How Many Tires Does the Suite Have?

 Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM

On Wednesday, Oct. 22nd we were all up by 6:30 and pulling out of the park by 7:40. It was another clear morning and chilly at only 45F/7C. Another shorts and hoodie day for me, knowing it would be warm further west at our destination. 

The parking lot was full

We pulled across the road from the travel centre and got cheap fuel from Buc-ee's. $2.79/gallon is awesome with no discounts at all. From I-40W to I-25S and it was another straight forward route. 

What was pleasing was the changing views. It began to feel like we were returning home, so to speak. I tried to refrain from too many pictures but it couldn't be helped. Around 9 am CDT, we crossed into New Mexico and gained another hour. It gets hard to keep track!

With a stop at a rest area, near New Kirk, NM called Pajarito Rest Area We were good to go for another few hours. We needed another fuel up so stopped at Moriarty TA. Such a crazy busy place so moved on after getting our Mudflap deal.

I started seeing Beavertail Cacti

Once through Albuquerque we were on I-25S before we stopped for lunch at a travel station. Not many rest areas along our route for some reason. 

One traffic slow down today,
so Gibbs and I took time looking at
the cactus out the window.

Feeling pretty good for the drive and about 1 1/2 hours before our destination, or 3rd tire in a year blew. Are you serious? Sad to say that Bill is getting darn good at changing them out, but oh, how discouraging. 😔

I've missed these views and
never tire of them.

There have been issues since last winter (maybe even previous to that) with tire pressure and Bill has been very concerned. He keeps an eye on them, worries about them and checks them often. 

The bike and generator has
to come off to get the spare down.
At least he could work on the inside
this time.

This tire blowing was no surprise, because of its age, so he quickly, within 30 minutes, had it replaced and we were back on the road.

Every once in a while, Gibbs checks
the back window to see if our house
is coming too.

Just when you think your winter 'could' be financially better (dollar exchange not in that equasion), Jell-o jiggles. You can see what Bill has to say on the subject by following his blog here. 

I don't know how many of these
turbine blades we met, but there
were a lot! Can't get over how
big they are.

We arrived at Elephant Butte Lake State Park, NM around 4 pm MST, just in time to miss the office check-in. The camp host gave us instruction and we booked online. Even that was an added disappointment, not to mention the heavy clouds.

Booking online, means you pay  $3.50/day to reserve a site and the fee we paid in 2019 was $14/night. It is now $30/night. Oh well, we're here. We needed to slow down, we need to get at least a leaky tire (don't ask) repaired and we need to take a day off driving. 

I think sunshine would have improved
my mood but it is still a nice park.

The good news is that we are fine, bummed but fine. We have full hookups and a lovely view of the lake out our back window. I love this park, I have lots of wonderful memories here, but suffice it to say, our last two experiences here have not been the best. I doubt we will return. 

Gibbs is probably very confused
but loving the sniffs.
We walked around before supper,
and got this picture of our site.

For supper, I fried burgers, and I think they were pretty darn good! Messy for sure, but still delicious! We finished off the last of the French pie that I made and heated up a bit, it was yummy as well. We set the dishwasher to run, washed the fry pan and each worked on our blogs. 

My messy burger

Up to the last hour, we were having a great day but things changed. We will discuss exactly what we'll do about the tires and just enjoy our time here before we move on. 

Yes, we will.
Good night!

It rained a bit just as we arrived but so lightly that it didn't interfere with set up. We reached a high of 74F/23C here today.

Thank you for staying tuned! BTW, the Suite has 4 tires. 😉