more rain on the road

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
Albuquerque to Farmington, New Mexico

RAIN
188.2 miles

Took Sooz to the airport, then I headed northeast to Farmington, New Mexico for an FMCA RV Rally (Family Motor Coach Assn) – first rally I’ve attended. Probably the last too, but I’m glad I went.

I criss-crossed the Rio Grande a couple times, and crossed over a couple native reservations. The open countryside was beautiful – the Ojita Wilderness – the Zia and Jemez tribal lands.

The colors and textures on the land were wonderful, then over another hill and it was all gone. Up into wet clouds with more rain, and the Holy Ghost Recreation Area. Many signs for Bob’s French Navajo Rugs. Huh?? Edged along the edge of the Sante Fe National Forest, and passed thru Cuba, where someone was advertising chain saw tune-ups, into the lands of the Jicarilla Apache Indians.

Passed over the Continental Divide at 7,380’ and saw signs about Aztec Ruins. There was one lone oil bird (oil derrick) that looked like it hadn’t been working in a long long time. Then more and more and more oil birds – fields full of them…some pumping, some capped off…on the high plateau 20 or so miles out of Farmington. Saw one big billboard advertising for “everyday heroes” – oil field workers!

Learned later that there are something like 20,000 working oil wells in San Juan County! Good farm/ranch land and it grows oil too – what more could you want?!

The RV Rally (Black Tie and Blue Jeans!!) lasted four days – lots of vendors peddling their wares, several new RVs to drool over, classes and videos and card games and parties – fun to be had by all, if that’s your cup of tea! They even held a dog show, but when I took Misha, she was a little intimidated by all the dogs and people and action, so we left early. She was definitely the cutest doggie there, but we didn’t get to prove it.

I did get my oil changed while there, and a chip in my windshield fixed, so the rally wasn’t a total waste! 

I made a short side trip to the Aztec Ruins National Monument. http://www.americansouthwest.net/new_mexico/aztec_ruins/national_monument.html 

This is a settlement planned and built over two centuries by the ancestral Pueblo people, with a Great Kiva and at least 400 rooms in structures rising to three stories! Vast deposits of well preserved artifacts have been found, and as so often happens, many rooms were broken into and whatever material might have been there is lost to us. 

In 1916, the American Museum of natural History began sponsoring excavations, and seven years later, the West Ruin became a National Monument. It’s a fascinating site! The tiny town of Aztec, just outside Farmington, is the extended community of the original Aztec Ruins site, and is a native area. There is one block of restored old buildings in this working man’s town that equals that of any big city.

25th Rocky Mountain Ramble
San Juan County Fairgrounds
McGee Park
Farmington, NM