We got up earlier to shower and get ready for church. Packed up the tent and sleeping bags. The family tenting next to us had two small children (about the ages of 1 and 3). They were dressed in church clothes this morning, too. They arrived at church just after us. We learned that this family is taking a road trip from Arizona to Nauvoo, Illinois to see church history sites. The young mother’s name was Cory. At church we met a lady named Maggie Gonzalez-Uehara. She was very friendly and showed us where our classes were. Her teenage son, Juan, wants to go to Canada. He asked us if we had a pet moose. Maggie gave us her address and said if we came again, we could look them up and stay with them. She told us her husband was in Hawaii attending his uncle’s funeral. Her husband is a Japanese Hawaiian. I believe we attended Amarillo 2nd Ward.
Last night we actually slept with a blanket. It was slightly cool.
The family that camped next to us last night were the ones that caught a frog and shared it with William and Douglas. Cory said, “We’re the ones that caused the trouble.” No, they did not eat it.
The landscape around Amarillo is flat like Saskatchewan. After, the land became desert-like with shrubs.
The missionaries’ names were Elder Decker and Elder Webber/Wesley(?) (They know Chris – a missionary serving in Texas from our ward in Calgary).
1:45pm Entered New Mexico: Land of the Enchantment.
12:45pm
MST becomes local time. 36 degrees C.
We stopped at the first rest stop. It was very windy. John took a few pictures.
We stopped to eat our lunch at the last rest stop before Albuquerque. Today is fast Sunday. We had a shorter fast than usual and broke it right after church with a lunch of bananas and nectarines. We planned to have a more substantial lunch later but at one stop there wasn’t any shade and/or picnic tables. The other problem we had was the wind. Anyway, we ate macaroni and cheese with beans; Kristina had lentil soup with rice.
Lots of windmills. We even saw an egg beater style windmill. I wonder if Brent knows about that type…
We entered Albuquerque, New Mexico at 6:30pm. As we left Albuquerque, there was a sign which read, “Do not pick up hitchhikers, prison facilities.”
John stopped at Mesita, New Mexico to take a picture of a mesa. He wanted to take pictures of old adobe houses but there were signs that said, “No cameras, no trespassing.”
We camped at Bluewater Lake State Park. It had minimal facilities. It was not as nice as other state parks we’ve been to. It was 7 miles off highway 40 in New Mexico. It cost $8.00 for the night. It was wet and a little dark when we arrived. So it didn’t look that inviting, but John thought it looked great.
– Victoria