As we entered the new year we were excited about our trips ahead, after all we had no restrictions on where we could go as well as no real plan further than a couple of months of pre-purchased tickets back to Albuquerque, New Mexico for now.
Day 1 Thursday – We left work and made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare, things were looking good. As we settled into our seats on the plane the captain announced that there may be a delay on our flight, something about a crew shortage. Twenty minutes later we were being told that our flight would be delayed until the morning. They announced we would be given a hotel and food voucher and scheduled for the first flight out in the morning. This would have a serious impact on such a short 72 hour trip because we usually spend the first night picking up our vehicles and grabbing supplies for the next days of the 72 hour trip.
One of the things we expect on our trips is that things will change such as vehicle break downs and delays so we instantly tried to make the best of the situation at hand. We waited in line for our vouchers and learned that we would each be given $30-60 depending on our United account status for meals and a voucher for a hotel as well.
We feasted like kings on the food vouchers before heading to our hotel for the night. The hotel shuttle would be picking us up at 4:45 am to make it for the first flight out.
Day 2 Friday – Up early and a fresh day ahead our outlook was that things could only get better. We caught our flight and headed to the storage unit to pick up the vehicles only to find that the battery in Abel’s 1985 Vanagon was dead. We pulled the battery, took it to get a replacement and brought the battery back to install. After the install we found that the shop had given us a brand new dead battery. Wow lol! We repeated the process and 2 hours total later we were on the road headed to find the campground.
We stopped along the way for groceries and ended up getting to the campground a bit later than we liked. We would be staying at a nice little campground named Joe Skeen Campground in San Rafael, New Mexico.
After picking our spots in the thick snow we built a camp fire and spent the night talking about life and our outlook on things in our every day lives. I asked Eduardo and Abel if they could ever see themselves roaming full time and we laughed about it as a crazy idea. 😉
Day 3 Saturday – After a chilly night I was determined to get the morning fire started the old fashion way using a couple of sticks. My goal was to get it started before Eduardo and Abel woke up so that I could prove it could be done. Two hours into a my miserable effort I was joined by Eduardo in the quest for fire. Nope not happening!!
As the day went on we relaxed and spent a bit of time learning how to refill our small 1lb propane bottles that we so quickly go through on the cold nights. Abel grilled up some top notch burgers and we stayed up pretty late by the fire.
Day 4 Sunday – After packing up a bit we made our way down the road to the La Ventana Natural Arch in the El Malpais National Monument. This was an exceptional view of the archway, so we snapped a few photos before heading back to Albuquerque to put the vehicles back in storage before catching our flight home.
Total Trip Hours: 72 – ROAM72 – Join the ROAM
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