Thursday, April 22, 2010 - Hidden Valley RV Park, Tijeras NM
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Great Egret, San Antonio NM, April 21, 2010
Eastbound
Boy am I going to miss my morning walks in this bounteous Rio Grande valley. I've had a great 3 month stay here at the Bosque, spring is well under way, and now it's time for me to head east for the summer. I'm pulling out today on the first leg of that long journey. A leg that will only get me as far as Albuquerque where I want to stop at the Apple store for a look at the new iPad. The idea of a bigger screened iPod touch with the extra features of the iPad, like GPS location awareness, might make it a great fit in this mobile lifestyle and I want to check it out.
Night camp
Site 68 - Hidden Valley RV Park, Tijeras NM
- This is an older, 100 site, dirt pad, full hookup, RV park on a wooded hillside. The sites are a little small and close together by today's standards but are quite serviceable, quiet and clean.
- Verizon cell phone and Broadband service are available here with a strong signal.
- Locate Hidden Valley RV Park on my Night Camps map
- Check the weather here
Rice Toss
After the dinner our hosts conducted us to the beach. Among the presents was a large supply rice for the fleet. It was put up in straw sacks or bales containing about 125 pounds each. By the pile stood a company of athletes or gymnasts chosen from the peasantry for their strength and size and trained for the service and entertainment of the court. At a signal from their leader, who was himself a giant of muscle and fat, a sort of human Jumbo, they began transporting the rice to the boats. It was more frolic than work. Some of thembore a bale on each hand above their heads, some would carry two laid crosswise on the shoulders and head, while others performed dextrous feats of tossing, catching, balancing them, or turning somersaults with them. I saw one nimble Titan fasten his talons in a sack, throw it down on the sand still keeping his hold, turn a somersault over it, throw it over him as he revolved, and come down sitting on the beach with the sack in his lap. Beat that who can. If you imagine it "as easy as preaching," try it the next time in a gymnasium. But let me advise you, first make your will.
The Logbook of the Captains Clerk, John J. Sewell, Lakeside Press, 1995 pg 256