9/24-28/2009 - Albuquerque, NM and beyond!

Sept 24 - Thurs
Up at 5:30 am & left Red Rock for Albuquerque about 9 am.

About 20 minutes out of Albuquerque, I heard some noises from under the hood....not a good thing to hear when you're planning a trip of over 4000 miles! As I got closer to Albuquerque, it was getting louder....like something was lose that shouldn't be!

I was to meet my friend, Carol Rayburn, at Walmart & Sam’s Club in Albuquerque, so while waiting for her, I shopped for a few groceries I needed. Once Carol arrived, I asked her if she could recommend where I could take the MH for diagnosing what the trouble was. Carol had lived in Albuquerque before retiring and going full time RVing....so if something was going to happen mechanically to the motorhome, I felt confident that Carol would know who I should go to see! As I figured, she gave me the number of Statkus Engines and I after calling, I had an appointment for 8 am the next morning.

With that taken care of, Carol & I drove our rigs to Hidden Valley RV Resort, which is about 10 or so miles east of Albuquerque. After getting the motorhome settled in for the night at the park, I met Carol over at her rig. She invited me to go with her to meet some Winnebago friends of her’s at El Pinto restaurant for a drink & appetizers. I had met some of them last year when I attended the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, so it was really great to see themn again!

Carol was "under the weather" with a cold and I was tired from the day of driving & problem solving, so after leaving the restaurant and getting back to the RV park, Carol & I decided to look at her pictures that she had taken on her trip recent trip to Italy! We compared where I had been with where she visited...a fun exercise! Once we had gone through all the pictures, we were both ready to go to bed!

Sept 25 - Fri
Up at 2:30 am!! Couldn’t sleep......thinking about the possibilities if the motorhome problem was going to be too costly! So I figured I might as well make use of the time and get some organizing in the motorhome done.

Since my appointment at the auto shop was at 8 am, I decided to leave for the as soon as it was daylight, which turned out to be about 6:20 am, to avoid as much of the morning traffic as possible! I arrived at the shop about an hour later so, I with the time I put the cat kennels in storage....in the outside basement compartments!

One the auto shop opened, the shop manager took a look and listened to the noise. His initial thought was that it was the alternator! It turned out to be the smog air pump bearings were shot, so a new pump was in order! I also had a few other things taken care of too….replaced the fuel filter & had the wheel bearings cleaned & packed plus the caliper sliders cleaned. By 4 pm I was on the road again!

Back at the ranch, I mean RV park, Carol was getting ready for dinner guests, Dick & Judy, another couple that I met last year at the Balloon Fiesta. I remembered Judy because she had so many hats….costume type hats that is! Here’s a pic from last year of her!
The visit was enjoyed, but when dinner was over, we all headed back to our rigs to go to bed early as we all had plans for the next morning that involved moving!

Sept 26 - Sat
Up at 7 am….too lazy to get up earlier! But also couldn’t linger any later, as I today I was to be on my way again to Wisconsin.

My route took me from Tijeras off I-40 east to Tucumcari where I headed northeast on US 54. US 54 took me over the New Mexico border into Texas, through both the northwest corner of the Texas panhandle & through Oklahoma across the border into Kansas! Sounds like a lot miles to cover, but the highway goes through some very narrow sections of both Texas & Oklahoma!

I managed to get as far as Meade State Park in Kansas, where I stayed for the night!

http://www.kdwp.state.ks.us/news/State-Parks/Locations/Meade

I sure like the state parks in the various states. Some states are priced better than others, but the surroundings are always pleasant and the parks have amenities that I like!....electricity & sometimes really nice showers! 392 miles today!

Sept 27 - Sun
Up late….8 am and on the road by 9 am!

The drive to Wichita, KS on US 54 was fairly fast for a two lane highway, but the scenery seemed the same except for the little towns that required slowing down for. In fact, some of these towns wanted you to slow down to 20 mph!! One small town, Greenburg, had a stop light on the highway going through town....with the intersecting street being "Main" street. Well, I along with truckers and other travelers sat at this stop light for a good 3-4 minutes! So what was the big deal? Well Main Street was blocked off.....no traffic!! I couldn't help but wonder if this little town ever heard of temporarily making the light a blinking yellow!!

Here are some pictures of the scenery......

With all the wind that Kansas gets and this landscape, I can't help but wonder why Kansas doesn't have wind turbines....so you suppose they're afraid that the Land of Oz might get them too, like Dorothy & Toto?

Back to the drive, the good news is that the drive wasn't that slow for a two lane highway! However, once past Wichita, the highways I chose were not so fast....or for that matter, even as wide as US 54!

I stayed on US 54, which past Wichita on the south side until I came to Hwy 77, which joined US 54 north. The scenery did start getting more interesting at this point. It actually went from looking like prairie land or plains to the farm country of the mid-west!

I followed Hwy 77/US 54 through El Dorado and east until I came to 177, which took me north to Strong City. But just before Strong City, the highway climbed up on the rolling hills and I couldn't help but think of a movie I had seen far too long ago, called "Dancing with Wolves". There was a scene where the "star of the movie", Kevin Costner, was out buffalo hunting with the native Indians. I don't know why I remember the scene in the movie, but the following pictures brought back the memory that I had been so impressed with! (If you click on the pictures, you can see them in a larger format.)

Another interesting "sight" I came across was a Ford Bronco. Many people that have tow hitches on their vehicles, have a cover that says something about what the owner is interested in! Well, this Ford Bronco had a very interesting item hanging from their tow hitch. A mesh bag that had balls in it. Can't imagine what they were trying to say!

From Strong City, I headed east again on US 50 to Emporia where the Turnpike (toll road) ended. All that, just to avoid the I-35 Turnpike from Wichita to Emporia, which is a toll road! I was going to figure out the extra miles I drove, to say nothing about the driving time, but decided it was "done", so now I’ll just have to make up the time in the days ahead!

I was now getting tired and looking for somewhere to stop for the night. I had originally planned on stopping at Eisenhower State Park, but wasn't sure I wanted to drive that far, another 40 miles or so. But when looking at the private RV parks along the way, to the state parks...the state parks won by a landfall!! So from Emporia, I drove east on I-35 to US 75 which took me to Eisenhower State Park where I stayed for the night! Some pictures below of my motorhome in the park along with a beautiful red sunset!

Of the 334 miles I drove today, I have noticed that Kansas "road kill" is mainly skunks & racoons. When driving in Texas, I noticed that the road kill was deer, armadillo, opossum & some other little guy that has a body similar to the racoon but is black with a white stripe! My theory is that these animals "get it" (hit) at night time and don't have a chance because the speed limits are so high that the little guys can't get out of the way fast enough to avoid the truckers on the road! What else would you think about when traveling across "wide open spaces"......:)