May 7 to May 8

Okay so now we have seen a film about the Salinas Pueblo Missions at the Park Service Station, and we have a better understanding of what they are about. In the 1500s the Pueblo Indians were living here and were thriving. They had a rich spiritual life and knew and worked within that which was provided to them in their environment. Then the Spanish conquered New Mexico, and in 1598, Juan de Onate came to New Mexico to start a permanent colony. Salt was considered one of the riches of New Mexico but other riches (mines) failed to materialize, and agriculture was difficult in the harsh climate. Relations with the Pueblo Indians soured when they tried to collect tributes to the Spanish Crown. Since it was not profitable, the Spaniards left, but the Pope charged Spain with Christianizing the natives of the new world. So Spain decided to maintain the colony as a missionary effort. The Pueblo Indians built the missions and paid tribute to the Franciscans. In the end cultural conflict and natural disaster devastated the Salinas Pueblos. Drought, wide spread famine, and recurring epidemics decimated the population. The Salinas Pueblos were abandoned during the 1670s, and the surviving Indians went to live elsewhere. On Thursday we visited the Gran Quivira ruins, took lots of pictures, and then drove back through Mountainair and stopped in the grocery store (no Wal-Marts in sight). We went into an art gallery and saw some beautiful pieces but most would be too fragile to travel with us, so I was not too sorely tempted. I did buy a metal ornament though. Mountainair may be a tiny town with no good restaurant, but it does have a mural on a building similar to the murals in Lake Placid Florida. There were cars parked in front of it so Charlie only got a picture of part it. I posted it here. We left there and went up into the Manzanos Mountains to camp in the state park. There are trees! It was a nice quiet campground and much cooler up there. We hoped Charlie would catch up on some sleep. No Internet, that may have helped. The camp is at 7,307 feet. We took Toby for a short walk but he kept wanting to turn around. I don't know if he was tired from the afternoon in the heat at the Pueblo ruins, or if the altitude was bothering him. Whatever, he ain't a puppy no more. We listened to the wind blow hard all night long. The RV was rocking and we could hear it even with the windows closed. On Friday morning we went to the Abo ruins, the third and last of the Salinas Pueblo monuments. The Abo ruins are red like the first ones we saw (Quarai). It was nice and cool and it was a fairly level walk around a lot of ruins with some nice far away views. We took lots of pictures again. We met up with the same park ranger who was at Quarai. Charlie talked with her a little bit. She was born and raised close to Quarai. At Quarai she was hoeing the dirt to get the weeds and grass cleared out of the area inside the ruins. Charlie said she needed to use Round Up, but she said it is not allowed! The breeze was making the barbed wire sing in a nearby field. I thought it was a pretty sound, Charlie thought it was spooky! Then we went about 30 miles west where there was an RV park on the Passport America list. But since it was so early, and they didn't have trail rides for people without horses, we drove on up to Santa Fe. We drove all over downtown on tiny streets with lots of pedestrians walking in the streets taking pictures or talking on their phones. It was making Charlie crazy! He finally found a place to pull over and tried to find an RV park on the GPS but couldn't. So we drove on and I finally spotted the Trailer Ranch RV Resort, so he pulled in there. This RV park is five miles from the heart of historic downtown Santa Fe, and we can catch a bus that will take us downtown. The bus stop is just a short walk from our RV. It took over an hour to get settled in, then we caught the bus to downtown. We visited two museums that are free on Friday evenings. I enjoy the art, and Charlie does think some of it is very good and interesting. We looked for a restaurant, but they were either too expensive with stuff on the menu we couldn't pronounce, or the wait was for over a hour. So we took the bus back and met another couple heading back to the RV park. They are from Carlsbad California, not Florida! Mostly Charlie talked to him, Jim Wood, about investing and about his financial guru, Clark Howard. Saturday we will head back downtown for most of the day, and then stay here another night. Toby seems to have done fine while we were gone Friday evening. He will probably not miss more traveling on Saturday, even though he will be alone in the RV most of the day. The temperature here is fairly mild so he will be comfortable in the RV with the windows and vents open. The latest on the RV is that the speaker above my bed nearly fell during our ride to Santa Fe. It was hanging on by one screw, and there was crud all over my bed. Charlie has a speaker hanging over his bed too. I hope it does not fall on his head. This RV is an adventure unto itself!