#75 - December 2020 - Albuquerque and Las Cruses NM, and Benson AZ
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| Ripley, the Xmas shrub and the family elf |
We aren’t ready to park Ripley yet, but we have been
thinking about where we might eventually settle down. Life on the road requires
physical stamina and the strength and coordination to deal with the issues that
come up. Age is catching up with us in different ways, so it is time to start
looking at options. After some research, we felt that New Mexico might offer an acceptable
combination of cost, climate and ambiance. We decided to take a longish route
to Benson via Albuquerque and Las Cruses and look around.
Moab to Albuquerque is a two day drive.
We had finally escaped the worst of the cold weather, so we spent the first
night at a nice Walmart in Farmington, NM, and pulled into a KOA camp ground in Albuquerque the following afternoon. The RV
park was immaculate and the staff was very attentive, but it was quite
expensive and the I40 freeway along one side of the park made it very noisy.
We spent three days driving all over greater Albuquerque looking for
houses listed on Realtor.com and trying to get a feeling for the different
neighborhoods. Albuquerque and the surrounding towns like Rio Rancho, Placitas,
Bernalillo and Los Lunas have seen a tremendous building boom. Literally
thousands of homes and the associated infrastructure have been built in the
past ten years or so, and that level of construction continues today. New
developments are springing up everywhere.
By the evening of the second day we decided that Albuquerque was just too
much city. It reminded both of us of SoCal, with a frantic pace of traffic,
hustle and bustle and too many people. Even having a Trader Joe’s wasn’t enough
to sway us to consider it.
On a much smaller scale, Las Cruces is going through the same growth.
Because it is much smaller, LC is much easier to get around. The park we chose,
Hacienda RV Resort, was ideally situated for our purposes, but it was also
expensive, and being right beside the I25 freeway it was really noisy, too.
LC has a lot of appeal. I think we visited every area in and
around the city. We didn’t tour any houses, but judging from the outsides and
the listings, there are many homes within our budget to chose from. I think we
may stop again on our way east next spring.
We pulled into our winter digs at the SKP Saguaro Co-op on
Dec 11.
Lot 19 was covered in dead leaves and all the pretty flowering weeds in
the planting beds were also dead. The Co-op sprays herbicide on the common areas every summer and I guess it was windy that day, so our "flowers" all died. Aside from that it was just like we left it
nine months ago. After getting rid of the worst of the leaves I picked up work
on the casita right where I left it in April: painting the interior. I think I
have four coats on now, but it might only be three. We finally have furniture,
too, a couch and a lamp that we got from the park’s recycling center. Carpet is
next, then some more trim and I’m done for this year, I hope.
The park is really, really quiet. The Covid restrictions are
even tighter than when we left in April, and with good reason: two of our
members had died and fifteen were in isolation when we arrived. Now even most
outdoor gatherings are banned. Masks are mandatory. Unfortunately many of the
local businesses post signs requiring masks but don’t enforce it. It is quite
scary to go shopping when 25% of the people aren’t taking even minimal precautions.
I am very sorry to say that Lucy passed away peacefully
on the 22nd, just over 10 years from the day she joined our family. It was
coming for some time, but it was/is still really hard. We miss her so much.
Only after she left did we realize how much she was involved in our lives.
Schroeder truly misses her, too. They were together all day, every day for almost
60 dog years. He’s never been an only-dog, so we’ll see how he takes to that.
Xmas with just the two of us was a little low key, especially
without Lucy, but
Kayeanne decorated
the coach and it looked good. She insisted on a tree but we were too late to buy
a small one, so I chopped the top off of a five footer and turned it into an Xmas shrub. Disregarding the cost, it worked out fine and looked great. We
splurged on Moet Chandon Imperial Champagne (and caviar!) for Xmas eve, and the
wine was just as good as we remembered it from our wedding in 1985 (good
grief); some of you were there! We’d drink it every day if we won the lottery.
Like everyone else, we
really looked forward to 2021!
More Moet, and
Kayeanne outdid
herself with delicious seared salmon for dinner on New Years eve. We actually
made it to midnight this year, but the champagne gave out much earlier, so a
good Cab sufficed to toast the new year.
Speaking of wine, we liked these:
Canoe Ridge “The Expedition” Pinot Gris – Horse Head Hills
2018
Kirkland Napa Red Blend 2018
I got several books for Xmas and immediately read John
Sanford’s latest Virgil Flowers novel, Bloody
Genius. His books are always a treat. I also read Ted Kooser’s short but
so, so good memoir Lights on a Ground of
Darkness, twice. It’s only 60 pages long, and every page is a delight.
Our current plans (ha!) call for leaving here in early
April to meander our way to Casa Kendrick in New Hampshire by late May. That is, of
course, somewhat predicated on getting our shots, but we are optimistic. Or
trusting fools; we’ll see which, soon.
Cheers,
Bob
