Slowing Down behind the Storm and Mus musculus

Saturday, March 15, 2014


Thursday morning we made the decision to head east to Las Cruces and Alamogordo. The dilemma we face this time of year revolves around how far north we dare travel on the way back east, in order to stay away from bad weather. We really dislike interstates, and have been across I-10, the southerly route, several times already. I-10 out of El Paso is literally the only route east-west across west Texas.

We obsess over the Weatherbug app and the unreliable weather forecasts in the Southwest. After consulting the oracle, it looked safe to make the drive through Las Cruces, to Alamagordo and over the Sacramento Mountains, and approach Texas that way.

First we took our time stowing and leaving City of Rocks. Greg had a hankering for a green chili cheeseburger before we left New Mexico, so we drove south into Deming to The Patio, scene of his birthday lunch last November, after the big snow. The Patio is small, crowded and disorganized, but the young waitresses seem to be trying their best, and the burgers are worth the wait.

Nestled among the warm rocks

After lunch we drove the stretch from Deming to Las Cruces on I-10. At Las Cruces we drove east over the Organ Mountains and into the Tularosa Valley and the White Sands Missle Range. The dust that blew through City of Rocks and Deming, was also obscuring the views in the valley and we didn't see the Sacramento Mountains until we were quite close. We passed White Sands National Monument, but decided to pass on the eight mile drive back in to see them. We were there twelve years ago, and it's kind of a one visit place.

Dunes of Gypsum Sand

On the far side of Alamogordo and part way up the foothills of the mountains we found Mountain Breeze Campground. It was small with some permanent residents. Surprisingly, the website looked a lot better than the campground. It is often the other way around! It was close to the highway and a bit noisy, but it had water, electric and a dump station, and we didn't want to get into a national forest campground high up in the cold mountains. Besides, most were still closed. The owner took a $20 bill for the site, no tax, no receipt, and we settled in.

We stayed up too late watching local TV, and Greg posted the two blogposts that we had been waiting for enough bandwidth to post. Early in the morning we were awakened to sounds in the rig that sounded like dripping water, sort of... The previous morning we had a small leak in the shower from the knobs not being turned off properly after our Gila Wilderness showers. The longer we listened the more we became convinced that the sounds were coming from the IKEA storage ottoman that Greg installed in place of the little, uncomfortable sofa. Greg laid down on the floor, looked under it and said, “Oh, ****, I saw a tail!” He poked under it, a mouse scrambled out, raced around the floor, and we shooed it towards the open door. It took a right turn at the last minute and found a hole to get under the kitchen cabinets. That space leads to all the areas in the back of the rig, the cabinets and all the underneath storage areas. Great! The next step was going to be to double bag some of the food on top of the refrigerator, and get some mouse traps!

Beginning the 14-mile climb into the Sacramento Mountains

 Driving away from the campground with our little stowaway, we climbed steeply into the Sacramento Mountains and the ponderosa pines. At over 8'000' we found cold temperatures and snow on the ground. The road to the campgrounds was closed and still had snow on it. The trip down the east side of the mountains took much longer as we lost 5'000' in elevation. At the base of the mountains, we came out on the arid desert again and drove some distance to Artesia and a Walmart. We found mousetraps and set a few in the rig.

Artesia put us back in oil country and the Permian Basin. The drive east to Hobbs was continuous oil wells on both sides of the road and stretching to the horizon. Shortly after Hobbs we entered Texas, this time on Route 180, instead of the interstate. The stretch of road across this part of Texas holds a few small towns and lots of flat land. This is cowboy country; pick-up trucks, and ranches. We drove into the small town of Lamesa and found free camping at the city park. They provided water and electric hook-ups and a dump station. Another RV had already arrived for the night. It was warm and pleasant alongside the disc (frisbee) golf course! But, it was also Friday night and we discovered that the road through the park was a cut-through to the other side of town, so there was a fair amount of noisy traffic. Oh, well, it was free!
The mouse had yet to make a sound since that morning. After going to bed we heard it somewhere in the kitchen cabinets, then later back under the ottoman. We expected to hear the snap of the trap during the night. By morning, there were no mousey sounds and the traps had not been touched! We decided maybe it had gone out foraging and hadn't come back. We stowed and left. So far no sign of it. Maybe it wanted a new life in Texas...

Oil Infrastructure everywhere in the Permian Basin

Free camping at the Lamesa city park

This morning the rain started as we continued east across Texas. During the morning we stayed behind the front and didn't get much rain, just dramatic clouds in front of us. As we drove through the few small towns, including Gail, Texas, the birthplace of the first producer of condensed milk in this country and founder of Borden foods, the rain started in earnest and we decided to look for a place to stop early, to give the storm a chance to move farther east. Heading for Albany and a city park campground there, the rain became heavy, and we pulled into a roadside rest area. After eating lunch and checking Weatherbug, we decided to just spend the night here where we had strong TV and data signals and a nice view of a large wind turbine array. The weather was getting worse, with severe thunderstorm warnings and possible golf-ball sized hail ahead of us. Texas allows overnighting in their rest areas. Already the one state trooper stopped by and the sheriff drove through and saluted, a cigarette dangling out of his mouth.

Catching up to the back of the cold front

Waiting out the storm at the Albany, TX rest area

Hopefully our stopping early will put us farther behind the cold front tomorrow as we drive the rest of the way across Texas and into southern Arkansas. Definitely not the usual tourist route, but one of the goals of our travels is to see new places and we love rambling around on the back roads!