We
left at 6:30 and drove the longer route through Ruidoso as it was more scenic
and did not have long, steep grades like the road through Cloudcroft. We took the bypass road around Roswell which
left us hoping for a gas station on the highway at Artesia which did
happen. We stopped for breakfast at
Denny’s in Carlsbad and arrived at the Carlsbad Caverns Campground around noon.
We
all set up, Georgia put chicken in the crock pot and we headed to Carlsbad
Caverns. There was a bit of a line for
tickets and we walked down the Natural Entrance instead of taking the
elevator. This was the first visit to
the caves for B&G and L&C and I kept telling them that if they were
impressed with the walk down the entrance, just wait for the Big Room.
When
we got to the Big Room, Lonnie & Cindy went to the restrooms and the rest
of us waited. Unfortunately, L&C got
turned around, didn’t see us and started the Big Room tour on the opposite side
from us. Terry finally checked the
restrooms for them and when he didn’t find them, we and B&G went on the Big
Room loop. We did the entire 1.2 mile
loop and found L&C waiting for us after they cut across a trail and did
only half of the loop since they didn’t run into us. We stopped at the shops at White’s City on
the way out.
When
we were driving back, a warning message (Service Exhaust System) & light came
up on our truck. Terry couldn’t find
anything of help in the owner’s manual so he & Bill went to the Chevy
dealer in town just before 4. They
finally returned at 8 (the shop closed at 4!) and the technician could not find
the problem so he didn’t charge Terry anything for the hours of testing. The rest of us had finally eaten dinner at 7. After Bill & Terry ate, the guys took
only a few minutes to finish fixing our CB radio.
Apr 14th – Sun –to Texas
We
got to sleep in today and left at 8 to head east and north to Amarillo. It was very windy and Lonnie had to slow down
sometimes as the wind really moved his smaller trailer. Our CB sort of worked – Bill could pick up us
and Lonnie, sometimes we could hear Lonnie and Lonnie could never hear us. We stopped for fuel in Hobbs NM, lost an hour
when we crossed into Texas and finally stopped for more fuel and lunch in Tulia.
We
were heading for a PA park east of Amarillo but I saw some information in our
atlas about a state park and looked it up on my tablet. We went past the exit that Wanda wanted us to
take and shortly after was the exit for the state park. By then I saw that they had campgrounds so we
pulled over on the side of the freeway, checked with the others and detoured to
Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It took us
a while to register for sites but we were very happy with the decision to come
here. We had to take a steep 10 percent
grade to the bottom of the canyon and then wind along for a few miles to one of
the small campgrounds. We have water
& electric for $24 plus $5 each for the state park entry fee.
We
set chairs up in the shade and had a drink before we all got into Bill’s truck
for a tour. We went back up the hill to
the visitor center but it was closed.
Then we drove all the way to the end of the canyon and took pictures
along the way. It is a beautiful place with red rock walls, trees on the lower
slopes and a stream crisscrossing the road several times with flood gauges up
to 5 feet. There is a huge amphitheater
that doesn’t open until later in the season.
Cindy
made spaghetti for dinner, Georgia provided salad and I got away without any
contribution! We ate at a picnic table
under a slatted “gazebo” and the moon & stars were coming out by the time
we headed in.
Oh
yeah – the warning message came on again this morning and was joined by a
“check engine” message and light a bit later.
Then both messages disappeared but the lights stayed on. Then the first light went off. Lonnie did some magic this evening and the
check engine light is also off!
Apr 15th – Mon – to Oklahoma
We
are really cruising through the states!
We climbed out of the canyon and headed east on I40. We made a stop in Groom to tour a site with a
HUGE cross and incredible “statues” depicting the Stations of the Cross. There was also a lovely gift store that we
all wandered through. We stopped at
Shamrock for fuel and lunch. When we
left, Lonnie noticed that he had a nail in the sidewall of one of his trailer
tires. It wasn’t through the tire but
needed to be fixed. We found a tire shop
in town which didn’t have the right size so the guys put on the spare and we
continued on.
When
we entered Oklahoma, we stopped at a rest area that had a great tourist
information center. A lady told us about
Red Rock Canyon state park. They did not
have an entrance fee and charged $18 per night (after Good Sam discount) for
water & electric. We were going to
stop at another tire shop but Lonnie changed his mind and we headed for the
state park which happened to be on a road past a casino – how handy!! We set up in 3 sites right next to each other,
enjoyed a drink and listened to birds sing beside a little stream. Then we all headed back to the casino in
separate trucks since our enjoyment of gambling runs from “OK for a bit if it
is not too smoky” to “who the heck knows
when we will be done”. We signed up for
player’s cards and each received a coupon for half off the buffet which we used
immediately.
We
saw each other periodically for a bit and then Terry & I were the only ones
left. There was a new casino across the
street so we went there as well which was really lucky as I won back what we
lost at the first casino. I was helped
by $10 free play for signing up and another $10 for ladies’ night once I earned
one point. We got back about 10:30 and
there were no lights on in our neighbor’s rigs.
Apr 16th – Tues – to Arkansas
We
were gently rocked awake at 5:15 by an earthquake. There were 5 earthquakes in total but we only
felt one and it was pretty gentle. The
others didn’t even feel it.
We
have successfully taught Bill & Georgia and Lonnie & Cindy the art of
changing your mind about your travel plans!
When we last saw them yesterday, they were going to go to Oklahoma City
and we were going to meet them in the Independence area in Kansas. This morning, they vetoed OKC partly due to
the traffic in a large city and partly due to weather forecasts for hail and
wind. As Bill was raising his 5th
wheel to hook up, the jacks quit. He
checked the fuse which looked OK and Terry helped him manually wind the jacks
down until Lonnie informed them it would be easier if Bill put his rear
stabilizers up! Then the hitch would not
snap so WD40 and a pry bar had to be found and used to free things up.
Once
on our way, I called a tire store in Elk City who had the 2 tires that Lonnie
needed. It took a while to get the tires
balanced & mounted so the guys shopped in a NAPA parts store next door and
I made a call to Marg which ended when we left and hit such a bumpy section of
freeway that I could hardly talk. We
stopped at a rest area and Lonnie mentioned a restaurant that he saw on a sign
so we pulled in for lunch. The place he
saw happened to be a meat store that sold sandwiches but there was a Catfish
Roundup restaurant next door that turned out to be an excellent choice. Even before we ordered, we were served apple
fritters and then fresh baked rolls were included with every meal if desired.
We
drove to Eureka Springs which ended up being a long day with all the stops and
over 300 miles. The last 35 miles were
very hilly & windy and we were all happy to arrive at Kettle Campground
about 5:30.
Bill
discovered that the problem with the jacks was indeed the fuse – the failure
just wasn’t visible without reading glasses!
Lonnie & Cindy hit the laundry room and Bill & Terry puttered
around checking everything that can & will rattle loose. Georgia lined up for the 2 washers &
dryers while I caught up the blog. The warning
lights & messages did not come back on but our CB is not working again.
Dinner
tonight is individual leftovers – how easy!
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