On to Tucumcari!

We are in Tucumcari, Nm tonight.  We scurried around this morning and were on the road by 9:30.  The sun was directly in our eyes as we headed East on I 40.  Arizona quickly became a memory.

What can you say about spending the entire day on the road in New Mexico?  The terrain is not overly memorable and seems to go on forever.  After 250 miles we arrived in Albuquerque.  By then it was 1:00 PM.   It took about thirty minutes waiting in the RV line at the local Flying J for folks that were dumping their sewer and taking on water.  During that time, Flying J never sold one gallon of fuel.

I have read that Flying J is changing their policy on dumping and water service, charging for these services.  Perhaps they need to move the facility from the fuel pump island, as today there were about a dozen rigs waiting to get thru the only two pumps set up for RVs.

Once I made it into the pumps, I purchased 50 gallons at 2.86 a gallon.  Wow, that awakened the credit card.  Once I had paid, I quickly moved the RV to let the next guy fill.  The folks at the fuel desk are overwhelmed just settling peoples purchases, and make no effort to force folks to move right along  in the pump line.  Enough said.

We had our lunch in the parking lot after purchasing fuel, and watched as the people filed thru the fuel station.  It was mostly orderly, but people can be interesting to watch when they are frustrated.  We decided we needed to leave this station and get back on the road.

We climbed out of town to the East, on a mildly crowded road in the mid afternoon.  It was sunny, and the recent snows had melted.  The roads were dry, but the ditches were still filled with snow.  The temperature dropped as we climbed, but it never was below 50 degrees.  It seemed almost a perfect afternoon to travel.

Once we topped the 7,100 foot mountain, we laughed on the two way radio, that it was nothing but down hill from here all the way to Kansas.  The fact is, that hills roll for miles and miles in New Mexico with scrub bushes and dwarf trees.  It started to become tedious, but we finally arrived here in Tucumcari, and registered at another KOA.

Again they are right by the side of the road and checkin was just toss them the id card and sign here.  It was a little over thirty dollars, and that seems small after paying the California rates last month.  Still it is too high, if it were paid every day.   But for the few nights that we will be on the road going home, we will bask in the convenience.

We will hit it again in the morning.

Retired Rod