Las Cruces to Ft Stockton
Odometer 58898
Trip meter 292 miles
Las Cruces, NM to Fort Stockton, TX
I had a restless night. For some reason I hadn't gotten serious about prepping for a sub-freezing night in our home built for the tropics. I have drained both holding tanks, drained and stowed both the drain hose and the water hose, poured salt in the grey and black tanks, and set up a tiny 200 watt electric heater in the wet bay (outside water hookup bay). Then my cogs started slipping. We went to bed with the electric heat running and set for a balmy 70 degrees hoping the extra heat would keep everything from freezing.
What I didn't do was unhook the ice maker line, take the glass jars of olives out of the basement drawers, open the cabinet doors under the sinks- I think of all this while I'm staring at the ceiling at 3AM. Damn! I get up and open the cabinet doors and as I do, I'm thinking why isn't the heater cycling on- it's cold in here. The heat pump has shut down for some reason and won't start back up. I switch over to the propane under floor heater- the one I should have had on all along- it's the only one that heats the area underfloor. I hate cold weather! I'm down here on the Mexican border seeking sunshine and HEAT!
I crawl back into bed and after thrashing a bit I fall back to blissful sleep.
At seven AM Joan is the first to get up, I'm groaning and digging under the blankets. Visions of shattered pipes solenoid valves, frozen water pumps won't leave me alone. A fresh cup of hot coffee and a toasted bagel finally tempt me to get dressed and see what the damages are. The water pump whirs to life and the sinks run water-so far-so good. After breakfast we run over to Walmart and stock up on salt and RV antifreeze. The olives came through without freezing- I'll check on the ice maker later.
Joan and I were amused at this juxtaposition of sizes, a 40 foot motorhome and a 16 foot Casita tow behind. We all love the travel, and we all love getting there in our own way. Check this out:
They have a fantastic name for their tiny home on wheels.
Finally, by 10 AM we were hooked up and ready to roll. I-10 is the only choice for us today and we're heading for Fort Stockton, Texas, and hopefully warmer weather. The skies are supposed to be blue all week, but at night that works against us with no cloud cover and cooler temps.
Joan and I always strive to see something different. We've been this way to Dallas before, at least 4 times if memory serves. We've done the interstate, and we went via US 62 above the interstate, now we are going to check out the blue roads below the interstate- US 385 and US 67 towards San Angelo more-or-less parallel the interstate.
It's only a short hop down the interstate to El Paso, Texas. El Paso is a large city by any standard, 683,000 people in the city proper and over 1 million in the metro area. This city has been named an All American City, and consistently ranks as one of the safest large cities in the US.
For us today it is a minefield, the interstate is under construction and repair.
Once away from town the scenery gets a lot more interesting. The Davis, Finly, Quitman, Van Horn, Sierra Blanca, and Wylie mountain ranges rise dramatically above the relatively flat terrain. The peaks still show a dusting of the snow that has fallen in the last two days.
Trip meter 292 miles
Las Cruces, NM to Fort Stockton, TX
I had a restless night. For some reason I hadn't gotten serious about prepping for a sub-freezing night in our home built for the tropics. I have drained both holding tanks, drained and stowed both the drain hose and the water hose, poured salt in the grey and black tanks, and set up a tiny 200 watt electric heater in the wet bay (outside water hookup bay). Then my cogs started slipping. We went to bed with the electric heat running and set for a balmy 70 degrees hoping the extra heat would keep everything from freezing.
What I didn't do was unhook the ice maker line, take the glass jars of olives out of the basement drawers, open the cabinet doors under the sinks- I think of all this while I'm staring at the ceiling at 3AM. Damn! I get up and open the cabinet doors and as I do, I'm thinking why isn't the heater cycling on- it's cold in here. The heat pump has shut down for some reason and won't start back up. I switch over to the propane under floor heater- the one I should have had on all along- it's the only one that heats the area underfloor. I hate cold weather! I'm down here on the Mexican border seeking sunshine and HEAT!
I crawl back into bed and after thrashing a bit I fall back to blissful sleep.
 |
| Icy covering on our CRV |
At seven AM Joan is the first to get up, I'm groaning and digging under the blankets. Visions of shattered pipes solenoid valves, frozen water pumps won't leave me alone. A fresh cup of hot coffee and a toasted bagel finally tempt me to get dressed and see what the damages are. The water pump whirs to life and the sinks run water-so far-so good. After breakfast we run over to Walmart and stock up on salt and RV antifreeze. The olives came through without freezing- I'll check on the ice maker later.
 |
| The Small and the Large of it |
Joan and I were amused at this juxtaposition of sizes, a 40 foot motorhome and a 16 foot Casita tow behind. We all love the travel, and we all love getting there in our own way. Check this out:They have a fantastic name for their tiny home on wheels.
Finally, by 10 AM we were hooked up and ready to roll. I-10 is the only choice for us today and we're heading for Fort Stockton, Texas, and hopefully warmer weather. The skies are supposed to be blue all week, but at night that works against us with no cloud cover and cooler temps.
 |
| Today's route |
Joan and I always strive to see something different. We've been this way to Dallas before, at least 4 times if memory serves. We've done the interstate, and we went via US 62 above the interstate, now we are going to check out the blue roads below the interstate- US 385 and US 67 towards San Angelo more-or-less parallel the interstate.
 |
| I-10 through El Paso |
 |
| Constuction on I-10 through El Paso |
For us today it is a minefield, the interstate is under construction and repair.
 |
| Mountains Dusted with Snow |
Once away from town the scenery gets a lot more interesting. The Davis, Finly, Quitman, Van Horn, Sierra Blanca, and Wylie mountain ranges rise dramatically above the relatively flat terrain. The peaks still show a dusting of the snow that has fallen in the last two days.
 |
| Vestiges of Snow from Thursday's Storm |
As we continued east we saw the remains of the snowfall we avoided by staying in Las Cruces. Fun to drive through on a nice sunny day with clear roads.
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| Our Home for the Night outside Fort Stockton |
As we approached Fort Stockton, Joan called RV parks to find us a space for the night. Our first choice was full up. We remember from previous trips through this area that oil field workers are using RVs for temporary residences and it can be hard to find vacancies.
On her second try Joan landed us a spot at Fort Stockton RV Park. As we were registering a steady stream of RV were coming in behind us. Fort Stockton RV has found a way to cater to the needs of the workers by creating a whole new area especially for them that is, shall we say, more utilitarian.
Think graded gravel lot with hookups and you wouldn't be too far wrong. They also created a restaurant dining room that serves breakfast and dinners. As we took our afternoon stroll we noticed that the situation seems to work well. We did not check out the restaurant, choosing instead to make heat up ravioli and serve it with marinara sauce and some cole slaw.
Not supposed to freeze tonight, but we'll do the preparations any way just in case.
Your Traveling Friends
Jeff and Joan
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