October 12, 2015......still enjoying New Mexico

Good afternoon dear friends.  I apologize for not finishing this tale until today, but yesterday was a rough day, and we were exhausted by the time we stopped for the night.  Many of you may know that I-40 is famous for terribly high winds and gusts, and yesterday was one of those days.  We ended up stopping at rest areas along the way.....FOUR times before we got to Belen, where we made camp for the night at a Wal-Mart store. 
But to go back a few steps, before going to the RV park where we stayed one night, in Vega, TX we spent a couple hours at Groom, TX.  There is an awesome cross there that stands 193 feet tall, and on a clear day can be seen from FIVE miles away on I-40. 

These are just a few shots we took while we were there.  We had been there five years ago, but now they have an eight minute video of the story of the crucifixion that brought me to tears.  It was really incredible!  We bought a video while we were there, but have not watched it yet.  I think this DVD may be about the building of the wonderful cross here in Groom, TX.  We were really impressed that this marvelous place is located in a town of only 587 people!  We proceeded to the campground and arrived in moderately heavy rain.  Across the street was a Mexican Restaurant called Roosters. 

We didn't go there to eat, but we thought it was cute so we took this picture.  In the morning we got back onto I-40 west and proceeded into New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.  Our first comment, which we have noticed each time we have come through this state is that the roads are MUCH better than we have encountered in ANY other state we have been to.  We could not check in at the RV Park in Santa Rosa until 12 noon, so we stopped at the Welcome center, which was decorated up for Halloween and had some images of what New Mexico is known for, like aliens and dinosaurs! 

After leaving there, we stopped at Russell's Travel center, where we visited an antique car museum.

Not everything there was an antique, but it was still a pretty cool place to visit.  Then we made our way to Santa Rosa, and set up in a nice site, where we had full hookups AND cable TV.  How sweet it was!  We drove over, by car,

to see their Big Blue Hole.  It was interesting.  I usually include amusing pictures of Jim, but it seemed only fair to put in one that lets you have a laugh on me this time.

We tried to find the Power Dam, but were not sucessful on that.  Alas, we did see a very old, historic church.

 

I need to close for now, so I will get back to this later.  I shut this down because we had company arrive to visit us.  It was our dear friends Pastor Ric and his wife, wonderful Wendy.  She told me to go ahead and finish this, but I think people are more important than a blog, so I closed for a few hours.  We ended up going out for dinner tonight.  Tomorrow they are coming here for dinner with us.  I'm hoping to teach them to play Mexican Train (our favorite game of dominoes).  Now back to the travel news.....We drove from Santa Rosa to Belen yesterday, in the  dreadful high winds I had mentioned earlier.  It took us six hours to drive 150 miles with the rest breaks we took along the way.  Jim said he felt like he had Popeye arms from fighting the wind all the time.  As always, we begin each morning with prayer, thanking our Father God for all our many blessings and asking Him to protect us as we travel.  I have NO doubt whatsoever that He had His hand on the wheel keeping us safe in the dangerous winds.  

We saw these horse riders at a gas station we stopped at yesterday, near Las Lunas.

 

Despite the winds, New Mexico is a very beautiful state, and I

would be remiss if I didn't include a few shots taken on the drive through this Land of Enchantment.

Today we woke up to a beautiful morning, and had a very pleasant and safe trip south on I-25 from Belen to Arrey, NM.  To those of you not familiar with this town, the name is pronounced like a-ray.  That seems funny to me, but it's their town, so they can pronounce it any way they want to.  This park is not fancy, but has everything we need, at a price of only $10.00 per night plus electric.  That's very reasonable.  We drove to the Array Cafe for dinner with Ric and Wendy, and on the way back here tonight we were blessed with an awesome sunset.

 As I said, it is amazingly beautiful here in New Mexico.  I wish we had more time to spend here.  Wednesday, we are going to a famous bird sanctuary with Ric and Wendy.  We always meant to go there when we were here as WorKampers, but never got around to it.  YAY!  We will take lots of pictures to include in the next blog post.  That's all for today, so have a grand week.  Stay well and safe, and enjoy this beautiful land.  God IS the greatest artist of all times!