New Mexico, the Second Time ‘Round

No big news in this missive; just want to share some points of interest.

Turns out the “earth” filled trucks we mentioned in our last letter are not all filled with stuff that can be used again, and we don’t know where it’s being taken. The gov’mint is finally picking up the uranium processing plant tailings in the Moab area and hauling it off. When we came out of Green River on the way to Moab, I asked Dave “why doesn’t anything grow out here?” Maybe that’s where they’re hauling it.

We had dinner with Marcia and Ted Bertholate last weekend. It was really fun. They moved from Bend to Placitas, a village north of Albuquerque, in June. The meal was wonderful and it’s such an occasion to connect with someone from our old life.

Dave has managed to only get in one bike ride. It has been cold here in the mornings and we’ve had some real wind. Trust me, 60 mph is real wind. The bus just rocks. Fortunately we haven’t suffered any dust storms in our High Desert RV Park location.

I got a new bird book (early Christmas present) and have been happily feeding the birds here. So far all I have are sparrows and I’m not certain what kind. Black throated sparrows, I think. They are real flockers though and sometimes I have nearly 100 visiting. (I feed them on the ground.) It’s fun.

We’ve been here in Albuquerque eight days and are ready to go. It’s been a good job. We have a chance to do a park in Truth or Consequences, so will head south tomorrow. We are too early for Ralph Edwards Days, but will enjoy going back to T or C just the same.

New Mexico has officially declared English as the state lanquage. Seems silly. No one is going to quit speaking Spanish here just because English is “Official.” A local pundit recalled Texas doing the same thing 80 years ago when the governor pronounced “If English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for Texas!”

And the beat goes on.

Sam