Cedar Crest, NM, Hatch Chilies and Flat Tire

After boondocking for 5 nights, it was time to go back to civilization and camp in a campground.  We drove to the east side of Albuquerque and stayed at Turquoise Trail Campground in Cedar Crest, NM.  We arrived with no problems and dumped our tanks and got set up in spot #36.  It was the nicest spot in the campground.

Later we found out that the singer, Ozzy Osbourne, filmed a reality show in this exact spot. When I was in high school my brother was a fan of Ozzy's music but I thought he was gross for biting off the head of a bat.  Anyway, I never saw the reality show but apparently him and his son, Jack, were traveling in an RV and stayed in this spot.  We learned this from the campground owner who also told us that Ozzy really didn’t spend the night in the RV but instead went in to town and stayed at the Hilton.  The show made it look like he slept in the RV filming him waking up in the trailer.  She told us people request this spot just based on the TV show.  It just so happens that Ozzy is doing some concerts in the area now so the radio stations are playing more of his music and we hear his name mentioned more than usual.  It was fun hearing this story.

When in town to run errands and do laundry, we spotted a couple of places that roast Hatch chili peppers.  These peppers are very popular here in NM.  We got to talking to one guy outside of a Sprouts and he says people buy a bushel of peppers for ~$25 and bring it outside and he roasts them for them.  It is very popular and he told us some people buy multiple bags.  That’s a lot of roasted peppers.  We’re told people then freeze them and use them for all sorts of dishes.  They smelled delicious and the guy gave us some samples to try!

https://www.hatch-green-chile.com/how-to-roast-hatch-chile/

We drove past a burger place called Burger Boy which didn't look like much but it was always packed with cars.  Al looked them up on Yelp and they had great reviews so we decided to give it a try.  We ordered our burgers with our normal favorite toppings.  Later we found out the food to eat here in New Mexico is a Hatch green chili cheeseburger.  Next time we eat at a popular place like this we'll have to ask for their most popular items.   

We planned to stay 2 nights in Cedar Crest and then move on but when we woke up on travel day, Al noticed we had a flat tire on the trailer.  Al got the tire changed using the spare that came with the trailer and then we went to get the tire fixed.  There was a tire place nearby and they fixed the tire quickly but dealing with the warranty took them a long time.  They ended up fixing it for free because it was too much trouble dealing with the warranty for the $16 repair cost.  So we ended up staying an additional night to take care of the tire repair.  Luckily we're not on any schedule so we had the flexibility to take care of the tire.    

We're still hanging around Albuquerque waiting for the Balloon Fiesta to start.