This is our third trip to Santa Fe in August. Our first trip was planned to be just a stop in Santa Fe on our way to Colorado. After spending a few nights in Black canyon campground, we decided there was no reason to keep going. The nights got down to 50 degrees, and the highs were seldom over 80. Perfect weather, and we were only 15 minutes from town. Not to mention the price of $10 a night fit right in our budget. The campsites are paved, and in a forest of pines which smell great. It doesn't get much better.
Our trip started uneventful, and in August that is a good thing. We did get in an unexpected thunderstorm in Dublin, that seemed to come out of nowhere. Shelly had just washed the truck yesterday, so she wasn't too happy about that. We turned west in Post, Texas and was heading to Brownfield to a stopover rv park Don and Sheron told us about. We had a blowout on the right rear tire on the airstream. It dented the lower curved part behind the wheel, but shouldn't take too long to fix. Changing the tire in 100 degree heat is not fun. We should go someplace cooler. We set up camp in Brownfield, and found a tire shop still open at 6 pm. 10 minutes later we had a new tire and were ready to go. We watched old home movies, and waited for the temperature to cool down before taking the dogs for a walk.
Friday, August 9, 2013
I changed the tire early this morning to get it done before it got hot. We drove west to Roswell, and then north to Santa Fe. Not the prettiest scenery, but they had gotten rain recently, and it was the greenest I had ever seen this part of New Mexico. We got to Black canyon campground about 4, and set up in site 13. Our reservation isn't until tomorrow, and someone else is in 24. The temperature was 73 and the pines smell great. Ahhh, now to unwind. We hiked the trail to the top of the hill, and could both tell we were above 8000 feet. Just a little out of breath, but the hike felt good. 
The top of Black canyon trail.
Our campsite #24
This is site 13
This is site 13 Saturday, August 10,
We woke up to 42 degree temps this morning, but it was 60 in the Airstream even with the windows open. It rained a little bit last night, but the sun came out this morning. We moved over to site 24, and got set up. We drove into town, and I bought a Nikon D5200 camera at Sam's club. The firefighters gave me a retirement gift, and I have been wanting a good camera. It was a confusing choice to pick which camera. This should do everything I need. Now I just have to figure out how to use it. The traffic in Santa Fe was bad. I don't remember it being this bad last year but it is a Saturday. We ate at Panda Express, and found wifi in front of McDonalds, so we checked emails. We checked in with our parents and kids to let them know we made it here. Drove back to camp, and it started raining, so we sat under the awning. I had the brilliant idea to eat ice cream, and got chilled, so I had to find warmer clothes. We watched another home video DVD, and kept an eye on the voltmeter. It only dropped .1 volt to 12.2 volts, so we were good. That was the first time to watch television while boondocking.
Sunday, August 11
Sat by a campfire to start the morning. Relaxing day! Beautiful sunny, and low 70's for a high. We hiked the trail behind the camp again, and I got to try out the new camera, and read the manual. The night was clear, and we watched for meteors, but we only saw a few. It started sprinkling about 6 in the
Monday, August 12
Drove into town to check on the status of our health insurance for Shelly. We found a wifi spot in front of la Posada hotel, and checked emails. Went shopping at restore, and found abs plastic pipe fittings very cheap. Shelly was super excited! Ha! Drove to Camel rock casino and spent $5 there, but we got 4 bottles of water! They didn't have the slot machines we liked from last year, so we drove to Buffalo Thunder casino. Shelly started winning and was up over $3, and I was down $2 when I got bored with the 1 cent bets, so I gambled big with 10 cents, and won $30! I knew that wouldn't happen again, so I cashed out and quit. That was the first time to actually win. Last year we broke even, and I was happy. We are going back for Shelly's birthday, so it'll probably be back to even for this year. We hiked Black canyon trail again, and relaxed outside waiting for the meteor shower. Just as it got dark, the clouds rolled in, so we called it an early night.
Tuesday, August 13
40 degree morning again! 
A great way to wake up!
A great way to wake up!After breakfast sitting around the fire, we drove to the ski basin to hike. We hiked the Winsor trail into the Pecos wilderness area. It is a beautiful trail through the pines and aspen. We stopped at a creek for lunch, and I hiked about another half mile toward Nambe lake. I heard it is a beautiful lake, but I wanted to be back at the truck before the thunderstorms build up, so I turned around and hiked back to where Shelly was. We ate lunch on a flat rock next to the creek, which had several small falls, so it sounded peaceful. The hike to the creek was 2&1/4 miles one way, and the first half mile was steep. Both the dogs were wore out by the time we got back, and all they wanted to do was sleep all evening. We built a fire again, and sat outside to see if there were any meteors, but we didn't see any. It was a clear night, and a good way to end the day.
A map of the trail system in Santa Fe national forest
Shelly near Nambe creek
Bright red mushrooms. I did not try to eat them!
Shelly with her attitude. She says it is my fault.
Where the Pecos wilderness starts
Shelly being pretty
Wednesday, August 14
It was 50 degrees this morning instead of the usual 42. Very nice weather. We drove into Santa Fe and washed clothes. Went shopping at Albertsons for coffee and good bread. We went to Smith's for other groceries. We ate at Red Lobster for lunch. I had the blackened trout, and Shelly had the captain's platter. It was good, but not great, and Shelly and I decided to use the other gift card at Olive Garden. We used the wifi at Lowe's, and got caught up on world events. I got the camera and lenses registered for the warranty, and found the app for the IPad that lets you download the pictures wirelessly from the camera. It also lets you control the camera from the IPad or iPhone. It seems like a neat feature, but I'm not sure how practical that will be. We found a game called Othello at a thrift store, and played it once we got back to camp. It is easy to learn, but looks like it will take a long time to learn all the strategies. We walked the dogs, and talked to several people. One guy told us about solarpenny.com and said they had two 100 watt panels for about $260. Anne Pustejovsky had gotten into camp while we were in town, and we woke her up to say hi. We met her last year, and she was in a turquoise camper called a TaDa! We visited with her for a while, and she said she would show us her pictures of her trip to Africa tomorrow. Shelly and I sat by the fire and talked about a retirement party.
Thursday, August 15
It is hard to believe we have been here six days already. We had a lazy morning sitting by the fire. I downloaded the pictures onto the IPad, and deleted about half of them. It is nice to take several pictures of the same shot, and delete the bad ones. Anne showed us her pictures of her trip to South Africa. it looked like a fun adventure. We hiked the Nordic ski trail which was a little over two miles, but mostly flat terrain.
Bright red berries. I did not try to eat them either.
Santa Fe off in the distance from the mountain
A rest stop.
Shelly got to text to Erica while on this trail. I guess it overlooks Santa Fe, and is close enough to get a signal. It is funny how we get used to cell phones, and expect to have service everywhere. We picked up two big bags of pine cones to put in the flower beds at home. We played Othello again, and mahjong.
Friday, August 16 Shelly's Birthday!
As we drove into town, Shelly's phone kept dinging. It is her birthday, and all the birthday wishes kept her phone busy. She got to talk to Tyler and Parker, her Mom, and Erica. We started at Camel rock casino again, but both lost $3 each, so we went to Buffalo Thunder casino again. Shelly lost $5 and between both of us, they got their money back from Monday. But it was fun. We drove into town, and stopped at Lowe's for wifi again. Shelly's insurance company said they needed proof of prior insurance, so I called United health, and went through the whole automated phone thing where they ask what I need. I tell them "proof of insurance", and they say I'm sorry I did not understand you. After doing that about four times they finally say they will actually let me speak to an operator. But not before being put on hold for 15 minutes, while getting to listen to their great elevator music. They finally answered, and said they would be happy to mail the proof of insurance to us. Great, except we're 600 miles away from our mailbox, and no, they couldn't email it to us or the new insurance company. Hipa violation. Thanks, government. So, I called the new insurance company and told them it would be a couple of weeks before we could get the proof to them. They said fine, but they really don't need that anyway. Grrrr. We drove to Olive Garden for a late lunch. Shelly ordered stuffed mushrooms, and I got the grilled chicken flat bread. The waitress said she would be right back with the breadsticks, and salad. About fifteen minutes later she brought us salad, and said they were baking fresh breadsticks. The meal was great, and the breadsticks were fresh and brought to us when we were almost done. But they were fresh. No complaints, just a funny story. Back at camp, we hiked to the top of the trail again, and it was almost dark when we got back.
Saturday, August 17We had a lazy morning, and after breakfast we decided to see the Indian market in town. This is a once a year event and draws lots of visitors. All the plaza was closed to vehicle traffic, and booths set up for vendors. We enjoyed people watching. I had told Shelly she could get an Ipad for her birthday, so we went to Sam's and bought the IPad 4, and upgraded her phone while we were there. It was 90 degrees in town today, and we found out that that was the high in Texas also. Back at camp, it was 75, and much better.
Sunday, August 18
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