On The Road Again 14

Delightful purple and yellow wildflowers lined the highway as we trekked across the entire state of New Mexico and the Land of Enchantment weather was considerably cooler than the hot night in Yuma.  At the same time that we were marveling at the jagged cliffs with flat tops and red earth, we were also tense as we passed signs that said “Zero Visibility Possible” and “Dangerous Crosswinds”.  That stretch from Albuquerque due East is not only internet-less but it is also is one gusty corridor! Dust storms, flash floods, rocks falling randomly on cars that are just minding their own business on the highways…New Mexico is entertaining and beautiful!

I’ve been wishing that I could see an animal – a live animal.  We saw quite a few dead coyotes along the side of the road and plenty of signs to watch out for elk and deer but no live animals.  And then, in a split moment, I saw two of cutest little prairie dogs in the whole animal kingdom.   They were standing together, at the edge of the highway, on their back feet looking at each other.   I feel better now.  I would have liked to see a rattlesnake slithering along but I’ll be happy with the prairie dog twins. 

RV issues are not behind us though.  Today, the steps for the only door in the RV wouldn’t open up.  Stopping in Santa Rosa in for McDonalds salads meant getting the stepladder out from under the RV so that the dogs and I could get out.  It’s quite a big drop down so this problem is annoying.  The new battery part that is now waiting for us in Cincinnati with Gary & Steph will probably fix this issue but in the meantime Jolynn had to place another call to our Mighty Mouse for some advice.  Ramsey pulled through again and now the steps work….. until the battery dies again.  It’s a coach battery problem which means it affects things that are convenient inside the “house”.  So far, it’s not a motor problem.  Building muscles lifting the big Golden Doodle in and out of the RV, I had a great excuse to add a strawberry shake to my lunch menu.  Mmmmmmm…..

The Ant Report:  Three spotted in the last 24 hours.  Yes!  Jolynn was talking to our neighbor in the RV park in Gallup this morning and he told her that they picked up stinkbugs in an RV park in Virginia.  They were exchanging RV - insect horror stories….he won.  I don’t really know what stink bugs are, but I’m quite sure I wouldn’t like to have them in the silverware drawer.  Camping is scary stuff. 

Well, I hate to be redundant but never say never again.  No, we are not in a Wal-Mart tonight.  I swore I’d never spend a night in The Lone Star State but yes, here we are, in Amarillo.   And I’m here to say, it’s quite lovely!  We are in an RV Resort, with tennis courts, swimming pool, dog runs.  It’s quite nice and the weather is breezy and cool.  In fact, it’s so breezy, I decided to look up the weather in Amarillo and we are going to have ourselves a gen-u-whine Texas thunderstorm tonight!  Yee Ha!  I’m wondering how the RV will withstand a thunderstorm and I wonder how the dogs will sleep.  If the dogs don’t sleep, we don’t sleep so this should be interesting.  I wonder if the steps will open up in the morning and I wonder if Texas has stinkbugs.  Well, I’ll keep you posted.