Getting High

We started our trip at 2pm on Friday with Terri Driving.  Tom still had phone meetings to participate in and IBM mail to process.  Aren't cell phones wonderfull?  I was able to jail break my iphone (allows loading apps from places other than the Apple app store) and use MyWi to have laptop access to the internet using the iPhone unlimited data plan.  No need to get a special wireless card and pay extra.

We had reservations at the Abilene KOA which was inserted as Day 0 to shorten the distance we needed to drive on Saturday by 200 miles or so.  We encountered very little traffic and arrived around 6pm.  We didn't unhitch from the truck as we wanted to make it easier to leave in the morning.  Up at 6:15 and on the road Saturday morning at 8am (The target was 7am.  We need to get faster.)

Our Garmin Nuvi decided that we should travel the back roads towards Raton, NM.  Many of  them were four lane and some were two lane.  Every one of them was absolutely deserted.  We were able to travel at 70mph (the posted speed limit) for almost all the way.  The "worst" road was a two lane road out of Amarillo where it was quite a good shortcut but I was uncomfortable doing 70 and probably averaged 60.  Back on four lane roads, we went through a very nice "downpour".  It was not just a rain, it was a lightning filled heavy rain that did a very nice job cleaning bugs off of the windshield and cooled the 94 degree day into a 62 degree day in 15 minutes.  Terri drove the last leg and encountered a little bit more traffic.  This gave her the chance to drive on the right shoulder to "drive friendly" and make it easier for people to pass (not that passing got them very much farther along as there were cars in front of us).

The 510 mile trip lived up to it's predicted negative expectations.  The 5th wheel trailer pulled very easily and tracked behind the truck perfectly.  That is their reputation.  The problem is the forward/backward pull that the trailer exerts on the truck.  It makes it hard to drink coffee, read the newspaper, etc.  Not much that can be done to improve this except the change the king pin (the peg that connects the trailer to the hitch in the bed of the truck) with one that has shock absorbers.  That is an expensive fix that we will try to avoid.  The dogs seemed to ignore the motion and traveled well.

We are starting to realize that we need to manage our diesel fuel purchases with some diligence.  We have a 34 gallon fuel tank which at 9mpg (mountain mileage) only really allows 270 miles between fill ups with some minimum safety margin.  We plan to only go 230 to 250 miles, so I have to look on the Garmin and iPhone to see where diesel is available along the route.  We expected to get 11mpg as it appeared that we were traveling on level ground, but we only got 9mpg.  In reality, we climbed over 6000' in elevation and that probably cuts into our mileage.  Hopefully, we will get it back on our return decedent to Austin.

We are currently in Raton, NM at 7888' elevation.  Much harder to climb stairs!  When we got to the park, they had lost our reservations.  Their computer lost three reservations yesterday and four today.  They say it has never happened before.  Lucky us.  In reality, it was not a problem.  We were assigned a suitable spot that allowed us to remain hitched.  We also lucked out for dinner.  The RV park sponsored a pot luck barbecue and we were treated to a wonderful "RV experience" of getting to know other people on their travels.

While the dinner was being prepared, a localized thunder storm passed through.  Very heavy rain and some lighting hitting the mountain behind us.  We moved the party inside the recreation/office building as it got pretty windy and cool, but by the time we had gone through the buffet line we ended up sitting outside to eat.  As the storm passed and the sun came out, we were treated to a triple rainbow.

We plan to stay in this same RV park in 3 weeks on our way home.  Pretty views of the valley from this mountain pass.

Our first equipment problem happened today.  The rear mud flap on the driver's side broke free.  It is missing a bolt at the bottom of the fender and the bolt holding the inside top ripped through the flap.  I was able to repair the top hole with a fender washer but I don't have a suitable bolt to tie down the bottom so I removed the flap.  We can try to pick up a bolt along the trip.