March 5, 2024

Captain's Log; day 59th .

We have been in Cedar Crest, NM for just over a week now. The weather has not been ideal. The winds continue to howl daily. This along with temps in the 50's and low 60's. Night time temps in the upper 20's and 30's. Tried several time to grill outside but the wind blows out the grill. My problem is I cannot just sit outside in this weather without a winter jacket. Have to find a hobby like Diane, who has no problem staying indoors.

Being here for two weeks we see people come and go. This is a small campground and I think we have the best site on a corner with a huge pine tree and grass. Most sites are just gravel and have the sites face each other, I don't like those sites and there is no privacy as you are using the same area between campers.

 We made a trip to the local Costco and grocery stores to re-supply for the coming weeks. I also had to make several trips to Rocky Mountain RV for parts for one of the toilets. The problem was it would continue to fill with water after it was flushed. Within 3 hours the water would be at the top of the bowel. If you did not catch it in time you have a mess. Three hours of work and $60 worth of parts and it is working properly again. It seem like there is something to fix weekly on this trip.

We  did a bit of a road trip to Madrid, NM (pronounced MAD-rid) a small town about an hour away. It was a booming mining town, but after the mining was done, it became deserted. It was a ghost town for many a years until a bunch of artist started setting up shop in the old abandoned buildings. Today the town is booming with dozens of shops of unique items. There is also the Mine Shaft Tavern and Cantina with two different eating areas and bars. They also have music stages and were setting up to play when we were there around 1 PM. The place was packed and the town had cars parked from one end to the other. We will go back again before we leave.

We drove up to Sandia Crest which lies at 10, 600 feet above sea level. It was 60 degrees at campground and 36 degrees at the crest. On the west side of the mountain they were still skiing.

view from Sandi Crest

This shows the altitude of 10,648 feet.

View from Sandi Crest

 We had hoped to take the tram to the crest but it is closed for maintenance until mid March. Its a 2.5 mile trip for close to 15 minutes and about 800 feet above ground.  Maybe it is better that someone else go first :).

It seems we are here, in this area, too early, as Tinkertown was closed and many other areas I would have liked to drive. Two much snow in the mountain so roads are still closed. 

We will be headed to Santa Fe sometime this week to check out the town square. 

All the radio towers are located on the Crest of the mountain.

Ski Hill in back ground still in operation.

Diane had the table with computer so I eat my dinner here.