Saskia and Richard's RVing Adventures

So we have changed our RVing lifestyle for a slightly less sedentary and more industrious one.  However, it is not nearly as industrious as the lifestyle followed by the ancients, who lived here in the Americas first.  As previously described , their Puebloan lifestyle might be considered simple compared to ours, but they were none the less highly sophisticated according to their means and time, and the footsteps they left are awe inspiring.  You can read even more here  Of course, their simple lives changed in the 16 th Century, when those who first conquered the south-west of America, the Spaniards, arrived and eventually forcibly influenced the way of life of the indigenous peoples of the land they called New Mexico.  Some things change, but others don’t. Richard and I start the day around 8 am, by building the fire, to top up the central heating of the house.  Since moving here 5 weeks ago, we have had three snowfalls, and recently daytime temp...

I’ve become lazy.  It’s not just retirement. It’s these games you can play on the i-phone. I have an addictive nature, and I find myself playing solitaire and word games at every opportunity – first thing after I wake up, between chores (the few that I have), even while I’m watching TV. Yes, life has definitely slowed down in the last few months.  And those mobile app games are the least of it.  We have done with touring and sight-seeing, for this year at least. On leaving Santa Fe, and towing our fifth wheel trailer, the Jet, to Elephant Butte Lake, in the south of New Mexico, we began living the snowbird lifestyle. The RV resort we stayed in for six weeks, the longest we have spent in any RV park,   http://www.elephantbuttelakervresort.com/  , about a mile from the lake, the largest in New Mexico, had all the amenities we had heard of existed in these sites catering for the long term RVer.  Snowbirds, as they are called, travel south ...

A Scottish word normally used to shush someone, “wheesht” is the best word I know to describe the sound of a hot air balloon in flight.  For me, it has become the most gentle and peaceful and happiest sound in the world.   It was repeated all around me for two and half hours at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta last Tuesday morning.  Whenever I listen to the video I took of over 400 balloons in flight, that sound still leaves a smile on my face.  Perhaps today’s smile is not quite as blissful as the one that was stuck not just on my but on everyone’s faces, from the moment we saw the dawn patrol balloons inflate at around 6.30 am, and the sun rose at 7.00, to witness the mass ascent as balloons began to inflate and lift of in batches, until 9.00 am, when the majority of balloons had gracefully landed.  Those that hadn't caught the "box" airflow specific to that area between the Rio Grande River to the east and Sandia Peak to the west, which ke...

New Mexico! My husband Richard was born in this US State which calls itself the land of Enchantment, in Taos.  He spent his first 12 years in the lovely 8,000 feet high plateau resort of Eagle Nest, and that was where we headed first as we drove south from Colorado. We have learned as Benny, our intrepid truck, pulls Jet, our 38 foot long 5th wheel trailer, that we can negotiate our way over scenic mountain passes and along river valleys with relative ease, as long as there is little traffic.  And generally the routes we have chosen have been fairly quiet and easy to drive, with faster traffic able to overtake up steeper climbs by means of short stretches of dual carriageways or strategically placed parking areas. The pressure is definitely on, however, when the road is narrow and manic local drivers stalk us, with no sign of a lay-by ahead. This was the case on the hair raising 23 mile narrow curving road between Taos and Eagle Nest, which climbs more than one thousand ...

No, the title of this blog does not refer to Richard and I.  Even though we recently seem to have been weathering our fair share of age related agonies!  In fact, this last week, we have yet again raised the injury stakes in our game of who can hurt themselves the worst.  Richard made his call with a twisted knee – gained during his first game of Pickleball, (a smaller version of tennis popular with retirees) and exacerbated during his second game the day before we left Montrose.  I saw his knee and raised him with a bumped knee of my own.  You gotta love how competitive old farts can get! I was worried that Richard’s incapacitated knee would put a stop to our sightseeing capabilities.  But he is more of a trooper than I anticipated. Having applied ice packs and rested for a couple of days he limped along stoically as we walked around the beautiful campsite we were staying in, in Bayfield, about 20 miles east of Durango. It even has its own Alpaca to k...

Today, for the first time in 9 days, I actually dried my hair using my hair dryer, instead of leaving it to nature.  No, there has not been an electrical issue, nor has it been the next step in my letting it all hang out and loose and carefree (see previous post ) since hitting the road with our truck Benny and becoming full timers in our RV, aka the Jet. Actually my left elbow has been incapacitated. Our wonderful but strenuous six hour hike to the 12,000 ft high Blue Lake in the lee of Mount Sneffels ended badly for me, as I slipped on the steep gravelly return path a mere two hundred feet from the end of the trail.  Yes I was tired.  Yes I had a headache, and yes, despite the fantastic scenery, I had been thinking all kinds of negative thoughts – all symptoms of altitude sickness, I now understand.  No doubt these factors didn’t help when I fell on by backside and my elbow impacted into the mountainside.  There was little obvious damage, but I cou...