Greetings from the Road!

 

I really wanted to post new photos from this trip but they require at least a little bit of background info in order bring them to life. So I decided I would do a Blog of this trip. I’m stubbornly spending money I don’t have and challenging gas prices, a move sure to fail, along with turning 70, a battle I plan to win and saying “damn the torpedo’s, full speed ahead”.

 

Don’t know how often I’ll get to post since most of my campsites have no internet access. Hopefully I’m sending this from a commercial campground in Santa Fe. I’m going to attach descriptions on my photos, click on the info icon in the top right area of the photo.

 

I left Tallahassee Thursday May 12^th and spent the night in a Carrel Barrel parking lot in Hattiesburg,MS which they allow RV’s to do. That was my first sample of staying there and I would rather choose a Walmart parking lot due to better security and I ate too much at Cracker Barrel! I got rained on that night and that is the last rain I’ve seen and today is June 7^th. I flew thru Texas into New Mexico, went thru the Dallas/Ft. Worth mess at 7:30am on a Sunday and finally had a decent ride thru there. Spent the night west of Ft. Worth at the Sweetwater Lake Municipal Campground, water and electric $15 night. That afternoon it hit 108 in Sweetwater and I was thankful for the A/C.

 

I revisited Brantley Lake State Park just outside Carlsbad, New Mexico. It’s a reservoir on the Pecos River. It was hitting 100 each day but 50’s at night. I spent 4 days mostly hiking and relaxing along with a side trip to Sitting Bull Falls. Then I headed a few hours west and up into the Lincoln National Forest near Cloudcroft for 5 nites and my 2^nd nite it was 38 at 6am. Stayed in the 40’s every other nite but I had to leave since they were closing the forest to all activity due to the extreme fire danger. As usual I enjoyed my stay in Cloudcroft, a great place to visit I was lucky I got 5 days in.

Since then I’ve had 5 campground cancellations occur so I’ve had to find places to camp that fill the gaps and don’t break the budget. So far I’ve done well in finding spots, I’ve lost a total of 18 days in forest areas closed due to the fires. I’ll be in Colorado in about 10 days and I’m keeping a close eye on their fire situation.

 

After Cloudcroft I visited the Valley of Fires BLM campground north of Alamagordo where they had water and electric so when it went over 100 I survived. I’ve had my eye on it for years and finally got there so I stayed 4 nites rather than the planned 2. Neat lava flows that are some of the youngest in the US at an estimated 5000 years old. The flows are the result of vents that opened in the ground versus a volcano. The wind was amazing, my last day it was gusting to 50 mph. I took down my Gazebo early in the day before the wind got too strong. I was about 30 miles, as the crow flies, east of the Trinity site where the 1^st Atomic bomb was denoted. Typical high desert it got down into the 40’s at night. And the Freeze Café in Carrizozo has French Fries to die for!!!!!!

 

I spent Memorial Day weekend at Villanueva State park also along the Pecos River but a few hundred miles north of the previous stop along the Pecos. It was a quiet little park and I took a side trip into Las Vegas, NM one day and saw virtually no fire smoke that day. I was camped right beside the Day use area pavilion and over the weekend and got to witness multi-generational families dining and playing together. The smells from the local food was driving me crazy!

 

So I left there and went to where I sit and type this, El Morro National Monument west of Albuquerque along the old Santa Fe Trail. I was here in 2019 and loved it. I’ve felt a connection to the 4 Corners area of the Southwest ever since my first visit in the 90’s. The campground is only 9 sites and they are free. There is water and a vault toilet. I arrived early in the day and had my choice of sites. No motorhomes in here, they won’t fit. I’m getting ready for nite #6. I will miss here, heading for Santa Fe tomorrow. A few months before leaving home I added another 100 watt solar panel to my mini power system on my camper. I put the new one on the roof and along with my older one on a stand and 50 foot cord I am able to keep all 4 of my deep cycle batteries charged. 3 of them power a 1500 watt inverter so I have AC power for fans,TV,toaster,etc. The addition of the 2nd solar panel was a good move the 6 days here I ran fans all day and watched DVD's every day.

The Sandstone outcropping at El Morro has a year round water hole and was an important stopping point for a long time. The cravings in the sandstone span ages and many are from the Spaniards and US Cavalry and Pioneers. The ruins on top of the Mesa are from around 1275 but the people left the community after only 75 years. I visited a nearby lava field that is 115,000 years old and the increase in soil and vegetation was dramatic compared to the Valley of Fires.

 

So staying in Santa Fe is going to be in a commercial campground due to the cancellations I’ve had, the price difference is crazy but I love Santa Fe and don’t want to miss it. In fact I may comeback in mid-September depending on the forest fire situation.

 

10 days after Santa Fe I’ll be in Colorado. I’ll send more from there.

 

Oh, a by the way, my challenge to 70 is proving to be interesting. My knees apparently didn’t get the memo about the trip! They are reacting badly to downhill. I would have thought 80 miles of bike per month since the 1^st of the year would have had them ready but the stresses are obviously different. My future hiking would seem to need to be rethunk!!!!!!!!!!

 

Tomorrow will mark a month on the road and I feel like I’m in the groove. As usual I record all my expenses and calculate my gas mileage. So this year I let my anal self get carried away with a spreadsheet of gas prices based on gasbuddy.com and my knowledge of my trucks performance. However, I did something different in that I refused to go over 63 mph unless required. I increased my average mpg from 9.5 to 11 quite a good result especially at today’s gas prices. However, it was until Las Vegas, NM ($4.49) that I paid more for gas since the last fillup before leaving Tallahassee on May 12^th.  

 

 

To view the photos I've posted on Google Photos go to this link....... https://photos.app.goo.gl/g3iGwJA3byeTQpfX8