Day 1
Saying goodbye to the Baxters
We left on Monday, February 5 after an early morning Bake n’ Broil feast with the wonderful Baxters, who’ve been such a big part of our lives the past few years.
I ran a couple last minute errands, returning my cable modem and picking up two replacement blade valves for the trailer. The pregame was finally at an end.
Stephanie drove the first leg out of LA, and other than some missing cotter pins and a quick learning curve with the weight distribution hitch, it was an uneventful hundred miles or so. I took over in Cabazon and had a much more exciting first few miles, with heavy crosswinds, too much speed, and not enough tongue weight. We got through it, and then I managed to trigger a Check Engine light in the truck. Thankfully I bought an OBDII reader and Google helped us figure out that it was the Mass Airflow sensor, something I could deal with a little later.
Pipeline over the Colorado (and our campsite)
We landed for our first two nights on the banks of the Colorado River, our last nights in California for what may be a long time.
Cats are surprisingly OK.
Day 2
A quick dip in a cold tub
Hanging out in Blythe, I took apart the air intake, cleaned the Mass Airflow Sensor, put in the proper heavy duty air filter for the truck, and other chores. The Check Engine light extinguished, everything else seemed to be running well.
I flew the drone for a bit, and we managed to get confused about the time thanks to camping right along the border of two timezones.
We took a dip in the (cold) hot tub.
Day 3
We hit the road, crossing into Arizona. Our plan was to meet up with friends in Phoenix, before heading to Tucson for a few nights, but our plans changed and we ended up finding a place out in Benson.
After a long drive, we dropped the trailer off, then turned right around and went back to Tucson for burgers and drinks with Jordan at Lindy’s on 4th. I had the Kush, topped with raspberry preserves, green chiles, bleu cheese crumbles, and bacon.
Day 4
Cousins at Deep Sky Winery in Sonoita, AZ
Jordan came out to our campground for pancakes in the morning and then we all rode together to Sonoita for wine tasting. I crashed my drone 10 seconds into a flight I was trying to keep quiet about, having not asked permission. Fortunately the crash only hurt my drone, so I didn’t end up having to ask forgiveness either.
After a great day we feasted at the Steak Out, and then headed back to camp. Jordan drove home late, having work in the morning like normal people.
Day 5
Tombstone
We spent the day in Tombstone, and then came back to camp to get ready to hit the road again.
Stephanie got another desert nose bleed, right after passing through a Border Patrol checkpoint.
I fixed the gray water tank’s blade valve, narrowly averting disaster.
Day 6
Our plan to stay halfway to Carlsbad, NM for a few nights was cut to one night when we saw the facilities. We left first thing the next day, heading to Alamogordo instead of staying another moment in Lordsburg.
There was one one big positive to this stop – we filled the fresh water tank to see if it’d help stabilize the ride at all, and it turns out it made all the difference in the world.
Day 7
White Sands Missile Range Museum
On the way to Alamogordo we stopped at the White Sands Missile Range museum, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. We headed into Alamogordo, which turned out to be a lovely little town, and we wished we could stay longer.
Lunch was at the Hi-D-Ho drive-in, an original 1950’s joint with really great burgers. Waze pronounced it “Hawaii D’ Ho”, which I found amusing for hours.
White Sands National Monument
Our campground host offered us sleds to take to the dunes, so we hopped back in the truck and headed for another sight we wouldn’t regret. The White Sands National Monument was a mind-bending place, sand dunes so soft and snow white the brain doesn’t quite know how to process it.
Exhausted from such a wonderful day, we hit the sack early so we could get up and haul ass to Carlsbad, eager to see the caverns.
