We were again on the road by 9:00 AM, continuing east on I-40. As we neared Albuquerque we turned off the interstate and headed south through some pretty desolate country. Even though it was a Sunday, there was road construction going on, which caused some lengthy delays. Several long sections of road were completely torn up and traffic was reduced to one lane with traffic control. Luckily there wasn’t that much traffic, but it still slowed us up. We eventually hit Interstate 25 and continued south. Since we were running late, we decided to forgo lunch and just picked up some snacks when we got gas – so much for healthy eating.
We eventually exited I-25 and started climbing in altitude on two lane roads until we finally reached Ruidoso around 2:00 PM. After spending much of the day driving through the high desert area, it was a welcome change to reach the forested area around Ruidoso.
Ruidoso is a small resort town that sits at an altitude of almost 7,000 feet in the Sierra Blanca Mountains. The population is just over 8,000, but has been growing in recent years. It is very near the Mescalero Apache Tribe-owned ski resort named Ski Apache, which sits on Sierra Blanca, a 12,000 mountain.
We checked in at the rental agency, got our
keys, and after stopping for groceries, headed for the house. It was a
short drive up to the house and it turned out to be in a great location. It’s part of a development, but the houses
are spaced well apart and the trees make the other homes barely visible on the
decks and outside area. The house was
very nice with four bedrooms and four and a half baths. There are several decks, a hot tub and great
views of the mountains.
Val and I
unloaded the car and since she was responsible for dinner tonight, she
started getting dinner underway. About
the time we got things put away, Jack and Steph pulled up and I helped them
unload their car. Shortly after that,
John pulled up and the whole group was here except for Greg who has a meeting
on Tuesday and will be joining us on Wednesday.
After chatting for a while, Val put the finishing touches on dinner and we sat down to eat. Val had prepared a tortilla soup which was very good and we all had seconds and some of us even had thirds. She had also made a sort of brownie like cake, or a maybe it’s a cake like brownie, but it was also very, very good. After dinner, the usual jigsaw puzzle was started and while some worked on the puzzle we sat around and talked. Everyone was tired so we called it an early evening and everyone was in bed by 10:00. Geezer X was finally underway.
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