Nomad Newbie!

Old Town Albuquerque: touristic, to be sure, but charming! The town has many local artists and artisans who sell their wares in the shops here. Since the items were pricey, AND I cannot possibly be adding ANYTHING more to what I am already carrying in my car, I was not interested in making any purchases. Still, it was fun to window shop, and I enjoyed the Mexican motif that this part of town is known for. Being winter, it was not crowded... I strolled along peacefully.  More descriptions accompany the photos.  The "entrance" to Old Town: I really appreciated this beautiful mosaic on the edifice.  An icon of Old Town: The "Sawmill Market" is exactly as stated: a number of shops and little cafes, nestled in this large building that was a sawmill eons ago. I thought that the exterior was more interesting than the interior, so did not take any photos inside. I did enjoy a nice coffee and the general ambiance.  A classic, Old Town pedestrian walkway... this little scene ...

By far one of the best aspects of Albuquerque is the proximity of the Sandia Mountains and its foothills. Hiking trails in the foothills are basically reachable in 10 to 30 minutes, depending upon where one starts from in the city. Although it is VERY dry here, and most everywhere you look you see brown and dried out vegetation, there are exceptions! There is the pale green of cacti (which one has to be extremely wary of on the trails, I must confess! I got "stuck" with cactus spines a few times!). There is the contrast of the sky with ever-changing clouds, along with earth tones of the land.  True, the predominant barrenness  takes some getting used to as a Californian, but this area of New Mexico has its own particular beauty.  More interesting still is when one goes up higher, into the Sandia Mountains proper, where there actually is an abundance of evergreens, mixed with low-lying cacti! Strange indeed, and rather wonderful.  I did not take many photos... I never...

 Arriving in town around noonish, I made my way to my first house and pet sitting gig here in Albuquerque (or, simply "ABQ" as it is often written...no surprise there!). I obtained this "job" through a platform called "Trusted House Sitters"-- a site that enables the traveler to find places to stay around the world, in exchange for taking care of the house and whatever pets reside there. Although I am a professional pet sitter and accustomed to being paid, it seems a fair trade when traveling, since I no longer have a "permanent" location for which to advertise/promote my service. The fees I had to pay to become a member were well worth it: if I had to find Airbnbs to stay in (anywhere in the U.S.), I would have to spend hundreds of dollars per month. In short, I am MOST grateful for this brilliant arrangement! Both of these rescue dogs are the canine children of Marie, a most lovely and generous woman who lives in the sweet, clean and well-organ...

After leaving Tucson in the wee hours of morning, I had a pleasant, leisurely drive of about 4 hours before arriving at my destination of Caballo Lake State Park. On the way, I enjoyed a magnificent, ever-changing sunrise coming up over the hills to the right of the long stretch of highway. The campground at the state park was rather odd: It was, for all intents and purposes, an RV park. That is to say, ninety percent of the sites were for RVs and vehicles needing hookups. Some massive RVs had the appearance of being there permanently! The humble, main camping area for car campers like myself consisted of a large, circular parking lot down by the lake... more scenic, to be sure, but lacking any amenities whatsoever! This was the "primitive" camping area. There were no numbered sites, no picnic tables or water faucets, and no bathrooms! One had to "hike" up the hill to the more "civilized" RV area to use a bathroom (which was heated and quite nice, as it tu...

 One important element of being a nomad in this country is the ability to "boondock".  This basically means free camping, sometimes on BLM lands, sometimes (egads! not for me!) in a Walmart parking lot! Basically, there are tons of places and creative ways of camping that don't require paying a camping fee... important if you are a nomad as a way of life, especially for an extended period of time. True, there are plenty of wealthy people "glamping" (glamour + "camping") in monstrous RV's, but that is obviously not my style. Nor is it the style for thousands of nomads who have chosen this out of necessity, or simply because they are minimalists, as I am. The way to find out where to boondock in any state of this country is to ask other nomads, OR to use an amazing website:  "free campsites.net". This is how I found my BLM boondocking spot in Arizona, just shy of Quartzsite.  Below: fellow boondockers at sunset. There were probably about 2 ...