Camp Oro Quay - 1st month completed

Our first project month at Camp Oro Quay just outside of Albuquerque, NM (Sandia Park) is complete.  Now we are eagerly awaiting our second project month - October.  This past month included the men retiling the girls dorm bathroom and framing out windows and doors in the main dorm buildings/chapel.  The women stained and painted wood stalls/cabinets in same bathrooms, pruning of fruit trees, dividing flower bulbs in flower beds and moving to bare beds, and sewing of animal cage covers to be used for show & tell days in the public schools.  While the youth camps are over for the summer, just about every weekend are retreats of some kind.  I personally am really looking forward to a quilt retreat the end of October - what an added bonus.  Our month with John & Sherry Davidson and George & Nancy Reid was so much fun.  They enjoyed stories about the South from us as much as we enjoyed learning the MidWest Ways.  They are terrific and fun Sluff players.  Honestly they have shown Wayne & I just how much spicy heat a stomach/throat can really endure!

John & George framing out a picture window

Nancy painted, the men retiled

L to R:  Nancy & George Reid,

John & Sherry Davidson,

Gail, Evangeline & Wayne Fieler

Enjoying the beautiful weather.

New Mexico has provided much entertainment in the way of sightseeing for all three couples as well as a steady dip in temps during the month.  We are now needing to take the chill off in the mornings with the space heater and wearing warmer clothing soon shedding by noon when the sun quickly warms things up.  Since our last post we have visited the Balloon Museum, biked in Santa Fe through downtown on to the rail yard, hiked parts of the Petroglyph National Monument; peered over the Sandia Crest (2 miles high), and attended the Annual Pinto Bean Festival in Moriarty (yes, really)!  Now we are contemplating beefing up our walking workouts so that we can tackle the 14.5 mile hike from the Sandia Crest to the bottom of the mountain.  First we will take the tram up the mountain and hike back down.  Next week is the Annual Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, can't wait and will post pics of that later.

The field where the balloons will ascend next week

Aspen starting to turn colors

Sandia Mountains

One of the highlights of this month was our granddaughter, Evangeline, came to visit with us for 10 days while Sarah & Vince took a hiatus before the next baby girl arrives.  We found out how small our rig is with a 2 yr. old aboard but memories to last a lifetime.  Evangeline greeted Mercy the cow, the donkey and baby calf each morning after making sure the windmill still existed right outside her "bedroom" window.  We took her to the Bio Park near the zoo to feed ducks and swing for at least 1 hr.  She enjoyed the Pinto Bean Festival "so so" BUT the bounce house at the Fall Festival at our host church was the bomb!  We asked the bounce house monitor if she was too young to go in and he quickly pointed out that another child inside was only 18 months old.  When the wind whipped up and the monitor asked everyone to get out, we had to send a small sized adult in to get her out - she was determined this was her very own special playhouse!  Halarious.  Later we asked her mom and dad if they had ever put her in one, oh yes, SHE LOVES BOUNCE HOUSES!  Evangeline took her first hayride with G'pa and can you guess how long it took for her to fall asleep on the way home?  Less than 5 min.!  Fresh air and bouncing will do it every time.

Evangeline swingin, swingin, and swinging!  Ready to go - NO!

hayriding with my g'pa

g'parents wear me out!

What can I say about the existence of NO HUMIDITY?  My skin is shriveling up, my lips and eyes feel like sandpaper and I really need to buy stock in Bath & Body Works because I can't put on enough lotion to make my skin not feel like alligator hide.  So far my nose has not bled but it won't be long.  We have also experienced what "arroyos" are for.  The other day I heard thunder and what I thought was heavy rain, looked outside the bedroom window of the RV and there was a 2 lane river within 20 ft. from the back of the rig.  When they say flash floods possible you best not be in a arroyo.  Scarey to say the least because it may not be raining around you but you or your vehicle could be in water in a matter of just a few min. because of runoff from nearby mountains.  The next day it was almost dry as a bone, crazy.

arroyo moving behind the RV

Ok, now we have had the RV aligned and new tires mounted.  Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy Valentines Day, Happy Birthday, Merry Thanksgiving, Happy Columbus Day for the next 10 years!  Good grief.......and to think we will probably have to put on at least one more set of tires before we really retire.  Oh well, it's only money a good friend, Donna Crotts, told me one time!  These tires are taking me places I never dreamed existed and places to serve beyond my imagination. RV crazy or what?!  We are and we don't care!

Normal? Maybe where you live!

First you buy the chili's (mild or hot) - not a few in a poke, but a box full - as in at least one bushel.

Put them in a roaster or have your neighborhood grocery store do it for you.  Do the hokie pokie and turn yourself around - that's how you prepare your chili's in August in New Mexico for the upcoming year.

Detach skins and remove seeds, then either freeze in ziploc bags or eat.  Hotter than you can imagine but these New Mexico people eat them in soup, omelets, stuffed, as a condiment on a sandwich, the possibilities are endless!  Considering how hot they are, I wonder if they are putting them in their gas tanks!

A New Mexico water tower or an oversize golf ball?

Now that's what I call a big sunflower - enough seeds for one entire baseball team!

Just catching a few New Mexico normalities........what's your norm?  RVcrazy, or what?

Camp Oro Quay in Sandia Park, NM

After traveling through Oklahoma City and Amarillo we landed in a small town just over the border in New Mexico, Tucumcari.  This town is so very interesting as it primarily exists only because it is on Old Historic Route 66.  We stayed 2 nights and rode our bikes through this town awed by the 40+ hand painted murals and the windmill constructed at the Wind Research Center at the local community college.  If you can pull up information on how one is constructed and erected you will be amazed.  Just outside of Amarillo, TX we encountered approximately 50 miles of windmills all along the north side of I-40.  The cost of just one must be phenomenal - can't image 50 miles worth.

One of 40+ murals in Tucumcari, NM

Windmill at Wind Research Center in Tucumcari, NM

One week finished at Camp Oro Quay in Sandia Park, NM just outside of Albuquerque - 2 to go!  The men are retiling the boys bathroom in the boys dorm and the women have been pruning fruit trees, staining stalls to go back into the bathroom once the men finish the tiling project and working in various flower beds to divide bulbs and replant in new locations.  This camp is obviously finished as far as summer camps, now they are catering to schools for orientation days off campus and various weekend retreats.  The camp is definitely Southwestern flair with a western town for events and chuck wagons.  Animal hosts include chickens, goats, cows, pigs and of course donkeys for gold digging events! This camp is currently being operated by a second generation family.

John Davidson and Wayne laying tile

working in the flower beds

This coming Friday we will be meeting Sarah, Vince and Evangeline in Gallup, NM to pick up Evangeline so that she can experience camp for one week while her Mom & Dad have a much needed vacation before baby sister gets here in the dead of winter!  Then the first weekend in October will be the Annual Balloon Festival here in Albuquerque - from what we have been told words cannot describe the event.  Stayed tuned for pics.

We have also been able to ride our bikes the past 2 weekends along the Rio Grande River.

Would you believe we crossed over the river here with our horses?  You're right we did not!  RV crazy?!

Temps are getting lower at night and today we experienced hail & rain.  Winter's comin'.......hopefully  the next blog post will not include any other precipitation!  Till then.......