1st Retirement RV Ramble 2024
3 weeks / >5000 miles - Part Two
May 15, 2024
Our route for day 3 had us going west into New Mexico with a stop in Santa Fe to visit friends Lisa and Jake, and then heading northwest into the corner of Colorado to spend a whole day with our friend Shane! Lisa is a friend I met through the old Billy Joe Shaver yahoo group eons ago, and we hadn’t met her husband Jake yet. It would be such a fun reunion! And Shane is a dear friend who moved from our TN circle to start over in Colorado a couple years back. We hadn’t seen him since and were so excited to hug his neck and see his new home.
We got an extra early start to have more time to make all our visits and miles this busy day. The terrain was immediately more interesting in New Mexico, my first visit to this state. The shrubby vegetation and lack of deciduous trees was all new to me. Lisa and Jake live on a piece of property on the outer edge of Santa Fe, a small farm if you will, with a beautiful adobe home. They have beef cows, 3 horses, chickens, a couple of livestock guard dogs and at least one chunky cat! They know their cows by name, they ride their horses in the local sheriff’s posse, they are living the rural lifestyle that we pretty much left behind on the farm in Minnesota when we moved South. I love keeping up with their full lives on social media, and getting to visit them was such a treat. Our time was short because we had many more miles to make that day, but I wouldn’t trade a moment of it, and I can’t wait until we can make a proper visit to spend some time with these friends and allow them to show us their corner of the world properly. Here are a few shots of entering New Mexico and our quick but sweet reunion. Did I mention that Jake restores old vehicles?
After a reluctant goodbye for such a short visit, huge thanks to Lisa and Jake for understanding, it was on to Colorado and what a gorgeous drive it was. We were in our first mountains, we hit a rainstorm and the most glorious sunset you could imagine. It would be after dark before we reached Shane’s but it was the best scenery of the trip so far. Every corner turned revealed a new breathtaking vista. These flatland hillbillies were having a blast!
After a drive that filled our eyes and hearts to overflowing, we capped the day with joyous hugs from our friend Shane. I can't really imagine a better day spent between awesome views and awesome friends. We were able to camp on the place where Shane lives with electric hookup that proved to be needed. Those Colorado nights are still cool in late May! We had the next day to spend with Shane before moving on North and it was full of unexpected adventure. That story coming up in next blog. Thanks to those following our trip tales! 😊
Oh my gosh, that adobe house and those cars are incredible! Nice job restoring them! I loved Santa Fe when we visited there on our move to Nashville. That sunset is stunning! Such a beautiful part of the world!