Over the mountains and through the desert....

It’s been an interesting ride, but we arrived safe and sound in icy Tucson this afternoon.

The day started early in Roswell with temperatures in the low 20s which made me very glad that I had done all the hard hook up work last night when it was a balmy 35 degrees.

Yesterday we went to the Wildlife Refuge hoping to see some of the Sandhill Cranes that migrate through Roswell in the winter. We saw none. On the way out of town this morning in Roswell we saw several of them standing in a farm field along the highway. Whatever.

All the way from Michigan to get to 13 degrees and snow

We also saw some Prong Horn deer that we also didn’t see at the refuge yesterday. Along US 70 on the way from Roswell to Ruidoso (home of Ruidoso Downs race track) we noticed that many of the same towns and villages apparently have little or no zoning as some of the houses were not much more than clapboard shacks.

Also many of the properties, some of them fairly large, are adorned with junk of every type and size. I believe one of the homes we passed included every car the owner had possessed since the 1940s. As his cars died he apparently decided to just leave them scattered around his yard. Actually, some of them looked like they might be worth something to a car collector, if they had the money to remove the effects of 60 years of weather exposure.

We saw a few “Elk Crossing” signs, but never saw any real elk.

One of our favorite past times in the car is to listen to Plash Phelps on our XM Radio. Plash is the morning disc jockey for the 60s channel and is very entertaining. His knowledge of the country is amazing and he has undoubtedly traveled extensively as he can rattle of highway and Interstate information without any hesitation.

7,500 feet near Ruidoso - a climb of 3,000 feet

After he went off the air at 10 a.m. (Mountain Time) I switched to my second favorite XM station “Radio Classics” which plays transcribe radio programs from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I love the old radio detective and mystery stories and today there was a line from one of them  I asked Joan to write down.

Jeff Chandler was playing detective Michael Shayne and offered the following reflection on a case he was working on. “I have enough questions to start a quiz show and not enough answers to win a yo-yo.”

He also said, “it was a night darker than a GI’s cup of coffee.” Love those old lines.

We passed a field of pistachio trees and generally spent the day enjoying the changing scenery from the high desert to the really high desert. When we left Roswell we were at 3,500-feet elevation. Less than two hours later we climbed over Apache Summit near Ruidoso at 7,500-feet. The Tahoe performed effortlessly and I have gained more confidence and calmness about the strength of the truck.

At the top of the mountain the temperature had dropped to 13-degrees and there was considerable snow on the ground, but the roads were dry and clear by the time we got there.

Welcome to Arizona

Our travels took us through the previously mentioned Ruidoso, Alamagordo, Las Cruces, New Mexico and a variety of smaller towns through Arizona. At one point near the highway that leads to El Paso we were funneled into one lane, then off the freeway and through a Border Patrol checkpoint. We didn’t even have to stop, the agent simply peered into our windows and then waved us through.

After a few hours of Radio Classics we turned to the 50s station and Joan got a laugh when they played a song called “Little Diane” (it included a kazoo) which is Joan’s sister’s name. The song at one point used the term “evil” Diane. Not that she thinks her sister is evil, because she certainly doesn’t, but the era of the song made her remember those early days when she and her sister danced together in their Buffalo bedroom.

Just a note: I usually post a photo of our campsite, but I had to back this bad boy into a very tight space along a crowded street. I had some guidance from one of the park people which was very helpful, but by the time we got everything together it was too dark for a photo. I'll put one up tomorrow.

Everything did go perfectly either. Our water hose is not long enough to connect to the park water supply, but because the temperatures are expected to be below freezing tonight (then it is finally going to start to warm up) we decided to keep the trailer winterized and buy a longer hose tomorrow.

So for dinner we had cold sandwiches and salad. It was good.

Also there may not be posts everyday, but there will be one tomorrow.

Mileage out: 37396

Time out: 7:35 a.m.

Mileage in: 37853

Time in: 4 p.m.