An easy day driving on the interstate. Haven’t done much of that this last year. We’ve logged a lot of miles on rural highways. South over Raton Pass onto the New Mexico high plains, driving through a vast expanse of soft brown pastels; driving through a giant chalk drawing. Prairie falcons and pronghorns. A coyote. Up and down the hills to Santa Fe at seven thousand feet. The Rio Grande River starts high in the San Juans above Creede. From there, it flows east through South Fork and Alamosa in the San Luis Valley, then down through New Mexico. We catch up with it south of Albuquerque and follow it for another sixty miles. A stop for the night at Bosque Bird Watchers RV Park at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. We’re traveling south in search of warmer nights. When it’s below freezing, we have to disconnect the water at night and run off the tanks. We haven’t been able to leave the water hooked up at night for weeks. Last night at Lathrop it was twenty-seven degrees. 187 days until the 2007 America’s Cup Challenger Series.
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving with the kids. Making ice-cream at Becky’s the day before, Becky gone to collect food for the food bank with the older two kids, Judy off on errands, Brian and I watching the younger two at the house. Conner stands on a chair next to me while I mix the ingredients. It takes me a while. He gets down and pushes his chair around me to the other side with purpose, but the maneuver doesn’t really register until I realize he’s eyebrows to elbows into the open sugar canister on the counter. I wipe off the counter. Brian wipes off Conner. A little while later, Teigan is quietly watching a video, when Judy returns, removes Conner from the upstairs bathroom, turns off the water in both sinks, puts away the toothpaste and electric toothbrushes, and cleans him up again. It’s a quiet morning. Becky and the older two return and the house is back to full volume. Thanksgiving Day, Matt, Kari, and Alex join the fray. Turkey, kids, football, pie and ice cream. Happy Thanksgiving all.
Lathrop state park
It was a good stay at st vrain. Forty-one birds. Buffleheads, hooded mergansers, night herons, golden eagle, bald eagle, prairie falcons, kingfisher serenade, blue jays, scrub jays, juncos. But enough of these cold weather birds. I know, the weather has been fantastic; temperatures in the sixties and seventies, but nevermind that, we’re leaving anyway. Look at the weather map of the country. We’re in a blue state. We’re headed for red states. Got a date with a gilded flicker. A leisurely start. A two hundred mile day, from Erie to Walsenburg. Another night at Lathrop State Park.
Weather
Moving from blue to red.
St vrain
Did I mention how difficult it is to hook up our tow car? Not that it’s difficult to hook it up, it’s just different. The mechanical connection of the tow gear from the motorhome to the tow car is the same as with every other car, takes about a minute. Hook up the safety cables. Hook up the air line for the brake assist. From inside the car, still have to find neutral in the transmission just like every other car. It’s the last part that’s difficult. Taking the key out. For every other car, we had to be sure the key was in the proper accessory position so the steering wheel wouldn’t lock and the front tires scuff off as we towed them sideways. In this Jeep, it’s different. Confirm that the transfer case is in neutral. Pull the key out. Walk away. The steering wheel doesn’t lock. Years of training to check and recheck the key position in the tow car. It’s not easy to overcome. Pull the key out and walk away.