Thank you for visiting RV Ramblings, the daily happenings of full-time RVers, James and J, as told by James.
You may share this particular blog entry by referring to www.rvramblings.com/?date=2009-11-09.
Visit www.rvramblings.com to view the latest blog entry. Click here to create a bookmark that will take you to the latest blog entry.
November 9, 2009, a Monday
Elephant Butte Lake State Park (South Monticello), New Mexico, USA
— Went to town, had a great lunch, did laundry, and went shopping
Had my normal breakfast, then did some computer work. We left around 8:35 and ...
Walked to the boat ramp and back. We talked about getting a satellite dish for better internet access than through our Verizon USB sticks because we've only been getting the fast Broadband Access signal intermittently here at Elephant Butte Lake State Park. When we first thought about going full-time in the RV, we talked about getting a HughesNet satellite internet setup, but the dish and support equipment is much more expensive than the Verizon USB sticks that we got. Plus, the satellite dish takes a lot longer to set up than the USB stick, it takes up a lot more room, and weighs a lot more.
We saw a jackrabbit bounding through the brush as we were approaching the turn to the boat ramp, and we saw a roadrunner near our campsite on our way back. We've also been seeing Gambel's quail running around the campground.
We returned to the RV at 9:25. I did some more computer work, then took a shower. Worked up a blog entry. We left around 11:15 in the Jeep to go to town.
We went to Cafe BellaLuca in Truth or Consequences (T or C) for lunch at 11:45. It was highly recommended by our friend Andy Baird, and it was a great place. They had an extensive beer and wine list, and I had a Moretti La Rossa, a double bock lager from Italy that's very tasty! It's a "big beer" — malty and high in alcohol (7.2% by volume). I had a Roman Calzone (proscuitto, pepperoni, salami, onion, mushroom) that was very tasty, and J had a cup of squash soup and a Muffaletta sandwich that she enjoyed. We left around 12:45 and went ...
To Soap 'N Suds (laundromat) at 12:50. The washers were really fast (about 16 minutes), and the dryers were a little faster than usual (about 35 minutes). While we were waiting for our clothes to dry, we witnessed a very interesting exchange. I had noticed that two patrons, a man and a woman, each probably in their late 50s, were chatting it up on the other side of the waiting area. At one point, the man asked her how many times she had been married before, and she replied, "More times than I can remember." When the man took his clothes out of a washer, the woman asked if he'd like to dry his clothes at her place, and he thought that would be a great idea. They left right away, and I'm not sure if the woman had been doing any laundry herself or not. I wonder how many other patrons she dries clothes for — wink, wink. :) We left around 2:25.
We went to the Super WalMart to do some shopping, both general and grocery. I picked up a pair of polarized sunglasses. I had pretty much stopped wearing sunglasses in 2002, but have recently been bothered by the bright sun while driving with snow on the ground and lately just bright New Mexico days with the sun reflecting off the sandy ground. We finished shopping around 4:00.
We checked out the campgrounds in Elephant Butte Lake State Park near the Visitor Center, then took back roads along the lake back to South Monticello Campground. (You may view a map of Elephant Butte Lake State Park as a JPEG image.)
We returned to the RV around 5:10. I did some more computer work, then fixed dinner.
We had dinner of Square Cheese Ravioli, by The Italian Village, in Classico Vodka sauce and a Greek salad with some of my just-made balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was all very tasty, if I do say so myself. :) J really enjoyed it too, and not just because I cooked. :)
After dinner, I processed images in Capture One (C1).
Walked to the boat ramp and back. We talked about getting a satellite dish for better internet access than through our Verizon USB sticks because we've only been getting the fast Broadband Access signal intermittently here at Elephant Butte Lake State Park. When we first thought about going full-time in the RV, we talked about getting a HughesNet satellite internet setup, but the dish and support equipment is much more expensive than the Verizon USB sticks that we got. Plus, the satellite dish takes a lot longer to set up than the USB stick, it takes up a lot more room, and weighs a lot more.
We saw a jackrabbit bounding through the brush as we were approaching the turn to the boat ramp, and we saw a roadrunner near our campsite on our way back. We've also been seeing Gambel's quail running around the campground.
We returned to the RV at 9:25. I did some more computer work, then took a shower. Worked up a blog entry. We left around 11:15 in the Jeep to go to town.
We went to Cafe BellaLuca in Truth or Consequences (T or C) for lunch at 11:45. It was highly recommended by our friend Andy Baird, and it was a great place. They had an extensive beer and wine list, and I had a Moretti La Rossa, a double bock lager from Italy that's very tasty! It's a "big beer" — malty and high in alcohol (7.2% by volume). I had a Roman Calzone (proscuitto, pepperoni, salami, onion, mushroom) that was very tasty, and J had a cup of squash soup and a Muffaletta sandwich that she enjoyed. We left around 12:45 and went ...
To Soap 'N Suds (laundromat) at 12:50. The washers were really fast (about 16 minutes), and the dryers were a little faster than usual (about 35 minutes). While we were waiting for our clothes to dry, we witnessed a very interesting exchange. I had noticed that two patrons, a man and a woman, each probably in their late 50s, were chatting it up on the other side of the waiting area. At one point, the man asked her how many times she had been married before, and she replied, "More times than I can remember." When the man took his clothes out of a washer, the woman asked if he'd like to dry his clothes at her place, and he thought that would be a great idea. They left right away, and I'm not sure if the woman had been doing any laundry herself or not. I wonder how many other patrons she dries clothes for — wink, wink. :) We left around 2:25.
We went to the Super WalMart to do some shopping, both general and grocery. I picked up a pair of polarized sunglasses. I had pretty much stopped wearing sunglasses in 2002, but have recently been bothered by the bright sun while driving with snow on the ground and lately just bright New Mexico days with the sun reflecting off the sandy ground. We finished shopping around 4:00.
We checked out the campgrounds in Elephant Butte Lake State Park near the Visitor Center, then took back roads along the lake back to South Monticello Campground. (You may view a map of Elephant Butte Lake State Park as a JPEG image.)
We returned to the RV around 5:10. I did some more computer work, then fixed dinner.
We had dinner of Square Cheese Ravioli, by The Italian Village, in Classico Vodka sauce and a Greek salad with some of my just-made balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was all very tasty, if I do say so myself. :) J really enjoyed it too, and not just because I cooked. :)
After dinner, I processed images in Capture One (C1).