Cookin’ in New Mexico

Dear friends,

The last few weeks have been sort of whirlwind … hot and blowing
wind, too!

We got to northeastern new Mexico in good time, 5 days from Jason’s
house and that included what the truckers called an Arkansas Parade -–
a 2-1/2 hour slow crawl due to a multi-truck accident. Went through a
tremendous thunderstorm in Oklahoma – pretty close to where we went
through one last year!

The State Park we do at Ute Lake in Logan, New Mexico put a lot of
pressure on us not to take up a space because they were so full, so we
did the job in four business days and got out before the 4th of July.
It went okay; lots easier the second time.

We’re in Albuquerque now, with a couple more days to work here. This is
the park owned by Ali Qureishi and last year we put both his parks on
the same map, mainly because one was marginal. Well, it isn’t marginal
any more, it has turned into a trailer park. The two days we stayed
there I was afraid someone would steal our stuff! Ali was not happy
that we could not put that park on a map. Actually, the other park has
over 50% “monthlies” but it is a fairly high end park and you can’t
tell whether someone is here for a month or a year. Next year we might
not be able to do this park, either.

Once again I’m reminded that we tend to judge others by ourselves.
Because integrity is so important to me, I am always surprised when
someone lies to me. The east Indian or Pakistani culture does not value
honesty the way we do. Quite the opposite, it seems; if they can trick
you, or get the upper hand, they feel very pleased.

This park, the Stagecoach Stop, is actually north of Albuquerque, in
Bernalillo. We like the area a lot, and meeting our friends Ted and
Marcia gives it an added attraction.

On Friday I followed my impulses and intuition and found my way to the
One Crow Studio of Geraldine Brussel. The artist is nearing 80 and was
waiting for me in the yard when I drove up. It’s such a wonderful
feeling to know you are exactly where you are supposed to be, doing
what the cosmos has set up for you to do. I’m attaching her painting
titled Sandia Leap; I just love it (she gave me a note card). We had a
good visit, swapped stories of Santa Fe and she let me poke through
everything in her studio. I’m looking forward to seeing her when we
come through in November.

As much as we don’t like to be on schedule, we will make sure not to be
in this part of the country at this time next year. We’re a month later
than we originally planned, and while the lateness was worth it
(waiting for the Swans to arrive in N.C.), holy cow it’s hot! Lots of
days it has been 98 degrees outside and 98 degrees inside. We have A/C
in the front and in the back as long as we are plugged in to 50 amps,
but we don’t like to run it while we’re gone and it is so noisy we
can’t sleep with it, so nights are uncomfortable. At least for me, they
are. It has been so hot I’m concerned about food in the pantry and
medications in the cupboards. The other night I was making a salad
dressing and pulled out the pantry shelf and could hardly pick up the
bottle of wine vinegar, it was so hot! I’m afraid I’ve been a little
testy about “loving the lifestyle” lately.

Nevertheless, we are glad to be back in the saddle, working and making
a few bucks. In a few days we will head for Logan, Utah, to pick up a
few things out of storage and get some minor repairs done on the bus.
Then to Bend to get our old bodies checked out. Dave will do the Idaho
(Washington) Ride the end of July while I drive up to see Kevin and
Shelly and Morgan and take my Mother on a little road trip. We are due
in eastern Washington around August 7th to do a park, then we go west
to Redmond, Washington and do a park and get some more family visiting
done and head south. We aren’t sure yet about doing a map for the
Scandia Park in Bend in September and also have to check in again with
the Redmond Fairgrounds. They want us to do a map for them and we said
we could do it the first week of September but the director says the
park won’t be ready until the 15th of September…….? Is it me, or
…….? I have been trying for 12 months to convince him that he
doesn’t even have to have an RV park, we do maps for fairgrounds all
the time, but so far we aren’t connecting. The director wants to make
sure the RV park is actually up and going.

Isn’t it strange that the little message Davey and I made for you bears
such a resemblance to the Sandia Leap? Maybe not so strange.

Love to all, and may the wildfires of summer not be in any of our back
yards!

Sam