Coasting...!

My last post mentioned that Liz and I also had fun - you know, the "F" word.

One of our favorite times was in the mountains - any of them. Even with the trailer, and I WAS conservative, I coasted down the grades, picking up a little speed, and enjoying the feeling of 'freedom'! I know that in some places Liz felt a little nervous, but we always made it safely to the bottom.

Another of our fun times was when we were faced with some kind of small failure, or things weren't quite working out the way we would have liked. A favorite expression was 'dammit', always repeated by the other one. It became just one of those understandings between us.

Entertainment in John Day was limited - old movies two to three times a month in the restored upstairs in the old Masonic lodge hall, and concerts in the park on Saturdays when something special was in town, like the rodeo or the solar fair. Most of the time we listened to the radio - two stations - John Day which played all country and the PBS station out of Portland - all the while putting together as best we could our 1,000 piece and 1,500 piece puzzles. The 1,500 piece one never did get together and we resolved to donate it to the RV park when we got back to Tucson! Dammit.

That all seems so long ago, it now being almost the middle of November.

I still feel like I'm coasting - this time coasting in life. I drove the rig to Deming, NM on October 17 where the Loners on Wheels have their own park. The rent is about half of what I was paying in Tucson, so I'm feeling better about the finances (except for paying off the credit card bills from the trip!) Anyway, now I'm here and the majority of the folks here are also LoWs who are planning to winter in warmer climes such as Yuma, Quartzite and The Slabs in California. So I don't know who will be left here for the winter to do things with.

I've pretty much decided to hibernate and rest here in Deming for the winter, until after the spring LoW rally. That could change if the New Mexico State Park system decides they need me at one of their parks. I am sending in an application for volunteering in some capacity, with 'compensation' being my RV site and hookups. I think it would be fun to take a few short trips to different New Mexico parks and not travel such a long way as the trip to Oregon. Will keep everyone posted on the success of my application.

Deming is an interesting town - another small town with limited shopping, but with a lot of activity. You can always find entertainment and a good place to eat. And there's always dancing at the local VFW on Friday nights. The LoWs have made good friends in the community and they are known for also being a good friend to the community. If you want to go shopping, though, you have to travel to Las Cruces, about 60 miles east.

There are a lot of roadrunners here in the park. They don't really fly much - kind of like chickens. But they can 'leap' up onto things. I have had my roadrunner friend roosting every night on the top of the stepladder at the back of my trailer. It's kinda nice - haven't found any waste material there. S/he gets up there around 4:00 to 4:30 every afternoon, and leaves around 7:00 in the morning.

Until the folks move on I'm chumming around with a couple of folks, seeing things and going out. There is a social hour every day at 4:00 p.m. where we are updated with new LoWs in the park and what's happening in the area. All in all it's a good place to be for now.