Quite a send off

Nice good-bye

October 14 – I guess the balloons knew we were leaving so this morning they started at 7:30 and circled around the arena grounds in the most spectacular display!  And then we had 7, yes, 7 balloons land at the arena and at least 20 others just across the side and back fences.  What a finish to a great visit to Albuquerque.  Makes me want to make reservations for next year!  Bill came out

The last to land

and he and I both took so many photos on our cameras that we got warnings of no more space.  We were able to watch them take the balloons down and there were people all over today.  Photos are great but they just don’t show the “whole” picture.

With all the balloon happenings we didn’t leave until almost 10.  I was happy to see that the speedometer was working again but later in the day when we put the AC on, it was not cold.  Have to see if our warranty covers it since we know there’s a leak somewhere and the Freon is escaping.  It’s going to be a long drive home!

We zipped right out and headed to I-25 south and wouldn’t you know they had the ramp

Antenna we could walk to

closed due to all the fiesta traffic.  Crap!  You can’t exactly just turn around and find a way through town in the motorhome so we opted to go North and get off and back on going South.  Of course it cost us about 20 minutes in the process.  The traffic was horrible and sometimes at a dead stop until we passed the I-40 turn off.  Then it cleared right up and once we were out of the city there was NO traffic.  Of course, it was not the most beautiful scenery and it was boring but we sucked it up and headed on to our turn off in Socorro, NM for the 46 mile drive through less populated and smaller road to the Karl G. Jansky VLA.  That stands for Very

One leg of the Y

Large Array.  It’s run by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.  It’s a group of 27 antennas that are 82 by 90 feet big and moved on railroad tracks and create the most adaptable, hardest-working telescope in the world.  It was super impressive and the documentary was excellent.  I can’t say I really understand how it all works but just the magnitude of each antenna and how they move them.  Fascinating!  You can watch the VLA film narrated by Jodie Foster, www.public.nrao.edu/gallery/beyond-the-visible-vla.

On the way out we spotted 2 antelope along their

Looking for lunch

road.  Then it was the 46 mile drive back to I-25 where we only went 7 miles before exiting to 2 lane road for our 120 miles to Tularosa, NM.  Bill called the campground, Mountain Meadows, to verify directions and she said not to use the GPS as it takes you on a road that will not get you to the campground.  So we followed her directions and we got there but, boy, IT IS OFF the main road for sure.  It’s small and there seemed to be several seasonals and the section we’re in are all short timers.  The camp host is a full timer and he’s just been here a month but plans to stay all winter.  Met our neighbor who she and her husband are moving here from NW Montana.  They gave up their nice summers for nice winters.

Thank goodness we had enough leftovers for a meal as I was tired!  We had some electric issues, meaning they put us in a 30 amp space, but the electric post says it’s 20 amp, so the AC kept turning off.  We ended up using our 20/30 pigtail and got 50 so the AC works at the same time as everything else.  I was going to do a load of laundry but the washer isn’t working.  I checked the breaker and the GFI’s but no luck.  Will see if we can see where the washer is plugged in and make sure it’s connected.  The dryer works find!  It’s always something.

We watched a movie and I downloaded the scads of photos I took this morning.  I really hated leaving!