This morning, before the sun came up over the horizon, Mary Margaret and I bundled up LeuC and drove over to the sump dump. We were anxious to get on the road very early in hopes of getting over to Rock Hound State Park, just outside of Deming, New Mexico. We had called that park yesterday to see if they would have any space for us. The ranger said they were full but each morning a few spaces open up as people leave. Our best chance of getting a space was to get there as early as we could and then keep our fingers crossed.
We were on the road this morning by 0730 and arrived around 1030. Alas, the last open spot was taken just a few minutes before we arrived. Our backup plan was to drive 35 miles south, returning to Pancho Villa State Park so we turned around and drove down to Columbus, New Mexico, where Pancho Villa State Park is located.
When we pulled into the park, we were greeted by our old friend, Ranger Martin (pronounced Marteen), who remembered us and was so glad to see us again. After hugs and handshakes, we drove over to site 32 and parked and unbundled LeuC.
We had been watching the weather and noticed that a massive snow storm was about to impact our travels this weekend. Similar to sailing across the ocean, touring in a RV is impacted by weather. Some wind and rain is not really a big deal but snow, freezing rain and gusts up to 40 mph are all stuff we wish to avoid. If we can not avoid any of it, then our strategy is to find a place where we can plug in and hunker down until the storm passes and the roads clear.
Here are the weather maps that we were watching and which made us decided to sit tight though the weekend here in Pancho Villa State Park.
As you can see, this coming storm is going to harass the route we wish to take to get to where the Carlsbad Caverns are located. Furthermore, the nightly temperatures will be dropping down into the 20’s, making the wet roads icy well into the morning. Thus, our decision to hunker down here at the Pancho Villa State Park, with our 50-amp service, staying warm, dry and safe inside LeuC.
We do have reservations the Brantley Lake State Park just north of Carlsbad, New Mexico that start on Monday. We can make that reservation by driving on Monday the 6 or so hours our route will take. While we are trying to keep our drives down to just a few hours, one needs to do what one needs to do!
As an aside, I am getting a number of comments to yesterday’s blog requesting guidance on how often I should post our blogs. If you read between the lines, I am leaning toward changing the format so that I write a blog or two at each significant stop or event. The comments tend to favor that also. Thus, I believe I will go ahead in institute this change.
Going Down The Road With The Leu's 