Almost there
We left Alamogordo at first daylight and were heading towards Las Cruces. When passing the White Sands National Monument we remembered the great experience we had there in April. It sure is amazing to see these massive amounts of white gypsom sand which have piled up there.
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| Our Route today |
The sky was deep, deep blue this morning and we enjoyed the grand view of the St. Andreas Mountain Range, but it was a cold morning as well.
Highway 70 climbs through a pass and descends rapidly towards Las Cruces.
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| Descending to Las Cruces |
There are signs along the road prohibiting the use of retarder brakes, but there would be no way for the bus to descend safely from those mountains just by using the foot brake. So I decided our safety was more valuable than the peace of the population along that road.
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| Goods Train between Deming and Lordsburg |
From Las Cruces the road climbs up to about 4500ft and I tell ya we were freezing cold in the coach. It seems that Motor Home manufacturers do care little about the well-being of their customers when those are driving in cold weather conditions. The dash heat has no way of heating up the interior of the coach, even with the curtain we have installed behind the seats. From under the dash ice-cold air is creeping up on drivers and passengers legs and I finally had to put on gloves, if I wanted to keep my fingers able to move. Once we were driving in early spring weather up to Alberta we had to buy a little fan heater and let our generator run while driving. It is a shame that these motor homes are sold at several hundred thousand Dollars a piece with such lousy heating systems.
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| Not so Grand -- the Rio Grande at Las Cruces -- with no water in it |
So, despite the bright sunshine all day, we froze until we got down from the high elevation. We were passing Tucson at around 1pm and ended our day at Gila Bend, where the Gila Monsters live. Arrgh.... here I did it again.
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| Seriously venomous Monster |
But tomorrow we are done. We have travelled more than 5,200km (3,231miles) and we are tired. We need rest.
Can't wait until tomorrow? Me neither!
Almost there. What a great feeling. Then you can rest and hopefully warm up. We loved White Sands.
ReplyDeleteI'm tired too just reading...take care..soon you will be nice and warm :) travel safe...
ReplyDeleteThat is beautiful country, travel safe!
ReplyDeleteVery strange seeing the Rio Grande in Las Cruces with no water in it. When we visited Las Cruces a few years ago, the Rio Grande was a beautiful, fast flowing river. Enjoy your visit.
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