Celebrating the Dance : Fort Craig Rest Area

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Still moving West and South

(Clicking on the pictures will open them larger in a new window.)

December 20, 2017

Even though we were both up and moving before the sun showed up this morning we did not pull out of the park until just before 9:00AM. I think we are ready to not be moving and be stopped for more then two nights. We ended up putting 313 miles behind us today and we are in agreement there will be no need to do that again. We only have about another 312 miles to go and we will be doing these miles in two days. We will definitely enjoy the slower pace.

Leaving Tucumcari, NM behind.

Our view out the front windshield as we merged onto I-40 for a short
ride to Santa Rosa, NM. Where we turned off onto US-54 then US-60 to
Bernardo, NM where we then turned south onto I-25.

Stopped for fuel at the Pilot in Santa Rosa
and you guessed it we are blocked in. The
guy is in his truck doing????.

Anyway, Tom had time to eat his Cinnabon while we waited. He then went up and asked him if he was going to be leaving and he said, yes I have to get going. We were beginning to think there was something wrong with his semi because he kept starting it up and shutting down. At least we did not have to unhook the Jeep so Tom could back out of there.

On US-54. Yesterday I mentioned this is a nice ride and it isn't a bad ride but
what we had forgotten was the wind with nothing to block it.

Plus, we found that the road has really deteriorated since the last time
we came this way. Still we would rather take this route
then drive through Albuquerque.

We saw one other RV on this route today guess they were skipping the
drive through Albuquerque, also.
The one really nice thing about this ride is there is very little traffic.

Passing through Vaughn and continuing down the road.

Then through Encino.
Managed to get a few half way decent shots of their Christmas Decorations.
Not always easy in a moving vehicle.

Saw this train stopped on our right.
I always wonder why the engines are not all pointed in the same direction.

A little farther on and we could really see the dust ahead.
The bottom picture is just before we go over a bridge the above train
will go under.

When we stopped at this rest stop the train pictured above passed us on
our left.

We stopped here when we went through in 2015. That time we got out and walked around today the wind was really howling and I took the above pictures through the windshield. The picture below is on the other side of the picture below it. It gives and explanation of what this spot is.

Several bullet holes but you can still read it.

This is a picture of the side of the sign you see from the road. You can now
see why there are holes in the explanation.
I took the picture on the left in 2015 and the one on the right today.

We spent time here in 2015 visiting the Visitor Center for the Salinas Pueblo
Missions. There are three different sites, Missions, to visit several miles
apart. We were able to visit two of them and would like to go back and see
the third one.

If you would like to read about what we saw click on this link Salinas Pueblo Missions . There are also more pictures of Mountainair.

Continuing on the scenery and road are getting better.

It is hard to tell but we are going down.

Things start to flatten out but we are still going down.

Things have flattened out and in a few miles we can see I-25 in the distance.

Just before we turn onto I-25 we passed by the Kiva RV Park & Horse Motel.
This is where we stayed last time.
I saw what I am pretty sure were Texas Longhorns. If they are not
please do not burst my bubble let me believe that is what they are.
In all our time in Texas we only saw Longhorns one other time.