Monday, March 18, 2019

Parked by the water.....



Our Location:  Bosque Redondo Lake, Fort Sumner, NM

We spent a quiet night at the Walmart in Soccoro although Riley didn’t like the light right above her vent and claimed it kept waking her up through the night. I didn’t have that issue. It was warmer than we’ve had it for a number of mornings and so I enjoyed a short walk to the local Valero Gas Bar to see if they had some juice for the Big Dog. Sure enough they did and at $2.79 per gallon the Dogsled had about a 20 gallon swallow.
 
Much of US 60 is like this, long, rolling hills, but straight, straight, straight.

Last night after posting my blog I chatted with a couple, Tim & Sue from Belleville, Ontario. Farmers back home they are enjoying a short holiday before they start working in the spring. We chatted for about a half hour before parting and wishing each other well in our journeys. Another Canadian vehicle belonged to a fellow from Alberta. We chatted for a few minutes this morning but not long. This gent is in a wheel chair and stays in this small camper van, it’s his second year at least of doing this. Now that is brave. 
 
We climbed, and climbed and then we climbed some more.

We were on the road after fueling up shortly after 9 am and heading north, against my better sense but followed the GPS directions.  Phoebe (our RV GPS) wanted to take us to Albuquerque and along I-40. I didn’t want to do that, and instead turned off on US 60 East toward Mountainair, Willard, etc.This was not the route I originally wanted to take but it was the route we took. 
 
Very scenic is some places.

We cruised along on an nearly empty road for a couple of hours, and I mean nearly empty. In all of that time except in the small towns I don’t think we met or were passed by more than 20 vehicles. I mean it was just empty, long, straight and in some places a bit hilly but on the plateau just flat and straight. We could see for  miles. We spent some time on the plateau driving along at about 6200 feet in elevation. We eventually dropped down to just around the 4000 foot mark which is where we are tonight. A truck pulled out to pass us and as he pulled alongside his front wheels started shaking some thing terrible. I was worried the wheel would come off. He was into the grass on the wrong side of the road before he slowed down enough for the shaking to stop. He pulled back in behind us and continued driving, he didn't stop to check on anything but just kept behind us. . He finally went around us at Willard when I slowed down for the town limits and he didn't have to speed up. I was shocked to say the least. 
 
Down in those trees are train tracks, we must have seen at least a dozen trains today.

We didn’t pass through the town of Lincoln which had been my original plan but still managed to see some interesting sights along our travels. Phoebe managed to get us turned around a number of times but we finally got it figured out. We eventually had two gps going to ensure we found our way.
 
A dry lake?

We found our way to Fort Sumner, which is famous for the grave site of William H. Boney, better known as Billy the Kid. I didn’t know that he was buried here but tomorrow we will do a bit of sight seeing around the town and check things out. It looks like an interesting little place. 
 
This is at 6200 feet, and the road just hazes out in the distance. It's perfectly straight.

We passed through the little village of Fort Sumner and a couple of miles down the road hung a left on Realwind Drive heading to Bosque Redondo Lake. We arrived here to find no one else camping but a number of locals fishing. In fact as we were getting set up a nice lady came by with a freshly strung catfish and offered it to us. Since we aren’t fish people we thanked her but declined. I'm not sure it's a lake so much as a big pond, or at least this part. I'll let you know more tomorrow when we've been out walking. 

We noticed numerous small herds of Pronghorns along the way today.

Set up and called dad while lunch was cooking. They were getting more snow as we chatted. He has 6 weeks to get it melted before Riley and I arrive back at our summer spot. Hopefully he gets it done!!! 
 
Easy driving along US 60 and if you look you can see Fort Sumner off in the distance.

After that we just simply rested. The last few days have been a bit stressful and so we are going to just enjoy the next 3 nights as we are planning on staying here until Thursday before heading on. It’s not quiet, as there are birds, insects, and living sounds all around us. The folks that come by are very quiet and they fish for an hour or so before quietly slipping away. It isn’t the spiffiest of spots but it suits us fine, at least so far. We shall see how we like it after a night here. 
 
A bit blurry but we were almost past before we took note of it.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you had a wonderful day. I will catch up on my reading and commenting in the next couple of days, I just haven’t had the time the last couple of days. 

The view out our window. That green building is a bathroom.

Until next time… take care, be safe,

Deb




12 comments:

  1. While reading a lot of blogs I notice people can have a lot of trouble/miss direction from their GPS's . I don't have one and a little scared to get one. I guess I will just stay with the old paper maps if I go some where . Safe travels .

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    1. I've had a few over the years and this Garmin RV GPS is the only one I've ever had trouble with. I use it because it tells bridge heights but it's not always reliable and so I think I'll go back to the regular one. There aren't any low bridges out here in the southwest, or at least none that I've seen, so I think I'm pretty safe to travel most anywhere and not worry about height.
      I have a couple of Garmins and one Tomtom. The Tomtom is Canada only, one Garmin is US only and the RV Garmin is North America. The single Garmin and the single Tomtom work very well, with no issues of any kind.
      Riley can't work a paper map and so there in lies the problem. However I'll have to do what I usually do and google where I want to go first, snap a picture on my phone and we'll go from there.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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  2. The truck story was scary. You dont want to be beside it when a wheel comes off. I wonder if he made out all right. Glad you are safe and sound. Relax for a while.

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    1. Scared the crap out of me. I had visions of that wheel coming off and going under us, causing us all kinds of troubles. Luckily that didn't happen but what shocked me more was that he didn't stop, he kept driving. I'm guessing it was after a certain speed that it was an issue but I was soooooo happy to get away from him.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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  3. I agree with Lorne that truck story sounded dangerous. Glad you two are okay and hope he made it where he was going in one piece.
    We have used part of your drive on US-60 going both ways connecting at Vaughn to US-54 and up to I-40 at Santa Rosa. Like you we have never seen much traffic along there. I am wondering if that dry lake bed is at the Historical Marker along there? If so, that is where there are salt ponds and lakes and salt is mined there or was.
    Thank you for the information about parking in Hatch. Plus, about the place you are presently parked. We are still not sure what route we are taking back so it is good to read about the routes and where those ahead of us are staying along the way. Stay safe.
    Tell Riley Tom and I agree about the light coming through the ceiling vent when parked by a light; it is annoying. We had the same issue when we had the 5th wheel. I have read that people have stuck small square pillows up in the vent to block the light. Luckily the Stinger "B" does not have a ceiling vent in the bedroom.

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    1. Riley says: Thanks for agreeing with me. Mom always says oh just turn over, once you're asleep you'll be fine. Now she'll know that sometimes turning over just doesn't cut it. Haha

      The truck was scary and like I said the more scary part was he didn't pull over, so it's not the first time it's happened right?
      I think that US 60 is a fantastic road, we too travelled through Vaughn and turned there. If you go straight on instead of getting on US 54 it appears to be a four lane divided highway (285 I think) that heads toward Roswell. It looks nice and we travelled it for a bit before turning around and finding US 60 again.
      I'm not sure about a historical marker but there were two of those dry lakes or whatever they are, one on each side but spaced a bit apart.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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  4. You are moving right along and enjoying the sights. Now relax for a few days and enjoy checking out Billy The Kid.

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    1. We are looking forward to a couple of days rest and I full intend to check out the Billy the Kid stuff. I'm a huge western fan and always enjoy history so it's a double win for me.

      Take care, be safe
      Deb

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  5. I remember we wanted to go to the museum in town, but we were too early as it was closed during the winter. Cute place. We did see Bill the Kid's gravesite though. Looks like a nice place near the lake to spend a few days. Enjoy. That truck was scary! Beautiful pictures!!

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    1. Oh crap, I didn't check to see the hours for the museum but we'll go into town and check it out. It is a very cute place here and other than natures own noises it's really quiet. Not a sound through the night.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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  6. After reading other Blogs about the Museum you should enjoy it.
    If you don't have Vent Covers on the Igloo try putting the Dark ones on. They keep the light down.
    Be Safe and Enjoy your stay.

    It's about time.

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    1. We have dark vent covers on most of the vents but parked right under a light was the problem. However we'll fix it in the future with a pillow in the vent. Thanks.

      Take care, be safe,
      Deb

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