Day 1671

WE woke up at 7:30.  I'd intended to get up at 7, but I messed up and set the alarm for 8.  I had breakfast and then we packed up the trailer to leave.  Everything went pretty smoothly except for one of the front leg jacks.  Its pin is bent and I had to hammer it out.

The first part of the trip went fine.  Then we crossed into New Mexico.  I hate this state.  The roads turned to crap.  Long sections we in major need of resurfacing.  Other parts had long sections of what looked and felt like frost heaves.  Something in either the suspension or the hitch would squeak as we went over them.

We spent over 100 miles suffering through this crap.  The roads didn't improve until we got to I40.  Even then there were sections of the interstate that were pretty bad.  Gas mileage was terrible - 8.4.  I think that was mainly due to climbing from 3500 to almost 8000 feet.  A 15+ MPH headwind for about half the way didn't help.

New Mexico is an ugly state.  We did have fun reading all of the billboards.  New Mexico is a state where the billboards actually improve the scenery.  We also started a book on tape which helped to improve the trip.

Two stories about fuel.  We stopped at Santa Rosa for fuel.  We only had 80 miles of fuel left.  The town has 5 gas stations.  They were all packed except for the one that didn't sell diesel.  Two of them were too small to get the trailer in.  We drove from one end of the town to another before giving up.  I should mention that the prices at all of them were highway robbery - $2.50.  We ended going a few miles down to a lonely Sinclair station (the only building at the exit).  Their price was $1.99.  We saved $14 on the fill up. 

 

It was down hill to 5500 feet in Albuquerque.  Ellen had me drive to the wrong RV park.  Fortunately the right one was a quarter mile down the same road.  We unhooked and went to a nearby Lowe's for DEF and fuel.  We used a lot of DEF today.  We used so much that the truck displayed a warning.  Lowe's wanted $18 for DEF (it was $12 at Autozone in Austin).  I said screw it and drove back and exit.  We fueled up at a Circle K there.  Fuel was 25 cents cheaper and not biodiesel.  We saved another $4.  There was an Autozone next door.  DEF there was $15.  I bought 4 boxes.  We put one in the truck in the parking lot.  The rest should be enough to get us to Salem.

The rest of the day was reading and surfing.  The park doesn't have TV, but the rest rooms and showers are open.  That's nice since New Mexico has a Democrat asshole for a governor.  Everyone is supposed to wear masks.  I doubt half do.