Billy the Kid Museum, Fort Sumner, NM

We are headed back to Texas to take care of some dental stuff and since we were coming out of Albuquerque, decided to take a somewhat direct route east. We are not in a big hurry but this route is one of the shorter ones so it cuts down on mileage. As usual, we will boondock for 3-4 nights to get to Lincoln Park (north of Dallas).

We planned to stay the first night out in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. This was about a 150-mile drive and Fort Sumner is the home of the Billy the Kid Museum—my kind of place. I called a friend who had recently visited here and he told me that the Museum apparently owned a tiny RV park located a few blocks from the Museum. This park had no on-site management but you picked your spot, put your money in one of their envelopes with your information, and tucked it in one of those "Iron Rangers." It was $20.00/night for full (3-way) hookups (50 amp, water, and sewer). The sites were flat, gravel, large, easy in and out, and no problem at all.

Okay, one problem, lots of trains not too far away. We have come to believe that an RV park is not authentic unless you can hear a train.

The Billy the Kid Museum is a pleasant surprise. First, it is large with lots of stuff to see. It is at least four times larger than I had guessed. It took us nearly four hours to meander through it.

It is not all "Billy the Kid" stuff. The portion focusing on him was well done and displays ranged from the newspaper accounts to his actual Winchester rifle. There was plenty of reading as well as items to look at.

The other portion was western artifacts ranging from mining to household goods to handguns to bear traps to buggies to a dozen or so antique cars. All well done, displayed well, and explained.

Thinking About RVing…
Here was a small town (or Museum) that operated a tiny (about 6 sites) RV park where you could stay pretty cheap and have all the utilities. That's a good thing. There are a few places that do this but they seem to be pretty hard to locate (look up). After all, what do you search for to find these?

Here's another good one… Brownfield, Texas (next to the New Mexico border on US 380) operates a town-owned RV park with about 8 sites. It's called Coleman Park and has 30 amp and water (and a dump station) but it was free! Free is pretty good these days. You just pull in, find your spot (first come, first served), and hook up. There is no registration. You can stay for four days. Thank them at the Chamber of Commerce (806-637-2564) before you leave.

If you know of free or really low-cost places, drop me an e-mail at ron@aboutrving.com and I will pass them along. They will be appreciated. No, I'm not trying to compile some nationwide list here. Sorry.

Enjoy.

Ron

Chuckwagon Cooking Competition

We left the Albuquerque Balloon Festival half way through it to go to Ruidoso, NM for the "22nd Annual Lincoln County Cowboy Symposium." The Symposium is held the last weekend of the Balloon Festival. We had an old friend who is a competitor in the Chuckwagon Cooking Competition and we had never seen him in action. Three other couples (two were RVers and all were friends) met us for this unusual weekend.

The Symposium was held at Ruidoso Downs (racetrack) and there were a number of vendors there offering various western art, books, clothing, food, and even a shoeshine. It was a kid-friendly environment with plenty to do and see.

For the cook-off, you must purchase a ticket. This allows you to eat. About twenty chuckwagons were set up and food preparation took place on Friday. Our friend, Wayne Calk, had about eight helpers and everyone was working on some aspect of preparing the food. Note that no cooking took place on Friday.

Saturday (early), the cooking started. From open flame, to charcoal with the Dutch Ovens, to a small portable stove used to cook the meat, each cooksite was busy, busy, busy! The menu was the same for all the chuckwagons since this is a competition. It included chicken-fried steak, beans, a potato dish, biscuits, and apricot cobbler for dessert. Water, tea, and soft drinks were available but not part of the competition.

About 1130 hrs Saturday, the cooks were selecting the best looking portions of everything, these went into styrofoam containers, and were delivered to the judges—out of sight from us normal humans. Then, the cooking pots were lifted onto tables and a serving line was set up. Everything was furnished.

At 1200 hrs—high noon—the Chuckwagon "Dinner Bell" was rung. All ticket holders lined up and the cooks became servers. Before the serving started, the head cook (ours was Wayne) offered an explanation of each dish, the ingredients, how it was cooked, and the level of spiceyness. There was plenty of food, the line moved quickly, and our friend's chuckwagon served about 30-40 people. Everything went very smooth, the food was served hot, and everything got quiet when everyone was eating.

After everyone was served, there was plenty of food left so you could go back for seconds or, many people wandered to another chuckwagon just to sample their food. It worked.

We had an excellent meal, cooked in a unique method, and served hot. The weather was perfect, too. The only thing lacking was a good glass of Merlot.



Thinking About RVing…
Driving around New Mexico like we have been doing for a few weeks can be a real treat. Wind—lots of wind. It may attempt to blow you off the highway. Yes, you occasionally will see a real tumbleweed blow across the road and no, it's not a leftover Hollywood movie prop from some Western!

One of the tricks when driving a motorhome in a heavy cross wind is to drive with one hand. This will generally keep you from oversteering when hit from the side with a wind gust. Keep the other hand very close to or resting slightly on the steering wheel but loose. You may want to change hands pretty often as fighting crosswinds will be tiring on the driver. Plus, don't forget to trade drivers, too. Be safe.

Balloon Fiesta (Festival)

For years, we have been trying to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Festival but it just never "fit" our travels. If you plan to go with the RV caravans, you have to sign up many months in advance—it's a popular trip. My experience was that by mid-February, most of the groups were filled! So, our trying to plan for this trip was a hassle and always inconvenient to our lifestyle.

Last year, we visited an old friend as we passed through El Paso, Texas. He is a competitive "Chuckwagon Cook" and has been on Food TV. We learned that he would be cooking in a national competition held in Ruidoso, NM the same weekend that the Balloon Festival ends (it's a 10-day show). So, we signed up for a caravan to attend the first half (5 days) of the Festival and then headed to Ruidoso.

[Author's Note… More on the cooking competition next on the blog.]

Trying to get a reservation meant contacting several caravan companies. I'm a believer that some venues are better to visit with a caravan and some are better on your own. Those big gatherings where you need some "local" information or where there are a gazillion RVs are easier when you go with a group that has been there before and knows the ins and outs. Not to belabor this but the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena is the perfect venue for an RV caravan. The Balloon Festival is doable on your own as we learned but the first time was a bit easier using a caravan.

We went with Yankee RV Tours. I had met the owner of Yankee a few months earlier and he allowed me to customized the trip to fit my needs. I wanted the first five days. None of the other caravan companies could offer me that option. They did offer the last five days but that wouldn't work for me as we planned to visit the cooking competition.

We Arrive in Albuquerque
This was one of those caravans were we did not drive together but simply met in a designated location. That location was the official  RV parking for the Balloon Festival. We pulled in on Friday (the designated day we were supposed to arrive) one day before the official start of the Festival.

We got in a double line that moved pretty fast. At registration, we simple tell them we are with Yankee RV Tours (we have no paperwork) and they tell us to follow this golf cart. We do. He takes us to the Yankee sites where we are met by the Wagonmaster and he shows us our site. It is an easy back-in like you find in a larger campground. We meet and greet those that are here and everything is good.

This huge field is/will be filled with RVs of every description. There are lots of sites with water and electric (30 amp) and lots of boondocking sites. We are on mostly sand, there's very little dust, the water trucks are spraying the driving lanes, it is crowded, and more RVs (large and small) are arriving constantly.

Day One
Let me preface this section by saying that I hate to get up in the morning—HATE it. I've been this way forever, I don't apologize for it, it's me, it's the way I am. I am definitely a night person.

When do they launch the first balloons? Pre-dawn! I always thought that was normally called "night." Okay, I have to get up—at least once.

What happens is this... They first launch the "Dawn Patrol." That is about six balloons that will check on everything from up in the sky—wind conditions, etc. They make sure everything is safe for the major launch.

With the "thumbs-up" from the Dawn Patrol that everything is safe, the "Pre-Dawn Launch" is a number (my guess is about 25 balloons) that do what they called a "Morning Glow." This is where the pilots fire up the balloons but hold them on the ground. The balloons are being lit from the inside with the flame. When this group launches (note that it is still dark but bordering on daybreak as shown in the photo), as they fire the balloons to gain altitude, the sky is filled with balloons giving off this intermittent "glow"—an amazing sight like no other.

Sidebar... Here's how it works! This valley and surrounding mountains just happen to be situated so that they create a "box"—made up of wind currents. The "box" (prevailing winds) allows the balloons to take off, flying low in one direction for some distance, they fire the balloons to gain altitude, then travel back the opposite direction! It is odd to stand here and watch balloons passing each other going in opposite directions. Most of them head out of town to land.

Then, daybreak. At 0700 hrs, they release the first of the balloons for what they call the "Mass Ascension" and will continue to do this constantly for two hours. There were 550 balloons waiting to launch one day. The first day they set a record launching 350 balloons in one hour. The result... the sky is filled with balloons—a magnificent site. You will be impressed. The top photo shows a tiny portion of the "Mass Ascension."

Day Two
I'm up again thanks to Sandy (wife) who rolls me out of bed. Like yesterday, we grab a cup of coffee and step outside. Twenty feet in front of our coach we can see the tops of the balloons as they get ready to lift off. When they do, this morning they head directly for us. These things are huge. Hundreds pass overhead. Wow!

There is a fenced-off area (about an acre) just a short distance from our coach (about 20 coaches away). Some balloons are landing there. When they do, some deflate and pack up while others take off again. We assume this landing is part of a competition (balloon race?). From our perspective, we can see every detail of how they operate.

Days Three and Four
I'm up again and outside. This is fascinating. The difference from day to day is that their direction changes slightly but always in our general direction.

The fourth day there are some wind gusts and a storm is moving in. The 0700 hrs launch is delayed. Finally, about 0830 hrs the wind gusts decrease and about 250 balloons go up. Due to the winds, some are having a hard time gaining altitude and pass overhead (what seems to me to be) really low—only about 20 feet up. We can easily carry on a conversation with the balloonists. Many of them land and deflate in the fenced-off area close by. It is an interesting sight.

Although we will be gone, Day 6 they are scheduled to launch the "specialty" balloons. We really wanted to see that but just couldn't work it out. However, a number of specialty balloons launch every day so we got to see a variety of them. They are fun and interesting.

Wrap Up
This was a great trip. It is certainly best in an RV. The sights were wonderful, fascinating, and unique. While you can purchase a balloon ride, we did not for medical reasons (me). It looks like fun.

It has to be pretty special for me to roll out of bed. I'm glad I did for this event.

 





Thinking About RVing…
 You will occasionally end up in venues like the Balloon Festival where you have to do what I call "forced boondocking." We had 30 amp but no water or sewer. The classic "honey wagon" (sewage pumper) and water truck are nearly always available but they are expensive and often in the $30–$40 range for each.

If you have 40+ gallon tanks on your RV, you can survive 5-6 days easily without this expense. If you are simply running water down the drain, you will run out of fresh water and your grey tank will definitely fill.

Click here to read/review my articles on boondocking and how to live normally. We don't deprive ourselves of anything (we are definitely NOT roughing it with our RVing lifestyle) but can easily survive for 9–10 days when boondocking. This, of course, comes with practice. With the larger tank capacity of a motorhome or 5th wheel, you can do this, too. Read, learn how, practice before you need to do it, have some fun, and save some money. That sounds like a plan.