Day 26-27 City of Rocks State Park, Nowhere NM
DAY 26
We slept in the next morning and the wind had subsided. It was calm and beautiful in the morning. Packed up and drove to Alamogordo to get new tires on the trailer at Big O tires. Our “China Bombs” managed to get about 3,000 miles. After much research I decided to get tires that were rated one step above the factory tires. Most blogs state that the manufacturers will put the minimal rated tires to cut costs. In our case that was an F rating. The ratings are set by the amount of weight a tire can handle. I chose to go with G rating on the new tires so they can handle more weight. The guys putting the tires on commented on how strong these new tires were compared to the ones they took off. Lets hope we made a good move.
We Left the trailer and truck at the tire shop and walked to “downtown” Alamogordo. The town was pretty quiet and there were not a lot of food choices. We had lunch at JAM-ing hot dogs and more! Not in sync with Gina’s food requirements but I was in heaven. On the way back to the Trailer we stopped at a pet store and bought the dogs some treats and toys.
Got back on the road and the new tires felt great - definitely a difference! The drive took us mostly through desert. We drove by White Sands Monument but did not stop. It looked like Monahan’s sandhills – a lot of dunes and sand. We drove up over a mountain pass and down into Las Cruces NM. We wanted to check this town out as it is rated as one of the top 10 towns to retire in the USA. We took a couple of wrong turns and ended up going down a street not made for RV’s. The trees overhanging the street were lower than the Trailer and we did a little scraping. We finally found a way out of downtown and made our way to “Sprouts Farmers Market” – Gina went in to shop and I took the dogs for a walk and waited outside. Gina was in the store for over an hour. While I was outside an illiterate homeless guy approached me and tried to have a conversation. I couldn’t understand a word he said. As he talked his shopping cart started to roll away down the hill…. I said hey, your cart is rolling away, he chased after it and he was gone. Thank goodness.
When Gina got back with a full load of groceries we got on the road. We were heading west on I-10 right into the sun. It was a stressful 30 minutes of driving until the sun finally set. But that ended up mild compared to what we encountered next. Darkness! We filled the tank in Demming, NM, got off I-10 and headed toward the City of Rocks - 60 miles straight up hill on a narrow 2 lane road, in complete darkness. You didn’t know whether the headlights approaching were in your lane or the other lane until they went by you. Gina was white knuckled! We finally arrived and went to our assigned site #8. The park was closed, pitch dark and quiet, except of course for our extremely loud diesel truck and our very bright headlights. To be more obnoxious, we walked around with flashlights trying to find the electric hookup, but there was none. The campers in this part of the park had to be thinking who are these idiots. We studied the maps and found “Electric Sites” in a different spot. We worked our way over and found another site 8! It took us about 30 minutes to back into the site and I thought it was very poorly designed and way too tight to make the turn – It was amazing we got in. We were yelling back and forth – left / right / stop / I can’t see / back up! All this while everyone else was asleep. I am sure we managed to get this part of the park to think “who are these idiots” too. When we finally got in I just wanted to hide so I decided not to unhook the trailer until morning as that would limit noise. Closing the door to the trailer I accidently hit the panic button on my keys! The horn started honking and it took me a while to figure out it was me!
Another freezing night was predicted. We turned the heater on, undid the hoses and were in bed by 10:30. Gina wakes me up about an hour later, “Remi has got to out!”. In the freezing cold he drags me around then explodes! Thank god that wasn’t in the trailer. While being dragged around I filled my socks with stickers and had to pick them out of my feet! I get back in bed; Gina says “Teddy has to go out too!” Walking around out there at night felt like a cougar a/k/a mountain lion was about to strike at any moment. I make it back into the trailer to learn that Remi has projectile vomited all over the heater blanket, carpet, floor and couch. We cleaned it up for over an hour and got back in bed. Gina wakes me 30 minutes later “Remi is panting again” - I take him out again and while freezing witness another blowout. I get back in bed – “The heater is not working!” Propane tank is out. Once again out in the freezing cold braving a potential mountain lion attack to switch tanks. I get the heater back on – It is now 1:30. Remi has settled down and is finally asleep. Same for me.
DAY 27
Woke up at 8 to the freezing cold – went out and hooked the water back up. The place looked a lot milder than it looked in the dark. I also could see that our site was a pull through not a back in – I just could have gone around the loop and drove right in. I took the dogs out and Remi still had his problem. Gina started him on some pills to fix the problem. We had coffee and yogurt for breakfast while looking over the USA map trying to start a plan for the trip home.
It warmed up and we finally took the dogs for walk up to observation point – It was a nice walk up the hill to an overlook down the valley we had rode up the night before. While up there we actually had cell service so we called Lily. On the way back we walked through our first rocks and thought they were way cool. Little did we know that the rocks right next to the camper were far more interesting. We got back to the RV and cooked burritos for lunch then took the bikes around Hydra Trail – a 4 miler circling the entire park. The first half of the ride was downhill and went by fast, the other half was all uphill and worked us – we had to stop for several water breaks. On the ride we met on older couple from Kansas who had been RVing for 30+ years – He was full of advice, the best being an electric hose that will not freeze. That is on my future buy list.
We then took the dogs for a walk in the rocks near the camper. We let Remi loose and he had a blast. Teddy wasn’t so sure footed. The rock formations were much deeper and larger than they appear. Once inside you loose your bearings and the rocks seem to go on forever. We met a father and his son from Alaska - what an interesting guy. He lives in Alaska and bought a place in a nearby town in New Mexico. He explained there was much to see in the area but New Mexico is very low key and keeps these things under the radar. There are Indian hierogliphics, Hot Springs, and Cave Dwellings easily accessible and not set up like tourists traps. We would love to come back and explore.
The temperature started to drop so we worked our way out and back to the RV. I needed to touch base with OT and tried to find cell service by riding my bike around the park. My hand nearly froze holding the phone looking for bars. I had no luck at all – it would have to wait. I got back and Gina had dinner ready - gluten free, dairy free, pasta carbonara and a salad! Chef Gina killed it again. We both had a glass of rose wine with dinner. There was no freeze expected tonight so I left the hose out. We both enjoyed a hot shower and were in bed by 830. Lights out. Our plan is to get out by 9AM tomorrow morning as we have a long drive to Tuscon AZ. We shall see.
