Greetings from the RV parking area of the Balloon Fiesta. There are about 12 Lazy Daze RV’s here so far and this group is staying until the very end. Up to a total of 30 rigs of our group will come and go over the course of this event, so it will be interesting to see who is coming and going.  Nonetheless, those coming in tomorrow for the weekend start of this Balloon Fiesta may be very disappointed when they leave on Monday, as there is talk that the Balloon’s can’t get airborne in the winds. And pretty stiff winds are expected. I don’t know what the cut off is when they can’t fly, but let’s just hope the weathermen are once again wrong and the balloons get to go up.  It is Saturday when this is suppose to start, so we shall see.

I’m parked between Steve & Jiggs on one side (who I met in AK before I drove out) and Doug & Beth on the other.  Doug & Beth are the proud owners of a Sun Oven, Beth has been cooking something off and on everyday.  This Sun Oven far exceeds what I used to use (cardboard wrapped with foil) to cook with when I was out hiking and camping in my younger years.  Check out http://sunover.com/   its a WOW!  And my goodness, what a delicious way to cook.  The first night, Beth had baked a cake. First bite, I expected she was going to tell me it was a cake made from scratch, but it was a box cake. Absolutely moist, delicious. Amazing. Since I’ve been here, she has boiled water (to do dishes one time, another time to make rice), the cake, a corn chili casserole, pasta, veggies. One can make homemade bread. Actually, the only thing you can’t do is fry – everything else is possible, including dehydrating foods – that fascinates me and will quiz Beth on soon.  No more heating up the RV to bake, or get super humid from boiling water. They even claim one can do a 18 lb. turkey.  If interested in a different way to cook, highly recommend you watch the videos on the link above.

Today, I got a serious education on different inverters. My laptop died – dead battery – and I thought I had to turn on the generator to recharge the batteries. I’ve actually heard folks talking about inverters, but until now I couldn’t relate to them.  A gal loaned me her inverter and I got my laptop recharged. This, of course, led to seeing a variety of inverters – from handheld to whole house inverters. I can’t see my needing a whole house inverter, but these little ones – I will find a Radio Shack one day soon. Apparently, I don’t need much more than the 150 watt ones, as it easily charged my Macbook just fine. So another learning experience… it just keeps flowing in and I’m still taking it all in like a sponge.

Everyone is talking about where they will be for the holidays… then where they will go after.  I had originally thought I’d be back in WA before Thanksgiving and would spend it with my Niece, Jenny. And be there at Christmas as well.  I’m so torn on that… I can’t afford to keep going up and down the coast to Lazy Daze events and WA. So I may split my time… I may stick in CA until the 1st of Dec, then head to WA.  I need to find someone, somewhere that could tend to my cats and my rig while I’m heading back up to AK for my required (to keep getting the PFD’s) visit.  My niece can’t do this in WA as she works full-time near Seattle. So this is my present challenge. I’m sure I will find a solution, but right now it is eluding me.

I have a picture of a sunset here in Albuquerque, but will post it on the next writing.