From Sunset to Albuquerque

After the fourth storm went through last night, that only had four of five hail stones hitting the motorhome, we ate our dinner and then there was this wonderful sunset.  We had one of our better nights sleep since leaving Florida, temps were in the low 60's, perhaps high 50's.  It was very quiet...almost too quiet.  We put one of our favorite DVD movies on (Secondhand Lions) to watch on the bedroom TV, and I was out within 10 minutes

We hit the road by 8 am, got through Amarillo without a problem, and we get back to the Texas Scenery. 

Not too long and we see a very large feedlot.  With yesterday's rain, and a good morning breeze, the fragrant odor was very tolerable.  Of course, a good rancher would say, "It is just the smell of money" ... they say the same thing about the smelly paper mills scattered around the south, including outside Pine Bluff Arkansas where I lived in the area for 22 years.

And then there is the Windmill Farm...hundreds of windmills.  I must say that I was impressed at how many of the windmills we have seen this trip actually were spinning.

In my last posting I talked about the many Picnic Areas that you find along the Texas Highways.  In other states, such as Arkansas, they just call them Truck Parking Areas.  Nothing fancy at all.

But at least most of them in Texas do have picnic tables.  No bathrooms though.

We finally hit "Mile Zero" and enter into New Mexico.  Had we stayed on I-10 and entered and exited Texas, it would have been a 880 trip. The route we took was just 600 miles.  No matter how you do it, Texas is one long trip UNLESS you enter and exit on I-40, then it is only 180 miles or so.

The scenery changes very quickly now that we are in New Mexico.  It makes the drive more enjoyable, and includes more picture taking.  Since entering Texas, we have gone up over 3,000 feet.  By the time we start heading down the hill into Albuquerque, we are at the 6,600 foot level.  We then drop to the 5,300 foot level as we come into Albuquerque.

We tried to find a park up in the higher altitude...but they were all full.  A few times we have stopped at the Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post, just west of Albuquerque.  They had plenty of openings...but perhaps it looks that way because they are spacing the RVs out due to the COVID scare. I hooked up the electric, and nothing came on.  I knew I was having connection problems with the female portion that plugs into the motorhome, and thank goodness Camping World was right next door.  $65 later I have an adapter.  As I pay he asks me for my phone.  I give it to him, and then immediately said, "No, I don't want to renew."  I was really hoping to get to Arny's and order a new cord with the proper adapters, which would have only cost $45 through Amazon.  I will now convert the old cord to an RV Extension Cord, which will run another $15 or so.  Thank goodness I already had a 50' extension to go with the new overly expensive adapter that I just bought, so we were in business within 30 minutes of figuring out the problem.

NOTE: Since I have written a few posts about Enchanted Trails RV Park & Trading Post, I am not doing that today.  You can read about previous posts, and see the many vintage RVs and old cars if you wish by clicking here.

 

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