Libby and I had a great time during Roundup and also greeting our old friends here at The Ranch.  As Mark Nemith remarked in his last travelogue this month, its like coming home.  Many of you email us from time to time and one of the frequent questions we get when we don't move for a month or so is what do you do?  Well, maybe we can answer that this month.

First, the weather, once again, has not co-operated with us.  A couple of weeks after we got here, it turned very cold and we had several inches of snow.       The snow disappeared by afternoon for the most part, so it wasn't really that bad.  We figure we can put up with a little snow to save a lot of money.        Our first two weeks of electricity here cost us about $12.  Pretty cheap camping.

After arriving at The Ranch, we immediately volunteered to help with setup and cleanup for the dining activities that were planned around Roundup.  After Roundup, we had to go to Pizza night at the local Pizza Inn in Carlsbad.  One night each month, many of us go to Pizza Inn for a wonderful pizza buffet.  The owner always gives away a meal or two, but even though we got a free meal last May when we were here, we were not as fortunate this time.  Someone else got the freebie!

     We took a day and drove up to Queen, NM.  Queen is in the Guadeloupe range about 40 miles southwest of The Ranch and just about due west from Carlsbad.  As we drove out the Queen road last spring, we ran into a herd of cows and several horses running around on the road.  Most of the area is open range and one needs to be cognizant of that fact when zipping down the road.  This time, we saw some free range cattle, but no horses.  We climbed the grade from Sitting Bull Falls and as we reached the summit, a few miles further down the road, we saw the bustling metropolis of Queen.   A few days before we went to Queen an local rancher came by The Ranch to pick up the bales of hay that we used to decorate the entrance to the Ranch House.  He is a co-owner of the cafe and store at Queen.  He told us we would be happy if we went up there on Friday or Monday as his wife would be the cook and not him.

We went on Monday and stopped at this famous southeastern New Mexico landmark, the Queen cafe and store.  Sure enough, his wife was the cook.  There were several deer hunters in the place and we had some interesting conversations with them.  There was also a local rancher.  Libby asked him how much land he ranched and he told us 300 sections.  Now a section is 640 acres, so if I did the math correctly, he had 192,000 acres of ranch land.  He told us his biggest expense was fuel.  He also talked to us about water, which is a precious commodity here in the high desert.  Libby asked him about his wells.  He told us he had lots of wells, the shallowest being 60 feet, but most were around 600 feet and he has one that is 1200 feet deep.  He told us about a friend down in Dog Canyon that has a well that is 3400 feet.  I cannot imagine what it cost to drill that one and what kind of pump one would need to pull water up from over a half mile down.

He did send us on a great side trip.  We were just going to get a burger at the cafe and come home, but he told us to go to National Forest road 540 ( I think) and drive to the end.  We did and were rewarded with some spectacular views of Dog Canyon, 2000 feet below us.  The road is dirt and there are few guard rails, but it is simply a wonderful drive and the view is out of this world.  While up on the Guadeloupe Ridge, I talked to some ham radio guys over in El Paso, which is about 150 miles away and then on the way back, I talked to a fellow in Carlsbad, NM on the same repeater frequency.  Libby collected a rock for our rock garden at the Ranch and we started back.  I would draw your attention to the flood gauge on the picture on the right.  The wash was bone dry, but you can see that the level goes up to seven feet!  Not a good place to be in a storm.

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Each afternoon at The Ranch, at 4:00 p.m., we gather at The Ranchhouse for Social Hour.  Everyone stands or sits for about a half hour visiting with other guests and lease holders and then at 4:30 we all sit down for introduction of visitors, sing Happy Birthday to any one who is brave enough to admit a birthday, Happy Anniversary for those who are celebrating an anniversary and we also sing Happy Trails to those who are leaving the next day.  After all of that, we have announcements that are pertinent and then we break up.  Some folks stay and visit and the rest either go home or go out to eat.

On November 27th, we went on a trip with the Striblings and a couple of other folks from The Ranch.  First we hit the local Elks Lodge in Carlsbad for dinner.   A very nice dinner for $4.50 each.  (Dave Stribling and I are awaiting initiation into this organization, in addition to all the good things they do, they have good food for cheap and many of the lodges have RV sites at very reasonable rates.)  After dinner, we went over to the Pecos Village complex which is sort of a community center/convention center right on the Pecos River in downtown Carlsbad.  We had reservations for the Christmas on the Pecos tour.  This tour is on a large pontoon boat and goes for about an hour.  Both banks of the Pecos are decorated with the most elaborate Christmas decorations we have ever seen.  Lots of patriotic themes this year, American flags covering the entire yard were very popular.  Some UFO stuff was displayed since we are so close to Roswell.   One yard had a small carnival set up.  A big screen projection TV complete with midget cars, like you would see at Disney, parked watching the videos.  All in all, it was probably the best Christmas light display we have ever seen.  The weather was very Christmas like also, 26 degrees and as soon as we got on the boat, it started snowing.  I wish I had taken the camera.  Libby was so bundled up, all you could see was her eyes.  By the time we got back to the dock, the snow had accumulated on the front of the boat and on the lawns of the homes.

Since we have not moved since the last week of October, I have decided to combine our November and December updates.  So here is what we did in December.

One of our tasks while here at The Ranch was to help with the kitchen remodel at the Ranchhouse.  I volunteered to handle the cabinet removal and install the new cabinets.  Along with a lot of help, we managed to get this done about a week ago.  There are still some minor cosmetic items to take care of, but the Ranch House looks a lot better than it did a month ago.  We removed all the old tile, painted the ceilings, added some wallpaper border around the ceiling and then installed the new cabinets.  I helped with the painting, but the outgoing manager, Roger Kurtz laid all the new tile.  He did a great job.  Then my crew and I installed the new cabinets.  We are (12/21) still waiting for the new orifices for our new stove to arrive and then we will have two commercial stoves and ovens in addition to a  new food preparation sink, two new handwashing sinks and a new scullery that was installed during the summer.  Lots of folks have put many hours in this project and it shows. 

One day last week, Libby and I along with Dave and Sally Stribling, drove up to Roswell.  We did some shopping for the Ranch House and then hit the local Target store, ate lunch at the Cattle Baron.  Good food, a bit pricey.  We then drove downtown and I dropped off our new contract with Bank Of America for our lower interest rate. (more later)  Then we walked to the UFO museum which is in downtown Roswell.  It was pretty interesting and we got to meet the owner. This man was in Roswell in 1947 when the alleged UFO incident occurred.   He worked for the funeral home that was asked to provide three caskets 3-3/12 feet long.  He also met the nurse who was supposed to be present at the autopsy.  All in all, it was fun to meet a piece of living history and the museum is worth twice the admission price. (it is free)

Libby and I went to Carlsbad to see The Lord of The Rings.  Good flick, great special effects but very long.

Yesterday, the 20th, Libby and I drove back to Roswell to see a movie.  We had checked the movie times on their internet site and got there in time for the noon matinee.  Unfortunately, we found that the matinee only occurs on the weekends!  50 miles each way.  Oh well.  We did hit the local Applebees for lunch and also did some more shopping.  I got a new Stetson western hat.  Libby got some new blue jeans.

Last night, we had the Holiday Hams show in the Ranch House.  In one skit, Libby was the 6 geese a laying and I was the 10 Lords a Leaping.  It was in interesting 12 days of Christmas.  Libby and our friend Sally Stribling are the co activities directors for December, so she has been pretty active with those duties.

Today the 21st, we met three other couples at Granny's BBQ on the west side of Artesia for lunch.  Note that the usual Escapees theme of eating is alive and well here.

Saturday we are having Spuds and Songs.  Baked potatoes and a sing a long.  It should be interesting.  We are about split 50/50 between the Lawrence Welk crowd and fans of the Grateful Dead!  Maybe we can sneak a little Stones into the program.

Monday night is our gift exchange which is a chinese auction format.  That should be fun.  Then on Tuesday, we are having Christmas dinner with about a hundred of our closest friends. (update, Libby walked away from this exchange with a big jar of peanuts and I snagged a bottle of white wine)

One of the projects of our own that I have done while we at The Ranch.  I removed the carpet from our bathroom and replaced it with wood plank flooring that matches the flooring in our kitchen. 

I suppose we will find something to do next week and then Libby's hitch as activity director will be over.  We are planning to head for Quartzsite about the 15th of January.  We are sort of waiting for me to be inducted into the local Elks lodge.  Dave Stribling and I have been voted on and should be initiated in January.  If that doesn't happen early though, we will have to wait until we get back from Arizona in late March.  We have enjoyed eating at the local Elks lodge as guests of several of the Elks that stay here at The Ranch.  We are looking forward to being able to visit on our own, use their camping facilities around the country and helping with some of the good projects they participate in.

Our shopping list at Quartzsite includes a catalytic heater for the rig.  Other than that, we are looking forward to seeing some of our RV America friends and also enjoying the company of several other folks we know who are going to go with us.

A new development for us, we have accepted a job this summer.  We will be workamping at Happy Hollow Rv Resort in De Pere, Wisconsin, near Green Bay.  We report for work the middle of May and will stay at least until Labor Day, maybe until mid October.  We decided to do this based on the stock market decline over the last year.  My variable annuity, which was paying me $500 over my target in 2000 is paying me about $1200 a month less than that target this last quarter.  Since we don't want to deplete our savings account and we don't want to sell stocks at a loss, we have decided that workamping is the only viable choice we have.  Either that, or we will have to sit here at The Ranch for a few more months!  Since we will be here two and a half months when we head for Quartzsite, we don't really want to sit still any longer this winter.  We will be back in the Spring for a while, and of course, we will spend 4 or 5 months in Green Bay, but we can take short day trips from there on our day off and see part of the country that we have not yet been to.  (ok, I've been to Green Bay, but I was about 21 and probably cannot remember any of that trip)

Next month, more travelogues, the view from the desert at Quartzsite and what we think of the Mecca for Rvers.

Fuel for November and December                   $0
Camping fees for November and December     $70 (electricity)
LP for November and December                      $15

Annual expenses.

Fuel for 2001                    $1877.93  $156.49 per month      $5.15 per day
Camping Fees for 2001    $2846.60   $237.21 per month or $7.80 per day
Boondocking in 2001  >50 days

Discount camping club fees  $258
The Ranch maintenance fee  $380

Total camping expenses for 2001= $3484.60    $290.38 per month    $9.55 per day