Blowin’ and Rollin’

Saturday, October 21, 2017

The winds were really blowing last night and this morning.  We woke up to find that there were two large rv’s and two small rv’s along with 5 semi trucks that joined us in the Walmart parking lot over night.  Although the lots are usually safe and well-lighted, we didn’t consider the danger of a shopping cart blowing across the lot and rolling into the motorhome!  (No serious damage, just a small ding by the door-ugh!).  We waited for the winds to subside before we took off, but still found gusty winds joining us as we rolled our way across Colorado.  We had a tip from someone on our Polar Bear trip who warned us to avoid the Denver bypass, as it costs about $150 in tolls for a motorhome and towed car!  Yikes—we took their advice and went right through the city for free!  We were glad it was Saturday, so traffic wasn’t too bad, and thankfully there was no football game at the Mile High stadium.   Then the Rocky Mountains came into view—what a pretty sight on a beautiful day!  We knew we were in cowboy country when we passed this rig with horses, all saddled up in the trailer, just rolling down the highway! 

We made it to New Mexico, and stopped at the KOA in Las Vegas, New Mexico.  It is a city of about 16,500 people at an elevation of 6.470 ft.  Before 1937, Route 66 ran right through the campground!  The city has quite an interesting history, but even today the city is quite interesting!   We went to mass at a church on the Old Town Plaza (where the US took possession of New Mexico for the US during the Mexican War).  For Saturday night mass, rather than a guitar mass, Our Lady of Sorrows Church had an accordion mass!  I’ve never heard an accordion at mass before.   It wasn’t quite a mariachi band, but there were several Spanish songs, and the recessional song at the end of mass was accompanied by a harmonica!  It made us smile as we rolled with it!  Although I do have some of the sound back in my voice, I wasn’t able to sing along. After mass we found a neat little place for dinner next to the Plaza—a local brewpub.  We had a great dinner, and saw something I’ve never seen before—Flea a “bar dog” that greeted the customers and watched over us as we ate!  He (or she) was very well behaved, and entertained all of us by posing for pictures and crawling along the booths. We rolled with it!  But, we’ve had enough blowin’ and rollin’ for one day!   Good night!