Albuquerque New Mexico - Balloon Museum and Rails along the Rio Grande Model Train Show - November 10 -12

 WE ARE FIXED! 

The inverter/converter system is installed! A long day of waiting from 9 am until 5 pm before we got the MH back. It turned out to be a much bigger deal than they expected and needed to put 2 guys working on it all day instead of one, so of course more moola. But it's done and working.

We went out for breakfast at Denny's, which was a bad idea as the food came cold and the eggs way too runny. We then camped out in the lounge at the RV park. There's a pool table there and Ray played a couple games with a guy while he did his laundry. 

For lunch we found ourselves a brew pub and I drank a great beer and we both ordered fish and chips, which were delicious. The Quarter Celtic Brewpub.

They grow hops on the railings.

A strange car ...

Back at the RV Park until 4 when we moved to La Mesa's waiting area for the MH. At 5 they called us into the service area and went over what they completed and how the system will work now. 

It won't be exactly like we had, as the remote centre isn't replaced at this time as it's 2 months out and the small remote that they ordered would not work. This means we can't check the inverter status from inside the coach and must look at the actual inverter in the basement. Not a really big deal, but Davey, our technician, said without the remote centre it devalues the coach. This remote will start the generator when set if the batteries get low, start the A/C with the generator if the temps get too high if you set it. We had that before. but I never used those functions. I found that when we were dry camping and I tried to start the generator to use the microwave convection, the generator wouldn't start as the batteries were not low, so I deleted that program.

For now it will do everything we need it to, dry camping or plugged in. I just have to wait about 2 minutes after plugging in for the transfer switch to go to shore power. Without the light to check that function inside, I'll just wait a bit longer before turning anything on. 

We got back to the RV park at 5:30 and did a brief set up in our new 50 amp spot, as tomorrow we will go to fuel up both our diesel and propane so we're ready to leave Monday morning. I want to make sure everything works correctly before we leave town and we already paid for Saturday and Sunday as a weekly rate is less expensive.

Saturday morning, no snow lol A much warmer morning at around 40F. It's so nice having our fireplace on with the ceramic heater this morning. Nice and warm and quiet. :) Discovered that this "Power Management System" is still in the box. It cannot be installed until we get the remote system to run it, which we were told is on backorder until January. The new inverter seems to be working ok so I will call Tiffin next week and see if I can get these parts delivered to Palm Springs at the end of January when we will be there for a month at Coachcella RV Resort. If they will ship it, I will make arrangements with Mike Thompson RV in Cathedral City, who is a Tiffin dealer to install it. I don't know if Traveland in Duncan, a new Tiffin Dealer, would have the expertise to deal with this and after spending all this money it doesn't seem smart to get it done at home.

Ray took off at 8 am this morning to do the fueling. Back by 9 and we were all set up for the next two days. Sure is nice not to have electrical cords running everywhere. Now I have my laundry going here in the coach. A lovely stay at home day for me.

Other than doing laundry all day, we took a walk around the RV park just to get outside. Here is a cool hubcap tree.

Sunday morning we woke to clear skies but very cold, 30F (-1C). Today we are going to the International Balloon Museum. They also have a model train exhibit on this weekend at that location. This is the last exploring we will do here in Albuquerque as we are finally back on the road tomorrow.

Out the door at 9:30 am. Sure doesn't take us very long to manuveur around this city now lol. Onto the 40 then onto the I25 and within 20 minutes we are there. :)

First up, the Balloon Museum, how nice it's free on Sunday's.

The camp was flown in by balloon in 1902 by the British for the Antartic expedition.

The Double Eagle (shown below) is the first balloon to cross the Atlantic

They have lovely painted murals behind some of the exhibits.

After we saturated ourselves with balloon history, we drove down the road to the Sid Cutter Pilot's Pavilion where they have the Rails on the Rio Grande Model Train Show. Ray's in model train heaven.  So many collectable 1950s' Lionel Train rolling stock still in boxes for sale. They have a find and seek quiz for kids. so there were lots of "littles" going around with the parents/grandparents trying to find what the clues were for. 

A few sets of trains were set up beside the building outside, but it was mostly in shade so didn't really stand out other than this one.

UFO abducting M&Ms'

Huge replica of Disneyland

This little guy is just so damn cute we asked his dad if we could take his picture.

Back in the car to check out the "President Camp" on the top of the hill overlooking the Balloon Fiesta field. This is where you can have full hookup during the Balloon Festival at a big price. lol

This area has power and water hookups for RV's and looks over the Balloon Fiesta Field. People take their chairs to the cliff edge to watch the launching. Hmmmm something to consider. A lot of money though. 

Well that's it for today. Back to the coach for lunch and tidy up so we're ready to leave tomorrow.... Finally!!! And as Guy Fieri would say "That's all she wrote!"