Bottomless Lakes State Park, Roswell, NM
On Friday, Oct. 27th we woke up to a complete turnaround in weather. It did drop as it was forecasted to do but with the wind, the 35F felt even worse. From shorts and tanks to jeans, socks and a sweater – now that is quite a change! We had already planned to get moving by 8 so when Gibbs let us sleep until 6, it was perfect timing. We don’t want to dawdle, it’s too cold!
I made my to-go mug of tea and then ran into the store for a new retractable leash for Gibbs. His is starting to fall apart. Plus, I forgot to check last night to see what my yogourt options are. I stocked up as much as I could (reasonably) in Canada as I knew I’d never find my brand once we crossed into the US. ☹ It’s the expiry dates I’m watching for. I did find one to try but we’ll see.
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Entering Oklahoma on a beautiful day. Chilly but bright. |
We pulled out at 2 minutes to 8 and just down the street, before catching US-54, we topped up with fuel at the Toot’nTotum station. Cute name, not sure I want to know the meaning! 😊 Fuel price was higher than we’ve paid yet at $4.85/gal but we wanted to top up since we were hovering around ½ tank. At 8:25, we crossed the state line into Oklahoma! It just seems appropriate to put an exclamation mark after the name.
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We're sorry we missed Don but ✋, we waved! |
As we
arrived in Guymon, OK, we looked for Hutch’s Phillips 66 fuel station. We were
excited for the opportunity to meet with a true-blue, long time Blurker. There
was a lot of construction on the main road, US54/64, which we were on but we
managed to get into the truck stop and parked. We used the facilities and
waited around for about 10 minutes before we had to head off. Sorry we missed
you, Don! Too bad we didn’t have contact info, the outcome might have been
different.
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Then we're in Texas |
Before I knew it, I saw the Welcome to Texas sign. It wasn’t long across the panhandle of OK so I’m glad I was aware and ready with my camera. 😊 It was a peaceful easy drive across US-54 and although our elevation is above 4200’, the plains look flat out my window.
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I sent the left picture to my sister-in-law, Liz. She lives in Stratford, Ontario and got a kick out of it. Flat plains, travelling US-54 |
That changed once
we entered New Mexico, where rolling hills and grazing land took over.
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Want a job? Not sure what he is doing up there, but man that is high! It was really windy too! |
If you want extreme scenes and photo ops, this isn’t the road for you but we like it. Traffic is minimal on this 2-lane highway and we aren’t bothered with a lot of lane changing. We’ve seen a few gate entrances but none that match up to ours back at The Ridge. I’m a little biased, I guess. Who me? At 11:11, crossing the state line, we also gained another hour. I texted my sister, Donna, back home to let her know. She’ll expect it eventually but she admits that it is hard to keep track of what time it is for us. 😊 I like to keep her on her toes!
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Seeing some distant mountains in New Mexico Lower picture: free range cattle looking content in amongst the staghorn cacti |
Temperature
has increased to 48F/9C and the cold wind is now behind us giving us a push. ♥ Bill found a place to turn off, there are no rest areas but lots of pull
off areas, and was able to slow down to get into it. No notice is given for
these but they are important for truckers and the likes of us! We all needed
the piddle break.
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Abandoned residences and businesses always break my heart. Like, who owns the property now? Then, we entered Roswell, the home of the aliens. |
In Logan,
we stopped at a Valero for fuel at $4.59/gal. Since we left the Walmart, we’ve
passed the people in the class C who were parked beside us last night a couple
of times. 😉 We now call them our neighbours.
They are heading to Quartzsite so we may bump into them again. After our fuel
up, I could tell we were in NM by all the staghorn cacti we’re seeing. Yay!
There were a few mountains but they disappeared along the way. We’ll see lots of those in the days to come. We pass through many small towns on this route, some that are in desperate states and others much more prosperous. It truly makes me feel fortunate and blessed. We caught I-40W for a brief jaunt and then US-209 to NM268, 267 and 330. Seems like we’re the only ones out here with very few residential properties.
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They were paving the 2 lane Highway NM380 which led us up the hill to Bottomless Lakes Rd. It was all single lane and quite a line up from the opposite direction. We timed it right! |
In Elida,
we turned onto US-70 on which we travelled for 61 miles. We were happy to get
off NM330, it was a bouncy ride. At Roswell, we followed our GPS to avoid the
main business section and caught NM380 to Bottomless Lakes Rd/NM409. It is a winding
5+ mile trek back through Bottomless Lakes State Park. We soon enough arrived
at a boondocking site, checked the time and it was just a few minutes past 3.
Short(er) day! 😊
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The drive back to the camping areas |
In this
state park, you can pick an off grid site with a pavilion and pay $10/night,
make a reservation for a full hook up site or perhaps dry camp. We settled for
the first option because it was in off the main road, easy to get in and out of
and lots of room. We’re only here for one night so we’re more than happy. We
are sitting facing south and it is a balmy 68F/20C, the wind has died off and
it is only dropping to 11C overnight.
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Gibbs approves of the area. |
For
supper, I reheated my leftover ribs (Bill turned the genny on), fried leftover
potatoes, a veggie and bacon for Bill’s meal. Gibbs was a better boy today than
he has been, and that was tough to beat! He slept a lot so I do believe he is
getting used to this daily travel thing. ♥ This was a good time to stop, allowing us both to get our blogs done
early and spend more wakeful hours before hitting the sack.
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it was a good supper. We ate the last of the apple crisp for dessert. |
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A pretty sunset |
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I love the colour it paints on the rocky hills behind us. |
I’m
getting into a book about Stratford, ON so would like to read a few chapters
this evening. It has been a wonderful day with even more views and roads that
we’ve never seen or been on before. We aren't here to sightsee, been there, done that so a short stay. You can check out the day in March, 2018 when we explored the seven lakes here. I hope your days are going well too. Too
bad we missed out on meeting Don this morning, that would have been a treat!
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And the moon rises in the east. Our neighbour is utilizing the picnic table.😁 Good night! |
Thank you
for the visit. (PS – Bill’s blog update)
Yup, you're getting closer to SW landscape! Have driven that US 54 road many times.....not any more. Love the sunset! Safe travels tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteA beautiful drive and an excellent boondocking spot. Nice of you to share! Safe travels.
ReplyDeleteDeb
Thanks!
DeleteGlad its finally warming up for you. A couple days to go!!!
ReplyDeleteWe've t actually had awesome weather!
DeleteI recognized parts of the scenery on your drive today and then some we have never driven by either. Sounds like you landed in a lovely place for the evening. Continued safe travels.
ReplyDeleteYou ought to try making yogurt in the instant pot again. It's really quite easy. I even made some the other day in a pot that didn't have the yogurt feature. You are a good cook, you can do it!!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGlad it warmed up and you had a good travel day. Enjoy today. You'll be in Arizona tonight.
ReplyDeleteI see cactus in your front windshield!!!!
ReplyDeleteAbout the windmills. The leading edge of the blades, especially the older ones, start to degrade and sort of corrode. This causes quite a loss in efficientcy and electrical production, so they came up with some kind of coating to put on the leading edges that doesn't degrade and makes them like new again. That might be what you saw happening. The new blades come with it, so they should last a lot longer.
ReplyDeleteYou're making good time from the sounds of it. The sunset photo, and especially the golden hue on the hills is lovely. Enjoy the warmer weather!
ReplyDeleteWow, you are moving right along. The weather is sure warming up.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Oh!! I'm so sorry we missed each other!! Doggonit!! I got tangled up at the house with a last minute project and didn't get out till mid morning. Well, maybe if you come back this way in the spring we can catch up with each other. Best wishes for more safe travels and an enjoyable winter out west. Thanks again so much for your efforts for a visit.
ReplyDeleteSincerely
Don in Guymon, OK.
Elooks like you're making good progress - but "Blurker?
ReplyDelete