11/12/07
Today it is windy and cool at 11 am. I am camped at an electric site in the North Campground of the Conchis Lake State Park. This park is northwest of Tucamcari, NM in eastern NM about 35-40 miles. It feels like winter is coming. My dilemma is whether to continue my journey south or to head west to Las Vegas, NM and camp at two other state parks in that area. If I go west I ‘ll find myself at higher elevations and surely colder temperatures. If I head southwest to Santa Anna Lake SP about 50 miles away the temps will probably be like they are here. If I don’t head the 100 miles or so west toward Las Vegas, I will probably not get back up in this region for the balance of my stay in NM which will be a shame…this is beautiful territory and I want to experience it.
Two other factors are involved. One, money, and two whether the Forest Service sites toward Las Vegas are even open. Heading south, I see no FS campgrounds on the map. I have another four days to stay out of the state park system during this cycle. I thought I was okay but I checked my days and if I stay at SP’s for 21 days straight (the limit out of every 28 days), that will take me to the 21st.
The other factor is money. I am down to enough in the bank to cover 4 nights at $10 plus a little left over. If I stay at SP electric sites, I’ll burn through that at $4/night. Let’s see…I have 9 days left on my SP cycle to use. At $4/night that would be $36. Another $10/night with no electric at Forest Service sites would be another $40. That makes $76 total. I think I have around $60 left. I also have half a tank of gas currently for about another 200 miles of driving to get me from one area to another. That’s not much out here so I’ll need to conserve gas or conserve on camp costs, or both, to get through this month.
Options.
- Stay at non-electric SP sites and use my propane, of which I have plenty. In essence, I have already spent the money for the propane, so that is not an additional expense. Part of my dilemma is that I am growing accustomed now to having electricity for my space heater, which regulated the heat well inside, and the one burner electric hotplate as well as unlimited power for the laptop. (Spoiled!)
- Save the $36 on electric sites for the next nine days and just use my annual pass free nights. I could head to where I know I can camp for free back at Red Cloud south of Corona. This was the FS site with no fees nor any gate that I remember to keep me out.
- Stay right where I am at at the Conchias SP, but move to a non-electric site, for the next nine days, not spending a dime on anything extra.
My mistake was to spend the $45 on the radio, antenna, hose and speaker, and wire, etc. Although nice to have, it wasn’t a necessity, especially after I already knew I was cutting my funds close!
To assume full personal responsibility for one’s actions, means making the best of the situation I find myself in! I will probably go stir crazy if I attempt to hold up here for at total of 10 days! I probably need to stay here about 4 days total (three more nights in developed sites) then move to the next closest SP, which will be Santa Rosa for the balance, also developed sites with no out of pocket expenses. During this period I need to contact a US Forest Service office and find out about any open campsites in a reasonable driving radius from where I am. I also have the option, as I get close to the 25th, of just writing checks for electric or Forest service sites and let those costs come out of next month’s check. The only challenge is that will short-change me for December. Of course, my November check may well hit the bank on the 20th since the state cuts its checks early for Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation periods. Even at that, I in essence will still be drawing on my funds reserved for next month and still short me. The best is to downscale my expectations and stay put for longer blocks of time and forget about traveling toward Las Vegas and manage this month’s funds as best I can.
Well, let’s see what I finally do! I may well have options I have not yet considered.
11/14/07
Well…it’s 3pm, about 59 degrees with probably a 5-10 mile per hour wind, a couple miles outside Las Vegas, NM. Las Vegas is due east of Santa Fe about 50 miles by I-25. I am staying the night at Storrie Lake Sate Park. It’s located in a wide plain with mountains to the west of the rather good size lake. Like other lakes I have seen it too is low and not as impressive as it could be. There are only about 4 other campers here and I am not sure they are all working here at the park. Only one electric campground is open and in this one only about half, maybe ten sites in all are electrified.
I writing this in the camper shell, the tailgate up, the window open, and the heater on. It’s a comfortable 68 degrees inside, with a slight breeze circulating inside.
Well, I started out leaving Santa Rosa lake SP, drove west on I-40, turned north on rt. 3 and drove about 20 miles to Villaneuva State park. A really neat colonial era Spanish town is the cornerstone of this area. Coronado and several other Spanish conquerors traveled through this area. The SP is under construction, as most are this time of year I am finding out, only two electric sites were open, the one I chose had a bad circuit breaker. The other had a large RV just leave its reservation site, and I didn’t know whether it was going to be occupied by another reservation. The wind was howling down the canyon and the location wasn’t great. After about a half an hour of figuring all this out, my choice was to stay without electric or just leave. It appeared most other available sites were filled with workmen. I opted to just say I had been there and drove out and toward Storrie lake SP!
I talked a few minutes with the Park Ranger at Santa Rosa SP. I have been operating under a wrong understanding of the Annual Camping Pass rules. I had assumed I could only stay at State Parks in thee system a combined total of 21 out of 28 days. This ranger told me it is based on the individual SP, meaning that I could stay a total of 21 out of 28 days at a specific park! This means of course for example, I could stay at Storrie lake SP 21 days, move to another SP for 7 days, then move right back into Storrie for another 21 days! What a change this makes in plans! I could therefore just keep moving around after a few days one place and never have to camp at a Forest Service or National Park campsite unless it is just convenient to do so. To think that sweet young thing at Navaho Dam who processed my camping pass back in June, didn’t know the rules! Well, goes to show you that it’s probably the ugly fat man-woman park ranger who probably knows the rules, not the pretty ones!
I really have not seen much to go nuts over for pics the last few days. I imagine it’s a combination of nothing of outstanding interest and the cold putting a damper on my photographic enthusiasm. I think I am also in transition for warm to cold weather. I seem to be adjusting okay, it’s still kind of a shock to be going from shorts to long pants and long johns by early afternoon! It now seems like I pull into a new campground, take five minutes to set up then climb into either the cab or the shell and settle in! Doesn’t seem like much of an excellent adventure right now. It’s about finding a new balance or equilibrium in daily living and daily structure that works for me.
Tomorrow I’ll stop by the FORD dealership here in Las Vegas and get my oil changed under the service contract. I’ve got over 6500 miles on the truck now. I’ll also stop by the Forest Service office and just for curiosity sake find out if there is a way I can find out which campgrounds are closed and open for the winter season.
I passed a Wal-Mart on the way up this highway, so I’ll restock my 8 o’clock coffee supplies. I’m drinking more coffee due to the colder weather. I may also look at some substitute hot drinks for variety. Also wanted to pick up either condensed milk or instant milk. Instant milk probably makes more sense. If I get condensed, I’ll have left over milk to thow out more than likely, but I’ll probably try both and see what works best. The V8 juices have worked out nicely…one a day and I get the veggies I need without trying to store fresh veggies. I also put hot sauce in them to jazz them up a little. I use both in my corned beef as seasoning. Half a small can of V8 and a dash of hot sauce in half a can of corned beef make a nice blend of flavors. Just corned beef by itself is a little dry and boring!
I’ve created a “Bill’s Excellent Adventrure!” 2008 calendar with photos of my trip and words of profound wisdom! I also started toying with a powerpoint slide presentation of special photos from my journey to date. I may put that on disk and ship it out with the calendar to my family and friends. I think it will give a larger presentation image and being more selective. I’ll probably use the “Bill’s Favorites” slideshow as the basis for it. One challenge I have is that I really need to get to the pics I have archived on the web site to do it justice.
11/17-22/07
Well, I am at a rather unique place. Oasis State Park, just south of Clovis and west of Portales, NM. This area has sand dunes, not like those of white sands, but desert sand dunes darker in color. There is a museum here I plan on visiting today called the Blackwater Draw Museum. I had no idea what that was until I stopped by the Park office yesterday. It is a paleontology dig, closed for the winter, that is full of hairy mammoth and other creatures dating back 13,000 years ago, including evidence of humans. I am looking forward to visiting this museum today, after it warms a little. Look for a slideshow on the experience.
The weather is to be quite mild during the weekend and by thanksgiving, it will be quite cold. It rained some late last night with more on the way, mostly next week from the forecasts. I am quite comfortable in my camper shell. I tend to climb in around dark (5 pm or so) and I don’t come out till late morning, like 8:30 or 9! Makes for a long night but it works for me! “Cozy” is what describes the setting. I’ve been told by several experiences RV’ers that I’ll get sick of it and if I stay at it, will probably graduate to a larger setup, some type of camper trailer. They are speaking from their experience and I respect that, but I am not them. Time and money will tell!
I stopped at a Ford dealership in Clovis yesterday and got the oil changed in the truck. I now have over 6900 miles on it in about 2 ½ months! Gas prices seem to be holding steady in the smaller towns, but the big chains along the interstates out here have jumped their prices to $3.45/gal! Shades of things to come.
I talked to this RV’er yesterday at Sumner SP. His diesel rig gets 9-11 mpg! He is planning a trip next summer to Alaska and figured for the three months he’d be there, just the fuel cost while actually in the state will be over $8,000! I honestly don’t know where people get the money for running these big rigs. Even if I could afford to buy the rig, it would just have to sit!
I decided to stay put for a few days saving gas, doing my form of “R&R”! I’ll pull out on the 22nd and begin my trip toward Pancho Villa down by the border, although I think this Canadian weather front is going to catch me regardless! I’ll stop in Portales and restock myself and get more storage bins, a memory mattress topper, and more than likely, a small microwave. I’ll put the hotplate away for a while. Virtually everything I cook I can do in a microwave and have less mess of cleaning pans etc. Besides the little hotplate takes forever to boil water! Makes sense to me!
When the oldtimers around here used to go out into the area and get water, they could dig a 3 ft hole and find water. Now they have to drill 200 ft plus to find water on the farms. They do a lot of dairy cattle stuff out in this area, according to the Park Manager. One of his crew lived in Selma, NC! How about that! I offered Charles a ride back to his home town late in March, if he’s interested. The staff here are very nice people.
Tonight (11/19) the temps should get down to low 40’s with a high similar to today’s high in the mid 80’s. The bottom is going to drop out of the temps by Thanksgiving with a high to be about 39-40, with lows in low 20’s through the weekend. Sounds inviting doesn’t it…especially in my setup. Sounds like I might be spending a few days holed up in the camper shell until this front moves through!
I’ve put what I hope will be the final touches on my special 2008 calendar. You can find a link to it on the November photo page or wait until I get copies printed up and mailed. It will be in a PDF file format.
11-23-07 (Roswell)
Sitting in my hermetically sealed camper shell, it is a toasty 85 degrees (yikes, better turn the heater down!) with the outside temp at 32. Finished breakfast and I am making coffee. The snow yesterday wasn’t but a light dusting. This morning it’s a bit more and seems to be staying around. Supposed to taper off this afternoon then we are to get 2-4 inches tonight into tomorrow. I plan on staying put at least into Monday when the weather will clear and it will be a balmy 57! Did some Map Quest checking through the cell phone and it’s about a four hour drive to Poncho Villa SP in Columbus, NM from here…but that route takes me over the mountains through Ruidoso where they may get 5-10 inches of snow over the weekend as it’s over 7000 ft, according to the weather.com. May need to take a more southerly route…longer but safer.
I’ve upgraded several things to my set up. Two 14 guage extrension cords with multiple outlets on each, microwave oven (yea!), smaller space heater with the same amount of punch to it to conserve on space, several more storage bins. The new setup (rearranged a few bins) is giving me a bit more space and functionality. I also purchased an XM Radio setup and paid for a year contract. It’s the “Xpress” model ($58 at Wal-Mart) and the one-year contract was $165 (up front!) Works great with 170 channels (about 70 of those are sports channels which I could care less about!) Eventually, I’ll get a second receiver for the camper shell, or just purchase a new radio/CD for the cab that is XM ready (assuming they make one.) and move the car radio from the cab to the camper shell. Of course the other option is to get a home AC unit and just move the receiver into the camper when I want to use it there when I have electric connections.
As far as the cell phone goes, I subscribed to MobiTV ($9.95/mo) to give me a little variety in entertainment (not a great pic but it works and lets me feel like I’m still part of civilization!) It has my two favorite channels in its line up, Discovery and the History Channel. I also subscribed to Sprint Radio, but I can’t get the program to work, even after a stop by the local Sprint store. Probably just get a refund from Sprint when I get out of the park for this service.
I cooked a 4 lb turkey on my Cobb Grill yesterday in the blowing snow (rather cold), ate about 5 ozs, (I just don’t need to eat that much anymore and I don’t have a way to refrigerate.) Then last night, after seeing a skunk and some cat looking creature (it was dark) scavenging, I set it out by the picnic table. It was gone this morning with my plate turned over and sitting with about an inch of snow in it! Glad the creature who took it had a tasty thanksgiving! The Cobb is really quite an amazing grill. Cooked the turkey for 2 ½ hours on it and it was very moist…on just 7-8 brickettes! I could have gotten a Cornish hen and microwaved it. Just didn’t think about it till I was back at camp. I got creative and basted it with some olive oil, seasoning, and Italian salad dressing. Could have done without the salad dressing!
Had trouble getting into my blog the other day (problem with my login info) so I’ll try again soon. I’ve updated the web site the other day as well. Now I am working at making the map system a little more manageable, but I keep dropping links when I move certain maps to a page dedicated to NM. UGH!!
Still need to mail a couple of things and do laundry before I leave the area.
Give the fact I’ve spent way to much on my setup the other day, I’ll probably have to cut back on touristy things and slow down my traveling. I’m averaging about 3000 miles a month. I decided that during these cold months I’d stay put longer in any given SP I stay in and “attempt” to save some money.
This is a pretty good area for reception and access to stores, movies, etc., so I may hibernate here longer than Monday. Time will tell.
Met a nice woman from Albuquerque late yesterday around dusk. She has this beautiful greyhound. She’s taking her to a rabbit hunt on a nearby ranch this weekend. She’s camping in a tent with no heat (afraid for her dog getting burned.) I brought over my old electric heater and my long extension cord. She seemed reluctant to use them, but I told her that about 2 in the morning when she wakes up freezing, she may appreciate having it around. Told her she could keep them as I was just going to take them to a thrift store in town and give them away. I have no idea at this time whether she made use of them or plans on keeping them. Rather attractive woman I must admit, but…
Norm asked me the other day to be his best man in May and I’m really touched by his offer. Of course I’ll be very pleased to have that honor.
More later…need to venture out of my adobe into the cold and take a shower! I bet I’m ripe right now!
11/25/07
It’s 29 degrees this Sunday AM. We had 4 “ snow yesterday early in the morning hours and it stopped by about noon yesterday. Kept checking the weather.com forecast looking at their maps and it kept looking like snow or a mix was falling, but nothing! I opted to go into town to pick up a few small items in the afternoon. Roads were clear and there was no problem moving around. Best I could figure out is was probably snowing at higher elevations in the atmosphere, but just not making it to the ground.
Finally found what I needed to affix my roape light to the ceiling. They are little stickems that have a piece to run a small plastic tie down through. Works great! Also installed a foot switch to the ceiling with Velcro…a big ole button type easy to find in the dark of night. I plan on getting a second 12’ rope light for extra light…the one works great for mood lighting and for a less brilliant light at night. Very soothing effect. They connect end to end so if I want a stronger light, say to read by, I can connect them together without it becoming a major operation!
Found this really great rock station on FM coming in from Ruidoso. A good blend of hard classic and smooth rock from the past. Good to listen to in the shell on my AC portable radio. Did I tell you I burned out my DC car radio I picked up cheap? Oh well, on balance it only cost me about $6.50. Yeah…turned it on last week and the smoke came pouring out the cassette drive!
The microwave is working great! Going to switch to plastic forks and spoons and paper bowls for oatmeal and soups. Just a real hassle doing dishes in this setting. Of course, I’ll keep the regular stuff for when I have to use my camp stove when I don’t have electricity, but I can’t see keep screwing around with dishes I have to clean when I do have power. I also picked up two microwave save Tupperware bowls that I usually just heat water for coffee or doing dishes in.
The new little heater seems to keep burning me out! Right now it’s running at about 85 degrees in here even with it set on 65 degrees and low fan speed! My insulation is also helping tremendously to make it all work.
The woman who was camping in a tent with her dog and to whom I passed on my 100’ extension cord and the older heater, stopped by yesterday AM and gave me two steaks! What a nice jesture from a really nice and attractive woman! She returned the cord but kept the heater (I took the cord to Goodwill.) We swapped business cards and come to find out she is a education trainer for the school system in Albuquerque! She agreed to my overture to get together for coffee or a meal next time I’m in the city. Her first name is really unique, “Drucie”. I cooked the steaks on my Cobb (what a great charcoal grill) and was originally going to save one steak for later and just reheat it in the microwave, but the first one was so juicy, I just went ahead and “just ate the whole thing” like Mikey!
Well, today has got to be laundry day, assuming no more snow is coming down. I’ll probably leave camp early afternoon and go to town to do laundry and pick up my plasticware. Really not sure when I’ll leave this area. I don’t feel particularly restless and I have good access to stores and cell service. I may just stay here a while longer. I still want to get to Ruidoso though as I always hear about how beautiful a setting it is with the mountains and skiing.
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