Two weeks at Kamp Kolman

 June 23 2023

We’ve settled in at Kamp Kolman, while we are just parked in the driveway it is quite a nice campsite. The most prominent feature is on one side we are bordering a national forest, it’s a fantastic view. On the other side as the driveway angles down from the street it descends a good 15 feet or more, the bank between us and the street is covered in pine and scrub oak trees. We have more privacy than in most campgrounds. 

Can you see the Camper?

We have water and electric, I installed a 30 amp receptacle on one of our previous visits. On this trip I brought a macerator pump and a custom backwash manifold I made and we can now empty holding tanks into the sewer cleanout which is right outside the RV. 

We are no longer constrained by the capacity of the holding tanks and can now stay as long as the family can put up with us! Lol.

Looking towards the National Forest

We have been doing family things and have already been to Wecks, the family favorite restaurant in Santa Fe. We all migrate back and forth between the RV and the big house, the grandkids of course love hanging out in the RV. Family is great but it’s nice to have our space at night when its time to turn in. 

Church from Surfside Beach.

Some activities of note include; casting the Sunday church service from Myrtle Beach to our RV TV. Helping out with family tasks whenever we can, I take a turn to drive the kids to their summer activities in the morning, we all helped clean off the rear deck; pine pollen is still falling out here in the west. Millie and RaeAnne had a girl’s only shopping day in Santa Fe. Millie, Marcus and I have watched all three Spiderman movies. I always offer my services as an electrician and am pleased when they have something for me to do, this trip I installed lights in two more closets.

Millie, Marcus and one of their foster kittens

I haven’t mentioned this in the blog, it’s not a secret, I just didn’t fit it in anywhere. Back in Forest City, I violated one of the basic RV codes. Don’t let anyone distract you while you are hooking up the trailer to the truck. I was interacting with the camp host about our site change and left the tail gate down. I turned when backing out of the site and dented the tail gate. It was smashed between the truck and our propane gas bottle, of all things. I guess in a way it was a lucky day. No kaboom! 

Ouch!

It wasn’t all that bad, it still opened and closed, it’s just….this is the Silver Bullet, able to pull the RV up the steepest grades at 80 mph,….. It’s just not right to her looking sad. Millie and I drove to Albuquerque on Monday and purchased a tailgate from a wrecking yard. I had been corresponding with them and they had a tailgate the same color as the truck. It was a bit of a disappointment because the gate was not is pristine condition, but they lowered the price and I can work with it. I installed it the next day.

Week two passed much the same as the first, hanging out and participating in family activities, meals shared, etc. On the fourth of July we all got up early to watch Marcus and Dave run in a 5K (3.1 mile) race in the town. There was lots of competion, running the many trails around town is a very popular thing to do here. Marcus (age 12) came in third in his age group.

The Los Alamos 5K

Dave and Marcus are under the sign in the background.

 Millie gave Marcus a much needed haircut; he’s becoming conscious of his looks and was waiting for Grandma the stylist to cut it. He hopes to get it dyed blue in the future. RaeAnne and Millie dyed part of Evans hair purple. It looks really cool; unfortunately I never had a chance to get a picture of him.

haircut day for Marcus.

daughter and mother

Millie and RaeAnne had another girls day in Santa Fe, they came back empty handed but said they had a good time. Millie and I took a day and drove up to the Valles Caldera, the ancient volcano just north of the Los Alamos Lab. It’s an awe inspiring place that’s for sure. 

Standing in an ancient volcano with a core some 20 miles in diameter.

All the mountains you see are lava domes that rose up as the volcano was cooling. The low black mountain in the far distance is the back of the 20 mile rim.

We continued on to Jemez Springs and had lunch at a small café. They’ve expanded their business since last time we were here, same menu in the front and a marijuana dispensary in the rear!  

In Jemez Springs there is a strange rock formation that is totally different than any other rocks around there. On one end a creek passes thru it and we always see people climbing or milling about. We decided to stop and see what the attraction was. We’re still wondering what the attraction is, there is nothing but a creek running thru a rock. 

The Jemez rock!?

I think whenever some locals stop to cool off in the small pool below the rock, tourist like us stop to see what the attraction is, soon other tourists who see the first tourists also stop to see what’s so interesting. And so on and so on, all the while the locals who are just trying to cool off in the summer heat are wondering what all the gringo tourists are looking at!

All too soon it was time to go, on Wednesday morning July the 5th we packed up the rig and departed Kamp Kolman and Los Alamos. We’ll be back again someday!