(Well, since I am uploading Word documents to the Blog, thought I might as well go ahead and write todays entry!)
I was writing away on my novel inside the tent using my new and improved power source of the battery and solar panel, I all of a sudden heard this alarm going off. Before I could shut down, the alarm came on constant, but I did get shut down with no damage to the system. Apparently, I am pushing the power system to much and drained the battery! So, I set up the solar panel and have left it to trickle charge all day. Once I get the truck bed set up, I may need to invest in the more powerful solar panel, that hopefully will anchor to the top of the truck shell. It is about three times the size of the one I have now and puts out about three times the 5 watts of my smaller one.
I called and got a price on a cruise control unit from an outfit the Ford parts manager here in Roswell gave me a referral to. It will be about $266 for the base unit and another $36 for the control unit on the turn signal arm on the steering wheel. At least there is one made for the truck! I was somewhat worried since Ford doesn't offer an aftermarket unit themselves. The price seems reasonable considering what the labor might look like for a shop to install. I'll need to check to see if it has any effect on the warranty!
The public buildings here are nice and new and very attractive. I plan on getting to the Museum that is part of this complex once I finish writing this blog entry.
I also uploaded another slideshow from Ft Sumner Lake SP and Billy The Kid's gravesite. Not much to it really. I've added it to two categories in the "Slideshows by Category" page link. One under museums and again under "Landscapes, Sunsets and Sunrises."
Well, that will do it for now...take care everyone.
Bill
9/01/07 –
Traveled to Fort Sumner Lake State Park today. This park in southeast of Albuquerque and directly south of Santa Rosa off I-40. I traveled down rt. 283 to Rt60. The drive was pretty monotonous as the terrain is slow rolling desert…and 55 mph limit! Lot of thunderstorms in the distance although never a drop for me or the campsite!
Fort Sumner Village is not much but it does have a lot of greenery compared to the desert plain. This is cattle country with a few really large ranches. Much of the desert was filled with cactus, small ones, but void of a lot of the scrub brush one sees. As I got closer to Ft. Sumner, the scrub brush was more prevalent and the cactus pretty much disappeared.
I drove through several small towns along the way. I don’t know what happened, but they were all but deserted with gas stations, restaurants and motels closed up and vandalized. It would be interesting to figure out what happened.
To get to the state park, I drove 11 miles north out of Ft. Sumner Village and drove about another 6 miles to the park. I am not sure, but I think I saw another windmill power farm off to the east as I drove north out of Sumner. The campgrounds are pretty much filled, but one could go to primitive camping areas, but you’d better have a truck! I found a decent site, site 23. Most have a shelter that helps block the sun, as does my site.
Got the tent up, installed my solar panel, put the battery inside the tent, hooked up my trouble light and laptop to the new 400Watt inverter I bought. That total power setup cost about $150. So far so good!
Brewed some coffee and later fixed dinner. Read a couple of chapters in the “Bourne Ultimatum.” Left messages for Will and Norm. Called Chaz on the way here and he was at work. Just let him know I was on the road to Ft. Sumner, where the infamous Billy the Kid is buried! I’ll drive into town tomorrow and check it out.
Besides typing this, it’s now dark out at 8 pm, I’ll listen to talk radio if I can find a station with decent reception and go to bed after awhile. Seems like right now all I can get is sports talk and probably will be followed up with some game at 9. Can’t stand sports talk and even worse, listening to a game! I’ll probably work on my novel some tonight as well.
Got a whole crew of Latinos plus kids camped next door and they love their latin music…wonderful, peaceful setting! Oh well, need to roll with the punches, right?
9-4-07 –
Today I drove from Fort Sumner Village, NM where I saw Billy the Kid’s grave and toured a small museum, drove down Rt. 20 to Rt. 285 and on to Roswell.
Here’s Billy the Kid’s Story as I understand it now. Sheriff Pat Garrett shot Billy once, in the chest, with a shotgun and killed him. Some legends have Pat shooting Billy in the back…untrue. Garrett apparently gave chase for the reward money of $500, not for some noble rationale. He was shot at the Maxwell’s Home, which is no longer. Billy had 4 kills to his credit with another 4-5 suspect, not the 21 legend has it.
Some thought Billy was illiterate, but just from the letters he wrote to the governor of NM, he was anything but dumb, in fact, he had really a nice stylized handwriting with well formed thoughts and reasonably good grammar.
Billy lived from Nov 1860 until 1881, 21 years of age.
While I was at Fort Sumner Lake State Park, I finalized a deal for a new 2007 Ford F150 and ordered a high top camper shell that I will have installed by the dealer around 9/26. My plan is to build in a bed and storage, use my solar panel, and deep cycle marine battery to drive accessories such as a small space heater and recharge various batteries without taxing the truck battery.
The truck is what I need, perhaps not what I could have wanted, but it will service me well. It is white, has a 4.2 ltr 6 cyl, with a 5 speed/overdrive manual transmission that drives really smoothly. The book says, depending on the final drive ratio (unknown what that is at this point) the truck will tow between 2300 to 3200 lbs. It is not a 4 wheeler, so there will certainly be spots I still will probably not venture. Quite frankly, since the truck is my home and transportation, I still need to exercise caution and not take chances past a certain point. It has a plain AM/FM radio with no CD player, and does not have cruise control, nor power windows or locks. It is a basic 126” wheelbase truck. In order of priority for upgrades, first will be cruise, then a CD/AM/FM radio then a towing package.
Part of my long-range plan is to get the towing package and a small (10’-12’) used hard shell camper suitable for cold weather travel. This may well be a year down the road before I’ll be in a position to purchase one I like.
I hated to get rid of the Pontiac Grand Prix, but quite frankly the car and I were getting beat to death on some of the back roads and even some main roads with really bad bumps and dips! More than once, I’ve had to change my plans due to rough dirt roads leading to an interesting site. The truck obviously has a much better clearance and although still rough riding, can handle the tougher roads.
Anyway, I drove 150 miles Sunday to close the deal and after a stop at Wal-Mart for a few supplies, headed back to Ft. Sumner. I had left everything set up at the campsite and unloaded the car into the tent. I took a few hygiene things and a change of clothes if I found I had to stay the night in Albuquerque.
Well, beyond the grave site of Billy the Kid, the campground was pleasant but quite frankly not much else to do since I don’t fish!
Today is Tuesday and I’ve now set up at the Bottomless Lake SP near Roswell. The lake is nearly nonexistent due to the years of drought out here. The trip to Roswell was a boring ride across endless desert terrain, with the usual cattle ranches scattered along the way.
Roswell itself is a bustling city, not the small crossroads I had anticipated. Lots of lush greenery in town, but once you drive about the 18 miles to the SP, it returns to a desolate location. I am the only tent camper here while the electric sites are full of big RV’s etc. I personally like not living in “RV Cities” so I don’t mind the self-isolation. My plan is to stay here through Friday night to give Will a chance to get my mail to me. I will drive into town several times to see the sites as well as the requisite alien museum. I did pass the exit going south into Roswell for the location to the supposed crash site of the flying saucer. About the time I saw the sign I just blew right past it and decided not to turn around.
Cooked a steak and biscuits for dinner tonight on my Cobb Grill, drank a few Fresca’s , made a pot of coffee and now with the aid of my new power system, I am drafting these words.
It was in the low 90’s today with clear skies. Very pleasant. My campsite has a shelter so that helps a lot, but the damn flies can leave any time and I won’t be disappointed!
“Bill’s Excellent Adventure!” continues!
9-5-07
Traveled into Roswell today and did a couple of things. One, stopped at Ford dealership and found out two things I was not told by the salesman in Albuquerque. The tow limit on my truck was not 5000 lbs, rather it is 2300 lbs. Also there is no accessory kit sold by Ford for cruise control. I will have to go out on the third party aftermarket and locate one and if not too complicated, install it myself. I’ve done this in year’s past on other cars so I have the confidence I can do it.
Next I went to use my laptop at the Visitors Center that said they had free WiFi. Well, I got there and forgot my power cord! So I called Geico insurance and got my truck on the policy. Of course, she reminded me that I need to turn my old plate in or NC would charge me $60! Well, I left the plate on the car after the trade. I’ll need to call the salesman and find out what they did with the plate. I doubt they will send it back on my behalf so I’ll see if they still have it and ask him to hold it till I come back into town on the 26th.
Next to the Visitors Center is a planetarium…I may see what shows and times they have and see if I can work it into my busy schedule!
Last, but not least I went to one of the many Alien Museums and read all about the Roswell incident. They have quite a collection of all the military and civilian accounts, as well as the military cover stories, teletype messages sent between the military and the FBI and affidavits’ from various civilians who were part of the initial discovery as well as a deathbed confession by one of the low ranking military personnel who actually collected part of the debris from the crash site. The Teletype message being sent over the wires to newspapers, abruptly ended with the message that the FBI told them to pull the story.
The actual crash site is by Corona, out in sheep country, 40 miles north of Roswell.. I drove past the non-descript sign directing tourists out into the desert on what looked like another dirt road with deep ruts. I chose not to attempt the trip, but also zipped past the sign and didn’t see the point in turning around.
My gut reaction to what I read was that there was a ship of some sort, that was unknown to the Army Air Force and that a major cover up took place.
Well, after this interesting museum, I headed for Wal-Mart and picked up some more bungee cords for the truck, a short plastic container to put my canned food into (trash bags don’t work to well for storage) and a magnetic key holder to put my spare key into.
I called Will and we talked a while (he made $150 off internet poker last week) and I just updated him on mailing address to send my mail and informed him that my new plate will be sent to him for forwarding. Hopefully my mail will get here by Saturday so I can move further south to Brantley Lake SP about 35 miles from Carlsbad Caverns. I called Carlsbad Caverns to see if they have any national park campgrounds and unfortunately, they don’t so I’ll have to stay at Brantley. There is an RV park down by Carlsbad but I don’t know what their rates are or availability of tent camping.
Today, downtown, the temp was 103 degrees and it is more humid here than other places, so it has been somewhat uncomfortable, but when I got back to the campsite, I sat behind my tent in the shade and it wasn’t too bad for the balance of the afternoon.
Tomorrow, I plan on going back into town and take in at least some culture at a really nice museum in town and perhaps take in a movie.
“Bill’s Excellent Adventure!” continues…
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