On the Road Again!

Today we said goodbye to our lovely New Mexico casita and set off for our road trip back home. Mom turned off the solar electric power system without any coaching from Dad, and I was proud of her.

We stopped at the Santa Fe Farmer's Market on our way out. This nice woman selling blackberries offered me one, but I couldn't get interested in it, although I tried, but I did have a nice time rolling it around on the sidewalk with my nose. (Watermelons are another story ...)

We headed north to Colorado, and then got onto a state highway and hundreds of miles driving through what Mom and Dad tell me were beautiful rangelands. To tell the truth, I spent most of that part of the trip sleeping, because I did miss out on quite a few naps during our active week in Madrid. A few times I woke up and got into my Navigator position, shown here.

In the middle of the rangelands, we stopped at this town called Rocky Ford, Colorado. Mom and Dad already had a Rocky Ford miniature watermelon they had bought in Santa Fe. They promptly bought two more and a cantelope for good measure. Rocky Ford has to be the world capital of melons! (The watermelons get their water from the Arkansas River, which goes through town.) Mom started feeding me watermelon chunks, and I tell you, I could eat watermelon all day! After that, I went to sleep for another 150 miles.

Tonight we're in a nice motel in North Platte, Nebraska, aiming for Illinois by the end of day tomorrow.

We're having a fight with blogger. However, I think my Dad was able to at least publish some pretty neat pictures we took with my brother Hondo while we took a beautiful walk along the crest of the Sandia Mountain overlooking Albuquerque. As you can see by the pictures, it was pretty far down. I was a tractoring dog the whole 3 miles, and pretty much spent the rest of the day sleeping.

Also, first thing this morning we went to the dump, and then over to the Flea Market again, which was a lot of fun again. I met some very nice dogs except one nasty poodle who came afeter me. Mom and Dad got some cool things including a Day of the Dead figure for the bathroom and a very good table lamp for $5, what we would have paid $45 for in Santa Fe. After we got back from the mountain, the humans went up to Harry's Roadhouse Cafe for dinner and I slept in the car, which was fine by me.

Hondo flies back to New York City tomorrow at noon; then we three will shut down the Casita Tuesday morning and start driving east.

Walking the Cliff

Mom's New Tub

Well, it's come down to this: Mom plans to take a tub in a cattle watering tank.

No, I'm not kidding. She went and bought a 150-gallon cattle watering tank at our local feed store, which she now has set up next to the patio, and which Dad has obligingly filled up with water from our wonderful well. Apparently the idea is, if she covers it with plastic and leaves it in the New Mexico sun all day, it will be nice and warm for her to take a tub at the end of the day.

As you can see by the photo, I'm pretty embarrassed. I mean, think of the neighbors. Of course, we don't have any neighbors ... but still ...

Other than that, it was a nice day. Mom and Hondo went for a tour of the gold mine in the Ortiz Mountains. Meanwhile, Dad and I went to a little dusty town-wide yard sale in Cerillos, where we didn't find much except barking dogs; fortunately, they were all penned in. Then the four of us went to Santa Fe for a nice lunch at an outdoor place that allowed dogs, picked up some groceries for dinner, went and bought Mom's damned tub, came back to our casita, took a nice big walk around the land ... and then Dad grilled steak in the chiminea at sunset, and everybody went to bed early. Beautiful sunset, with some rain showers. Nothing out there to bark at tonight, so it's early to bed for me as well.

Top of New Mexico

This is me and Mom on top of Sandia Peak, high above Albuquerque. We drove up there before picking up my brother Hondo at the airport. Mom was worried that at 11,000 feet I would pass out or something, but I was just a wild dachshund (again), running around.

Today was also a great day because Thom the carpenter was here boarding up the water heater closet but, more important, installing a screen door: one or both doors were open most of the day, and I got to be a free-range dachshund, running in and out of the house as I pleased, without a leash.

(Mom and Dad would never let me try that in New Hampshire because they know I would take off for the woods and be gone for hours if not days. However, New Mexico is a little strange and scary, and I like to stay close to the house and Mom and Dad.)

It's great to see Hondo again! He's stopping here on his way back to New York from dropping off his girlfriend Deb at graduate school in San Diego. Coming home from the airport I couldn't make up my mind between sleeping against his leg or Dad's (Mom was driving).

Rio Grande

Today we traveled North about two hours to the Rio Grande Gorge, just South of Taos. As you can see by the picture, the Gorge and the river themselves are really something great to see. Dad tells me the gorge is about 100 miles long.

Well immediately Mom waded into the forests of extremely scentful sage, which she picked to make the smudge sticks which she sells. And immediately I led Dad down to the Rio where I did a great amount of very pleasant wading.

So all in all it was a pretty good day, 4 hours of driving included. Of course Mom and Dad had to do some more shopping for items for the house on the way home, but they tell me that's what you have to do when you're setting up a new house and find out that you don't have a thingy to hang stuff on in the shower and things like that. (I've told my opinions on showers in the last post.)

A Cowboy Supper and Hot Water Too!

Dad fired up his birthday-present chimenea tonight and cooked finger potatoes wrapped in foil and smokey chipolte sausages. Unfortunately, I was not invited to participate, but they both seemed to think it was pretty delicious.

Mom and Dad spent a lot of time hauling rocks around, Mom with the little boundary rocks you can see behind the Kokopelli ornament, Dad putting together a wall out by the driveway. By 1 p.m. with the sun intense, they had both stopped. I being smarter had spent most of the morning hanging out in the shade.

Our neighbor the whole day was Mike the plumber, whom Dad tells me is the best in his field because he did a perfect job of putting in our hot water heater. At the end of the day, Mom and Dad both had hot showers for the first time here at our casita, and kept going on about how happy they were. I've never had a hot shower nor do I ever want one, but as a loyal dog, I'm happy for the both of them. They both seem more relaxed now that they're clean.

Went to Cerillos

Today was a pretty fun exciting day for all of us. We set off after breakfast for the Cerillos (Dad has told me not to call them the Cerillos Hills, although that's what they are, because "Cerillos" means "little mountains" in Spanish). One of our pictures is of Mom holding me on top of one of the Cerillos with our home mountains, the Ortiz, in the background. I loved it on the hike and practically wore myself out tugging on the leash.

Another picture is me and Dad with our new chiminea, a little outdoor fireplace which is his (late) birthday present from Mom.

The last picture is of our new furnishings for the second bedroom, namely a futon decorated with lots of bandanna pillows from Pat, my grandmother and Pam's mom.

Ended up with a bunch more shopping which bored me and wore me out, but nevermind -- the Cerillos hike made the whole day worthwhile.

Sundance Sneaks Into Indian Market

So we went to Indian Market today, after a very nice time at the Flea Market where we got a beautiful, unique chiminea which is a little ceramic outdoor fireplace ... and where, BY the WAY, dogs are very welcome. However, at Indian Market, where we went next, dogs are NOT welcome. (Pretty rude.) However, Mom and I went anyway, kind of keeping to the sidelines, and there were no dog police, so it all worked out fine. Lots of people! Very hot! Dad says a lot of the Indian artwork was very beautiful, especially the Navajo and Hopi.

You're probably wondering about this picture. Mom has this beautiful wool afghan which we inherited from Dad's Mom, and maybe his Grandmother ... and unfortunately in a Bad Dog moment I chewed up one of the squares. So Mom on our trip across the country had to learn how to crochet all over again, and she replaced the patch I chewed up ... and then tonight she laid it out on the floor to admire her handiwork and, I don't know why, I had to roll all over it. It smelled so good!

Gone Shopping

Well, it was certainly a relief to sleep in our own second home last night instead of those endless motels.

However, I ended up spending a lot of time in the car today while Mom and Dad spent most of the day shopping. It was so hot that they took turns, with me and Mom or Dad sitting in the car, with the air conditioning on.

A lot of the shopping was things like mops and drills. They did find a futon so we can now have visitors. But I do have to congratulate them on their new home furnishings, with lots of bright colors, shown here and featuring me.

It was hot all day today in New Mexico, but tonight is cool and windy. We're looking forward to a nice night's sleep in the Ortiz foothills.

Arrived in New Mexico

In our last post, Mom said the Safari sounded scary. In fact, the Safari was the best and most beautiful motel we stayed in. I stretched Very Long on a very comfortable bed. This is us the next morning before heading out. It's a very pretty place.

Today was fewer hours and miles than yesterday (which was 900 miles!). Our first stop was with Dad's agent for his book ("They Were Fire," www.AKALiterary.com) in Colorado Springs. They did a lot of chatting outside a Starbucks. They all seem to have come to some decisions, apparently all good.

Then we drove for about seven hours down through some country which, Dad tells me, is some of the most beautiful high rangeland in the world. At that point, after 2500 miles, I could've cared less.

Anway, we got to our casita in New Mexico, and Dad had a few nail-biting minutes when he wasn't sure if he knew how to get the solar panels and the well going again, but he did, and they are, and really at this point after 2600 miles all I want to do is go to sleep.

Off to see America

Sorry no picture today. It is what we call a drive day. After a great day yesterday walking with Dad the grounds of the FiestaWare plant in Newell West Virginia while Mom toured the plant we hit the road to head west. Last night we stayed in Terra Haute Indiana, at a Super 8 Motel-it was no where as nice as the Red Woof Inn's we had stayed in before. We got up early and have been driving all day across America. I am riding high on some pillows in the back seat watching the beautiful scenery go by. We have gone through indiana, Illinois, Missouri and for the last 6 hours Kansas. There are fields of all kinds of crops around us and all kinds of cattle and even ponies too. We were going to try to make it all the way to Colorado Springs tonight but Mom and Dad have decided to stay in Limon Colorado at a place called the Safari Hotel, kind of scary for a little dog like me. Tomorrow is going to be very exciting, Dad is going to meet his agent who is representing his book for the first time in Colorado Springs. After that we will go to our Casita in Madrid, New Mexico.

Tuesday August 17 -Road Trip to New Mexico

We are on the road again. I just love it- the car is stuffed will all kinds of wonderful things for me to sleep and chew my bully bars on. I am just starting my blog today because Mom was too tired to get me set up after the big League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. We left NH Monday afternoon and drove through the beautiful countryside of NH and Vermont and ended up staying at the Red Woof Inn, (Roof) in Syracuse NY, but I call it Woof because they let critters like me stay free. We got up early yesterday morning and visited a friend of my uncle and Mom's in Cazenovia, New York named Heidi. Heidi has a big big house with columns and a wonderful backyard. I was invited to breakfast on the patio but a chipmunk caught my interest so I had to hang out in the car. When they were done they came and got me and I got a quick walk in her beautiful garden's. Next stop was a visit with Gary Rith, (see picture of Gary, Mom and Me) in Etna New York. Gary has a beagle that I think wanted to eat me but Gary kept her in another room while we visited in his pottery studio. We took a great walk to the little village he lives in.

We drove what seems like hours across some crazy back roads that the GPS directed us over. We drove for miles only to find the bridge we were suppose to go over was washed out- Mom and Dad were not too pleased we had to turn around. We also drove on a big road through Puxatawny and honestly there was a dead groundhog on the highway- I hope it wasn't Pete. We arrived in this town called Cranberry just outside of Pittsburg about 9 last night and are at the Red Woof inn-it is amazing the room is the same as last night. Today Mom is going to tour the Fiestaware factory in West Virginia while Dad and I hang out. I think we are going to do a long drive after that today- trying to get to St. Louis tonight.