Albuquerque NM

After visiting White Sands, we had a short overnight stay in Sunny Acres RV Park in Las Cruces NM. Here's Bill trying to get the picnic table to go for a walk:


Waiting in line at another Border Patrol Checkpoint, this one on US-25 about 15 miles out of Las Cruces heading to Albuquerque on March 13th.


Neat little overlapping hills and nothing but creosote bushes for miles and miles.


The closer we got to Albuquerque, the more variety we saw in the vegetation, with short trees and grayish plants (maybe sagebrush) taking over for the creosote. It was strange to see snow-covered mountains beyond the desert.


In Albuquerque, we stayed at the Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post on old US Route 66. Pieces of travel trailer history and Route 66 history were scattered throughout the park. An old Hudson and matching travel trailer with our rig and Barkley (tiny!, by the picnic table) in the background.


Directional signs posted on our campsite:


Albuquerque was on our itinerary because Karen wanted to meet Jane Haley Clarke, owner of Morning Glory Antiques and Jewelry on the Internet and the Antique Connection on Central NE. We went to the Antique Connection on Sunday, March 14th, and found out that Jane's usual schedule in the shop is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. (That sometimes happens when you're winging it and don't know where you're going to be when!) We checked out the shop anyway, and Jane's jewelry is fabulous! Although Karen doesn't collect bakelite, it was absolutely amazing to see the number and variety of bakelite pieces Jane offers. And then there's Vrba, Miriam Haskell, D&E, rhinestones, beads, Victorian, and on and on. As both a collector and a seller, Karen thought Jane's prices were fair. By the way, the rest of the antique mall is nice, too!

We returned to the Antique Connection on Monday and were happy to meet Jane, her husband John, and their friend and co-worker Sam, who took these pictures for us. It turns out that, besides antique jewelry, Jane and Karen share a passion for geneology (as does Sam!) and history in general. Jane and Bill also wondered if they are somehow related, as her Haley family is from Kentucky and Bill's is from Tennessee.



We've been wondering if we want something larger than our Catalina for the rest of our trip (six more months!), so we did some RV shopping in Albuquerque. We met two wonderful consultants: Mike Romero at Camping World and Frank Rogers at Rocky Mountain RV & Marine. If you find yourself RV shopping in Albuquerque, seek out Mike and Frank! Thanks to Frank's recommendation, we enjoyed a fantastic New Mexican dinner Monday night at Garcia's Kitchen, where the motto is "Help! Stamp out Gringo food. Eat at Garcia's Kitchen."

Barkley's ready to head out of town with a nice blue Hudson and Va-Ka-Shun travel trailer or a green Hudson rig: