New Mexico- Our Extended Stay

We arrived in NM on September 9, 2019 and here it is June 14, 2020 and I am just now getting this blog up to date. A lot has happened between Sept and June. If you will recall back in early May of 2019 we visited The Ranch in Lakewood, NM. with the express idea of looking into a lifetime lease on one of the sites. Somewhere that we could use as  a home base. Well, we found one that we liked and we acquired the lease. Closed and signed the papers on Cinco de Mayo. 75 Quail Trail was our new "home".

And are we ever glad that we did. More on that later, but for now the most important thing was being in an area for a while so that Mary could get treatment for bowel problems that plagued her our entire trip east and again back west. Don't know how she managed it. Soon after arriving she did her homework and scheduled an appointment with a General Surgeon in Artesia. The result of this was a colonoscopy and a referral to a GastroEnterologist in Roswell and a diagnosis of ulcerative colitis. A little geography lesson- Lakewood is about 15 miles South of Artesia, 57 miles South of Roswell and about 22 miles North of Carlsbad. Just so you have a general idea of where we are located.

To make a long story short, the Gastro Enterologist in Roswell wanted to do another Colonoscopy plus Enteroscopy - a look at both ends. Prior to doing this she had to visit a heart specialist in Roswell and have an Echocardiogram done. And then she was admitted to Roswell's Southeastern Medical Center where they could focus on getting her electrolytes back in balance.

Poor M was in the hospital for almost a week before they performed the procedures.

A place she won't soon forget.And neither will I.  This was her home for almost a week

When all was said and done, extreme ulcerative colitis was confirmed. But more importantly, they found NO cancer. She came home a little tired, a little weak, but with restored spirit. She had a few more visits with Enterologist in Roswell with the end result being a prescription for Humira to treat her condition. How to pay for this drug or rather getting the financial assistance  to pay for this drug is a whole other story, but suffice to say, she persisted and got the drug and the assistance. Things are SO much better now compared to a year ago or even 6 months ago.

On the brighter side - Roswell is an interesting area:

The Alien theme is everywhere. Including the RV Repair Service that we use:

One of the best RV Tech's I've come across.

OK, back to Quail Trail. We both decided that we didn't like the color, so we repainted.

Our screened in porch. Lexie kind of likes it out here.

Inside my little "room'

Can't have enough fishing stuff......

Tools plus more fishing stuff

Mary's sewing, painting, drawing area

Our Pantry

More of Pantry/Storage area

The door on the left takes you into my area

Like I said previously, Lexie sure likes the porch area

Lexie eyeballing one of the many rabbits we have in the park

Eyeballing mother and baby Roadrunner. They are around all the time, and don't seem to have any fear. One day I caught one up on our grill looking in the porch area at Lexie.

Right after we got here I signed up as a volunteer for the Water Committee. Being in the desert, water is something special. The park has 2 wells with all pumped water going through a Reverse Osmosis system(to remove unwanted elements from the water)before being distributed to the park.

Left the door to the pump room open while I recorded well readings in R/O room. Guess who showed up? They are curious!

The R/O System

Each member of the committee volunteers to monitor the system for a particular week. This involves getting and posting readings for the well generating water for that particular week(we have 2 wells), ie, water pumped, R/O system waste water, and water distributed to the park. It is kind of an interesting job that I enjoy doing. When the park is full we'll pump about 4000- 5000 gal a day and distribute to park around 3000 gal.

Some more about 75 Quail Trail:

Yes, we do get snow here. Fortunately not too much and not too often.

The park is surrounded by an electric fence and cattle guards to keep these guys out.

Not unusual to see when entering or leaving the park

Yes, we do have hummingbirds

A view up Quail Trail from the roof of our trailer

A view to our waste water evaporative pond

Claret Cup Cactus in bloom

Our Desert Willow

One last thing that I should mention is Brantley Lake, which is located about 5 miles south of us. Like most impoundments in the west, large dams hold back water for use in the dry periods. And all water is subject to rights.  In the case of Brantley Lake. the State of Texas holds the water rights. I have been amazed at the water fluctuation. Between October and June, I'll bet the water has dropped 25'. Still, it is convenient and nice to put my little pontoon boat on the water- when the wind isn't blowing. Which seems to be most of the time.

Fishing with my buddy Eli

Back in the beginning I mentioned how glad we were to acquire the lease on the lot. Never was this more apparent than during this Covid19 lockdown. Every morning during this period, Mary and I would look at each other and comment on how lucky we were to have this place. We really don't know what we would have done. The park itself has been on lockdown mode since mid march. Nobody new in. It is still that way now. The only ones allowed in to the park are lease holders. And the lease holders that leave for a period of time and then return have to self quarantine. All in all, the Covid 19 crisis has not affected us as it has others. We happen to be in an extremely low population area with low infection rate. This is a good thing.

One thing that it did affect was my cataract surgery in Roswell. On March 18 I had my right eye done and was supposed to go in on March 25 for the second one. On March 24 they stopped all elective surgery, so it was not until they lifted that ban in late May that I got the second eye done.

Hopefully we are getting back to normal. And I sure hope so.

And we've seen 104 already too

With things getting back to normal, we are planning on finishing up our medical stuff - I have an appointment on 6/30 with the cataract surgeon for final checkup. And sometime in between Mary has a session with her enterologist to review Humira results. After that we are hoping to get to South Dakota to spend the rest of the summer. So that gets us up to date. Hopefully we'll have more good stuff to report as the summer proceeds.

Here he is walking right up to me

Off to find that coyote........

Maine to NY to NM- The Summer of 2019 con't

Following a great trip to Maine and a visit with friends in Northeast Chapter 3 of the Escapees RV Club, it was time to start or trip back west. Our trip west plans:

8.19.19          Brattleboro, Vt          284 Mi
8.20.19          Ovid, NY                  276 Mi
8.28.19          Fairview, PA             222 Mi
8.30.19          Galloway, OH           235 Mi
9.1.19            Terre Haute, IN         239 Mi
9.3.19            Marshfield, MO        365 Mi
9.5.19            Chandler, OK           265 Mi
9.7.19            Amarillo, TX            312 Mi
9.9.19            Lakewood, NM        281 Mi

Total trip days/miles:                           23 /2465

We left Hermon, ME and Pumpkin Patch RV Park on 8.19.19. Back to Brattleboro and Brat North KOA for a one night stay that allowed us to fuel up and get to one of our favorite spots in Brattleboro- Brattleboro Village Pizza. They were closed for the month of July(vacation). Next day it was off to NY following the same route that got us here- Hogback Mtn, up Searsburg Mtn, down Woodford Mtn into Bennington and then to Troy, NY and the New York State Thruway I90.  About 150 miles later we exited at Weedsport and made for Ovid, NY and SNED Acres Campground.

This was our 3rd trip to this area of the Finger Lakes, the 1st being in Aug of 2014. Camping next to us at that time were Don & Debbie from Newark, NY. We've been friends ever since. We saw them again in 2016 at Cayuga Lake State Park and again at Sampson State Park and this was a BIG reason why we were visiting this area again. Did I mention that the other 2 times were as a result of a Bass Tournament on Cayuga Lake? And yes, we do enjoy their company,

Don & Debbie right next to us, Cayuga Lake in the distance

I mentioned that there was a big Bass Tournament here, the Bassmaster Elite Series. When the event was announced like November of last year, I was quick to sign up to be a Marshall for the event. Being a Marshall is a very rewarding experience. Not only do you get to go out with a different pro for each of the first 3 days of the tournament, you get to spend an entire day with them, learning. Responsibilities include taking and posting photos to the Bassmaster Blog, recording and reporting  all legal catches, and most importantly, acting as eyes and ears for Bass Officials to be sure all rules and regulations are adhered to. It is really a priceless experience, not to mention traveling down the lake at 70 mph. I took Don with me to the Marshall's meeting the day prior to the start of the event. I think he was truly happy to sit in on the meeting.  When the Marshall's meeting was over, we joined the anglers at their meeting and it was here that the Marshalls found out who they were paired with for the first day. Was I ever lucky with who I drew. Cory Johnston from Canada(Mary and I like Canadians). Cory was certainly one of the favorites to win the tournament and at that point in the season was like 4th in Angler of the Year points.

My day 2 Angler was Hunter Shyrock from Ohio.

And this was a pic from Bassmaster. com of us at launch day 2.....

Boat on plane and heading south

And this was day 3 angler, Drew Benton from Georgia

Like I said, it was truly an amazing experience. What was so interesting for my part was the fact that all 3 did well in the tournament and all 3 caught fish using completely different techniques.

I'll share my 3 days here, and let the pics speak for themselves.

prior to launch day 1

Cory getting rods out

getting in line for start

The first one

The electronics used are pretty incredible

me doing my photo taking job

Start of day 2

Hunter with a nice one to start the day

Hunter at the scales

Drew with a nice one

Part of the large crowd at weighin. That is Don in orange shirt in center of pic and Debbie right next to him.

Another thing about Cayuga Lake - you are right in the heart of the Finger Lakes Wine Country. Since Mary was still experiencing bowel issues, we didn't tend to travel too much, but one day we did venture a few miles up the road and visited one of our favorite wineries, Toro Run.

The winery is on a hillside overlooking Cayuga Lake

Mary with el Toro and the vineyards in the background

It was tough parting company with Don & Debbie. We really enjoyed the time that we spent with them. But then it was time to leave the area. We got back on I 90 and headed west, past Rochester and Buffalo and then on to Erie, Pa and our first stop. Stayed at the same RV Park in Fairview, The West Haven at Lake Erie. 2 nights here and then off to Galloway, OH for 2 more nights. Nothing spectacular about it or this area, unless you were an Ohio State Buckeye football fan. We were right near Columbus and they were playing their home opener. In excess of 100,000 expected for the game. Glad we missed it. And the traffic,

Next stop was Terre Haute, IN KOA.

This was an interesting stop and one that kind of reminded us of Brattleboro KOA. Instead of goats, they had 2 donkeys.

A picture is worth a 1,000 words

Philbert at Hart Ranch would be jealous of this one....

The next few pics are of our travels into Missouri....

Rest Stop along I 44 in Missouri

Our spot in Marshfield, MO just off I 44

Traveling through St Louis past Busch Stadium

Couldn't stay in the area without visiting the Mother Ship

From Missouri, we traveled through Oklahoma, with a 2 night stay in Chandler. In the Tulsa area we picked up I40 and traveled to Amarillo, TX for a 2 night stay at Oasis RV Park.

Interesting stop over and a very nice park. We learned about this park after staying at what must be a sister park in Gallup, NM and certainly beats the low rent park we had been staying at east of the city on previous trips through Amarillo.

Amarillo was our last overnight before crossing over in to New Mexico. From Amarillo to Hereford, TX and to the NM border- the sights and smells were awful. Don't know how people can live there. It is nothing but cattle feed lots and slaughter houses. Clovis, NM was certainly a welcome sight.

Clovis to Roswell to Artesia to Lakewood. End of trip west. For now.