Heading Down New Mexico

Another day began with blue skies and a drive along I-40, a combination that was sure to put us in a happy mood.

As we planned the next leg of our journey farther west, we had initially considered staying on I-40 and heading toward Gallup. However, after looking more closely at the elevation differences between Albuquerque and Gallup, and comparing them with the route through Las Cruces and Deming, we realized that the climb toward Deming would be much easier than heading straight west to Gallup.

Armed with that information, we plotted a new route. We knew that many of New Mexico’s secondary highways had been closed because of recent flooding. Fortunately, one route had just reopened: Highway 60, running from Vaughn to I-25.

We headed south on Highway 54 from Santa Rosa and then picked up Highway 60 in Vaughn. It’s a two-lane road with pavement quality that varies along the way, but overall, it was in pretty good shape.

There is a whole lot of nothing here

Do you see the train in the picture?

Besides saving us some highway miles, the biggest advantage of taking Highway 60 instead of staying on I-40 was the much gentler change in elevation.

The Clouds today were providing us with stunning views.

Rather than dealing with steep grades and dramatic climbs and descents, Highway 60 gradually brought us down from the high plateau to the lower elevation of the I-25 corridor.

Shortly before getting onto I-25 we crossed the Rio Grande - today a muddy river

From there, we followed I-25 south to Caballo Lake State Park.

Part of the campground sits along the Rio Grande, just south of the lake dam where the river continues its journey downstream. The setting is beautiful, with mature cottonwood trees providing shade and creating a peaceful atmosphere along the river. It was a lovely place to settle in for the night.

Beautiful Park Road

Yes,there are cows in the campground. They got interested in greeting Dixie

Rio Grande beyond the Caballo Lake Dam

We Are Out West

RED EARTH

Today marks a full week since we started out from home. From El Reno,OK we made it all the way through Texas and into New Mexico. First plan was to stay at the Santa Rosa Lake State Park again, but Bea found a free camping opportunity in the tiny town of San Jon, NM.

There is a cute little community park offering free overnight stays and they even have clean restrooms. What they don’t have at this time is a workable internet, at least our Verizon phone doesn’t let us do the blog. So there’s the reason you didn’t see it in the evening. Most amazingly, this morning the internet is back in full force.

From the red soil of Oklahoma to the open free highways of Texas and beyond we love the changing landscapes from lush green to the sage-covered ranch lands of New Mexico.

BROKEN DREAMS

San Jon is located directly on the old Route 66. In fact that old road is just 50yrds away from our trailer. And in the known style of the Rte66 old decrepit buildings are lined up along the tarmac. Most of them also sporting an old car or truck. Rte.66, the crossroad of America is the place where dreams became reality, and were crushed when the Interstate arrived. Both roads are within earshot right here in San Jon.

Another Adventure Was Just Waiting For Us

Starting a travel day in beautiful weather is just what most of us campers dream about, and today was such a day. Pure joy riding down the highway. 

We were now following I-44 towards Tulsa and Oklahoma City. 

We have been through Tulsa years ago, and it is not recognizable. I mean traffic is just a killer.

Arkansas River 

The plan was to join I-40 at Oklahoma City and follow it through the city, but something was about to happen which made us change plans. Right in front of us a super black cloud system had appeared. We could see lightning in the clouds. Knowing about violent outbursts of weather in this area, I quickly took an exit onto I-335 south, Most of the clouds were moving across the north, while it looked more promising to the south. That held true for a while until we were about to rejoin the I-40. Suddenly all hell broke lose. Lightning, storm casts and torrential rain surrounded us and we slowed down. It was hard to see anything through the windshield and we turned into a truck stop to wait out the worst of it. 

We used the opportunity to fill up gas at $3.37/gal which is a whole lot better than what we have seen so far.

And speaking of filling gas, I would like to mention a special chain of gas/shopping places. 

120 gas pumps at Buc-ees Springfield ,MO

Buc-ees is the  name and the company owns the largest gas stations in the world. One is located along I-40 in Tennessee, the other right here at Springfield,MO and both have 120 fuel pumps each.

Now that the weather had calmed a bit, we went back onto the highway. Our immediate goal was the Walmart at El Reno. Bea had found out that there would be space to park. But the second we turned off I-40 the torrential rain came back with a vengeance. After parking, all we could do is sit in the van and wait again for a small lull to make a dash for the trailer.

Oklahoma sure lived up to its reputation for violent storms today, and we have already decided that we won't take this route home again in the spring. 

So after a nice dinner we are relaxing after another eventful day.

Good News Bad News

          CONGRATULATIONS AMERICA!

Be assured that CANADA is a very Happy Camper today and so are we. I don't turn on our TV very often, but yesterday I did to follow with the happenings in the midterm elections.

Then this morning the full-on results were showing and I couldn't wait to tell Bea as she was still in the bedroom.

After breakfast we got busy with routine preparations for another start on our journey.

That's when I took a look from down below up to our roof. At first it seemed unbelievable. I saw a piece of alluminum sticking up, clearly from the solar panel I had mounted there. 

After removing our Blueboy from the rear ladder I went up on the roof. The solar panel lay flipped backwards hanging on with a part of the mounting rail.

I got some wrenches and removed the totally broken panel, and threw it to the ground.

So what had happened? The two front bolts had losened, probably because of road vibrations before the wind had gotten underneath and flipped the panel backwards upside down. Both front bolts, as all the others had been secured with NYLOC NUTS. It is therefore a riddle to me how this came about. 

Anyway, we have to be happy that the panel did not come lose entirely while on the highway.

Due to the solar panel incident, our departure got delayed for a while, and as we finally moved down the highway, it started to rain. It rained on and off most of the day. First as we went deeper into Missouri, it cleared up and the sun broke through.

We crossed the Mississippi south of Saint Louis.

Spending the night at Walmart in Missouri. 

Tomorrow we aim for Oklahoma.

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