Since we do more RV'ing than cycling, it only makes sense to blather a bit about the various pratfalls and misadventures involved in that enjoyable pastime.
Since we put our house on the market, gave away, sold, and stored a few percent of our unbelievable number of household possessions and yard junk, and moved into our RV full time, we have encountered a few basic reactions from those we encounter:
-But where do you live NOW? -When you're NOT in the RV?
-We have friends who did that several years ago and they're still at it!
-How can you stand to live in the cramped confines of an RV for more than a few days or nights at a time?
Well, we left the house empty and on the market in December 2017. It is now Mid-June and we're still pretty much talking to each other.
We dawdled a bit heading toward Southwest Arizona for the obviously warmer weather.
It was almost freezing when we passed through Albuquerque and turned south on I-25. We'd left later than we wanted and by the time we got to Socorro it was dark and we searched frantically for an RV park. We parked somewhere and paid the money and were shocked, SHOCKED when we awoke next morning to a temperature of FIFTEEN degrees! How we avoided our pipes and water freezing up is beyond me. We thought since Socorro was 70 miles south of Albuquerque it should be warmer there. WRONGO
Next morning we gingerly loaded up our stiff power cord and water hose and headed south again on I-25. As we approached the Highway 380 turnoff going over the mountains to Carrizozo and Roswell, we discussed the idea of detouring the wrong way and going back east to Roswell and then south on 285 to Carlsbad to participate in the "Christmas on the Pecos" affair. Ads for this hoo-ha
had been running every few minutes on KOB-AM as we drove and we decided to go for it. We turned east off I-25 and made it to the outskirts of Roswell where we found a fairly decrepit RV park that only cost us $10 for a night's parking, as best I recall. My cousin Darel has a ranch with room for our RV that he has encouraged us to stay at, but it was so late and we hadn't called ahead so we spent the big bucks and stayed on the outskirts of town. Next morning we left the RV and drove in to downtown Roswell and visited him and his sister, Cousin Peggy, at his complex where he markets indian jewelry, beds and mattresses and high end sleep supplies, and prospers. Enjoyed that visit for a couple hours and then we returned to the RV, loaded it up, and headed on south to Carlsbad.
As we passed through Artesia, we had called ahead to Lake Macmillan to park the RV there. Just south of Artesia we spotted a tiny sign pointing to "The Ranch", an Escapee or SKP campground. We had just joined Escapees a few days earlier before we left home and had no prior idea they had a complex anywhere on our route. We drove over to see what they had there, found a bustling RV complex with a vacancy they immediately put us into for $50 for a full week's stay, and at the same time invited us in for a group enchilada supper. Great folks and a great place to stay. We used that for a home base to attend LDS church services in Artesia, and commute down to Carlsbad for the Christmas on the Pecos boat ride up and down the Pecos River.
From there we headed south and west out of Carlsbad to eventually make it to southern Arizona for their fabled warm winter weather. We approached Carlsbad Caverns and again succumbed to the temptation for another detour. The Caverns, of course, were well worth both the delay and the cost and the sore legs and feet.
From there we made it to Las Cruces via El Paso, where again it was dark and found us needing a place to stop for the night. We looked up an RV park on our GPS and drove across Valley Drive, finding a very crowded, run down, and pot-hole filled mobile home park with no evident slots available for an itinerant RV. Bouncing roughly out of the rutted pot-holes and up onto the smoother pavement of the street, we saw a brightly lit grocery store across the street with a large parking lot and pulled in for a few supplies. On a whim, I approached one of the cashiers and asked if the manager was available. He was. I asked him if we could possibly spend the night encamped in his spacious lot and he said Yes, we normally allow people who ASK FIRST to park overnight. Even though barely across the street from the nasty looking trailer park, it was an enjoyable evening with no one bothering us. We eventually made it to the Yuma AZ BLM free camping area but that involves more stories for another chapter. It's getting too close to bedtime here in Badger Park in Peshtigo Wisconsin, of all places, and I need to prepare to hit the sack. More later - when I get around to it.
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