide my actual weight of 18,800 by two we see that each side of the rear axle is carrying 9,400 lbs.

That single rear tire with board underneath is severely overloaded. Please don’t do this. The tire carcass may suffer damage from being overloaded in this manner. In my neighbor’s case, the problem is made worse because the board is smaller that the width of the tire, so the entire contact patch of the tire isn’t supported.

Today we have beautiful weather. The high is supposed to reach 80 degrees under clear skies with very low humidity. Last night, the temperature dropped to the low 50s and we slept with the windows open. We’re at an elevation of 6,650 feet above sea level now. We’ll take a bus downtown and go exploring today.

Big Texan

Wednesday was our last full day in Amarillo. I spent the afternoon packing the trailer. Donna went to the pool and swam laps. We made plans to visit the iconic Amarillo attraction, the Big Texan Ranch Steakhouse. The Lee family owns Big Texan and they recently bought the Amarillo Ranch RV Park. They offer a free ride from the RV park to the steakhouse.

As you approach Amarillo on I-40, you’ll see signs advertising a free 72-ounce steak at Big Texan. The gimmick is this – you must eat the whole entree with included side dishes or you pay $72 for the meal. Donna made a reservation at the RV park office for the limo ride to Big Texan. Our driver showed up at 5pm – we wanted to arrive early for happy hour before dinner.

Us in front of the longhorn limo

Big Tex limo

The exterior of the restaurant is a typical touristy facade.

The Big Texan Ranch Steakhouse

Okay, cowgirl!

Once we went inside, the place reminded us of Lambert’s (Home of the Throwed Rolls) in Missouri. We were seated family-style at a large rustic table. We started out by sampling the beer brewed on site. Donna went for a pecan porter that she absolutely loved. I had a sampler flight with their Rattlesnake IPA, Whoop your Donkey double IPA, a palate cleansing honey blonde lager and finally the Whiskey Barrel Stout.

Beer flight and pecan porter

The double IPA and the stout were good beers. For dinner, Donna ordered the prime rib plate and a second pecan porter. I went for the baby back ribs and a pint of Whoop Your Donkey. The menu says the baby back ribs are dry rubbed – well they were, but they were also slathered in barbeque sauce Kansas City style. The ribs were tender and good, Donna’s prime rib was exactly what she expected from a steakhouse – excellent. Everything is bigger in Texas and these entrees were enough for two meals and more – we took home leftovers.

While we were there, a guy took the 72-ounce steak challenge.There are rules of course. There’s a one-hour time limit. He was seated front and center, spotlighted at a table on a raised platform so he could be seen. If anyone got up there with him, he would be disqualified. He was told if he got up or threw up, it was game over. On the start signal, he started chewing as the crowd cheered.

Taking the challenge

Our waitress told us that at least one person per night has a go at the big steak – as many as five or six on Friday and Saturday nights. She said about one out of ten guys eat the whole thing and about one in eight women finish it. Her take on that was that fewer women make the attempt – those who do are pretty sure they can do it. I can’t imagine ever stuffing down four and half pounds of steak.

Big Texan rocking chair

Ozark spent most of her time in Amarillo watching the big, boat-tailed grackles strut around our site. The birds would walk past every day with Ozark either perched on the dash watching them or on the back of the sofa. Eventually she would doze off and dream of catching them.

Ozark dreaming of catching a bird – she’s not falling off, it just looks that way

On Thursday morning we hit the road. The surface on I-40 was rough in places through the city, but once we hit the outskirts of town it improved. West of Amarillo and into New Mexico I-40 is mostly smooth sailing.

We climbed through rolling hills. We gained elevation every mile of the way. The terrain changed from shortgrass prairie to sagebrush country. I liked seeing the table-top mesas and rock formations in the distance. When we were taking the limo ride back from Big Texan, we shared the ride with a couple from Alabama. The had been out west and were heading back home. They remarked how happy they were to be back in tree-filled landscape. As we drove through New Mexico, Donna remarked how happy she felt to be back in the southwestern desert.

We stopped in a small town called Santa Rosa where we heard of a couple of boondocking possibilities. We checked them out and parked in one of them – a paved lot on the main drag. Donna went for walk to the Blue Hole – a natural swimming hole 60 feet in diameter and 81 feet deep in a county park about a mile away. I tried to find a level spot on the lot – there wasn’t one. I found beer and a bag of ice in a store nearby.

When Donna returned from her walk, we decided to move on another 40 miles to the Flying C Ranch. This is a tourist trap gift shop and Dairy Queen in the middle of nowhere. They offer free overnight parking in the lots surrounding their store. We found a quiet spot on the west side of the property in a partially paved gravel lot. It’s very level and we set up next to a stand of trees.

Sunset out our door at Flying C Ranch

We’re at an elevation of 6,200 feet above sea level. As the sun set, it cooled off quickly outside. We slept with windows open and enjoyed the cool, fresh air.

We’re up early this morning. We’ll head up to Santa Fe today. We haven’t booked a site there, but we’ll find something on our way.

RV Museum

I ran a few errands on the scooter yesterday. Getting from the east side of Amarillo to the west side on a scooter requires planning. I don’t like to ride the scooter on the interstate. Here in Amarillo, I-40 has one-way service roads on either side of the interstate. On the north side of I-40 it runs west and on the south side it travels east. There’s a snag though. I-40 passes over a large rail yard just before you reach downtown. The service roads don’t go through the rail yard.

Going westbound, you have go north to SE 10th Avenue before you can get past the railroad tracks. On the south side of I-40, you have to loop south to SE 27th Avenue to get across the tracks. I learned the way quickly and it’s a minor hassle (map).

In the afternoon, I scootered Donna to her hair appointment at The Plant Studio. The stylist there, Johnny, was recommended by a stylist in Tempe, Arizona, who attended one of his classes. She told Donna, “If you’re ever in Amarillo, stop and see this guy.” While she was having her hair done, I rode over to Jack Sisemore’s Traveland to check out the RV museum.

Traveland is an RV dealership with a very friendly atmosphere. Jack Sisemore has a great story leading to his successful business. He started by borrowing $2,400 from his grandmother to open a gas station – I think it was in 1962. He added a second station soon after. He bought a motorhome for family camping trips and rented it out at his gas station to offset the cost. Within a year, he had six rental units.

In 1974, he opened his RV dealership on a small lot. He expanded that to over six acres of land. Later, Jack and his son, Trent Sisemore, were founding partners in Keystone Travel Trailers. They sold 1,000 Keystone Travel Trailers the first year. Production ramped up to as much as 1,000 units built per month!

The receptionist at the dealership walked me out back to a warehouse where the museum is. Entry is free and it’s open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9am to 5pm. In addition to the RV collection, Jack collects motorcycles. He had old cars, boats and motorcycles along with memorabilia from earlier times. I was free to walk among the displays and enter the old RVs. Here are some photos I shot.

1941 Westcraft

1941 Westcraft interior

This 1941 Westcraft was owned by a defense worker. He lived in it in a special workers’ camp that provided restrooms and showers. After the war, he relocated to Arizona. This is a very rare trolley roof model.

Wally Byam’s Airstream

Wally Byam was the founder of Airstream travel trailers.

Max Factor’s 1976 FMC

This 1976 FMC was owned by cosmetics mogul, Max Factor. FMC coaches were 29 feet long and were built from 1973 to 1976. The were pricey, selling for $27,000 to $54,000. At that time, you could buy a house for the same cost. Only around 1,000 were built.

1948 Flxible Bus used in the movie RV

Interior of the Gornike’s Flxible

This 1948 Flxible was used in the movie RV starring the late Robin Williams. Jeff Daniels played the part of Travis Gornike who traveled with his family in this bus.

Teardrop trailer pulled by a 1948 Ford

1963 Chris Craft speed boat

In addition to the RVs, cars and boats, there were many interesting motorcycles – mostly hanging from the ceiling.

1967 Bultaco Matador in the bed of a 1967 Chevy El Camino

1973 Triumph Bonneville

He had many Harleys on display. The one that caught my eye was this 1977 XR750 flat track racer. The number plate was signed by nine-time National Champion, Scott Parker. Flat track bikes are raced on dirt oval tracks. They don’t have brakes and are pitched sideways to power through the turns.

1977 Harley-Davidson XR750

The other bikes that caught my eye were the Bultaco machines he displayed. Bultacos were built in Barcelona, Spain from 1958 to 1983. They sold first-rate racing machinery to the public and dominated Trials competition with Sammy Miller riding in the 1960s and 70s. Their motocross bikes were capable of competing with factory teams in that period as well. The Bultaco Astro was a formidable flat track machine. Their enduro bikes competed and won in the International Six-Day Trial competition. They also built road racing machines that won world championships. The name Bultaco comes from the founder – “Paco” Bulto. He took the first four letters of his surname and the last three of his nickname.

1968 Bultaco Pursang

There were many smaller displays of period artifacts such as these motor oil containers. Prior to World War II, oil was dispensed from glass containers with long metal spouts attached.

Old motor oil containers

Do you remember these?

I spent about 40 minutes in the museum before I went back to pick up Donna.

One of the errands I ran earlier in the day was to exchange my sewer hose at Walmart. I’m happy to report the replacement Rhinoflex hose doesn’t leak.

This morning, it’s uncharacteristically foggy out. I plan to load the trailer today – I hope I can find a self-serve car wash to clean the scooter first. This evening, Donna and I will take a free limo ride from the park to a local favorite – Big Texan Steak Ranch.

Tomorrow we’ll leave here and head to New Mexico. We’ll probably head to Santa Fe, but our plans are flexible.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Goatheads

Free Parking and Good Food

Last Weekend in Santa Fe

Sour Ale

Stay and Play in Santa Fe

Loving Santa Fe

Santa Fe Fiesta

Tire Overload

Big Texan

RV Museum

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