Monday, November 7, 2011 - Hidden Valley RV Park, Tijeras NM
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On Point, Sumner Lake State Park, Fort Sumner NM, November 4, 2011
Snow
Well, I moved over near Albuquerque today to get on with my chores here and head south before winter sets in. I didn't get here quite soon enough I guess. It's been snowing lightly this afternoon and overnight temps in the mid twenties are forecast for the next few nights. Bah!
In Albuquerque
- Get the front end checked out and aligned to correct the altered right front tire wear that cropped up on the way out here with the trailer. Towing changed the load balance and I'm seeing some wear on the inside edge instead of the previous outside edge wear.
- Stop at the Apple store and use their high speed internet connection to upgrade a few OS X apps and iPhone & iPad apps that are too big for my Verizon broadband accounts to gracefully handle.
Night camp
Site 100 - 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