Day 7 -- Gallup to Albuquerque, New Mexico -- 140 Miles

The as-the-crow-flies distance from Gallup to tonight's camp in Albuquerque might be 140 miles, however counting our side trip to the Acoma Pueblo Cultural Center the distance will read more like 170 miles. No matter, we comfortably made Albuquerque by four o'clock and miraculously managed to secure the very last space in the "Enchanted Trail RV Park & Trading Post that still had full hookups.

The reason that the camp was largely filled in this unlikely travel month of October is that the local hot air ballon festival has been taking place since the 1st of October and, if the camp clerk is to be believed, is still going strong. Hence, spaces are going fast and the stays are long-term.

In reality we only ended up here by accident. I called a totally different park who reserved a space for us, but when Concetta fed the phone number into her IPhone to get directions it somehow guided us to Enchanted Trails.

Our fault or the phone's fault, it makes no difference. I had to call the other guys and cancel our reservation because it was nine miles back the way we had come.

Our Saturday driving adventure didn't exactly start out very smoothly. When we were ready to roll, dark, angry clouds filled the entire skyscape from horizon to horizon. Before long, rain began to fall and soon after was taxing our windshield wipers on the high setting

Starting out, we weren't quite in need of gas, so we rolled east toward the town of Grants, New Mexico, where I thought we could fill up at about the halfway mark. That worked fine, except when I pulled up to the pump, stopped, and stuffed my credit card into the reader it refused to even acknowledge me. With a sigh I got back in the rig and jockied the big vehicle a few spaces down to where another pump was free.

Gasoline was running $3.82 a gallon, which was a darn sight better than the five and six dollars we've been paying. While standing filling the tank, I happened to glance to the west and realized that the nearby RV park looked mightly familiar. When we got ready to leave, Concetta didn't agree with me, so I drove us over there and right up to the office. At that point both of us agreed that we had indeed stayed at the Bar-5 RV Park several times.

I particularly remember the Bar-5 for it's wonderful proximity to a dual-corridor mainline railroad. If you ever wanted to do some train-spotting and photographym the Bar-5 in Grants is for you. Just about every quarter hour freights go screaming by east to west or west to east. Most of these freights, if memory serves, are the intermodal type and are comprised of a full mile of double-stacked containers like the ones you see on giant container ships.

Our major off-highway experience today was a trip to the Acoma Pueblo and Cultural Center in Acoma, New Mexico. Though we had to travel 15 miles south of our travel direction, and the rain continued to pelt us all the while, we were certainly glad we took the time and effort to make the journey.

This is Concetta's write-up of our experience: "Today we were privileged to visit the Sky City Cultural Center and HAAK’U Museum in Acoma, NM. The Pueblo, which dates back to 1100 A. D., is on the National Register of Historic Monuments and the pueblo's San Esteban del Rey Mission (which came after the Spanish conquest in 1519) has been designated as one of 100 endangered sites by the World Monuments Fund. The people we met there were friendly and eager to share their culture with us. The magnificent views of rock formations are awe inspiring, and if you love the history of early cultures, Acoma Pueblo is a place you must see."

At first as we approached, all we could see were some towering sandstone rock formations standing like a group of soldiers waiting to go into battle. The rain, the darkened skies, and the narrowness of the road prevented us from stopping to capture the "soldiers" with the camera. But with blue skies and bright sunshine I bet the spectacle would be memorable.

Just after the standing rocks, the cultural center came into view, and we gratefully pulled into the parking lot and eased our 32 foot length into a standard-sized space but with 1/3 of our length hanging out the back. Since it was lunch time, we got that chore out of the way first, then we put on some shoes we didn't mind getting muddy, and set out.

Once at the check-in counter, we were confronted with a price slightly higher than we usually see, however we really didn't mind as we know that native American-related activities seldom get the support from the public that they should.

Once the formalities were out of the way, we sought out the rear of the building where a dozen vendors were selling some of the finest handmade goods we've seen on any of our trips. We were especially taken with the photographic work by a young female college student who had captured some very fine scenes. She also did hand engraving of clay pots which we found equally skilled and wonderful.

Though we didn't buy any goods, we certainly entertained the idea and wished only that we had actual space to carry fine art safely.

Our next event was to watch a movie on the history of the Mesa-top living Acoma people who were part of the ancestral group that at one time were known as the Anazasi. The term is no longer used, however tribal lore says that they came from much further north of New Mexico and could be found in settlements like Mesa Verde in Colorado and Chaco Canyon in New Mexico before arriving in the Acoma vicinity.

As we learned today in the informational film we watched, the Acoma people used "Kivas" -- circular pits roofed over with timbers, sticks, and mud -- for their religious ceremonies, and made their homes on the top of lofty mesas which they inhabited for protection from enemies.

In 1519 the enemies turned out to be the Spanish coming up from Mexico City looking for gold. At first the Acoma people were successful in warding off the Spanish, but future attacks eventually resulted in the Acoma people being subjugated and made to adopt Catholicism as their religion. However, as the narrator of the film told us, often the Acoma simply camouflaged their Kivas and placed them inside their houses so they could pursue their religion unseen.

Today, not many Acoma live on the top of the Acoma Pueblo Mesa, but twice a year they allow outsiders to visit and experience what it was like to live in such a setting.

As we were preparing to leave today, a Native American woman came rushing up to me and asked if I had taken some good photos of the Indian dancers who had joined the artisans at one point for entertainment. When I agreed that I probably had, she asked if I would be willing to email them to her. I told her I would, and before long we all were launched into a full-fledged photo session outside the building. We shot a number of poses and everyone seemed to have just a great time.

When I returned to the rig, I immediately set up the CD-burner and made a copy of all the photos, then delivered the CD to the woman who had remained in the building. Since people don't always have CD readers nowadays, I told her that I would aslo send the photos via email, though with AOL I can only do a very few at a time.

Anyway, that was the end of our truely enjoyable visit with the Acoma people, and I hope that someday we'll be able to visit when the open house is taking place. They old us they're open 3 days around Christmas and on September 1st. They told us that they were so grateful for the photos, that they would send us a persondal invitation in the future. What more could you ask for?

And that's it for now. We had a wonderful day, this our celebratory wedding day from 45 years ago, and we didn't mind a bit that it was gray and rainy all day.

So ciao for now and we wish you happy travels of your own.