Snow!

I got out and walked early this morning. It was calm, sunny, and not very cold. That was the best part of our day as far as the weather goes. We had a leisurely morning getting ready to go. The Castle rolled out of Birdwatcher's RV Park about 9:30.

Here is a view from this morning of our site from the path at Birdwatcher's:

This is the entrance to Birdwatcher's. The owner, Jackie, lives in the house. That's her red truck, which she drives to guide campers to their site. Jackie is just a really beautiful person. I feel very blessed to have met her, and I'll always remember her. She has a big heart and a sharp mind. I hope I'm as active as she is when I'm nearly 83! I didn't have a chance to get a picture of her, but one of my readers may have some she'd be willing to send me....

Only 200 miles to travel today. Just a few hours. No problem, right? Well....the worst part of the drive was the relentless wind. It started blowing just before we started and never stopped. It was bad enough when it was a steady wind, but several times we got hit with strong gusts. Our fuel consumption was very high today, partly because we traveled uphill most of the time, and partly because of the wind. I think our average was around 7.3 mpg.

This is one of the few downhill slopes we traveled today, it's just north of Santa Fe. The terrain is much more mountainous now! Santa Fe is the highest state capital in the United States, at 7,000 feet above sea level. Interstate 25 pretty much skirts it, so we didn't have to deal with much traffic. Albuquerque, on the other hand, has a lot of traffic, and the interstate goes right through the city. Jim did a great job of keeping us in the right lane while fighting the wind!

We pulled into the KOA just outside of Las Vegas, New Mexico just after 1:30. Right after we got here, it started snowing and hasn't stopped all afternoon. Here's a view of the snow out our window.

A lot of people don't like to stay at KOA's because they are more expensive than most places. That's generally true, even with their discount card, they are a little higher priced. We don't stop at them all the time, but they are convenient and they usually have nice facilities. This one is nice with a good walking trail and a dog run. We'll be staying at a KOA in Colo. Spgs. as well, mainly because of the location and the size of the spaces. There is another park in the area we haven't checked out personally, but it's not very convenient to our family and friends, so I don't know if we'd stay there or not, since the main purpose of our visit is family and friends.

I had some requests from the folks in the RV-Dreams chatroom to post some pictures of my kitchen area.

We don't have a propane oven, but the microwave is also a convection oven. It works great! I have the covers over the stove top, where they stay all the time that I'm not cooking. There are covers for the sink too, but so far, I've not put them on very often, as I use the sink all the time.

Below is a view with the countertop extension out. The three drawers under this extension are the length of the extension, so there is a lot of room in them!

I love the double sink and the high spout on the faucet. The left sink is big enough for me to keep a dishpan in it and still have room to rinse dishes. There is also a soap dispenser built in.

The 4-door fridge is across from the kitchen in the "hall" area. I'll post pictures of that another day.

It's going to be a cold night, supposed to get down into the low 20's. This sure isn't Arizona!