Getting Real Close

This was not a big driving day. From Elephant Butte Lake we started back on the I-25 but moved off it again at the little town Hatch from where Highway 26 leads up to Deming, NM where we entered I-10 due west. 

Supposedly the Rio Grande... (Beatrix Kohlhaas)

Dust clouds along the I-10 (Beatrix Kohlhaas)

3 weeks ago there was a rain storm (Beatrix Kohlhaas)

We know this part of the way very well and also the rest areas along the highway. San Simon rest area is a great place for overnight stay, and we came to a stop at the very spot where we have been 2 years ago with our trailer. This is about 120 miles east of Tucson. Tomorrow morning we will try to get pesos for dollars in Tucson, then turn south on the I-19. Border crossing is planned for Sunday morning now.

(Beatrix Kohlhaas)

What Man Once Made - Nature Took Back

 As a follow-up to yesterday's posting, Dixie and I went on a hike to the boat launch, or at least what was the boat launch many years ago. And as is the case with all man-made but abandoned facilities I got the same sorry feeling, that says "I wish this hadn't happened".

The entire lake, once the biggest man-made lake in the US, had disappeared to the tiny fraction of 4.3% of its former size. 

The concrete boat launch, now ending on dry ground, must have seen considerable act ivity once, the huge paved parking lot being a witness of it. The asphalt, was now broken up, though one can still see faint lines for the parking spots, and I found two signs grown in, one of them reminding boat owners to clean mud and debris from the boat before and after launch.

Today, this is looking much worse

This part of New Mexico had a lot of rain weeks ago which actually made the lake water rise with 0.3%. That rain caused disastrous flooding in some parts of the State which tells us how much rain would really be needed to refill the lake. It will never happen.

The Water Is Gone!

 After a calm start from Santa Rosa Lake, we got ourselves back on the trusty I-40. It didn't take long and we saw something that seemed unbelievable the longer we looked at it.

Antelopes beside the Highway

Due to a construction site where one of the lanes was shut down a huge 29mile long line of eastbound vehicles, most of them trucks, had piled up literally bumper to bumper.

It must have been taken hours to get through that construction zone.

Albuquerque

The I-40 is partly in terrible shape with other parts redone not long ago. Seeing that amount of truck traffic one understands how the pavement is exposed to damage.

From Albuquerque we went onto the much better I-25.

I-25 south

Took a rest stop for lunch then reached exit 89 towards the Elephant Butte Lake State Park and the South Monticello sites. 

This part of the park seemed to be the one with most of the pull-thrus. 

Our great site in the park

And we ended up in the biggest of them all. In fact it is big enough for 2 rigs our size. Booked 2 nights again and settled in. I took Dixie for a walk towards the "Lake" where I was awestruck about the total absence of water. 

Brown flats instead of water

There is absolutely no water in this northern part of the lake. In fact, I could see small shrubs growing on what once was the bottom of the lake. Instead of blue water I looked at extensive brown flats. This is illustrating the extend of the drought lasting for years.

Nevertheless, we have just started enjoying our beautiful site which is located directly alongside the service building. 

Service Building

This will be a great place to spend 2 nights at.

A Day At Complete Leisure

Just waking up to the knowledge that I didn't have to drive a single mile was invigorating. We would enjoy a day at our complete leisure. We would have a great breakfast, we would sit around checking news, though the internet up can be spotty, and it IS SLOW.

And we would take Dixie for a hike.

 

Sticking my nose outside the door brought me down to reality. For the moment the grey clouds were defying the weather forecast which had predicted a full sunny day, even though day temps would be down a lot from the previous day. So yes, there was a strong and very cold wind blowing which made me cringe.

We were staying inside until noon, when the sun had reached its peak. There was still some cold wind, but with a jacket we decided to walk up the road to take a look at the big dam holding back the water of the lake.

The construction of the Santa Rosa Lake Dam was done by the US ARMY Corps Of Engineers from 1974 -1979. This is not a power station but a project of flood control.

The uppermost major dam along the Pecos River, it serves for irrigation water storage and flood control. Originally proposed in 1951 and authorized in 1954, the dam (then known as the Los Esteros project) generated controversy, as the Fort Sumner Irrigation District which depended on the Pecos River contended it would increase evaporation rates. It was not until 1971 when an agreement was reached to reduce the permanent storage pool at Los Esteros.

2 years after the opening of the dam the adjacent State Park was created.

The Canyon of the PECOS river as seen from the top of the dam

After we finished our 2.6mile long hike both Dixie and we felt a need for resting.

And the wind had actually died down so it was nice to cozy up in the warm sun.

Santa Rosa And Its Share Of "Main Street America"

This is the real thing of "Get your Kicks on Route 66".

We went downtown for two errands: try to get MX.Pesos at a bank and getting a few groceries.

First errand was not successful, "We can order Pesos but only for customers". I was prepared for the "ordering" but what a nasty answer to exclude non-customers. Corporate America at its best again.

However, the grocery shopping 2 miles down Main Street was successful and we could park our 65ft-rig nearby. On the way down to the grocer I had seen a car parts place. That reminded me of getting another can of coolant. The one I had was emptied into the coolant expansion container this morning and was working well. The car place was a foot walk half a mile back Main St. And when I got there the place was closed. Closed to November 1.

 

Along this hike I had ample opportunity to take pictures of the former glory of this town, today signaling decay. I met a few people on Main St this morning and what was very noticeable was their super friendliness towards me as a stranger in their town.

Getting back to the coach, where Bea and Dixie had been waiting we got ourselves to the road leading up to Santa Rosa Lake State Park. It's 7.8 miles from town, a narrow paved road, and easy to drive.

We followed it all the way to the office where we were told to make a reservation by phone or online after we had found a fitting site. They got many pull-thrus and we found a great site right away. Booked two nights for $47 but without electric and water, which is super for us as we don't need either.

Weather was at its finest with deep blue skies and a dark blue lake in the not-too-far distance. A short hike to the lake proved a bit too hot for both Dixie and myself.

So afterwards we cooled off in the shade of a big old Junier tree. Btw, I really had to laugh because of Dixie. 

We know she was getting tired of daily traveling across thousands of potholes and badly maintained roads, but when she got outside in our campsite she immediately went to that shady place underneath the Juniper started digging herself a hole and placing her on top of it for hours to come. Dogs have an amazing ability to find their most comfortable spots regardless of where they are.

Special Sunday

This morning I discovered that our rear passenger side tire was low on air. So I pulled out my air hose and the regulator. But when I tried to connect the hose to my air outlet, the male part didn't get seated right, so air could escape and I didn't get any pressure. It worked well last year so don't know what is wrong this time.

While I was still standing outside contemplating what to do, a semi pulled up to me. Driver shouted out the window whether I needed air. Then he got out and unrolled his own air hose proceeding to check and pump up my tire. My tire was down to 60PSI while it's supposed to hold a 100.

How could that tire suddenly lose 40 PSI?

While this young trucker was pumping the tire we got into a short conversation. Noticing my accent he inquired about my origin. Then he told me that he himself was from Israel and had come to the US as an adolescent.

Besides of being so helpful to a stranger he was the nicest guy ever. What a pleasure meeting him.

Now, of course we got worried about that tire and whether it would lose air again, so we pulled over across the road to a LOVES Truck Stop.

My inquiry whether they could please check out my tire was answered with "We don't work on motorhomes".

Now, the guy who gave that answer cannot be blamed, I'm sure it's LOVES company policy. But I must say that the answer left me perplexed. There is hardly a difference between a truck tire and a Class A DP tire. And they were not even busy this Sunday morning.

So back on the highway we went. Bea went online and found a small Mexican tire place in a little town just off the highway. I called the owner and he confirmed that he could help and was available. After some 20 miles down the road we found his place. He and his helper, both from Mexico, were just trying to help another motorhome owner from New York who had a broken down exhaust pipe.

Together they took off our tire, spayed soapy water on it  but found no hole. It was kind of hard to believe, but I had followed their work and I knew that no air was escaping from our tire. 

So the tire was mounted back on, and we could continue our journey with a little delay, but also with the piece of mind knowing that everything was good.

We rode through Amarillo and eventually entered New Mexico. We had planned to stay 2 days at Santa Rosa Lake State Park.

But then I noticed our coolant temperature was rising whenever we drove up an incline. We turned on the heater to take heat away from the motor, and it helped for a short time, but then the temperature went up again.

The road to the State Park rises in elevation and I understood that it wouldn't work out with this new problem. So we found a nice rest area east of Santa Rosa and settled in for the night. Tomorrow morning I can take off the lit of the coolant container, check the level and refill more liquid. But we must keep an eye on this as I suspect one or the other reason for the coolant getting too hot.

So today might not have been the top ideal travel day, but there was something really positive in the way we got our tire problem solved.

It was the fact that both individuals were not born-Americans. One from Israel, the other from Mexico, while a big American company employs policies denying an RVer in distress necessary help. To protect these individual's privacy, I will not post any pictures showing their place or their faces. But if YOU ever find help by an immigrant, you must remember that without these great hard-working people AMERICA will lose out big time. Yes of course, they should be in the country legally, but it is also the obligation of the US-Government to provide a process for, permanent residency which can be followed without having to jump through a bunch of everlasting hoops making hiring of lawyers necessary. And there should be an amnesty for folks without criminal record and who have stayed, worked and paid taxes for years. All they want is enjoy a better life for themselves and their family.

Getting Out West

Today was the day we left the east behind and gained miles into the west. Reaching Oklahoma City is the very milestone of it, and whatever comes after that is pleasure.

Arkansas River at Ft.Smith

It's pleasure because of the highways are better, there is less traffic and we can "smell" our destination, which for many years has been the deserts in southern California. And once we had that smell in our nose we were getting close and could look forward to taking our well-deserved rest from the road.

Yes we saw black clouds, but only a slight rain hit us

When we travel we watch out for developments in the weather. Today we had chosen this route to avoid a massive rain with thunderstorms moving north from Dallas. Our choice of travel route was the right one as all we had to deal with was a few slight showers.

Oklahoma City

The destination for the day was Weatherford,OK, and Bea had scouted out a Walmart, well that was until we saw a honkin' big billboard for a casino. Casinos are known to RVers for offering overnight RV-parking. Since the place was still east of the Walmart we decided to check out the casino. 

It turned out to have a huge paved parking lot out back and yes, they welcome RVers there.

So this was the opportunity to try out their restaurant. It was busy as could see, but found a spot and ordered 2 INDIAN TACOS, which were described as an Oklahoma specialty. It was delicious! Highly recommended. Filling, well tasting and delivered with excellent service.

So this casino parking is free, even though we spent money in the restaurant. But what is better, spending money for parking or for a nice meal? You be the judge.

While we had been munching on our meal, Dixie was in the rig. When we came back she was standing upfront looking out the windshield and clearly recognizing her happy owners as they approached from across the parking lot. Her wagging tail was visible through the windshield. Guess who was the happiest at this moment.

We Were On A Roll, But Then We Discovered This

"Are you crazy?" was the first thing I heard this morning when I tried to get Bea out of bed, cause I thought it was 7pm already, but what I didn't know was that Nashville is already on Central Time, so let's just say it was a bit early to get up.

But this way, we at least had a long morning before daylight until we could start our daily drive to "greener pastures".

Morning Rush in Nashville

That drive led us into very heavy morning traffic with two "stop and Go" areas, but eventually also out of the urban Memphis area.

Morning rush in Nashville

Soon we rolled along excellent paved highways westward towards Little Rock, AR.

During one of our rest stops I took a routine walk-around the trailer checking on the tie-downs. Unfortunately the tie-down on the front driver side wheel had pressed against bumper which, of course is just a piece of plastic. This part had loosened from it's screws and was kind of sticking out to the side.

 
 Luckily, no part of the bumper was broken, other than the plastic screws had been ripped out. Now, I always carry all kind of screws and bolts with me and so with Bea's help I managed to insert steel screws through the holes and secure the bumper again.

Turns out, ALWAYS take a look at your load once you are stopped anyway. Discovering a small problem in time, can save you a lot of further trouble.

I had another good look at our choices of travel routes and because of inclement weather I decided to continue on I-40 via Oklahoma City instead of going south via Dallas/Ft.Worth where rain and strong wind would make driving difficult. The rain will most likely extend to Oklahoma as well but wind won't cause a problem there.