Oct 3-4

Oct 3/2012
Away from Caspar at 7:55 AM in sunshine and 61F. Lots of oil pumpers,dinosaur museums, windmills, and grasslands. We crossed into Colorado at 11:20. Lots of corn fields. Burrito lunch at Ft Collins Rest Area. Wind warnings for  45+MPH winds but this never materialized. Drove through Denver, close to 40 miles without a stop. Population of 558,000. Heavy security setting up for the Obama/Romney debate this PM. 82F. Went over Monument Pass at 7200 ft. Went through Colorado Springs. population of 335,000. Several military bases and universities. Crossed the New Mexico border and got to Las Vegas, NM KOA at 8:00. Park was full but lucky for us the people on #13 left and didn't return so we were given the site. Today was a 12 hour day and we drove 625 miles.

Oct 4/2012
We filled our fresh water tanks and dumped black tank in preparation for our arrival at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival. We left Las Vegas at 10:00 at 53F. We fuelled at the San Filipe Travel Center (Native Casino, etc) north of Albuquerque. Cheapest diesel yet at $3.93 and we were running low so was a great find. We arrived at our parking area adjascent to the Balloon Festival Grounds by 1:00, 1847 miles from home. There are 109 rigs in our Fantasy/FMCA group. After getting parked and plugged in we went and did our registration followed by a rally orientation. Really fun meeting new friends and old. At 5:30 we were treated to a fantastic Welcome BBQ catered dinner in our huge tent. (ribs, pulled pork, pulled chicken and salads). We were entertained by a duo of Marimba players, who performed then got some of our group involved in the music. The marimba is a percussion instrument from Guatamala, a mellower version of the xylophone, played with mallets, one to many per hand. A fun time was had by all and we were so glad that we made it in time for the activities, regardless of how tiring the past few days had been.