Balloons, The Grand Canyon and Heading Home

Hello again. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, October 3rd when we arrived at the American RV Park in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We are here in Albuquerque to attend another Monaco International Balloon Fiesta Rally. We are part of the advance crew for the rally and will be moving over to the Balloon Fiesta field area on Tuesday. On Sunday we met our friends Ray and Suzie Babcock and Vernon and Peggy Bullock, for lunch in Albuquerque. They are both camping at Kirtland Air Force Base, which is on the southeast side of Albuquerque, adjacent to the airport. Ray is a disabled vet has access to the base and the “fam camp” RV facilities. They are also coming to the Fiesta. The Bullocks, are also on the base as guests of Ray and Suzie. We have not seen the Bullocks since February or the Babcocks since March.

We intended to go to a Cajun restaurant for lunch, but it was closed, so we ended up going to the Standard Diner closer to downtown. We had been to the Standard diner a few years back and enjoyed the food. It is a featured Diners, Drive-ins and Dives place. I had the same thing I had before, the meat loaf, which was outstanding then and just as good now. Jackie had the chicken and waffles and didn't care for the chicken. She said it was dry. Several of the group also ordered Bloody Marys and they all sent them back because they had a weird taste. Peggy had fish tacos and they were served in a nice stainless steel taco rack. When the manager came by and cleared some of the table Jackie made a comment that she would like to have the rack. She was just joking, but a few minutes later the manager came by with a box that had the rack in it. He said, “At the Standard Diner, if you ask for it, we give it to you.” After lunch we headed back to the RV park for cocktails with the rest of the advance crew for the rally.

Monday, October 5th, we left after lunch and drove over to the Air Force Base for dinner. Peggy made a big ham and we had sweet potatoes and other goodies to go with it. The six of us had a great time talking and catching up. We are in pretty frequent contact with each over by phone and social media, but it is much better to be together in person. We had a great time and left the base about 8:00 and headed back to our RV park for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, October 6th, we were up about 7:00 getting the coach ready for travel. Today is the day the five couples who are the advance crew for the rally drive over to the Balloon Fiesta grounds. It is only about a 17 mile drive, but the work to get ready is the same as if we were going 200. About 10:00 we all met in the dining room of the RV park and helped put together the goodie bags for the rally. Once we were done with that we just went back to the coach and hung around until noon when it was time to drive over to the rally.

We arrived at the rally grounds and got parked by 1:00. We spent the rest of the afternoon helping the rest of the crew set up the social area for the rally as well as getting our own coach settled in for the six night stay. This is total dry camping and will be our first dry camping experience with the new refrigerator. At 4:00 the group got together for cocktails and then we had some burgers and brats grilled by our wagon masters, the Pitts and the Henschels. We sat and talked until dark and then went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Wednesday morning we were up at 6:30 for the first mass ascension of the rally for us. The rest of our group won't be coming in until about 10:00 or so to park, so we had time in the morning to watch balloons. A little background on the Fiesta. This year is the 44th Annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The Fiesta actually goes for ten days, over two weekends. They have the same basic schedule for the first Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and the following Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Tuesday is a transition day and there is not much going on. The Monaco group always goes in on the second half of the Fiesta. We have been here twice before, in 2010 and 2011.

The Monaco group has prime parking in the first parking area south of the fiesta grounds. It is an easy walk to the balloon field and all the vendors and excitement down there, and the venue is perfect for just sitting in, or in front of, your coach and watching the balloons go up. In our past visits the wind usually blew the balloons south, right over our coaches, however, today the wind was blowing to the north so we watched the balloons go up and head north. It was still a great sight to see. They probably launched 250 balloons today, less than half the total here for the event. The first balloons, the Dawn Patrol, go up about 6:30 to check the winds. If everything is OK, they give the green flag for the launch and all the other balloons on the field start to inflate and go up. By 8:00 or a little after they have all launched for the day.

About 9:30 the first of our group started arriving and I had to start my parking duties. There were four of us out there parking all the coaches. We are expecting a total of 69 RVs for our rally. Jackie was helping with running water around to the parking crew, getting lunch, and other chores. 

We finally got the last people parked at 4:00, just in time for happy hour with the group. Harry Henschel, the rally wagonmaster, and his wife Sandy, are big balloon enthusiasts and crew for several balloons all over the country all year long. They were here for the first half of this year's event crewing for a friend of theirs. They know a lot of pilots and were able to get one of them to come over to the happy hour with his gear and give a talk on ballooning. He didn't set up the balloon, but he did pull out the basket so people could look inside. He spent an hour or so talking and answering questions about ballooning.

After the presentation we had dinner. The wagonmasters had brought in a catering service, called Rudy's, to provide a nice BBQ dinner for us. We had beef brisket, turkey, beans, cole slaw and some other goodies for dinner and it was very good. About dark everyone started heading back to their own coaches for the evening. We went to bed early because we had a long, busy day. There were no night time activities scheduled for tonight, so it was quiet.

Thursday, October 8th, we were again up at dawn to watch the balloons. This morning we walked down onto the balloon field with Ray and Suzie to watch the mass ascension. It is much more dramatic when you are up close and personal with the balloons, so we always try to go down at least once during each visit to the Fiesta. We got a lot of pictures and watched a lot of balloons take off. After most of the balloons lifted we walked a few of the vendors. Most of them are food vendors, but there are a couple of stores selling overpriced balloon souvenirs.

After we walked back up to the coach we relaxed for a while before heading out to the first luncheon of the rally. The first luncheon was at the Taoan Country Club, up in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. This was the same place we came for lunch on our two previous balloon rallies. The clubhouse is very nice and the views are killer. The food was also quite good, although the drinks were outrageous. You couldn't afford to get drunk here. They gave away a bunch of door prizes, one to each couple, and we got a cute pouch made of cloth with a balloon print.

After lunch we went back to the balloon fiesta grounds and rested for a little while. At 4:30 the group happy hour started. Jackie had to make a sausage and cream cheese dip as here contribution. Before we started happy hour I did a little veteran's tribute for the group. Happy hour was fun and right after we had the evening snacks, mostly chips and dips and some sandwiches and wraps made from the leftovers of the BBQ guys. We all sat around and talked, waiting for the evening balloon glow. The balloons will not fly at night because they can't see where they are going and where they are going to land. However, they do inflate the balloons in the evenings for a very pretty glow. However, there was no glow tonight because the winds were too high. About 8:00 they started the fireworks show, which was fantastic. It lasted about ten minutes and was really pretty. Again, a lot of pictures were taken. After the fireworks everyone went back to their coaches for the rest of the night.

Friday, October 9th, again up at dawn. I really didn't feel well today. I had chills and was pretty sure I was running a fever. I still went outside in the morning to watch the balloons fly. Today's winds took them north at low altitudes and then back south at higher altitudes. So the balloons were over the coaches, but pretty high up, so you couldn't really get great pictures. Still a great sight though. After the morning flight we relaxed until lunch time. Today we went to El Pinto, a really great Mexican restaurant not too far from the balloon grounds. This was also a place we had been before with previous rallies. They had a really good buffet with great food. Unfortunately, I couldn't really enjoy it because I was still not feeling good. Everyone else in our group had a great time and really enjoyed the lunch.

We went back to the balloon grounds after lunch and waited for happy hour at 4:30. I was feeling a little better, having beaten down most of the fever with ibuprofen all day. We all sat and chatted, then had the evening snacks, much the same as last night. Tonight the balloon glow went off as planned and we all sat and watched from the group area. You can't see a lot of the balloons on the field from where we are, but those that you could see were very pretty. Peggy and Vernon walked down on the field to watch the glow and said it was even better down there. Again at 8:00 there was another great fireworks show that scared the crap out of the dogs in the park, but was very enjoyable for the people.

Saturday, October 10th, I woke up feeling better and was up at dawn to watch the flights this morning. This was by far the best flying day yet. The skies were perfectly clear and the wind was blowing the balloons straight south over us as they took off. Because of the clear skies the balloons were sunlit and the pictures were super. I think all 600 plus balloons flew today. Today there was no organized lunch for the group, so we and the Babcocks and Bullocks left the grounds and drove to the same Cajun restaurant that we had tried to go to Sunday and found closed. It was called N'awlins Mardi Gras and was a small but friendly place. The owner and chef came out and greeted us and he had a Louisiana accent. I had s

hrimp creole and it was wonderful. Jackie had gumbo and said it was great too. Vernon had the jambalaya and he said it was hot but good. Even Suzie, who doesn't like spicy food, found something great, a crab cake that she said was really tasty. We all left very happy and full and would give this place high marks.

After lunch we drove to Costco for a few things. We also drove back down to the El Pinto restaurant to get some freshly roasted green chillies for Jackie and Peggy. They cook them every day but they were out of them when we were there on Friday. We bought 20 pounds for $20 and split them between us and the Bullocks. Both of us have a really big bag of peppers to be cleaned, packaged and frozen. We then went back to the balloon grounds and relaxed a bit.

The last happy hour started at 4:30 and we had all the stuff from previous evenings to finish up. About 7:00 the six of us walked down on the field for the balloon glow. Peggy was right, it is much more fun when you are on the field. In our previous two visits we never went down on the field for a glow. We also found a geocache that was hidden on the balloon grounds, our first cache in a few days. After the glow we went back up to the group area for the evenings fireworks show. Tonight was the best because it was the last and they used up everything they had left. We then went back to our coaches for the night.

Sunday, October 11th, our day of departure. There was still a mass ascension in the morning, although the number of balloons was down quite a bit. None of the big, fancy shape balloons flew. The winds were strange, blowing the balloons all over the place depending on altitude. After the morning flight we all started packing up our coaches for travel and breaking down the stuff in the common area. We were all done and hooked up on our way out by about 11:00. We and the Bullocks and Babcocks are all headed west to Gallup, New Mexico for a two night layover. We pulled into the USA RV Park about 2:30 and got the basic utilities hooked up before heading out the emergency room to have me looked at. We first stopped at Wendy's for a quick lunch, since we hadn't eaten yet today.

I had noticed blood in my urine this morning, and put together with the fever on Friday I figured I might have a bladder infection. I was guilty of not getting a lot of fluids in me early in the week and dehydration is a prime cause for Urinary Tract Infections, or UTI. We went to the emergency room at the local hospital in Gallup and I was pleasantly surprised to be checked in right away, taken to an exam room and seen by a PA, all in the first 15 minutes. Not the usual ER visit. The PA did a quick exam, asked a few questions and sent my urine off to the lab. A half hour later it was confirmed as a UTI and I was given a prescription for an antibiotic. We stopped at Walmart and got it filled and went back to the coach. The Babcock's and Bullock's were outside having cocktails and we stayed out there for a while chatting. They were doing a BBQ, but we had already eaten so we went in, watched a little TV and went to bed early.

Monday, October 12th, the six of us left the RV park and went to lunch at a local Mexican restaurant called El Matate. It was a small, very authentic place in the barrio. The food was outstanding, although, as is typical with New Mexican cooking, a little on the hot side. We all had a great meal. I had machaca and it was some of the best I have had. After lunch we all stopped to get one geocache before heading back to the coach for the rest of the afternoon. We got together for cocktails at 5:00 but didn't have any dinner.

Tuesday, October 13th, another travel day. The Babcocks left about an hour before us. They are heading to Laughlin, Nevada for a day or two before going home. The Bullocks are going to continue traveling with us for a while, at least as far as Pahrump. Our initial plan was to stop in Flagstaff, Arizona for a couple of days. My brother Dennis works in Sedona, only an hour or so south, and we thought we might go down and have lunch with him. However, when I got a hold of him, I learned that he was busy and couldn't get away. We then decided that we would go on to Williams, Arizona, about 30 miles farther west. We all like Williams better than Flagstaff. The total trip was about 220 miles, but we gained an hour back when we traveled into Arizona.

We got to the Grand Canyon Railroad RV Park just before 3:00 and got settled into some nice spots right next to each other. We both made grocery runs and had cocktails at 5:00 or so. Jackie made her chili rellano casserole for the four of us and we had a great dinner. We all also watched the first part of the Democratic presidential debate before Peggy and Vernon headed off to their coach.

Wednesday, October 14th, we were up and out of the coach about 9:00, driving north to the Grand Canyon National Park. It is only an hour's drive or so from Williams and it was a nice day, so we decided to drive up there for lunch. We lucked out and found a parking place right away in the visitor's center parking lot, a good feat considering how crowded the park was. We took the shuttle to the canyon rim and went to the El Tovar Lodge for lunch. The El Tovar was built in

1912 and was the first big hotel to be built in the park. We had a very nice lunch and the cost was not much more than we would have paid down in any city. After lunch we viewed the canyon, took a few pictures, and then went back to the car to head back down to Williams. We stopped along the way for a couple of caches and got back to the coach about 4:00. We had cocktails with the Bullocks, but skipped dinner as we were still full from lunch. We watched some TV before heading off to bed.

Thursday, October 15th, another travel day. We left the RV park about 10:00 and continued west and north, this time heading for Boulder City, Nevada. Since they opened the new bridge over the canyon near Hoover Dam the drive to southern Nevada has gotten a lot easier. We arrived at the Elks Lodge in Boulder City about 3:00 and settled into our spots. We had called yesterday and reserved two spots. They have very nice, full hookup 50 amp spots for only $25 a night. Peggy went out to do some shopping. Jackie and I went into the lodge for a cocktail about 5:00. We had a nice chat with one of the members and learned that the building the lodge is in was actually the terminal building for one of the first southern Nevada airports, ironically called Bullock Field. The building was built in 1938 and the outside still looks pretty much the same. It is a nice lodge with about 800 members. We had a couple of cocktails and got a lodge pin for our banner. We then went over to Peggy and Vernon's coach and Peggy cooked dinner for the four of us. We had chicken and sweet potatoes, a great meal. About 8:30 we went back to our coach for the rest of the night.

Friday, October 16th, we and the Bullocks went out for lunch at a place that was recommended to us by one of the people in the Elks Lodge last night. It was in old downtown Boulder City and was called Evan's Downtown Grill. It wasn't a big place, but it was pretty full. Peggy and Jackie both had the gyro and Vernon and I both had the Reuben. Everyone really liked their food, although Jackie said part of her gyro was overcooked and a little dry. After lunch we went to do a little geocaching in the downtown area of Boulder City. We were able to get five new finds, and one new DNF before Peggy and Vernon stopped and went off on their own to do some shopping.

A little history now on Boulder City since this is our first visit here. Boulder City was designed and built by the Federal government in 1931 as a headquarters and housing for workers building Boulder Dam, now Hoover Dam. The town was under strict government control during the building of the dam and both alcohol and gambling were prohibited. Alcohol was only legalized in 1969 and gambling is still prohibited in the city, one of only two cities in Nevada with such laws. The town remained under Federal government control until 1959 when it was incorporated as a Nevada charter city. The city's population is currently about 15,000.

After Peggy and Vernon left to do their shopping we drove into nearby Henderson to visit the Henderson Elks Lodge. We got there about 2:30 or so and were the only ones in the bar. We had a nice chat with the volunteer bartender, who was also one of the officers of the Lodge. According to him they only have about 160 members with an average age of over 70. Based on our experience over ten years of visiting lodges around the country, I don't think this lodge has too many more years before it is forced to fold. The building it is in is very dreary, no windows and the bar looks like somebody's basement. We had one drink and got a pin for our banner before leaving. There was a Camping World on the way back to the Boulder City lodge, so we stopped to pick up a few supplies we needed. We then headed back to the coach. We had cocktails with the Bullocks about 5:30 and I made up a batch of chili for the four of us for dinner. We had dinner and talked until about 8:00 when the Bullocks left and we watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, October 17th, another travel day. We and the Bullocks were packed up and headed out of the Boulder City Elks about 10:00, headed through Las Vegas and on to Pahrump, our “home” town. I have been experiencing a bit of overheating on the coach when climbing steep hills, so we unhooked the car before heading over the mountains from Vegas to Pahrump. Without the heavy car the coach did fine on the climb and we arrived at the Wine Ridge RV Resort about 11:30. We are going to be here for a month, so we got a spot close to the pool so I could use the spa when I wanted.

We spent the rest of the afternoon getting set up for our month long stay. The Bullocks got a spot down the same street. They are going to stay here about four or five days before heading to their home in California.

About 5:30 we walked over to Peggy and Vernon's for cocktails and dinner. Peggy made a big batch of tortellini soup which was fantastic. We sat and talked until about 8:30 when we went home, watched a little TV and then went to bed. Our arrival here in Pahrump marks a good place to close this chapter of the blog and get it published. Until next time, remember that advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. See ya soon.

More Texas Time

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Monday, September 21^st with our arrival in the little farming community of Goodlett, Texas. On Tuesday we went out to do some geocaching and exploring. There were no caches in Goodlett,which is a town of just over a hundred people, but the towns to the north and south had some caches, so we went there. We had a good afternoon of caching, getting 14 new finds, along with a couple of DNFs. One of the finds was a milestone, find number 7,400.   One of the caches was in Childress, Texas, near a tourist shop.  The cache was located near an old, 1948 Spartan Motor Home.  The picture is posted here.  At first glance it looks like a trailer, but it is a motor home, with the front end to the left in the photo.  Quite a piece of work.  After caching we went back to the coach and relaxed the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, September 23^rd, we decided to have a stay at home day. Did a few little chores and Jackie did some cleaning, other than that we relaxed for the day. Thursday is yet another travel day. We left Goodlett about 10:30 and continued northwest towards Amarillo, about 140 miles. We had a little bit of light rain on the way and made a fuel stop, getting into the RV park about 1:30 or so. After we got set up we relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday, September 25^th, we headed out after lunch to shop for the supplies I need to finish the refrigerator project. We hit a couple of local lumber yards but were not able to find what I wanted. We finally got the trim at Home Depot. It was not precisely what I had originally wanted, but it will work. We also did a couple of geocaches while we were driving around town, two new finds and one DNF. Once we had the trim I needed we headed back to the coach. I went down to the hot tub and relaxed for a bit, then we had dinner and watched TV the rest of the evening.

Saturday, September 26^th, we left the RV park about 11:30 or so and drove into Amarillo to go to the Tri-State Fair and Rodeo. The tri-states are Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico and the fair was not nearly as big as the name would have you believe. It was really more like a big county fair, with midway rides, food courts, a couple of commercial exhibit buildings and lots of farm animals. Today was the last day for the fair, so despite the really nice 70 degree weather on a weekend, there were not many people in attendance. A lot of the animals had left too, once the judges look at them the owners take off for home. We did get to see some kids with their cows getting judged, a lot of goats and rabbits. We spent a couple hours walking around, had junk food for lunch, and then left to do a little geocaching. We got two more caches and stopped at Sam's Club for a few things before heading back to the coach for the evening. I went to the hot tub again, then relaxed for the rest of the night.

Sunday, September 27^th, we had our usual Sunday morning paper, coffee and talk shows. After lunch we started on some chores, the most important of which was my finishing the refrigerator project. It took me a couple of hours, but I got the molding trim put on the refrigerator and now it looks like a finished installation. It is not perfect, but I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Jackie got some cleaning done and we spent the entire day in the coach.

Monday, September 28^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some geocaching. We had a good afternoon, getting eleven new finds and one DNF. One of the caches we didn’t find was on one of the vehicles that is part of the art project, Cadillac Ranch. Cadillac Ranch is a piece of public art put into place in 1974. It consists of seven vintage Cadillac junkers planted nose first into the ground at an angle. The project is only about a mile from the RV park where we are staying. It had originally been put closer into Amarillo, but after a few years it was moved to outside the city limits to avoid any problems with the City of Amarillo. The public is encouraged to spray paint the cars, and they are really wildly painted now.

After our caching we made a couple of shopping stops. We stopped at Burlington Coat Factory outlet and got some new pillows for the couch and I got a couple of pairs of shorts. We then made a stop at Walmart for some supplies. After shopping we headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Tuesday, September 29^th, we left the coach after lunch to go geocaching. We had a great afternoon, getting another eleven finds and one new DNF. We also did a little exploring, which included driving northeast of Amarillo about 17 miles to the Pantex Nuclear Facility. The facility is located on 16,000 acres of Federal land and is only U.S. facility responsible for the assembly, disassembly and repair of nuclear weapons. Weapons are moved in and out by truck or train and some are stored at the location. Of course, we couldn't get into the place, but we were able to drive by close enough to see the buildings at the site. There were probably enough nuclear weapons at the site today to blow the entire middle of the country to ash. We also drove to the little town of Panhandle, Texas, just a few miles beyond the Pantex plant, where we did some caching.

After our caching and exploring we drove to The Big Texan Steak Ranch restaurant for dinner. This is a real Texas steak house, built in 1960, with all the cheesy decorations to prove it. One of their trademark items is the 72 oz steak dinner, which is free if you can eat it in under an hour, including the potato, roll, and shrimp cocktail that comes with it. The current record for time is a competitive eater named Molly Schuyler who, in May 2014, ate the entire dinner in 4 minutes and 58 seconds, then ate a SECOND dinner in 9 minutes and 59 seconds. She has vowed to return to eat 3 of the dinners in under an hour, a feat never yet accomplished. There were no competitive eaters tonight, but the steaks we did have were very good.

Jackie likes her steak charred rare, basically burnt on the outside but rare on the inside. Some places have come close, but tonight was the first time I ever saw one that was actually charred crispy on the outside, but still rare inside. She loved it. I had a T-bone that I ordered blue (very rare) and it too came to me cooked just perfectly. We had a nice dinner and then headed back to the coach for the rest of the evening. Wednesday was a stay at home day.

Thursday, October 1^st, was another travel day. We packed up and left Amarillo about 10:30 and headed west towards Santa Rosa, New Mexico, about 158 miles. After the first 50 miles we crossed the border from Texas into New Mexico and did a little time travel as we moved into the Mountain Time zone and got an extra hour on our day. Yea! We did a lunch stop in Tucumcarri, New Mexico and arrived at the Santa Rosa RV Park about 1:30 local time.

We got settled in for our two day stay and then went out to explore the town and do some geocaching. It didn't take too long to explore the town as it is only four square mile and about 2,700 population. Driving down the main street, which is part of old Route 66, there are dozens of closed businesses. Not a very vibrant looking town. The town was founded in the early 1900's as a railroad stop and is located on the Pecos River. One of the interesting things about the town and the surrounding area are the many small, natural lakes, all formed by sinkholes in the limestone rock that makes up this area. One of the more famous is the Blue Hole, a natural lake that
nearly round in shape, about 60 feet across but 81 feet deep. It is very clear water and is a popular place for scuba diving and training. There is also a cave system connected to the bottom of the pool, but has been blocked off by the city for safety reasons. At least four people drowned in the pool in the 70's trying to explore the caves, prompting the action by the city. We got one geocache at the pool, an earth cache, which only required us to observe the pool and answer some questions by email. There is also an actual cache which requires a dive to the bottom of the pool. Of course, that one is a five out of five terrain rating and we didn't get it. After caching and exploring we headed back to the coach for the rest of the day. Friday we left the coach after lunch and went into town to do laundry. After the laundry was done we went back to the coach for the rest of the day and relaxed.

Saturday, October 3^rd, another travel day. We had a couple of brief thunderstorms overnight that dropped some rain but were otherwise non-threatening. We left Santa Rosa about 10:00 under gray skies, but no rain. We were heading for Albuquerque today, about 128 miles east on Interstate 40. About halfway through the trip we went up over some higher elevations, about 7,000 feet, and ran into some pretty dense fog. Traffic was not too heavy, so it was not real scary, but it lasted about 45 minutes and was a little tense. We arrived at the American RV Park on the west side of Albuquerque about 1:00 or so and got checked in.

We did the basic setup and then headed out to do a Costco and Walmart run. We are here in Albuquerque for the annual International Balloon Fiesta event. We will be attending the event, starting on Tuesday for us, with the Monaco International FMCA Chapter. We have been here twice before with Monaco, in 2010 and 2011. Both times we were volunteers, me helping with parking and setup and Jackie with cooking and hosting. We are doing the same thing this year, so we go in on Tuesday, a day early, to help get everything ready. Our friends the Babcocks and the Bullocks are also coming, but they won't be in until Wednesday. They are here in Albuquerque already, staying out at the Air Force base. We are going to have lunch with them on Sunday and are looking forward to seeing them for the first time since this past Spring.

After we got back from shopping we had cocktails with Harry and Sandy Hentschel, the wagon-masters for our group. The regular wagon masters, David and Kay Piper, who have done this rally for about 20 years, are not here this week because David is very ill. We will miss them. The other volunteer couple, Dee and Marvin Pitts, will be here tomorrow and then we will all get together to be sure everything is ready for the rally. After cocktails we went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime.

Our arrival here in Albuquerque marks an excellent point to close this chapter and get it published. Until next time remember that when life gives you lemons, find someone with a bottle of vodka and have a party! See ya soon.