After showers and a good, long game of catch with Pepé in the K-9 Kamp this morning in an attempt to burn off some of his energy, we folded up our tent and left the Albuquerque KOA around 10:30.
This is the first day that we don't really have a plan.... We know we want to get a little closer to Carlsbad, which is about 300 miles south of here, but our general route was really not set until about an hour before we left this morning, and even then, we hadn't totally decided the latter half of the drive.
Art very much wants to avoid snow and high winds, which is perfectly understandable. The problem is that there is nowhere to go today in Southeastern New Mexico that doesn't have high winds (gusts to 40 MPH is what the National Weather Service Red Flag Warning says). So after discussing whether to just cool our heels and drive up to Santa Fe for the day or to make some forward progress, we decided on forward progress.
We've decided to follow the southern part of the Turquoise Trail, a scenic route that we have not driven before. We really enjoyed the northern part of this drive up to Santa Fe from Albuquerque several years ago, but this was a new route for us today. Also, since we aren't in a huge hurry, we decided to take some more rural routes and avoid the major highways. The drive took us up through heavily forested hills, to a high plains area at about 6,000 feet and through several small Indian towns.
We don't know much about the remote area we traveled today but did stop in one of the larger towns called Mountainair for some information and learned that this was the site of a number of Salinas-Pueblo Missions. Apparently this area was once inhabited by a few different Pueblo trading communities. In the early 17-century, Spanish Franciscans discovered the area and found it ripe for their missionary efforts. 
Several missions were built and many of the native people converted to Christianity. Unfortunately, due a devastating drought, the area was abandoned by the 1670s, and although the mission ruins still stand, the people who once lived here are gone.We stopped in Corona for gas, and after talking to the woman managing the store, decided to take the southerly route that we feared might be snowy. It wasn't, and it was actually a very beautiful (although VERY windy) drive.
We were going to call it quits in Carrizozo, but that town was so windy, dusty, and depressing looking, we decided to press on -- much to Pepé's dismay. We drove another 20 miles to Capitan, the home of the real Smoky the Bear, and after passing on the first campground we found (scarily dismal), we located a second one where we are ensconced tonight.
This place is called Pinion Hills RV Park and is really just a meadow with hookups:-) There are probably only four rigs in here tonight -- spread out all over several acres -- and we think we are the only non-permanent guests tonight. The owner, who came out to greet us late this evening, is an ex-Los Angeles then Federal cop who retired fifteen years ago and moved here from L.A. with his wife, who maybe inherited this property. It is actually a very pretty spot and we chose a site at the far back end of the facility. There is nothing but more meadow then hills behind us. But it is windier than holy cow out there and hopefully we will still be upright in the morning.
We had our doubts when we pulled in and were greeted by a young woman with a baby (apparently the owner's daughter), who just told us to pick a spot and someone would be home eventually to get us checked in. There were at least three dogs of all sizes running free, jumping on the truck, and barking. (A bit of a contrast to the place in Sedona where there were two full pages of rules, one of them just about dogs....) Have I mentioned yet that there are chickens running around all over the place?
But we picked our spot, got hooked up, and have great water, power, sewer, and YES.... Internet service!!! This is the best connection we have had in all the places we have stayed since the beginning of our trip. Little Capitan, out in the middle of practically nowhere, on the edge of a meadow with chickens and dogs running wild, about to be blown over by the winds coming through here, but we have Internet. Tonight we are getting caught up on our blog for the first time since the start of the trip and are grateful we decided to press on.With luck we will get some pictures uploaded here before we fall asleep and then we will be in Carlsbad tomorrow. More from there then....
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