Tuesday, March 23, 2010

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

4 comments:

  1. We've begun avoiding Flying J's for the very reasons you mentioned. It just seems too difficult to pull in and fill up sometimes. There always seems to be a wait to pay and a lineup. Weird! Tucumcari? I hadn't heard of that town before - interesting name!

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  2. I also have quit using Flying J. They may devote a couple of pumps to RV's, but they aren't exactly easy for a big rig to get in and out of. I like to find a Shell station with diesel fuel - usually they have plenty of room for large trucks and aren't as congested as the Flying J's, Pilots, Loves, etc.

    I stayed in the Tucumcari KOA as well on my recent trip west. With the KOA card I get 10% off regular rates, and it has been worth the $35, or whatever it was I paid for it. Especially as a lone traveler, I always appreciated KOA's.

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  3. When I fuel I usually use the truck island, they are so much faster. I hold 300 gallons so i dont have to fuel often. I always enjoy the drive between Grants and Albq. there are some beautiful bluffs and mesas on the north side of Infernal State 40. Those dwarf trees you saw are probably pinion trees, a very slow growing tree, that produces the most wonderful flovored nut that you can imagine.

    Travel safe
    Later
    Rojo

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  4. I swiped this from Wikipedia!

    In 1901, the Chicago Rock Island and Pacific Railroad built a construction camp in the western portion of modern-day Quay County. Owing to numerous gunfights, the camp became known as Six Shooter Siding. After it grew into a permanent settlement, it was renamed Tucumcari in 1908. The name was taken from Tucumcari Mountain, which is situated near the community.

    We have a Flying J RVers card, that allows us to get the cash price using our credit card and an additional 1 cent discount as well. So we end up saving about 9 cents a gallon, which goes a long way to help with waiting in line and frustrations with other customers. LOL

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