Windy, but scenic drive today....

Our Location: Rest Area, Lordsburg, NM



A belated Happy Thanksgiving to our American readers. Sorry I didn’t post yesterday I was lazy and just couldn’t make myself do it. We spent a quiet day at the White’s City BLM, the sun was out, the warmth in the air allowed me some reading time outside as well. We roasted a chicken, had mashed potatoes, stuffing and acorn squash for our feast. We had no complaints of any kind. 

 

Some sights along the way. Stop at a Texas picnic area.

High winds last night through the night had us rocking and rolling until around 4 AM, but then they quieted as quickly as they arrived. This morning we woke to pretty warm temperatures and needed only a zip up hoodie to be outside. We quickly packed up and we were pulling out of the area before 8 AM. It was a bit of a white knuckle drive through the Guadeloupe Mountain Range as the winds are rough in the area, cross winds, head winds, side and tail winds, some all at the same time, or so it felt anyway. We moved along steadily and crossed into Texas pretty quickly after leaving the BLM land. Uneventful drive took us through El Paso, Texas and westward through Las Cruces,  Deming and finally Lordsburg, all of course in New Mexico. We pulled off at Exit 20 at the Lordsburg Rest area where I had read that one could pull up to a little picnic area and spend the night. Ummmm..not quite. It’s at Gage, NM that one can do that, NOT the Lordsburg rest area. So for future reference, I-10 GAGE, NEW MEXICO both directions have nice little rest areas which have picnic areas that include a road way to the little covered area. Areas look big enough to turn a rig around and one can stay for 24 hours at either of these stops. The Lordsburg Rest Area is just long slots like most truck parking at rest areas. FYI, a train track runs past both areas and trains can be heard, both are located right beside I -10 was well.

 

Sorry for the fuzzy pic but it was an action shot, we were driving. Roadrunner at Las Cruces, NM.

 

We did stop in Deming to check out the Walmart parking lot as we have plans for only one night stopping tonight. The lot was full and the empty lot beside where we stayed last time has a ‘Code of Conduct’ sign which says No overnight parking, but a few people looked to be parked there anyway. We however opted to continue after a fill up of Diesel for $3.07 per gallon.

 

Some mountains we seen today on our drive.

 

We pulled into our Lordsburg Rest Area around 2:30 MT, dropped the feet so we aren’t as prone to Rock ’n Roll, and had some lunch. I called Dad, chatted for 20 minutes or so catching up on the deer hunt. Two deer, Rick and his son  Jason were the lucky shots. After that Riley and I took a few loops around the rest area to get some leg stretch in before coming inside and closing the curtains for the night.

 

Signs along the roadway today.

 

Some sad news from sister in law Janet yesterday. Their friend Peter passed away yesterday. Peter and his wife Vicki are wonderful people and I am certain Peter will be missed. Peter has been battling a very aggressive type of cancer for a while, his passing is still a shock of sorts. Vicki and family are in our thoughts. Janet and Dennis flew back to Toronto today but will return to Indian Wells in the near future. 

 

A few sights including El Paso from the downward side of the mountain, top right picture.

 

There you have it, our last couple of days. I hope you enjoyed your visit.

 

Some more views of our scenic drive today.

 

Until next time…. take care, be safe,

Deb

Crosbyton, Texas in the wind......but it's warm...

Our Location: 

Crosbyton RV Park, Crosbyton, Texas

 

 

This morning found me still asleep until just before 7 am. I had a hard time sleeping last night and a bad dream didn't help any and so from 2:15 am until sometimes after 4 am I was awake. The wind was blowing pretty strongly so I figured we'd be hanging out another day anyway. However when I rolled out just around 7 MDT there was no wind, not a breath, all was calm. 

 

Seen this fellow just as we were pulling out of the BLM land near Carlsbad Caverns, NM

 

Does this include us?  I hope not, cause I didn't stop, the sign further up the road said CLOSED.

 

We quickly pulled everything together, hooked up and were heading out to the roadway by 7:49 AM MDT. It took us until 8:03 am to reach the roadway from our site. We noticed a number of folks had parked after dark or late in the evening at least. Big turnover in the area. 

 

 

The beautiful Pecos River in NM. Such a wonderful sight to behold.

Oil rigs pumping, but not all were in operation, many sat idle.

On the road we debated about following my written instructions which would take us around Lubbock, TX or just following US 64 all the way. We pulled our Phoebe Girl (RV GPS ) out of her resting spot and asked for her input. She knocked off about 30 minutes by taking us through Lubbock. So we decided we'd follow her instructions. She was spot on today, knowing right from left with no hesitation. 

 

Wonderful sign!

As we crossed into Texas fuel prices were a bit better.

 

The drive was uneventful, the kind we like and we passed through too many small towns for me to remember their names. A few that come to mind, Hobbs - NM, Seminole - TX, Wolfforth - TX, Brownfield - TX, Meadow - TX, Idalou - TX, Ralls - TX and finally we reached Crosbyton. The flat plains of Texas and New Mexico gave way to the massive blue sky as they melded together far off in the distance, no matter which direction we looked. The landscape dotted with oil rigs, storage tanks, power lines, and scrub brush was for the most part the view we had for most of the day. Toss in a few horses, some cattle, a few goats, a rabbit or two, and the odd bird and that about sums up all the 'wild' life we seen. Traffic wasn't very heavy at all, and we were passed by numerous folks all in a hurry to get somewhere much faster than us. Not one single Ontario plate, nor did I see any Canadian plates today either. 

 

 

Semi's were the order of the day as they seemed to be plentiful even on a Sunday morning/early afternoon. A strong tail wind which at times buffeted the side of the Igloo also was an interesting addition to the day. What started off as a windless day was into full strong winds within about 45minutes of us pulling out on to the road. These winds continued pretty much the entire way, with only a small decrease for maybe 20 minutes. We travelled a bit under 250 miles today and used less than 1/2 tank of diesel, so less than 20 gallons. 

 

 

The little town of Seminole, TX. We hung a left at this corner.

 

We arrived in Crobsyton, TX to find the cute little park just as Shirley (Seeing America with Ken and Shirley) described it. Looks like full hook ups as I don't see a dump station as listed on the little blurb Phoebe gave us. There were two other travel trailers here when we pulled in and they appear to have been set up for a day or two. We took the second last spot from the end and only hooked into the electric. We just emptied the tanks a few days ago, we have a full tank of water and while we don't need the electricity it will be nice to have use of all things we may want. We'll leave a donation in the box when we pull out on Tuesday. 

 

Welcome to Lubbock, TX

 

The wind has picked up steadily since we pulled in and it continues to rock us like an unsteady drunk on the parallel bars. I hope we manage to find some quiet some time tonight, although I'm tired enough I may just sleep through it anyway. 

 

Some more of Lubbock, TX

 

We arrived and set up before 3 pm in a new time zone, CDT I believe we are in now. We crossed from NM into Texas at 10:20 MDT, making it 11:20 CDT. We did well to get here in such a short amount of time, considering I only drive 55 mph. I called my dad while Riley recycled some left over pasta into a one dish wonder with some help from a few veggies, spices and the stove. Dad was happy to hear from us, knowing we arrived safely. I sent him an email a day or so ago with our destinations, routes, etc so he could find us without too much trouble. Although we changed the route today, I don't see us changing it in the future as it's a pretty straight route to where we wish to go. 

 

And we are leaving Lubbock, TX behind.....

 

So after some lunch and reading, I edited some pictures, and started this post. I could go outside and take a few pictures so you can see where we are but I'll save that for tomorrow. Today's pics are just things we seen along the way. Hope you enjoy them. 

 

See the tumble weed on the edge of the pavement, we seen quite a few of those today.

 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had an excellent day doing whatever it is you wanted to do today. As I write this the temperature is sitting at 79F/26C and the winds are howling over, under, around, and possibly through us as I type. We traveled approx 250 miles/391 km today on very nice roads. They were all multi lane, well maintained roads with very few rough patches. The blowing dust wasn't much to contend with as it always seemed to be way off in the distance but I was prepared to get off the road if it was an issue. Feel free to leave a comment if the urge strikes you and if not, glad you dropped by anyway, come back any time. 

 

Love the blossoms behind this sound barrier....

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

 

 

Richard (my late husband) would have loved all these John Deere's!

A few fixer uppers along the way......

 

Deb

 

 

 

 

 

Last day here.......REFERENCE POST

Our Location: 

BLM near Carlsbad, NM

I was awake around 6 am MDT but didn't get up. I was lazy and since there was no brightening in the skies I figured a cloudy day was in the offing. I grabbed my laptop and read blogs for a while. I can tell you that I finally closed the lid and turned on the water for a hot drink just shortly after 8 am. 

I don't think the clock works well....

I see a circus coming to town Matey......

We had plans this morning to find a place to rid us of our trash and to fill the Big Dog's water bowl. I can say we accomplished that feat within a few miles of our current location. Fuel was $3.19 per gallon and while I probably could have found it cheaper down the road tomorrow I am happy to have a full tank starting the day. 

On the way back home we checked out the other 'free' campsite area in this location. It's on Whites City Road and I can say that we wouldn't be staying there. However I will use this as a reference post again for future use or just information for others. 

Whites City Road is a hard packed dirt road (it may have been black top on gravel once) that is rough and somewhat washboard like, although not as ugly as it sounds. I would think after a rain it would be more muddy than anything else. There is a bit of dust but not much. We made note of two or possibly 4 spots that were okay sites for staying. The first two were best but close to the main road. The second two were further back but are currently being used by the construction company working/worked on the road. It appears they've buried something (possibly pipe lines but no signs indicating such) along the road. These two sites have been beaten up by the use of big trucks and we didn't see any fire pits there but all indications are they were once sites.  The other issue with this road is the quarry a bit further back. It's a working pit I would imagine the noise level would not be nice going all day. Numerous trucks of varying sizes are also visible. We went further back past the quarry but didn't see anything of interest although I'm certain there were other places further back. It would be too far off the main road on this less than wonderful road. So there you have it, not our cup of tea but definitely a couple of good over night spots if you could find some how to get level. 

 

Riley loves the Aliens...

She doesn't care what colour.....

We are parked at MM 10 on the east bound side of the roadway but there is no way to get to the road going west unless you go to MM 9 and make a U turn before coming back on the East bound road. Actually that's not quite true, there is no LEGAL turn road but many have simply crossed over the dirt median to get to/from the West bound lanes. It's a pretty big bump though and so you would need to be very careful. We did check out a well paved road just after using that LEGAL turn around over the median. I have no idea what it's called but it's between MM 9 and 10 east bound. There looks like a couple of spots that would be good for overnight but no signs of fire pits. If you think one of the side roads offers a spot, forget it, they lead to oil wells with no spots available. 

 

I believe this is a bat....

I think that one may be a chuck wagon...

So there you have it, our little tour of the day. We went less than 6 miles to get some fuel at a place that is between the roadway and the Cavern Parking lot. Multiple little things to see, an RV park there also, no idea the name though. 

Back home we noticed only ONE other rig, when we came back. There had been two when we left. The lone rig sits close to the road and is also a 5'er. Otherwise no one else is here, not a tent to be seen anywhere either. 

I'm guessing these are rental units. 

Tomorrow we'll be pulling out and making our way to a free overnight in Crosbyton, TX. We found this park courtesy of Ken and Shirley (Seeing America with Ken and Shirley) , so thanks for the heads up folks!! We'll actually be staying for two nights before getting back on the road as the wind is forecast to be pretty high and gusts will also be making life miserable for any drivers in the area from Sunday afternoon into Monday. Tuesday looks to be a great travel day.  Why do we not stay where we are located you may ask and I will say that we are heading toward Tennessee and that will be 250 miles closer for us. We hope that the two night stay will be a bit less rock 'n roll like as we will maybe have some protection from the town buildings, other RV's etc. Here we are out in the open with no where to hide. Also we're that much closer to getting out of the wind tunnel areas and flat lands. We will be on the road fairly early as the winds here are supposed to be minimal then, and be off the road by 3 pm hopefully before they pick back up.

So there you have it, thanks for stopping by. I hope you've managed to have a wonderful day. 

 

The Whites City Road location for free camping. See the quarry? That pile of gravel I believe is in one of the camping spots. The other picture is the road way, looks good but is a bit rough.

Until next time.... take care, be safe, 

Deb

Another do nothing day...

Our Location: 

BLM on US 62 East, near Carlsbad, NM

A do nothing day again but we've made a decision to bypass the tour of the caverns for a number of reasons. So I've spent the day figuring out our route all the way home to Ontario which will have us stopping in Tennessee for a while. We will be heading out on Sunday morning from here and so tomorrow will also be a do nothing day except for fuel and to find a place to dump the garbage.

Looking around out the door.

The wind died down last night around 3 am, but picked up again off and on through the day but not nearly as bad as yesterday. We heard voices of children this afternoon so we know folks are around but we can't see them. They must be in tents as I see no rigs of any kind unless they are very small in among the bushes closer to the roadway. Otherwise it's just us here that I can see. Didn't even have a visit from the cows today.

I finished a book by Rick Mofina, it was okay but not the best book ever read. I started a Robert Ludlum book, The Bourne Supremecy today as well.  I've been reading Ludlum for many years and always enjoy his books. I read this trilogy long, long before the movies came around.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

Deb

NO post, windy, windy, windy, windy day.....

Our Location: 

BLM on US 62 East, near Carlsbad, NM

No post today, we didn't do anything. The wind blew, and blew and then it blew again and blew again all day long, it made us rock 'n roll' and sway and dance but we managed to stay anchored after I ran outside to fasten us down with some steel cables to hold us in place and not blow us any further across the flat lands.  We stayed shut up inside doing a little cabinet cleaning, reading and such. Other than a couple of cows either trying to eat the step or knock on the door, not one thing happened today. 

Riley chasing the step eaters or door knockers....

At least one of them is afraid of her....

We can't see much at times and the low level mountains you noticed in yesterday's picture I assume are still there but I can't verify that yet.

We were smart enough not to bother them so they won't be chasing us....

Such a beautiful sight....

I hope you have had a calmer day than we here in the BLM near Carlsbad, NM. 

She can't see me here so she won't chase me......

 

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

Now this is the west I've been expecting.

Deb

Reference post, do nothing day......

Our Location: 

BLM on US 62 East, near Carlsbad, NM

Tonight's post is more of an information or reference post for those interested in this particular BLM land or for my own future need to remember. So if you have no interest in using this location than you will probably not enjoy the post. 

 

I believe some bunnies have been having lunch....

Most of these prickly pear cactus are pinky purple in colour and in among grass or branches...hard to get a good picture.

 

Our night here was very quiet, the peace was very much like our Saddle Mountain area with no noise of any kind. A quiet that was eerie in it's silence but wonderful in it's own way!! We both slept long and without a hint of disturbance. I will admit I was late waking up, almost 7:30 am MDST and I just listened to the quiet. 

Some buds and blooms......

I wasn't fast enough to catch all of him, just his head and ears... I thought of you Patsy and had to laugh at myself...

 

We did nothing today except rest. We both spent time in our recliners doing some reading, surfing, etc. I went for a walk, not far only a mile or so before coming back and just crashing for a 2 hour nap. I started off reading but of course that didn't last long. 

Notice some of them appear dead, some a bit droopy, but not others...

Various pieces of oil equipment. You can turn around in this yard, a big spot to make a circle if needed.

 

I thought I would give my impression of this place for future reference and for others as well. 

An indication of the road, the top right picture is taken past the oil pipeline and shows the high raised center of the road, the top middle picture is also taken past the pipeline and shows the bigger stones becoming more evident with use. The rest were taken between our location and US 62. The bottom picture shows you that a large motor home made it back with no issues and also gives you a bit of an idea about the size of his site.

These pictures give you an idea of what the sights look like, some are great for tents, small motor homes, truck campers, etc. while others are better for bigger rigs. The one with the truck camper on the trailer was the site we had originally chosen but when we walked back to the Dogsled and pulled forward with the Igloo behind us these folks had moved from their previous site further down the road into this one. It is one of my pet peeves when little rigs like this take up big spots that bigger units need.

The new place is very similar to Saddle Mountain. We can see the roadway but can't hear it. It's low scrub type foliage but with the odd semi type tree and you can see for a long distance. The road way is better with no big ruts or boulders in them so far as I've looked. Not nearly as many spots to park though, from what I've seen less than 20 BEFORE the pipeline. The spots seem in some cases less defined but would probably make wonderful tent locations. Most spots look pretty level but a little boost may be needed here and there.  Difference here is cows roam freely and there are droppings around (just like being back at our summer location). There are places where you can see a yellowish type long grass but in other places you wonder how anything survives, it's dusty, dry and crisp, with little or brown, perhaps dying vegetation. The Yucca/Immature Joshua Tree growths are green topped with weathered bottoms, and some form of green tree be it a type of cedar or perhaps a desert oak, also offers some green tones. In the distance some vegetation looks very dark but not sure what it is. Almost all cactus growth is around small bunches of grass like stalks so not readily seen in some photos. The spines are also very long on the prickly pear but that hasn't stopped the rabbits from having a lunch from time to time. Eating a few of them right down to the base root. Some of the taller looking cacti seems to be drooping whether from natural growth or lack of moisture I don't know.

Love this pretty purple cactus, no idea what it is but is sure is a big bunch and the only one I've seen here so far.

Some form of Yucca or an immature Joshua Tree, it's hard for me to tell the difference as this is what I noticed at various heights in Joshua Tree National Park as well. 

The low level mountains are to the west and north of us but with no peaks of interest, pretty level tops except in a few places and those aren't very visible.  We can see a few places where access to the tops may be permitted but from this distance I have no idea if it's off road only or not. I see what looks like a town to the north of us, I believe it may be Whites City but I can't be certain, we haven't been there yet. 

 

Not sure what to make of the signs but they are pretty numerous just before you enter the oil storage tank area.

I would say they've had a leak at some point.

The roads here are pretty good, As I said similar to Saddle Mountain but with less big ruts, dips, holes and boulders. These ones are very dusty. Past the oil pipe line which is buried under a bit of gravel and leaves a hump that might cause a lower clearance vehicles some headaches (although a large motor home crossed it today without any issues), I did notice in the short distance I walked there that the more prominent stones are getting bigger and the area between the tire tracks is more raised, so that may also cause some issues with lower clearance rigs. However before the pipeline is fine for all types of rigs I think. Just slow down and proceed with some sense you should be fine. If you do get back to the fork in the road and don't wish to continue on past the pipe line, the spot is big enough to turn around if you're small or very good at backing up but you can also go to the left toward the oil tanks as there is a pretty big space there that you can turn around in, although it says authorized personnel only I doubt anyone would say much, just don't run over anything vital. We are further back than I wanted to go and parked to the left at the fork in the road, it's not much different than any of the other sites, but it does seem pretty dusty here in this location. The dust is fine and seeps in the tiniest opening so be prepared for dust. 

The view from out the yard, low level hills with no visible peak to catch one's attention.

 

Amazing what you can see out there, isn't it?

As you will see in the pictures tonight I've tried to document a few sites and give you an idea of what you could expect, also what the road looks like as I don't recall ever seeing this particular location on a blog but of course I could be wrong.  As near as I can figure it, we are located on Dillahunty Road, which looks like it may connect a number of oil holding tanks, pipelines, etc in this Eddie County. According to Google these are the co-ordinates: 32.067196, -104.392226 to our spot. 

They just kind of fold along into each other maybe, it's hard to tell from back here....

 

Can see the road up there? That white camper is the spot we originally were going to park in.

So there you have it, my information post I guess you can call it. Nothing of great interest but for future reference it's good. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed your visit. Feel free to leave a comment if you like, I promise to read and answer them all. 

Looks like small town or settlement off in the distance. I wonder if it's Whites City?

I took this picture to give you an idea of how far back we went past our original choice, just so you have some idea about the distance to the pipeline. Our first choice was about a mile from the roadway and you can see us tucked in about the middle of the picture.

Until next time... take care, be safe, 

A peaceful view from here, good night.

Deb