Monday, March 11, 2019
Closer to home, yes and a little more safe as we are now out of the severe weather zone we left behind in Clovis, NM. No, the weather is not ideal. Rain and thunderstorms are predicted through tomorrow then a high wind advisory for Wednesday. Mother nature is not being kind to a lot of folks across the United States.
So we head out westbound on US 84. Who knows what we’ll discover on our way to Albuquerque. Well, we found a place called Fort Sumner, the place where Billy The Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Barrett, and buried in the Fort Sumner cemetery. Who would of thunk it? We follow the signs to the historic Fort Sumner and the cemetery where Billy is buried.
I’m a little skeptical driving the beast down narrow country roads, not because the roads are narrow but with the inevitable lack of places to turn the beast around. It turns out that a large parking lot allows us to turn- and park at the Fort Sumner Museum which is closed today. Nonetheless we walk the Fort Sumner cemetery where William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid and his pals are buried.
Also buried here is Lucien Maxwell who bought the failed fort which included the largest single tract of land owned by any one individual in the United States.
Fort Sumner was established in 1863 to ovesee an internment camp for 500 Mescalero Apaches and 10,000 Navajos on the Bosque Redondo Reservation. Unfortunately there was an inadequate clean water supply, insufficient food and inadequate shelter. These harsh conditions led to rampant disease and hundreds of deaths. The Mescalero Apaches escaped but the Navajos remained imprisoned until they signed the Treaty of 1868 and returned to their homeland in the Four Corners region
Albuquerque has a lot to offer. Weather is going to impact our visit. Thunder is not our Lab’s friend so we hope the storms coming through tomorrow are kind to her. Our Aussie, Doyle doesn’t seem to be affected too much. He just sympathizes with Megan.
My cousin Barbara lives in Los Alamos about two hours away. We’d love to visit them but you know, the KABOOMS kind of make that a no go. Instead Barb and Ed were willing to come to our location, the American RV Resort just west of Alburquerque. It’s a two hour drive for them and we are thankful that they understand our furry ones anxiety concerning the Kabooms. It will be a great visit as we haven’t seen them in a few years.
We travel through the high plain east of Albuquerque US 84 to I-40 west. No rain or thunder yet but you can see at least rain is in the forecast. Then we see something that you might only see in the Southwest- miles and miles of billboards advertising Bowlin’s Flying C Ranch a fueling station and gift shop. Not just the ranch but possibly the store’s entire inventory. Signs line both sides of I-40. Sheesh! The closer one gets to Bowlin’s the closer together are the billboards!
Clines Corners also gets it’s fair share of advertising. It even has it’s own interstate signage. You know, Clines Corners-11 miles, Clines Corners offramp.
Anyhow, we land at the American RV Resort a few miles west of downtown Albuquerque. Down go the jacks, out go the slide rooms, utilities are hooked up. We are here for three days. Yesterday thunderstorms were predicted but it only rained. Today more thunderstorms and wind are predicted. Tomorrow a high wind advisory has been posted for the entire region. I don’t like traveling in 30-50 mph steady winds, so we are here until at least Thursday.
See you next time!
Travel With Jil and Mike 