ALBUQUERQUE TO MORIARTY

With a rising of around 6:00am at Angel Peak Monday morning - we were on the road pretty early!

Too bad we had to leave - it was such a nice respite. Too bad that all the relaxing we did for the two days was sucked dry from our trip that day into Albuquerque….

A last look at our great campsite at Angel Peak Rec. Area. 

Only one other camper when we were there - the second night. A couple from Idaho who came because the campground at Chaco Canyon was full.

Following our six mile gravel road trek out of the rec area we were back on highway 550 - now headed south.

Not the greatest of pictures - just to show that we crossed over the Continental Divide. I've lost count how many times we have done that over the years.

Our map shows the entire length of the 550 from Bloomfield to Albuquerque with dots - which means it is scenic (or so they say). That's a bit much - beautiful boredom maybe. Not a lot to see - I had to remind myself to take photos. 

By the way - DON'T get your gas at the Apache Nugget Casino like we did - hang on until Cuba - much much much cheaper!!!!! Darn!

It DOES get scenic however for about the last 20 miles or so…

Following this picture it wasn't long until we were rolling into Bernalillo - just north of ABQ where the 550 hits the Interstate. Thankfully there was a Home Depot right there - we stopped for lunch and to do some research. We were in ABQ for two main reasons - Pep Boys for our fuel pump and our last visit to Trader Joe's until Spring.

No pictures to show for the rest of the afternoon. If you are on 'a life made simple' Facebook - you may know how our day went. We arrived at a Pep Boys just after lunch and were there until 7:30pm!! It's in the past now so we try not to think about it - we were so frustrated.

Because our fuel pump has been failing since we bought it last January at Pep Boys in Harlingen, Texas we decided to get it changed out as it was still under warranty.

Although we told them straight off that the problem was the fuel pump they spent the first few hours doing a diagnosis - we found that out later from the mechanic who was told that our engine light was on - which wasn't the case. Later when Derek went to check in the shop about what was going on we learned that the mechanic had snapped off the fuel pump and had to get a new one - this at 5:30pm.

In the end they tried to charge us $238 for the labour even though they didn't mention once in the six hours that there would be a charge. We refused to pay on those grounds and they did relent and let us go.

So - dark, late, no dinner….

We headed to a brewery.

La Cumbre wasn't really on our list for this trip - but we knew where it was - it was close by and we knew we could sleep there overnight because we were there in January with Roaming Pint.

We were sure happy to see a food truck parked outside of La Cumbre! Here is Ryan from the Greek Geek - we went with two gyros. Yum. Thanks again Ryan - nice to meet and talk with you!

Derek took this picture - our only one. La Cumbre has a nice sitting area upstairs complete with a sofa - we spent the next few hours hanging out. 

The next morning, after our stop at Trader Joe's we headed east out of Albuquerque. 

We were done.

Next up, just 40 or so miles up the road to Moriarty.

What's in Moriarty?

Why another craft brewery of course!

Whereas the stop the night before at La Cumbre wasn't in the plan a stop here certainly was. We've been planning to come to Sierra Blanca Brewing Co. since our last visit  also last February.

Not only do we LOVE their beer but the artwork is great too!

The Alien Amber Ale - one of our favourites.

Here's Kat our hostess. Thanks again Kat - it was so nice talking with you. In the end we were there for a few hours and met many of the locals - it was a good time.

So - that was a good reason to visit Moriarty again - BUT we had another, even more important reason for visiting this town. 

A stop in to meet and visit with the Torivio Family. And here they are - a group picture at the end of our very very fun two day visit. Pat and Pam have eight - that's eight - great kids! (Oldest son - Josh is missing - he was at work)

I'll give you the details on that, next post.

Ugh.

I'm still way behind on our posts. Since then we have been to two New Mexico State Parks and Carlsbad Caverns AND we are now in Texas.

Just so y'all know - when I can't keep the posts up to date here, I do try to let everyone know the goings on with the Wood Clan on our Facebook Page. 

Tonight we are in Kerrville, Texas - awaiting the delivery and installation of our new fuel pump in the morning. On the way here - our second Pep Boys installed fuel pump quit on us - time for a new solution to our problem. Fingers crossed that a new fuel pump - more suited to our van - will be the answer.

Then - on to the border! Yup - we are Mexico bound - that was fast - right?!

First stop is not to far in - we are headed to visit with our friends Chris and Juan - we are pretty excited about that. I should be able to get the blog up to date while we are there - although I have a feeling we'll be pretty busy visiting with them - such fun!

For the next few days we'll be getting some shopping done and getting ourselves situated at the border.

See you in Mexico! Or I guess - you'll be seeing US in Mexico - ha!

Teresa

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