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November 18, 2009, a Wednesday
Elephant Butte Lake State Park (South Monticello) to City of Rocks State Park, New Mexico, USA
— Moved to a new location and did errands along the way
It was 24°F (-4°C) when we got out of bed. I had Post Raisin Bran with powdered milk and a dash of real milk — the last real milk in the RV. I started to work up a blog entry. We prepped the RV to move. We left at 9:03 with me in the RV and J in the Jeep.
I went to the dump station to dump the tanks, and J went directly to the WalMart in Truth or Consequences to start shopping. I finished dumping and left at 9:23.
I reached the WalMart in Truth or Consequences at 9:51 and went in to help J shop. We finished shopping at 10:38, and I went online to check gas prices while J put things away. Gas was cheaper in Deming than here, so I decided to wait to load up the RV until then. We left at 10:52 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We went to the parking lot behind the Kenneth W. James Senior Center in Truth or Consequences to borrow their open wireless network. I wanted to upload the 538.6MB of images to my stock agent using a free internet connection instead of digging into my 5GB/month allotment on my Verizon stick. I started uploading the selected images (319.8MB), then showered.
Had lunch of ham and Swiss on rye with Grey Poupon Country Dijon mustard with a glass of Coca Cola Classic. The Hormel Black Forest ham we just got at WalMart was terrible! It was like uncooked pork, and I couldn't finish the last 1/3 of the sandwich. Then I had my normal banana and an apple. The data transfer through the open wireless network wasn't the greatest, so I won't have time to upload the images for the next submission (218.8MB). I finished up the blog entry, then left at 1:37 in the Jeep by myself.
I went to the Soap 'N Suds in Truth or Consequences to start our laundry. After I put the laundry in the dryers, I left and ...
Returned to the RV at 2:28. The upload to my stock agent had finished while I was gone — we won't have to wait here any longer for it to finish. :) We left at 2:43 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We went back to the Soap 'N Suds to get our laundry. The parking lot there wasn't conducive for hooking up the Jeep to tow, so we left at 3:20 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We stopped near the entrance to I-25 to hook up the Jeep to tow, and got underway at 3:33.
We headed south on I-25, then got off at Hatch to head over to Deming on NM-26. We went by a group of 50 or so sandhill cranes near the road in a wetland area. The sun was setting practically straight ahead of us, and it was tiring to avoid the blinding light.
We went to Burger King in Deming at 5:08 for a quick dinner. I got a Whopper With Cheese and Small Fries, and J got a Jr. Whopper and $1 onion Rings. We ate in the RV. I had Coke and J had milk. We left at 5:32.
We went to a Fina gas station in Deming to load up the RV and Jeep at $2.699/gal. The pump cut off at $75.00 as I was filling the RV, and because we had taken on enough gas to make our next fueling stop, I didn't run another credit card transaction to fill up the tank. We left at 5:45.
We went to WalMart, Deming, to get some "replacement" lunch meat. I got some Genoa Salami (wish I would have gotten that this morning), and the older woman at the deli wasn't a model of efficiency. J picked up some other groceries while I was doing that. We left at 6:07.
We reached City of Rocks State Park at 6:45. It was our first time there, and I had J bring up a map of the park on her computer so we could figure out where to camp. There's a loop that circles the rock formations, and we had been told that there's good Verizon reception on the western side of the loop and electric sites on the east side of the loop. I unhooked the Jeep and then drove it around the loop to find a good camping spot. It took quite a while because it was dark! We're out in the middle of nowhere with hardly any lights in the distance, the sky was clear (lots of stars), and there was just a tiny sliver of the moon just above the horizon to the east. Most of the sites on the main loop were drive-in, as opposed to drive-through, so I had to drive up the short road to each camping area and then back my way back to the loop road. The sites around the rock are set up for tent camping, so most of the parking areas had a big slope. There were a couple of spots where an RV could park. I returned to the RV after making two circuits of the loop, then I drove the RV while J followed in the Jeep.
We occupied Site 35, Camelopardalis, and were level by 7:55. All of the sites, around the loop at least, have numbers and names, and the names are of constellations. I was particularly happy to be in Camelopardalis because I think it's a cool name. It comes from the Greek for a giraffe — they thought it had the head of a camel and the body of a leopard! :) It's also part of the (Latin) scientific name for a giraffe: Giraffa camelopardalis. We had a fantastic Verizon Broadband Access signal with very fast internet access! :)
I got an email from my Unky Joom. (You may read more about my Unky Joom on the blog entry for August 7, 2009.) He and my aunt D just traded up their Class C RV to a Class A diesel pusher! I did a little computer work before going to bed early.
I went to the dump station to dump the tanks, and J went directly to the WalMart in Truth or Consequences to start shopping. I finished dumping and left at 9:23.
I reached the WalMart in Truth or Consequences at 9:51 and went in to help J shop. We finished shopping at 10:38, and I went online to check gas prices while J put things away. Gas was cheaper in Deming than here, so I decided to wait to load up the RV until then. We left at 10:52 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We went to the parking lot behind the Kenneth W. James Senior Center in Truth or Consequences to borrow their open wireless network. I wanted to upload the 538.6MB of images to my stock agent using a free internet connection instead of digging into my 5GB/month allotment on my Verizon stick. I started uploading the selected images (319.8MB), then showered.
Had lunch of ham and Swiss on rye with Grey Poupon Country Dijon mustard with a glass of Coca Cola Classic. The Hormel Black Forest ham we just got at WalMart was terrible! It was like uncooked pork, and I couldn't finish the last 1/3 of the sandwich. Then I had my normal banana and an apple. The data transfer through the open wireless network wasn't the greatest, so I won't have time to upload the images for the next submission (218.8MB). I finished up the blog entry, then left at 1:37 in the Jeep by myself.
I went to the Soap 'N Suds in Truth or Consequences to start our laundry. After I put the laundry in the dryers, I left and ...
Returned to the RV at 2:28. The upload to my stock agent had finished while I was gone — we won't have to wait here any longer for it to finish. :) We left at 2:43 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We went back to the Soap 'N Suds to get our laundry. The parking lot there wasn't conducive for hooking up the Jeep to tow, so we left at 3:20 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We stopped near the entrance to I-25 to hook up the Jeep to tow, and got underway at 3:33.
We headed south on I-25, then got off at Hatch to head over to Deming on NM-26. We went by a group of 50 or so sandhill cranes near the road in a wetland area. The sun was setting practically straight ahead of us, and it was tiring to avoid the blinding light.
We went to Burger King in Deming at 5:08 for a quick dinner. I got a Whopper With Cheese and Small Fries, and J got a Jr. Whopper and $1 onion Rings. We ate in the RV. I had Coke and J had milk. We left at 5:32.
We went to a Fina gas station in Deming to load up the RV and Jeep at $2.699/gal. The pump cut off at $75.00 as I was filling the RV, and because we had taken on enough gas to make our next fueling stop, I didn't run another credit card transaction to fill up the tank. We left at 5:45.
We went to WalMart, Deming, to get some "replacement" lunch meat. I got some Genoa Salami (wish I would have gotten that this morning), and the older woman at the deli wasn't a model of efficiency. J picked up some other groceries while I was doing that. We left at 6:07.
We reached City of Rocks State Park at 6:45. It was our first time there, and I had J bring up a map of the park on her computer so we could figure out where to camp. There's a loop that circles the rock formations, and we had been told that there's good Verizon reception on the western side of the loop and electric sites on the east side of the loop. I unhooked the Jeep and then drove it around the loop to find a good camping spot. It took quite a while because it was dark! We're out in the middle of nowhere with hardly any lights in the distance, the sky was clear (lots of stars), and there was just a tiny sliver of the moon just above the horizon to the east. Most of the sites on the main loop were drive-in, as opposed to drive-through, so I had to drive up the short road to each camping area and then back my way back to the loop road. The sites around the rock are set up for tent camping, so most of the parking areas had a big slope. There were a couple of spots where an RV could park. I returned to the RV after making two circuits of the loop, then I drove the RV while J followed in the Jeep.
We occupied Site 35, Camelopardalis, and were level by 7:55. All of the sites, around the loop at least, have numbers and names, and the names are of constellations. I was particularly happy to be in Camelopardalis because I think it's a cool name. It comes from the Greek for a giraffe — they thought it had the head of a camel and the body of a leopard! :) It's also part of the (Latin) scientific name for a giraffe: Giraffa camelopardalis. We had a fantastic Verizon Broadband Access signal with very fast internet access! :)
I got an email from my Unky Joom. (You may read more about my Unky Joom on the blog entry for August 7, 2009.) He and my aunt D just traded up their Class C RV to a Class A diesel pusher! I did a little computer work before going to bed early.