Spent The Night on Route 66 in Gallup, NM

May 16, 2014  – Friday

It was fairly quiet in the casino parking lot last night. I went to the casino in the evening while Bill and the dogs slept. It’s a colorful casino, all decorated in Route 66 decor. Got some free coffee and blew $4 in a couple of slot machines. Cheap entertainment for me.

This morning I walked over to the gas station/store/fast food side of the parking lot for coffee and my favorite, biscuits and gravy.

We left the casino at 9 am, heading west on I-40 towards Gallup, New Mexico. Within about 20 minutes of driving, the scenery and landscape started to change and get real pretty.

On the other side of the freeway, I saw a group of motorcycle cops followed by a lot of bike riders. I guess some of the riders I saw yesterday tag along for part of the ride, then I back to where they started from.

Bill has had a stiff neck for the last few days and wanted to stop early today, so I got off in Gallup on Route 66 and started looking for a campground. I snapped a few pictures of the downtown area.  Saw the El Rancho Hotel Motel Restaurant that said Home of the Movie Stars.

Finally saw an RV Park sign, just before getting back on the freeway. It’s called USA RV Park. I checked us in to a full hookup site next to the restroom and laundry. Soon as we were parked, I took the dogs for a walk over to the dog park. I took their leashes off and Bella just stayed in the shade while Chica walked around a little bit. They find dog parks boring without other dogs.

After walking the dogs around and taking pictures of the campground and store I did laundry while Bill and the dogs slept. After laundry started editing pictures, looking at maps for our destination tomorrow and updated the blog.  A woman’s work is never done.  🙂

Part 2 – May 15’s Post, The Exciting End Involving Cops

May 15, 2014 – Thursday (Continued)

Ok, so we are both tired, but not fighting. 🙂
We were looking forward to getting to the campground and I was going to get to do laundry. Yippee. Now we are driving and searching the side of the freeway for more campgrounds. We see a couple, but they look pitiful too. I would rather stay at Cracker Barrel or Walmart than a junky campground. We pull off to get gas and I got on his iPad to search for another place. It doesn’t have hookups, but by now we don’t care. We can boondock again.

We are at Route 66 Casino in Albuquerque for then night. I stayed here before when I took my Arizona/New Mexico trip a few years ago. It’s the first time on this trip staying at a casino in their parking lot.

Sorry about the Cop tease. I wasn’t pulled over again, but there were a lot of them here at the casino.

When we pulled in, there were maybe 50 motorcycle cops all lined up by the entrance. There were Sheriff cars too. I parked the RV and took the dogs out to potty and to snoop a little bit, to see what was going on. I took a few photos along with other RVer’s. I took the dogs back in the RV and watched the bikes from the window. Pretty soon, there were hundreds of motorcycle riders pulling into the adjoining gas/truck stop area. They were just regular bikers, not cops. I didn’t think it was a club, since there were so many different type of bikes. I asked Chica if she wanted to go for a walk and grabbed my camera phone again. Bella didn’t want to go, she would rather take a nap with Bill.

By this time there were more people standing around taking pictures. I asked one of them what the deal was. He told me it was a club of bikers that are on a cross country motorcycle ride in honor of military veterans, prisoners of war, those who have been killed in action and their families. This ride is called Ride of Their Lives. I did a google search to get more info and it came up with Run for The Wall Motorcycle Event May 14-23rd. One mission Three Routes. Riders visit VA medical centers, veterans memorials, VFW posts, as well as schools along the routes. This particular group was taking the middle route, while others were farther north or south. They all started in Rancho Cucamonga, CA and will all end up in Arlington, VA.

The cops were there to escort them thru the traffic to keep them together. Once everyone was ready, a signal was given and the cops rode off followed by all the bikers. There were so many of them! I just took photos every few seconds till they were all gone. Chica wasn’t even scared. Her ears are kinda funny in the photos, like maybe it was too loud, but she wasn’t afraid that I could tell.

For those that are interested, like my son Rick, I’ll post the rest of the bike photos in the next post called Bikes – Ride of Their Lives – Part 2

Another Long Day of Driving with an Exciting End

May 15, 2014 – Thursday

When we woke up at Walmart, most of the other RV’s were already gone. There must have been at least 20 of us spending the night there. We had our own campground, dogs got to mingle as well as the people. One lady, had a relative in Norwalk, where I grew up, and she lived in Cerritos area I think she said. She also belonged to SKP and has stayed at our RV park in Aguanga before. Small world.

We left Walmart in Amarillo, TX at 9:20 and just 15 minutes down the freeway we saw a lot of cars stopped on the frontage road on the other side of the freeway. I thought maybe there was an accident, but then I noticed them pointing cameras out into the field just off the freeway. I looked and just barely caught a glimpse as we drove past, of the Cadillac Ranch cars! Bummer, I didn’t even have a chance to take a picture. I did a google search and “lifted a couple of photos” off the website RoadsideAmerica
.

We crossed into New Mexico at 10:30.

All along the freeway there were big billboards for various tourist traps at a gas station. First one we saw was for the Flying C Ranch. Bill said I could stop, and it was time for the dogs to have a potty break…so I did. We walked the dogs, then I went in to browse around and my reward at the end was a Pecan, Carmel Blizzard at the Dairy Queen there. Yummy

Farther down the road, we started seeing similar signs for Clines Corners, a famous stop so I’ve read. Bill gave me the OK to go see it too, so I took the off ramp with intentions to stop. It wasn’t as impressive as I thought it would be, probably had the same souvenir stuff and the parking lot was a lot smaller and had pot holes all over it. I decided to skip it and get back on the freeway.

Bill’s goal was to make it to Albuquerque today, which was a little over a four hour drive for me. I had looked thru my Passport America 1/2 price book before leaving Walmart, for a campground that advertised full hookups, laundry and free wifi. After two nights of no hookups, I was ready for electric and to do laundry finally. When we finally got there, it was a dumpy place with older RV’s that appeared to be living there with junk around them. The place was gravel and weeds. It was ugly. I told Bill I could t stay there, so we continued west.

SEE PART 2 of where we stayed and more COPS! Just a tease….

Goodby Arizona Hello New Mexico

April 4, 2014 – Friday

We left the SKP park at 8:30 am and headed for the local Walmart in Benson, AZ. Stocked up on groceries then got on the I-10 heading towards TX.

Stopped at the New Mexico Visitor Center to let the dogs do their thing and pick up a few brochures. Right next to the dog walk area was a rattlesnake warning.

Wind on this stretch of freeway is strong. I was tired of driving and suggested we stop for the night in Deming. There was a rv resort I wanted to visit that many solo RVers belong to. I’m not solo now but still wanted to see it. Got checked in at 2:20pm at the Low-Hi RV Ranch which is also a half price campground with our Passport America membership.

Walked the dogs to the dog park here but they don’t really seem to care about playing in there so we continued our park tour. Met a lot of solos at the happy hour. The name LOW stands for loners on wheels.

They have free wifi here, but it’s painfully slow. I couldn’t get my blog to load fast enough on the iPad so I’m typing this on my iPhone, where the photos are. Not fun.

Getting late, after midnight, better put this post to bed.