Day Three

We sort of got off to a slow start today because we needed to have that chin wag with Mac and Lynette... Of course we wanted nothing more than to stay there with them and make it a day of talking about all things, with nothing in particular on the agenda.  But they had plans for the afternoon, and we needed to get on the road.

So with hugs and hand shakes we were off, at the crack of 11:30.  But we were headed West, and the best part of that is that in just 100 miles or so, you go into New Mexico, which is Mountain Time Zone!! So we get an hour back, which means we really left at 10:30.......well sort of like that anyway..

We are looking at bad weather toward the end of this week, and they have even mentioned SNOW!  I 40 is really too far North for travel in the motorhome this time of year, so we have to get a move on to get South into the Phoenix valley.

As we drove West into New Mexico the elevation begins to climb rather rapidly.  I have the Altitude as a selection on the GPS when we are going into the higher ground and watched as we climbed.  At Santa Rosa, we stopped at a McDonalds and by then we were seeing 74 on our temperature gauges.  We lunched with the door open which was pleasant.

As we climbed toward Clines' Corners, we lost that temperature rather quickly.  It is over 7000 feet as you arrive there, and the temps were more like 51.  We pressed on West for Albuquerque.  You descend down into town as Albuquerque is on the Rio Grand river and my GPS read about 4900 while we were on the bridge.

Of course you immediately begin to climb again as you continue.  We got off at the Flying J truck stop for some fuel.  It is always a zoo, and today was no exception.  If you stay on that frontage road and head West about 4 more miles you come to the American RV campground, which is where we landed as the sun began to drift over the horizon.

This is another of those concrete and asphalt cities that have not nearly enough space between you and your neighbor.  But it is to be freezing again tonight so the small picnic table that is outside our door will remain vacant during our stay anyway.  We are right along the frontage road of the interstate and the traffic on I 40 is roaring by so lets hope it dies down some before morning.........

After dark, we trekked back into Albuquerque to find the closest Wal Mart.  This turned out to be a number of miles South of the interstate which was giving us some pause, thinking we were going to be lost, but in the end I never plugged in the GPS.  I had brought it along thinking I might need it, but my manlyhood didn't allow for its use.

We are driving into some rain tomorrow which will become frozen on Thursday if we get bogged down.  We hope to stay in Holbrook tomorrow night which has a forecast low of 22 degrees.  That is never fun in these RVs...........

Retired Rod