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.

Made It Through Tornado Alley

At Blaze-In-Saddle RV Park, Tucumcari, NM

My biggest fear of our trip was the driving over the past two days…right through the heart of Tornado Alley.  Late April through early June is VERY BAD in the traditional Tornado Alley…and frankly, it was nothing I was looking forward to doing.  I have driven through Oklahoma in a car a number of times in May or June…and one time a tornado was just to the north of us, although we did not know for sure it was a tornado until the next day.  The new talk is that Tornado Alley now includes all or parts of Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Iowa, Illinois and even Indiana.  Well, we drove through some of those states too. But when we left the Kansas City area, we pretty much drove the area indicated by the blue line in the above picture.

Our goal was to get to New Mexico by Tuesday night.  Monday I figured either Dodge City, or Kinsley, just shy of Dodge…both of which have Passport America parks.  I liked the park in Kinsley, so we pulled in there.  $19 cash for the night, full hookups, and a nice, quiet night’s sleep.  They anticipated some rain during the night, which never materialized, so I did pull the slide in before going to bed.  The drive to Kinsley was fairly easy, good weather, light traffic for the most part.  We got a pull-through site which, as you can see above, could have fit a 45 footer pulling a small car.

A nice feature of the park is this area to walk/run dogs, and it includes a creek on the other side of those trees which can be hiked.  I walked the dogs, did not do the creek…temps were a bit cool, but not cold enough to wear long pants.

Today (Tuesday) we left 4 Acres Park by 8 am, drove to the Flying J in Dodge City to fill up and feed the dogs.  So far…so good…but it did not remain that way.  About 15 minutes southwest of Dodge, it started to rain…then hail…then hard rain…then heavier hail (but small hail balls).  For the next 2-3 hours it was white knuckle driving for much of the time.  Traffic was again fairly light, but we only go 60 mph, while the trucks and cars want to go the speed limit of 65-70.  About every 8 miles there was a passing lane, which was good.  However, some of the cars were not willing to wait, and a few passed on a solid yellow line.  Anytime anyone passed, I always pulled to the right line and slowed up a bit…for the solid yellow line passers, well let’s just say I only had to eat one bar of soap today mom.

So tonight we are at the Blaze-In-Saddle RV Park in Tucumcari, New Mexico $14.60 for full hook-ups at another Passport America park.  The park use to be named, “Empty Saddle”, but they wisely decided to change the name since the former name meant “The Rider Died…The Horse has an Empty Saddle”.  It is past 7 pm Mountain Time, and one Horse Trailer / RV is here, and the park is over two-thirds full with RVs still pulling in.  The sky is blue, a slight wind is blowing, it is in the mid-70’s, and we are thankful to get through Tornado Alley.   The Weather Channel (Weather.com) has this headline: 

Damage in Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas From Reported Tornadoes as Severe Weather Hits Plains

And within the story the following line:  “A potential tornado caused damage in at least three states as a rash of severe storms lashed the Plains Tuesday, spawning as many as 19 tornadoes across several states.”  

Yep, we made it through just in time…

The Dogs…well they are thankful for the Dog Run…first time they have run off leash together for a long time.  They are also thankful for the time change since they will now be eating at 8 am and 8 pm instead of 9 am and 9 pm.  (Don’t tell them that it is still 12 hours from their 9 am feeding…they are just going to be happy to eat while the sun has just gone down.