To Meteor Crater RV Park, Liking These Short Travel Days

We got away from the Enchanted RV Park at 7:40 am.  Taking a frontage road for nearly 5 miles and we finally get onto I-40, and for a moment, I wonder if we are in another state.

But then the rocks of New Mexico show up again, and get very close to the roadway.

By now we are between Grants and Gallop New Mexico.

I always enjoy this area of New Mexico.

It is also here that we finally hit the Continental Divide...at an elevation of 7,300 feet.  The good thing about I-40 is that you never hit a long climb...the climb takes place from when you go over the Mississippi River at about 300 feet, and until you hit the Divide at 7,300 feet.

And we come to the New Mexico - Arizona border.

And we get our first surprise of the day...the Rest Area here is closed...you can see the orange sign under the blue Rest Area sign to the far left says "Closed".  Ouch!  Really was counting on that rest area, and the views of the rocky cliffs that surrond it is realy amazing.  Although the Rest Area was closed, the Indian Relics Shops seemed to be open....but we drove on.

There are many places in eastern Arizona and western New Mexico that sell Indian stuff.

Our original plans had us stopping at Winslow, but when I called the RV Park there I did not get an answer.  Called Meteor Crater RV Park about 25 miles further west, and they had space.  We stayed her a couple of times before, so check in was very easy...but at $45 a night it is the most costly park we have stayed in since leaving.  We traveled around 270 miles today.

The site is nice, no neighbors crowding us, but the weather was HOT HOT HOT, with no shade despite the trees on both sides.

As the sun sets to the west, we will continue to head that way tomorrow, probably reaching the California Border...where it will be even hotter.

Enchanted Trails RV Park

At Enchanted Trails RV Park, Albuquerque New Mexico

We first came to Enchanted Trails RV Park in Albuquerque New Mexico back in 2016.  Our fuel pump had gone out in the motorhome, and we had to be in a hotel for a night while it was in the shop awaiting a new fuel pump to arrive.  It came in the next day, put in, and we decided to stay at the Enchanted Trails RV Park for three more nights because our tow service said that “if we broke down in the next four days, towing would not be covered.”  We felt the Passport America price for two nights, and the Good Sams price for the other night was worth it considering a tow for 100 or 200 miles could cost us hundreds and hundreds of dollars.

Back in 2016 I wrote a fairly extensive blog about this RV park, the owner Vickie, and the classic cars and trailers that she has here.  You can (should) read that blog by clicking here (it will open in a new tab or windows).

  

  

Above are the two Hudson’s and two of the vintage trailers.

Wednesday evening we had just started to eat our dinner and we hear this POP and sound of running water.  I hurry towards the bathroom and Immediately realize the water intake line had busted.  THANK GOODNESS we have a turn off valve (you can barely see it in the upper left of the above picture), so the amount of water that hit the floor was very minimal...one towel cleaned it up very quickly.  The Blue Arrow above shows what busted…the white intake line going into the connector had popped out of the connector.  After I clean up what water, I took off the white connector the arrow points to, and find this….

…the Compression Bushing between the pipe and the toilet intake, which was located in that white cap the arrow points to, had worn out so much that the pipe was able to pop right out of the cap.  Essentially, it lost its compression, and the water pressure popped the intake pipe right out of the cap.  Now had this happened while we were at Ryan’s graduation, or when we visited Cassie, or any number of times that we had left the motorhome for awhile, we ‘would’ have had a huge mess to clean up…water would have be everywhere.  Not only were we here to put an end to it very quickly…right next door to this RV park is a fairly new Camping World.  And they had a new bushing…only one left…for just over $2.  So Wednesday night and Thursday morning we used the shower to add water to the toilet as needed, and after breakfast I went and got the part…and it took longer for them to find the ONLY remaining bushing they had in stock (the computer said they had over 30 in stock, but they really only had one), than it took for me to install it.  WHY did it wear out?  Well, we had a shop replaced the toilet with a tall toilet, which required the new plumbing since the intake is on the back right instead of the back left of the toilet.  We did not like the height of that toilet, and I put in a short toilet later that year.  Then about 18 months later that toilet broke, and I replaced it again.  Just before we left on this trip I told Marcia I wanted to replace the toilet again.  During all of this, I NEVER replaced this bushing.  Frankly, I did not know a bushing was there.  MY BAD!   But thankfully, it broke now, at the right place at the right time.  

Spent the rest of the morning doing laundry, and had a relaxing day after that.  Tomorrow, we head to Phoenix, then to Yuma, then to the Sacramento area, arrive before Mother's Day if all goes well.

Through Texas in under 30 Hours!

West New Mexico Rest Area along I-10

At 881 miles. this stretch of I-10 from Louisiana to New Mexico (or from New Mexico to Louisiana) is by far the longest stretch of Interstate in any one state.  I-5 running up and down California is next at 796.5 miles.  I have gone all the way up and down I-5…but NOT in a single trip.  This is the umpteenth time I have done I-10, and this is the fastest that I remember, and the best driving conditions with just a little fog between Fort Stockton and San Antonio, little wind, no rain, no snow, no ice…but traffic in Houston, San Antonio and some in El Paso, especially where they were doing road construction.  However, the traffic only slow us up by maybe 20 minutes in each of these cities…not bad considering. 

Wish I could say the same about ‘weather’ in New Mexico…but alas…as soon as we crossed into New Mexico, within 3-4 miles, it started to rain, and the wind was blowing from the west as we traveled north to Las Cruces.  The rain stopped just long enough to get gas, then hit with a force as we traveled west along I-10.  Our goal was to get to either the yellow or the red balloon on the map…we actually got to the black arrow which is a NICE welcome center / rest area on the south side of the highway but with easy access from either west or east traffic.  SCORE!   It is also on the other side of the Interstate from the busy train tracks.  SCORE!!  And it is too small for big trucks to come in and stay…besides, there are 2 or 3 truck stops that are in the town.  SCORE!!!  Along with super good Verizon signal, so tomorrow we will stay until church is over, then head on to Phoenix where we are meeting our friend Laurie whose mother passed last year.  A week ago we told her we would make it for breakfast on Monday…but this trip has gone so quick, we are meeting Sunday night at a Cracker Barrel, and I already got permission to stay the night there.   

Family in Sacramento….we SHOULD be pulling in on Tuesday afternoon….looking forward to seeing you all, and, of course, seeing Bubba.

Had a decent nights sleep with one quiet generator going ALL night.  (Why do they park right in the middle knowing they are going to have generator going?  I understand they might have a medical need for having a generator run...but for gosh sake, pick an end sight away from the rest of the folks!)  A few trucks did come in last night, but for the most part it was fairly quiet for a rest area. 

From Phoenix to ….

Top of the Hill RV Park, near Boerne, Texas

We left Phoenix by 5:15 am, and it was still dark.  As we got south of Phoenix, the sun was coming up, and we were surprised at the inversion layer…much like we saw over Phoenix.  Stopped at a Walmart in Casa Grande to get eggs and spinach for our morning omelets, and to feed Skruffy at 7:30.  As a diabetic dog, she eats 12 hours apart.  In California that is 7 am and 7 pm.  In Florida we are shooting for 9 am and 9 pm…so we adjusted her to 7:30 when we got to Arizona (which is 6:30 California time), and 8:30 now that we are in Central time, and when we get to Eastern Time, it will be easy to got 9 and 9.

I “wonder” if any of my faithful blog readers remember this view from “their” new home?  

Southeaster Arizona had clear blue skies…and wonderful landscape.

Here is one way to “see” America…but you only get to see views from the rails…

New Mexico had nice blue skies too…

…until you get to town of another one of my blog followers.  But hey, I don’t think it is Las Cruces’ fault…I think much of the smog come up from the south where regulations are not nearly as strong as their are in the states.

And finally Texas…

…where 530 miles later, and a nights sleep in Van Horn, here we are.

So wait…what happened to 500+ miles of “scenery”?  Well, as we headed to Van Horn, it was getting dark.  This morning we left Van Horn at 5:45 am.  JUST as it was starting to have what would be a very pretty sunrise, we hit a fog/cloud bank.  For a bit I thought I was driving between San Francisco and Sacramento, the fog was that thick…well, almost that thick.  Then the temps dropped to as low as 27.  Ice built up on the mirrors, on the wipers, and the tire sensors went crazy with the cold weather.  Thankfully, the road was not slippery…but one never knows so speeds were kept to around 55 most of the way today.  What should have been a 6 1/2 hour trip, took well over 8.  Notice in the pictures above that the car is still hooked up, the slide is “in”, and we only have our electric plugged in.

   

   

So we have completed 1,700 of our 3,000 mile trip back home.  We will be here in Boerne (pronounced “Burney”) for two nights.  It is New Year’s Eve tonight, and we sure did not want to be out on the road very late…getting here after 2:00 was late enough.  It may or may not snow and/or have icy rain tonight, so I we decided to stay for two nights.  Tomorrow I will add water to our water tank, empty our holding tanks, and put everything back away except the electrical hookup.  We had the slide out for awhile today, but with possible ice, I did not want to have problems pulling it in tomorrow or Tuesday.  I also lowered the antenna to where I just get a clear picture…but low enough that I can drive if absolutely needed in case the ice is heavier than predicted. Tuesday we plan to have a late breakfast with my brother Jim and wife Carol in San Antonio, and then off we go…hoping that this is the worse of the weather…it is bound to be the coldest with temps hitting the low 20’s, perhaps the teens while we are here.  But we are staying warm with our DeLonghi radiant heater, and the motorhome’s propane heater periodically coming on and off.

Note:  Why the "...." in the title?  Because Marcia would not let me say Hell  😉