Las Vegas to Santa Fe, NM

Greetings everyone!
 Since our last post we have left Death Valley, traveled about 750 miles, and visited 3 more places

as we wind our way about the beautiful great southwest.

The trip map below shows an overview of our route:

1.  Furnace Creek CG Death Valley National Park

2.  Las Vegas, Nv

3. Homolovi State Park, Winslow, Az

4.  Santa Fe, Nm

Our first stop for 8 nights was the beautiful and exclusive Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort.

The resort is limited to Class A motorhomes and they reserve the right to deny entry

to any coaches not in good condition,

The lots are all privately owned and a management company rents out those lots whose

owners choose to do so when they are absent.

Constantly rated one of the nicest parks in the US, it's fairly pricey, but we love it here.

When you enter the gates, you would think you are at a tropical resort rather than in

the desert. 

The park includes 5 swimming pools with hot tubs.   One on each corner of the

resort, and one in the center of the resort by the clubhouse, pickleball etc.

We've stayed here perhaps a half dozen times, including one stay for over a month

when I needed emergency surgery on my knee.

We always choose one of the lots with a "buildout"

A tiki bar, fridge, barbecue, whatever.    Each owner does their lot a little bit differently.

We particularly enjoyed this one.

Lot 122 LVMR

The weather was perfect during the day with cool nights for sleeping.

Each day we would take the dogs around the park for a stroll.

Some of the other lots and sights about the park.

About the only downside is that with the lack of rain, and the big bus tires running

on the roads, they develop a film of "tire dust".   The dogs get filthy walking about the

park on the roadways.

Just look at Gracie's feet below!

A filthy Doodle

Not to worry however, one of the things we love about around here is that one of our

favorite Self-Serve Doodle Washes is located a few miles away.

The Barking Dogs Pet Store sells all sorts of high end dog foods plus has 4 excellent enclosed

wash stations where you can take a filthy Doodle, and turn it into a fluff ball.

The HydroSurge System injects the soap into the waterstream making wash day

a simple procedure.

Below Gracie is getting her workover.

Ready for a blow dry.

I've always dreamed one would grow up to become a nun!

Lucy looks on with suspicion knowing her turn is next.

And soon she's ready for the blow-dry too!

We bought them a couple of treats and in less than an hour we had both dogs clean

and fluff.   Ready for a haircut when I got them back to the Coach.

By the next day they were cut and clipped and good to go.

While in Vegas I decided to replace our TV over the windshield.

The existing TV was a 32" Panasonic, and while it still worked ok - it was not "Smart".

I wanted a bigger Smart TV to take advantage of the increased abilities.

The old Panasonic

I replaced it with a 40" Samsung.

The size is perfect for our viewing area and now we are

able to take advantage in the coach of our other services (HBO, Netflix, Prime, etc)

that we subscribe too at the house.

After 8 nights in Vegas (we never even made it to the Strip) we were back on the road

headed east towards Santa Fe.

On the way we stopped for 2 nights at Homolovi State Park just outside of

Winslow, Az.   We've been to this park a few times before.   Its a great place to

overnight if you are traveling along I-40, plus there is a great deal of Native American

history in the park.   At the sites of former settlements, it is very common to find

shards of ancient pottery just laying around.  

(Look but don't take)

Around 5,000' elevation, it was a bit cooler here - especially at night, but

with 50 amp service we were able to run the heat pumps and save on the propane.

Site 43 Homolovi SP

After 2 quick days at Homolovi - we hit the road again for another 5hrs and arrived in

Santa Fe, NM.

We are staying at The Santa Fe Skies RV Park.

Its a pretty nice place.  Nice views and decent sized spaces.

They had a nice (optional) no-contact check in process.

The day of arrival I received an email with a link to pay.  Once I paid I received my

site assignment, and never had to interact with anyone.

Easy Peezy!

The park is only about 15 min to downtown Santa Fe.

We have never been here and had been looking forward to our visit and we were

not disappointed.

Established by the Spanish in 1610, it had been inhabited by indigenous peoples for thousands

of years prior to this.   It became the territorial capital of the Spanish Colony until the US 

declared war on Spain in 1846.   Santa Fe and the surrounding territory of was ceded to

the US in 1848 in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago.

It has remained a capital since the 1600's making it the oldest state capital in the US.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint Francis of Assisi in the distance, sits just outside

of the Santa Fe Square section of the historic downtown.

Next to the Basilica is a small park.

It was nice walking thru the park and shuffling our feet thru the fallen leaves - something

that we use to take for granted, but have not done for years.

Looking at the park in the middle of the square.

All around the park are shops and galleries.

Santa Fe has a vibrant artist community and is on the list of UNESCO's great art cities.

An art of a different kind - we have been treated to some nice New Mexico sunsets.

It's now Monday.

I dropped the pickup off at Capital Ford this morning to have the brakes looked at.

I think I have a warped rotor that will need to either be turned or replaced.

Our last full day here is Tuesday after which we drive a few hours south to Las Cruces.

Thursday I have an appointment in El Paso at Texas Dept of Public Safety

to renew my Class A CDL.    We'll stay in Las Cruces thru Thanksgiving and then

move on to the Deming, Nm area for a few days.

If I get the truck back tonight, perhaps tomorrow we'll return to downtown to

do some more explorations.   Today meanwhile we'll hang around the coach and

enjoy the view and relax.

Thanks for riding along!