KOA Mudhole

The morning was somewhat overcast and a check of the Weather Channel confirmed rain and maybe snow was headed our way.  What to do?  We decided to make it to Williams, Arizona, which is near the western edge of the high country.  If the weather got ugly, it would be downhill all the way to Kingman, Arizona.

We drove along a very well-maintained I-40 all day long through high desert.  We made very good time through this vast, open region.  The scenery included open rangelands, mesa-looking desert and pine covered mountains.  Around Flagstaff, we saw snow by the side of the road, which was a reminder of how cold it can get around here.  The highest point of our journey was just west of Flagstaff at 7,335 feet.  The coach made the pull just fine with surprisingly good fuel economy considering the altitude.

We pulled into a KOA near Williams, Arizona and checked in.  Without going into a lot of detail, the KOA really wasn’t set up for big rigs.  It was hard maneuvering into the campsite and I have no idea how we’ll get out.  The hookups are in the wrong spot, the roads are muddy and badly rutted and there are too many obstacles for a rig this size.  I would have expected better from a KOA.  It was very disappointing.  At least we got satellite TV reception.  At an altitude of 6,557 feet, we won’t be doing our workout.

We grilled some chicken for dinner, which was a welcome change.  During the rally we had been eating out for convenience and we were tired of it.

After dinner, we set things up so all we had to do was pull the power cord, retract the levelers and pull in the slides to be on our way.  We watched some TV before falling asleep.

Drive to Gallup, New Mexico

It was really cold last night, but the morning was clear and promised to be a good day for travel.

The drive would be a short one, about 120 miles, from Farmington to Gallup, New Mexico.  After driving a short distance west, the road to Gallup is a straight shot south through high desert.  Most of the surrounding area is Indian reservation and seems mostly deserted.  Oddly enough, there were several hitchhikers on the reservation.  This was the first time we saw hitchhikers in any numbers during out travels.  It was a good thing we fueled in Farmington, since the towns were few and far between.

The prominent geologic feature for the day was Ship Rock, which is a regional landmark you can see for miles in the distance.

After a long and uneventful drive, we turned onto I-40 heading west through Gallup.  The RV park was designed to accommodate big rigs and we quickly set up.  Our dinner was re-heated leftovers from Farmington.

Once again, it got cold the moment the sun went down.  The GPS confirmed we were camped at 6,456 feet.  The night would be a cold one and we piled extra blankets on the bed before snuggling in.

Aztec, New Mexico

We rolled out of bed as the sun was coming up.  It was really cold last night, probably into the high 20s, so the first order of business was turning up the heater and fixing a hot cup of coffee.  We dressed warmly and briskly walked to the pancake and sausage line.  The sky was clear, the air was crisp and a layer of frost sparkled in the morning sun.  All we could think about was hot food.

Returning to the coach, we suspected some ice had formed in the water filter and hose; the warming sunlight would quickly thaw things out.

There were no seminars that interested us, so we piled in the Jeep and headed for the town of Aztec, about 10 miles away, to view some Indian ruins.  Arriving, it was still cold, around 35 degrees, so we bundled up before leaving the warmth of the Jeep.  The site was very interesting.  Archeologists estimate the site was constructed around 1,100 AD and was a religious and cultural center of some importance.  We were surprised to find some of the structures had been up to three stories tall and arranged in a way that provided a good defensible position in case of attack.  Not quite a fort, but close.  We stopped for lunch on the way back to the coach.

After hanging around the coach for a while, the wind stopped and the day warmed up.  There were no more excuses left and we got on with the workout.  The flat terrain and calm winds helped, but we had still not fully acclimated to running at 5,300 feet.  I managed to eek out a continuous 25 minutes and Jeanne completed her intervals.

After cleaning up, we visited with our neighbors, Fred and Beverly for over an hour.  Their story was compelling.  Each had found themselves living alone after loosing a spouse to illness.  They met at a support group for surviving spouses, began dating and eventually married about three years ago.  Clearly, they share common interests in the arts, travel and lifestyle.  Together they seem to be moving on with their lives.

Without disrespect, Fred and Beverly aren’t kids.  Anyone retired with great-grandchildren easily falls within the AARP demographic.  On reflection, what seemed strange to me was starting a long-term relationship later in life.  Young folks have to build a relationship while worrying about young kids, mortgages and managing careers.  With seniors, I suppose there are family and health issues, but the goals must be very different.  In any event, it is heartwarming to see Fred and Beverly are happy and optimistic.  They are fine people and I wish them well.

We drove into Farmington and stopped at a local Mexican restaurant.  The meal was somewhat uninspired, but effective.

We returned to the coach and began preparations to leave the next morning.

Electrical Systems

The rain we were waiting for finally arrived last night — sort of.  There was just enough rain to wake us up and turn a layer of dust to mud.  A strong wind was blowing, which the weather report promised would continue all day.  It would be a good day to hide out indoors.  We headed for the pancake and sausage line a little later than usual. 

The two seminars I wanted to attend both focused on electrical issues.  Since the first started at 10:45 AM, we had time to hit the local internet cafe to update the computers.  As it turned out, the wireless service at the cafe was slow and kept dropping the connection.  It was frustrating and all we did was download e-mail.  Updating this site would have to wait.

Returning to the rally, there were no seminars Jeanne wanted to attend and she spent most of the day keeping warm and quietly reading in the coach.

The two electrical seminars I attended were great and were really broken into three parts: batteries, electrical systems and air conditioner maintenance.

The section on batteries covered the different types of batteries, battery care and methods to extend battery life.  This is no small thing, since the coach has two chassis and four house batteries.  We also have a battery in the Jeep.  Seven batteries is quite an investment and the class was most useful.

The discussion of electrical systems was alarming.  The main focus of the class was protecting the coach electrical system when connecting to an external power supply.  Although problems at RV parks are rare, connecting to a bad system can be catastrophic.  There is a lot to watch for and I will now be testing the circuits before hooking up, especially 30 amp circuits.

The instructor quickly covered air conditioner operation and maintenance.  I will have to perform some maintenance when we return to California in a couple of weeks, no big deal.

Later in the afternoon, it was still too windy to run so we went for a drive around the area.  It is really pretty here this time of year and the cottonwood trees and in their full golden fall color.  The three local towns, Farmington, Bloomfield and Aztec are not the most prosperous places in the country, but the communities seem to be getting along.  This is not the place for us, but we’re getting close.

We got a sandwich for dinner and returned to the coach.  Expecting the night to be cold, we snuggled into bed early to read and watch TV before falling asleep.

Weight, Tires and Holding Tanks

We had seminars scheduled all day, so we got an early start by hitting the pancake and sausage line.  It was the first time we stood for the National Anthem before before breakfast.  We shared travel stories with a couple from Phoenix while the pancakes soaked up three times their weight in warm maple syrup.  Shortly before 8:00 AM, we headed for the seminars.

Our first two classes focused on calculating motorhome weight and how it relates to tire loading, inflation and care.  It turns out that load and tire pressure are closely related and should be closely monitored.  We already knew most of this and keep an eye on our weight and tires, but this class was a good refresher.  We are committed to lightening our load when we return to California and have a mental list of non-essentials.

The next class was all about the mysteries of holding tanks.  It turns out there is a lot of organic chemistry going on right under our feet, or backsides as the case may be, and controlling the byproducts of all this activity is essential.  Without going into a lot of detail, we had some problems during our travels in warm, humid climates.  Our big purchase of the day were some environmentally friendly chemicals for the gray and black tanks.  This new stuff better work or we go back to the blue bottle.

After a quick break, Jeanne attended a class on improving the RV lifestyle, which was mostly helpful hints and pitfalls.  Not much was new here.

The last seminar was on FMCA membership benefits, which was very informative.  The scope and size of the organization was impressive and many of the benefits were new to us.  We are glad we joined and plan to take advantage of the FMCA programs.

In the evening, we toured Farmington and found the town was much bigger than we thought.  On a rare occasion, we stop at a Dairy Queen for a treat.  This was one of those ‘special nights’ and we sat in the Dairy Queen parking lot enjoying ice cream and watching a desert sunset.

We returned to the coach and spent a quiet evening watching TV before going to bed.

We arrive at the rally

The morning was clear and cold and it looks like the rain will hold off a day or so.

We selected last night’s campsite because it is right next to the fairgrounds where the rally will be held.  The literature we received advised us to arrive with the water tank full and the waste tanks empty.  So before pulling out, I filled to fresh water tank until the overflow tube discharged water under the coach.  Regular readers of this triplog will recall the water debacle in Buffalo, New York, when I forgot about filling the tank and flooded the campsite.  This time, a little water overflowed and it was on purpose.  We pulled out around 9:00 AM.

Coach tucked into campsite at FMCA rally in Farmington, New Mexico. There were over 750 rigs at the rally.

At about one mile, the drive to the fairgrounds was our shortest trip on record.  After checking in, we were escorted to our site and assisted with parking.  In a place as small as Farmington, New Mexico, we expected about 150 motorhomes but were surprised to find over 750 showed up for the Rally.  Despite the large crowd, everyone had electrical and water hookups.  For a fee, the ‘Honey Truck’ will come by to drain the gray and black tanks.  Overall, the organizers expertly handled the steady stream of arriving motorhomes.

This was the arrival day and not much was officially scheduled and most of the afternoon was mostly spent checking in and walking around.  The only seminar we attended introduced members to the FMCA organizational structure from local chapters to the national organization.  The organization is bigger than we thought.

The weather was still warm, so I took the opportunity to do the workout and run.  The weight and Pilates went o.k., but at 5,300 feet I had to cut the running short.  We’re becoming concerned that our distance will suffer when we return to lower altitudes.

At 7:00 PM, there was a welcoming meeting that included a demonstration of traditional song and dance by local Indian tribes.  The performers were very talented and the demonstration was very much enjoyed by the crowd.

The walk back to the coach was cold, so we wisely piled on the covers before going to bed.

The road to Farmington, New Mexico

With most of the preparation done last night, we hit the road earlier than usual.  The day was clear and cool; hopefully the weather will hold for our 160 mile drive to Farmington, New Mexico.

The drive was along a very well-maintained highway.  The countryside was high-desert and alternated between canyons, mesas and open grasslands.  Towns were few and far between; this is some of the most remote country we have traveled to date.  Slowly, we kept gaining altitude and sometime after the small town of Cuba, New Mexico, we crossed the Continental Divide.  Most of the day we stayed around 7,000 feet, but began to drop as we approached Farmington.  Aside from a little wind late in the day, the drive was mostly uneventful.

The drive also confirmed how comfortable we are in the west.  With endless shades of brown as a backdrop, the subtle colors of sage, grasses, flowers and changing cottonwood trees really stood out.  An occasional outcrop of red rock completed the perfect desert scene.  We like this type of countryside and look forward to exploring more of it next year.

Farmington is a small town in the middle of nowhere.  It is the destination; there are no other towns anywhere close.  This is a gritty oilfield town that also serves as a regional commercial center.  You can find anything you need and most of the national chains stores have a presence.  There is even a small mall.

While setting up, we found a set-screw and retainer had worked loose from the infamous red cable between the coach and Jeep.  This needed to be repaired along with one of the rear lights on the Jeep.  We soon found the pieces and returned to the campground to make the repairs.  We’re starting to realize that constantly being on the move takes a toll on the equipment.

The campground is full of big-rigs like ours that will head for the FMCA rally tomorrow morning.  After visiting with a few of our neighbors, the rest of the afternoon and evening was spent reading, working with the computer and watching TV.

We look forward to pulling into the rally tomorrow and settling in for a few days.

Running at High Altitude

We didn’t do much these past three days.

For the most part, the weather was mild for this time of year.  We tried to do our workout twice during this three-day period.  The weights and Pilates were o.k., but the run was a killer.  The altitude at our campsite was 5,060 feet, the air was thin and two days was not long enough to acclimate.  The run almost killed me the first day.  The second day was little better.

There was a Starbucks close by which we used for regular computer updates.  The rest of the time was mostly spent running errands and hanging around the coach.  It was really a waiting game, since our next destination was the FMCA rally in Farmington, New Mexico.

During this time, Jeanne mostly read and worked crossword puzzles.  I used to the time to continue with my self-study of the Microsoft .NET technologies.  This is computer-geek stuff and the section on Regular Expressions was fascinating.  However, all knowledge turns out to be useful — even the French classes my father forced me to take in junior high school.  I must have been the only kid is Southern California who took French instead of something useful, like Spanish.  C’est la vie.

We debated if attending the rally was a good idea.  We had never been to one and didn’t know what to expect.  Also, Farmington is out of the way and timing the weather would be tricky.  The last thing we wanted was to be stuck in the middle of the desert during a storm.  This is high desert and snow is a real possibility.  In the end we decided to go.  The plan was to cut our Albuquerque stay short by two days and head to Farmington during good weather.  If it rained or snowed after we arrived, so what?  Once again, weather controlled our movements.

With the Farmington issue settled, we prepared the coach for travel.

Brained!

The morning was clear and bright and we really appreciated the extra ‘fall back’ hour of sleep as a reward for crossing into the Mountain time zone.  Due to the altitude we decided against the workout, no sense in killing ourselves before acclimating to the environment.

We had a short 60 mile drive (60 miles is short around here) scheduled to our destination of Bernalillo, New Mexico, which is just north of Albuquerque.  Not wanting to arrive at our campsite too early, we didn’t want to get on the road before 10:30 AM and looked forward to a lazy morning.

After Jeanne finished using the water, it was time to empty the holding tanks.  Emptying the gray and waste (black) water tanks is a prepare-for-travel ritual since you don’t want to carry around waste water when diesel costs $2.07 per gallon.  The process is straight-forward but there are several steps, which I outline below for curious readers of this triplog.

The process involves flushing any ‘solids’ from the black water tank.  For this purpose, the black water tank was designed with an interior nozzle that sprays the inside of the tank with fresh water.  To avoid contaminating the fresh water hose with ‘peepee water’ I use a special hose for the flushing process.  So, the first step involves stowing the fresh water hose, filter and regulator and connecting the special flushing hose.  Next, a flexible, large diameter hose connects the coach septic system to the local sewer.  With the hoses in place, the black water valve is opened and the tank is drained then flushed.  When all those nasty ‘solids’ are gone, the black tank valve is closed and the gray water tank is drained.  Draining the gray water tank after the black tank flushes any remaining ‘solids’ from the sewer hose.  With the process complete, the sewer and special flushing hoses are stowed, the latex gloves are discarded and I wash my hands with anti-bacterial soap.

All this is usually done in the cool of the morning when the hoses are stiff and the water is cold.  To complicate matters, sometimes the ground is uneven and/or muddy from leaking water valves.  You work crouched in a confined area filled with protruding pipes, electrical boxes, hoses, open compartment doors, open slides, extension cords and coiled coaxial cable.  Obviously, this is an industrial accident waiting to happen.

So, why am I telling you all this?

On this particular morning, I needed more room to coil a stiff water hose.  In one quick motion, I rose up while moving to the left — and brained myself on the slide.  Bad words echoed through the campground as I dropped to my knees.  I started gasping for breath.  When my vision cleared, I saw my blood-stained hat laying on the ground.  This was not good.  Still stunned, I crawled out from under the slide and sat at the picnic table for a few minutes before entering the coach to view the damage.  Pushing aside Jeanne, who had the hair-dryer going and was unaware of the whole incident, the reflection in the mirror confirmed the coach drew blood.  I stopped the bleeding, applied antiseptic and went back outside to finish with the tanks.  Damn, my head hurt!

With our equipment stowed and wounds dressed, we hit the road.  The drive to Albuquerque was through some rugged high-desert country that was a welcome change from the open prairie of Northern Texas.  Our only stop was a Flying J for fuel and lunch.

After setting up, we got our mail that was sent as general delivery to the Bernalillo post office.  It was the usual blend of statements, magazines and junk.  We spent the rest of the afternoon quietly at the coach.

Not wanting to cook, we headed out for dinner and got caught in going-home traffic.  The cars and congestion was numbing and totally out of character for the area.  It was sort of like Las Vegas — after miles and miles of desert wasteland, you find yourself in the middle of a traffic jam.  We finally made it to McDonalds and ordered a salad and Chicken McNuggets for dinner.  Taking an alternate route, we returned to the coach and watched TV, read and worked with the computer before going to bed early.

From now on, I promised myself to be more careful when working around the coach.

Moriaty, New Mexico

The skies cleared and the winds abated.  A check of the local weather channel confirmed it had been cold, the low for the night was 35.  We hit the road early and our only stop in Amarillo was a Flying J to fuel the coach.

This stretch of I-40 is well maintained and we made good time.  At about the Texas/New Mexico boarder, the terrain changed from prairie to high desert.  Suffering from boredom, we listened to bored truckers chatting on the CB radio.

We had been climbing all day into a stiff headwind and the loss of power was noticeable, as was the poor fuel economy.  By the time we stopped outside the small town of Moriarty, New Mexico, the elevation was 6,180 feet and I estimate we had used an additional $40 of fuel.  Adding insult to financial injury, I had a screaming headache.  After setting up, I tried to get some sleep.

The rest of the evening was spent reading, watching TV and getting the coach ready for tomorrow.