Hitting the road for Texas

October 11 – It was 31 when we got up this morning!  Brrr!  Time to head back to Florida!

The balloons were a bit slow getting up this morning as well.  The shape balloons were supposed to go up but I kept checking and there weren’t very many.  Once the sun came out and it warmed a bit more balloons were up and out!

Today we were packing up and leaving Albuquerque.  So sad as we

really like the city.  There was no major rush as were didn’t plan a long drive today as we knew we would be slowed down getting packed up due to gorgeous balloons overhead.  We had some extra chores since the new radiator went in.  Bill wanted to check the coolant so we had to remove the hitch, the ladder and open it up.  It was fine but the oil was super dark.  Bill checked and we are a couple 1,000 miles over time for an oil change!  Once we got on the road he called and made an appointment for us in Austin, TX.  We had it done right before leaving in May but going west is a lot of miles!

Can you guess who
this is?

We actually left the arena about 9:30.  We said our good-byes to Bruce and Sharon but last night we checked our itineraries and found we’d be close enough  for a couple of days in Texas to meet for lunch or dinner, so we will see then again in a few days.  We checked in on Jean and Paul and they met with some winds yesterday and didn’t feel comfortable driving as far as they had hoped.  When I checked in today they had driven almost 500 miles!  Yikes!  We used to do 350 – 400 but my back is not in the condition to do that anymore.

We stopped in Moriarty, NM this morning to fill up both the diesel and DEF.  That DEF is a pain since we have to do it with a gas can and refill it at the pump.  The pumps are on the wrong side of the lane for a motorhome, well, for our motorhome!  Then Bill fills it again for later.

The drive to Roswell, NM was great.  Route 285 is 4 lane like an interstate but with far less traffic.  There were a few small towns along the way and we did see at least 100 antelope in the fields on the west of the highway.  They were right along the fence and feared no evil!!

As we pulled into Roswell it was past lunch time and I spotted a Church’s Chicken in a shopping center with huge parking so Bill agreed we’d stop and he’d get lunch so we could eat as soon as we got to the RV park 3 miles down the road.  We could not remember when we last had Church’s chicken.  He got us meals with 3 pieces, a biscuit and cole slaw.  We each ate 2 pieces so the other two will be mine for lunch tomorrow.  They are dark meat, my favorite and Bill’s least favorite!  Lucky me!

Spring River RV Park in Roswell was very convenient to the main road and is only 40 sites and looks to be pretty new.  There appear to be a lot of long term rigs but the spaces are all pull thru full hook up.  Supposedly there is Directv via cable, but they didn’t give any instructions and I gave up trying to get it so we didn’t get to watch our shows tonight!  Oh well, that’s life on the road!

When we got hungry again I heated up leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes and got out the last of the kale slaw.  We had some of the leftover pound cake with the leftover rhubarb sauce.  For leftovers it was a pretty darn good meal!  Bill did up the dishes as usual and I got my shower to be ready for heading out tomorrow.

I did 3 loads of laundry so there is once again some room in the hamper, finished a book and now am finishing my journal for today!