Abiquiu Reservoir - Disturbing the Peace

Roger here...  I have written about unexpected irritations in idyllic places before.  Here is another installment.

Sitting by the motor home in the shade - enjoying a good book.....  Sniff.  Yuck.  What is that smell?  Without warning, the clear mountain air smells like sewage.  A few minutes later, I recognize the culprit:  A honey wagon materializes on the other side of the hill and is headed my way.  (For those of you who don't travel in an RV, a honey wagon is a truck with a large holding tank and a pump.  The purpose?  Sucking sewage from motor home tanks, and in this case, from the several outhouses scattered around the campground.  Fun, huh?) 


 One of those outhouses was near our site.  We had never noticed an odor, until now.  Loud pump on.  Disgusting smell.  I go inside.

Sitting by the motor home in the shade - enjoying a good book.....  What is that noise?  Oh great, it is a gas-powered weed-eater, and it is coming this way.  (Good news - since we no longer own a house, I am not the guy running it).


  As the man and the weed-eater work their way onto our site, I go inside.  As the man trims the few patches of yellow grass, the dust flies and so do the pebbles.  Bam! That one hit the motor home.  I'll have to see if it chipped the paint.  (It didn't.)

He's gone.  Heading toward the door to go back outside.  What's that noise?  Oh great, it is a guy on a riding mower, and he is coming this way. (Good news - since we no longer own a house, I am not the guy on the mower).  I stay inside. 


 The guy on the mower randomly mowed our site.  He did not go back and forth in a straight line.  He did not mow in a square.  His dust-blowing ride was totally random. 


 Watching him for a while, he reminded me of the Roomba vacuum cleaner that Dianne once had.  It would go in a straight line until it hit something and then randomly turn and go in another direction.  The poor guy must not have had any other places to go, because he re-mowed the patchy grass several times - one particular spot was cut six times.  The inefficiency was kind of irritating for a concrete-sequential guy like me, but, oh well! 

 After about a half hour (no exaggeration) he finally moved on up the hill.  I went outside to dust things off.  Look!  Missed a spot!

Sitting inside on the couch, looking at the scenery.....  What are those giant footprints in the dirt just outside the motor home?  Has Sasquatch wandered into the wilds of New Mexico?  Upon closer inspection, the footprints turned out to be skid marks where the mower guy slammed on the brakes to make one of his random turns.


But look.  Could that be the shadow of Sasquatch next  to the "footprints"?  

A second visit...  I was able to photograph the same mysterious shadow the next day.  Creepy. 


Dianne here:  I won't even try to compete with Roger's Sasquatch observations, but here are some random photos we've taken this week here at Abiquiu:

First, yet another shot of sleeping whippets (the landscaping noise didn't bother them at all....)  My dogs are not exactly cuddly in the normal doggie sense.  In fact, one of our friends once described it as "sleeping with a chicken carcass!"  But they are lovable in their own way.

To cousin Leslie:  Roger, the Grill-Master, grilled the last of your summer squash.  Not sure what all he put on them, but it was delicious!  We paired it with grilled chicken and salad, and ate outside at the picnic table. 

 This was our view.  This mesa (Pedernal) was a favorite subject for painter Georgia O'Keeffe.

Finally, this is a great place for camp fires.  (Chuck:  I did a bit of "dumpster diving" for firewood at empty sites).


  An observation for my Indiana RV-ing friends:  We don't have to cover anything up here, or fold up the chairs at night.  There is NO dew, and things stay perfectly dry overnight. Temps dip into the 50s every night after 80s during the day.  Perfect weather and amazing blue skies.  


Check back soon.  Remember the hike up to Williams Lake that made me feel I needed a lung transplant??  (Apologies to Laurie of "Semi-True Tales of our Life on the Road" for stealing her quip).  Well, we did it again, at Ghost Ranch.  The scenery was as awesome as Zion, no kidding.  You won't want to miss this one!