The whole reason we made reservations at this State Park 6-months ago is because it's the closest campground to visit the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument. As luck would have it, due to the government shutdown, that is no longer an option as it is closed until the government reopens.
So we're here for 5-nights with no real plans, except to visit with Winston and VerJean a little longer since they too are here in the park, at least for the first 2-nights anyway.
THE POD's 39-gallon fresh water tank is completely empty and we're already unhooked.
She saw VerJean and Tricia with their knitting in their laps and approached to see what they were working on. Maudie, the womans name, said she wasn't very good at knitting, but she loves to crochet. VerJean said she would love to learn how to crochet and soon plans were made between the two women to teach each other new skills.
Maudie mentioned that her husband Chris was an amateur radio operator. She mentioned that because Winston's custom license tag on his van gives out his amateur radio operator's call sign. She also mentioned that her husband was on the radio now, down at their campsite around the corner from us. Winston was up out of his chair like a bullet and headed down the road.
That left me free to head back to THE POD and type all this into the blog. We made plans to have a campfire at 6:30PM on Winston's site and all six of us showed up to tell stories and get to know each other a little better.
I'm also happy to say that Maudie and Chris from right here in New Mexico are now the newest members of the TWO PEAS AND THE POD Facebook Group.
Today, after 21-days of camping right next to each other, we watched Winston and VerJean drive away in their white van, who they've named VanV, to places unknown.
I'm sure someday in the future we will cross paths with them again, but as of right now neither of us have any idea when that may occur. We will watch each others travels online and if we see each other in the same region of the U.S. we'll have a conversation about our next possible meeting.
We know they made it safely down to Truth or Consequences, NM (yes it's a real town) because VerJean posted a photo on Facebook of a Craft Beer Pub menu from there.
This is what it's like having friends on the road.
We've been invited down to Maudie and Chris's campsite for another campfire at 6:30PM tonight. They have one of those propane firepits that give off a lot of heat without sending embers into the air that eventually return to the ground and burn holes into your clothing. We like those kinds of campfires, but I do miss the crackling sounds of a wood fire.
I guess I should also mention that the temperatures have been in the lower 40°Fs at night. Afterall, we are in central New Mexico at 7300' in elevation and it's the middle of October.
They mentioned there is plenty of room on the side of their house for us to park THE POD if we find ourselves in the neighborhood sometime in the future. There is even water and electric hookups there to use.
Since the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument is closed during our visit, I'm sure sometime in the future we'll be back for another attempt to check it out.
While Manzano Mountains State Park's campground is OK, it's a little bit pricey at $30 a night, so today we are going to scout out the 5 Cibola National Forest campgrounds that are in the area. While none of them have electric hookups like we have here at the State Park, they are only $5 a night when using our Lifetime Senior Pass to get half price.
Only there won't be any of our old or new friends here to wish us safe travels as we pull away. I guess that's the price you pay for being the last ones to leave!
No worries though, because our next stop has plenty of activities to share with you and there'll be lots of photos to go along with all these words.
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