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Cross Country Trip #3 - Day 6 & 7

Posted: 10-09-2019

Our campsite at Santa Fe Skies Rv Park, Santa Fe NM

Santa Fe Skies RV Park was our home for Day #5 & #6 as a pre-destination to the Balloon Fiesta. It gave us a chance to do some laundry, Rich caught up at Wells Fargo and Adam & Teddy enjoyed a day without any driving. The campground was OK, a little over grown. They had really interesting metal art pieces throughout the campground but the brush was so overgrown it was hard to enjoy them. The entrance the the campground was tight, the main road was concrete but the rest of the park was gravel and very dusty. As for "big rig friendly", parts of the park are and others parts are not. Our suggestion would be the get one of their pull-throughs if you visit with a big rig. Also, be aware that during the Balloon Fiesta time the rates for a campsite increase by $20 per night.

A resident camper at Santa Fe Skies RV Park

I had to include this picture in the blog.....while on a walk with Teddy, this guy was walking across an open campsite, Ugh, hoping this is the only one but I doubt it. Sure hoping that him or any of his relatives have not hitched a ride with us.

Following some Newmar friends to Albuquerque

Every year the manufacturer of our motorhome, Newmar, holds a lottery to be part of their Newmar Balloon Fiesta Rally. We were lucky, back in February, to be chosen as one of the 25 RV's to attend the 2019 Balloon Fiesta Rally in Albuquerque, NM. Since we purchased our Newmar RV, Rich has become friends with several Newmar owners through online groups. Thanks to one of the members we had the option to pre-meet in Santa Fe Skies RV Park and travel to the Balloon Fiesta together.

Our RV is the fifth down in the row

Finally, we arrived at the Balloon Fiesta Fairgrounds in Albuquerque, NM. Fairgrounds camping is "dry" camping, no water, electric or sewer so the word for the next 5 days "conserve", something Adam is not liking very much. Our group was located in the West VIP Section which was a half mile from the launch. However, the launch field is 58 football fields in area. I wonder if the step counter on my Garmin will go high enough :) for the amount of steps I will be walking over the next couple of days.

Our group Welcome Social

Tonight was the groups "Welcome Social" where we got the chance to meet all 25 Newmar owners that were also lucky to get into the lottery back in February. Our hosts, Ted & Ruth Hindes are the nicest people, so organized and work so hard so the rest of us have a great time here at the Balloon Fiesta. At the social we had brisket sandwiches with fix'ins and a balloonist came with his basket to talk about the art of ballooning. Did not know this before tonight, but the balloon is not referred to as a balloon, it is called the "envelope", hmmm then should the Fiesta name be the Envelope Fiesta :)

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