Albuquerque, New Mexico: I know many of you are Road Warriors. A 400-mile day in the RV is nothing. Possibly, you switch-out drivers and travel even longer distances. We are not Warriors of any variety. 250 miles is a huge day for us these days. First, we are not good at those early departures. You know that guy camped next to you who starts his engine at 7 o'clock in the morning? That will never be us. We are lucky if the coffee pot is brewing at 7a. Second, we have stuff to do in the morning. Work, emails, postcards to write, exercise. We are your neighbors struggling to get on the road by the 11a check-out time. Third, we have but one driver. The Goddess in the passenger seat is sight-impaired.
And so today we drove from Holbrook, Arizona to Albuquerque, New Mexico - a distance of just less than 250 miles.
Before leaving the Holbrook Petrified Forest KOA, we laced-up our NIKE's and circled the RV park again and again. This park is conveniently nearly an exact half-mile-loop around the perimeter. After exercising, chatting with the neighbors and showering, we pointed the Magna Peregrinus east on I-40 - taking an occasional side-trip to follow Historic Route 66, which mostly parallels/is I-40. (NOTE: I have added a few photos of the Holbrook Petrified Forest KOA at the bottom of yesterday's column.)
Forty-seven miles east of the Arizona border, I-40 crosses the Continental Divide. This marker is nice and all, but it is back-dropped by two shuttered and abandoned businesses and a massive amount of litter. Not the nicest part of New Mexico. I advise to pass this by.Our other stop for the day was to little Grants, New Mexico to dine on a foodie favorite, Steak & Enchiladas, at La Ventana, 110½ Geis Street, 505.287.9393. How we hear about these places, we can't always say/recall, but it was lunch time and there was a large empty gravel lot across Historic Route 66 from the restaurant to park our motorhome, so we decided to give La Ventana a try.
Would you try this restaurant, or would you just walk on by? It isn't the prettiest store-front. It is half-hidden by a strip mall, and really a bit difficult to find... but we had it on good authority La Ventana was a winner and the interior was very nice.True!
A very nice interior, cozy booths, a very nice staff and the famed Steak & Enchilada plate was indeed worth the stop-over.
We shared this plate and still, some of it came back to our RV refrigerator. The enchiladas are served with red or green chile, and we asked for one of each. Both were divine - so happy to be back in New Mexico where the sauce has some heat. Not a strong I-can't-eat-this burn, but just a subtle fire that leaves your lips a little numb. Perfect! The steak was really tender, but just a steak.FYI: In New Mexico, the question is "red or green"? There are two sauces in New Mexico and they are never called sauces, they are called chile. Red chile is made with dried red chili peppers. Green chile is made with roasted fresh green chilies. I have a very good red sauce recipe that I use for my Chile Colorado, if you are interested in making this sauce at home.
We continued to just a few miles west of Albuquerque to our reserved site at the American RV Park.
Tonight we stayed-in. Resting from our long day and enjoying a super-low-fat-low-calorie dinner with tomatoes from our garden in Indio.Pedometer: Just over 9000 steps today - nearly all of it from ovaling the campground this morning.
Until my next update, I remain, your New Mexico correspondent. Shabbat Shalom!
RV PARK: American RV Park - About ten miles west of downtown Albuquerque on I-40, with easy on/off freeway access (some freeway noise) and close to Camping World. A very nice park with a heated pool, spa, bathhouse, dog park, laundry, store, free Continental breakfast, free wifi, cable TV, playground and horseshoes. We have a large full-service paved pull-though site with 50 amp in the newer "big rig" section. Few trees to bother your satellite reception. We are paying $38.