A Long Day Brought Us to Deming, NM

December 30, 2018

Before you start to read this post I give you fair warning there is picture over load and all of them were taken through the windshield of the Stinger "B" which got dirtier as the day progressed.

It was about 7:35AM when we pulled out of Santa Rosa Campground.
The sun was shining and the sky was blue.

About 10 minutes later we were driving up the ramp and on to I-40.

The roadway looked pretty good and traffic was moving.
We did see this trailer in the median the tractor was gone.
Hopefully, that means the driver was okay.

Then ahead we could see this cars, RV's and semis as far as we could see.

This was pretty much our view for the next 2 hours.
We saw quite a few semis pulled over and stopped on the shoulder.
We watched one pull a sheriff"s truck out of the ditch.
I for whatever reason watched and never took a picture. 

A couple of pictures of what we were riding on.

These signs were out our window for a long time today.
Lots of money spent on billboards.

At one point I wanted to check how fast we were moving.
Only 8 minutes to go that mile.

Towards the end the roadway was completely covered and then
we could see some of it was melting.

Then the roadway was fairly clear and traffic started to move again.
A note: the traffic going East was moving pretty steady this whole time.

Then there was another short slow down and we saw this.  They were being
pulled out as we went by and we could see the couple in the truck..
From what we could see their rig was fine, also.
There was also a semi on the other side of them.

Another slow down this time when we got to the reason we found two wreckers
in the right lane getting ready to pull a semi out of the ditch.
Again I failed to take a picture.

A 4% grade but the road was pretty dry by this time.

About 25 miles west of Albuquerque it really was beautiful driving through here.

Finally going through Albuquerque.

Then ahead our exit.

After 5 and a half hours of driving, this time includes a stop for diesel, we turned South on to I-25 and clear dry pavement. It was beautiful to see.

We had heard that Belen had gotten quite a bit of snow and as we
drove by we could see that was true. You cannot tell in the pictures but
the trees and bushes were beautifully covered in the white stuff.
The roadway though was still clear and dry.

If we could have taken the cut across we would have come out right by this
RV Park. We have stayed here in the past.

Stopping for lunch.

We saw quite a few of these signs today..

The roadway is still clear as we drive through Nogal Canyon.

Then there was no more of the white stuff.

Turning onto NM 26 towards Hatch, NM the Chili Capitol and Deming, NM.

The sun setting on what ended up being a beautiful day.

I have no quote for today. We are just thankful for the prayers and good wishes we received on here and  Facebook they are what we truly believe brought us safely through. We are grateful for the total slowdown that kept us all safe driving through the icy conditions. We had heard there were several bad accidents along this stretch during this storm  so, yes, we truly are thankful for that. The best part was this slowdown was not caused by an accident.
I am personally thankful that Tom had the confidence and belief that everything would be okay, he said it to me several times those first 5 and a half hours. He drove for a good 2 hours in icy road conditions, granted we were moving slowly but it was icy and snow packed just the same and knowing I was scared he remained calm the whole time. It was a long day driving for him but he got us to Deming, NM safe and sound.
All of us who drive/ride in RV's, just like the semis, encounter a lot close calls with vehicles on the roadway and adding bad road conditions does not help but except for one vehicle who kept switching lanes everyone else riding next to us today seemed to just accept this is what it was and there was no changing it.  (By the way we never lost sight of that vehicle until the roadway opened up in front of us.)

One last note: we will never come this way, at this time of the year, again. It does not matter what the weather guessers predict we will not do it. We have learned a valuable lesson.

So that was our yesterday. In the end a good day. 

We hope  you had a good memory making day.

Within the hour we will be merging on to I-10 and making our way to Arizona. 

We are glad you took the time to stop by and see what we are up to.