Sunday, March 31, 2013

Denver, Albuquerque March 29 through 31st


Day 4, March 29, 2013 Denver
We got up and were on the road at 8 am for the 445 mile trip to Denver.  We stopped at Charlie’s Bakery and Café in Las Vegas, NM and had a simply marvelous breakfast!  David had a chorizo/egg/green chili skillet and I had a ‘Stuffy’ which is a sopapilla stuffed with scrambled eggs, chorizo, onions and papitas on the side – I got my green chili on the side too ‘cause it is SO spicy!  Here are a couple pics of our breakfast



We got to Denver and checked into our hotel about 4 pm.  David had talked to our friends Jim and Joan Meyers and said we’d have dinner with them – well needless to say after driving 8 hours I was NOT going back out into that traffic!  We called and asked them for a rain check for the next day.  Then we placed a call to Kathy & Ron Bernard whom we knew were only about 5 miles away, and she suggested we meet for dinner at Chili’s – about a mile from us.  That is what we did!

It was so wonderful to see them both, although Ron is looking pretty haggard right now, having had surgery about 3 weeks ago and is not recovering as fast as he would like.  If you have time for a prayer, please say one for our friend Ron, and his wife Kathy.  We followed them back to their campground and chatted for about 2 hours, then Ron was noticeably tired and so were we!  Off to the hotel we went, with a stop at Target to replace things I forgot to pack…hairbrush, David’s toothbrush, underwear, I do NOT know where my head was when I was packing, but it sure wasn’t where it should be!!!  Sheesh!

Saturday morning we got up around 8 – I went to the ‘free’ Brightside breakfast ate and brought David back oatmeal and yogurt.  We putzed around and then we stopped at Best Buy on our way over to Ron & Kathy’s…got there a little after 11 and chattered until time for lunch.  Ron thought he could eat something from Noodles & Co so that is where we went – I had the Japanese Udon noodles w/chicken – wow, very tasty, David had stroganoff that he was not real thrilled with.  We chattered and ate and chattered some more, then we went back to their home again.  After several more hours of chattering we said goodbye to these wonderful friends, whom we hope to see at National in Sturgis in June!

We then headed over to 104th Ave to a place called Cinzetti’s…which is a simply marvelous Italian buffet, with literally everything Italian, from salad to desserts – simply to die for!  We met Jim and Joan there and we chattered for more than 2 hours as we slowly made our way through far too much food!  The food and the company was exceptional! 
We got back to the hotel about 7:30, walked Cinder and crashed.

Sunday, March 31, 2013
Happy Easter!  We were on the road by 7:40 am, having had a bite of breakfast.  We got out of Denver in great time and stopped at McDonald’s in Las Vegas (Bakery Café was closed), then on down the road I picked up my Ice Tea – the lid popped off, David said “I got it” I let go and he dropped it – OMG we had sweet tea and ice cubes everywhere!  He was grabbing ice cubes and pitching them out the window, we used every bit of napkins that we had, and still not enough. 

We arrived here in ABQ about 3 pm – and I have gotten stuff unpacked, but now I have to go clean out the car…sticky sticky sticky!

We got ready and went to the Route 66 Diner here in ABQ and got our Buttermilk pie fix - we're now home and ready to crash for the night!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Day 2 & 3 Lakewood, NM and Albuquerque, NM


Day 2

Fort Stockton, TX to Lakewood, NM

We arrived at 'The Ranch' a wonderful Escapees park about 11 am, because we left at 8 am before the wind kicked up too bad! 

We had stopped at some little pull out in the road and I made breakfast - eggs, bacon, toast, juice - I love cooking along the road :)

We had a great social hour with those nice folks, and cheese, summer sausage and crackers for dinner! 

Day 3
We made it from ‘The Ranch’ in Lakewood, NM to Albuquerque, NM about 2:30 today.  We checked in at the Moose Club on Skyline Drive with 20 amp service, and the price is right “Free”!  We chatted with the good folks there for a bit, then we took off to Octopussy Car Wash, where they completely cleaned our very dirty buggy!  It really needed a good cleaning, especially an underbody wash since we were in the salt in VA & PA and we wanted to get that done! 
Loved driving around ABQ a bit – we’ve spent quite a bit of time in this city since the kids were stationed here, so we drove around and checked out some of our favs…
We stopped at a Smith’s grocery store and I found a great bargain on fresh strawberries, so I got enough produce for some wonderful salads for dinner – I had some leftover steak that I used, as well as some peas, cukes, tomatoes, red onions and raspberry balsamic vinaigrette to top it off.  YUM!
Took Cinder for a nice walk and we’re now buttoned up for the night!  Oh yeah, I packed our bag for our trip to Denver tomorrow too! 

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

March 26, 2013 - Day 1


Left LSC after telling everyone goodbye, got on the road at 9…had a very uneventful travel day! 

We stopped not too long after we got on I-10 and had a bowl of cereal, then went until time to use the facilities – we stopped and got a tank of gas (just shy of $200), then we stopped again for a quick walk break and had some string cheese and peanut butter crackers!  We arrived at Fort Stockton about 4 pm, and I got an early dinner ready – we had tuna noodle casserole and stir fry veggies – I have LOTS of veggies that would not fit in the freezer, so we will be eating veggies the next couple days!

Our plans are to spend tomorrow night at The Ranch in Lakewood, NM, then head to ABQ, arriving there Thursday night.  We will get up Fri morning and drive to Denver to visit with Ron and Kathy Bernard, dear friends of ours.  Ron is battling cancer right now and could sure use your prayers folks.  We will stay in Denver Fri and Sat nights, then Sunday it will be back to ABQ to start our sojourn to CA on either Monday or Tuesday.  We do love ABQ, having spent some time there when the kids were there, and we might need a day to just ‘catch up’.  I’ll let ya know!

Sunday, March 24, 2013

March 24, 2013–Time to get out of D’Hanis

 

Well here it is the end of March already, and we have had a great winter season here at LSC in D’Hanis, TX.  We’ve done much but mostly the same things as last year.  One notable exception, we went to Washington DC to attend our daughter, Dawn’s Retirement after 21 years in the military.  We also helped them move into a new house, and visited with many friends – some old and some new!  It was marvelous getting re-acquainted with the Ashworths, the Lepleys, Yolanda and many more friends that we have met through the years with Dawn & Daryl.  Of course we spent some wonderful quality time with the grandkids too! 

Here are some pictures that don’t do justice to the entire event!

After the retirement ceremony they chartered a night time trolley tour of the Washington memorials and monuments – wow, what a difference from daylight!  Our trolley driver was ZUMA and he was a hoot.  Here are some pictures of that!