Slalom...

 

"Water or snow skiing?" you ask.  Thanks for asking; I don't have the knees or hips for either these days.

It was fewer miles today, but a tougher drive.  West Texas is a whole lot of nuthin', but it was better than today's drive.  The 140 miles to the border was mostly uneventful; even the crazy drivers through El Paso seemed to be taking the day off.  We stopped for our last fuel up in Texas, at Exit 0 - the Flying J was nearly deserted, the RV lanes were both available, and the fuel pumps even gave us a receipt.  It doesn't take much to make my day.

Then, leaving Texas and into New Mexico for this 3-state day.  Like flipping a light switch: the winds were reasonably light in Texas, and picked up immediately as we crossed the border.  Of course, a cross-wind.  Well, as the road wanders a bit direction-wise, it was occasionally a quartering head/cross-wind.  This is the only photo I got in New Mexico because I needed both hands on the wheel...

 A pretty blue sky.  Ugly winds.  Occasionally, tumbleweeds would dash out in front of us.  I've seen them the size of Volkswagons in the past - these were more the size of a new-born calf, but less steady in their direction.  About half way across New Mexico, the road surface turned to crap: badly patched areas of blacktop with HUGE potholes in the middle.  Most often in both tire tracks of the right lane.  I started weaving like on a slalom course to miss as many of the potholes as possible... and not always possible, because some of them required moving partially into the left lane... and, apparently, people who are passing you don't appreciate that sort of behavior.  You know the potholes are bad when tractor/trailer drivers are doing that same slalom dance: big gust of wind, huge potholes, cha-cha-cha, then do it again.  And again.  It was tiring.

We got to the Arizona border, and the promise of a better road surface.  That promise lasted about 34 seconds, when it became apparent that Arizona and New Mexico must share the same road engineers... who must have graduated last in their class... and are in obvious need of a "Road Maintenance 101" refresher course.

We were off the road early in the afternoon.  This is a small RV "park" (using that term very loosely) that is connected with a Jerky Store.  The lady checking me in said, "Did the wind drive you off the road early?"  Something like that, but we did plan for this stop as our "pad" in case of bad weather or any mechanical issue.  We actually made a reservation for this place a couple weeks ago.  No, they didn't have it... the lady said, "Those young girls don't write down anything, but that isn't a problem, because we have sites available."  It is less of a "park" than last night, so I understand why they'd have sites available.  The Jerky Store is a draw, but not necessarily for an overnight stay.  The wind in this area is a constant - the "Gusty Winds Possible" signs are a hint.

I asked if we could get any TV on our antenna.  She sighed and said, "Maybe a couple Mexican stations."  Well, surprise: we get a couple Arizona Public Television stations.  And, they're speaking English.

Unless the wind dies down, I don't think Rufus will be too interested in a walk this evening.  He rode on my lap most of the day, hounded me for food after his belly didn't make the time change from Central to Mountain Time Zone, and towards the end of the drive put his feet on my chest and said, "Dude, we need to stop.  Like right now.  The wind and the bumps are disturbing my sleep."  I know he is upset when he calls me "Dude."  As I'm typing this, he is asleep against my leg.  He is a good boy and happy to be done driving for the day.  Me, too, because he makes me do all the driving.

;-)

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Before the sun went down, Rufus and I took a walk around the campground.  All gravel, but I did get a "glamour shot" with the big furry boy backlit...

He looked at his shadow and said, "Dad, look - I'm HUGE!"

"Yep, you're a big boy."

The wind has died down significantly from when we were driving.  Looking towards the mountains to the south, the blowing dirt is still obvious...

Now that Joan has unlimited data with her Visible plan (she had 2gb for the month with Verizon), she is streaming on her iPad instead of watching TV over the antenna.  Even though I would consider this place to be in the boonies, the Verizon signal is good.  As are the data speeds.  Plus, with her Spectrum account, she can be watching what she wants, when she wants.  All the comforts of home.  Well, most of the comforts of home.  ;-)

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We watched a movie that Joan had downloaded from Prime: Shotgun Wedding, a rom-com with Jennifer Lopez and Josh Duhamel (and a good supporting cast, including Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Marin, and Lenny Kravitz).  We enjoyed it - nothing that will be an Academy Award Winner, but JLo did look good in her "modified" wedding attire.  Two thumbs up from us.