A 148 Miles and We are in Hatch, NM

Thursday, April 13, 2023

We were up early and pulling out of Rusty's about 8:20AM hoping to miss some of the predicted wind and for the most part we did. It was chilly when I stepped out to do my part for connecting the Jeep to the Stinger "B" but the blue sky between the grey clouds looked beautiful. The plan for today was to stop in Deming for groceries at Walmart, lunch, and diesel which happened as planned. We felt even with these stops it would get us to Hatch RV Park around 1 o'clock; more on how that went in the next post. I will say for the most part the day turned out as planned.

Pulling out of our site. Upper right, can you see the "key" on the back
of the car? Middle right the clubhouse and bottom right the gate out.

Turning North on NM-80 we are on our way.

I believe most of the Mountains we saw today as we made our way to I-10 are part of the Peloncillo Mountain Range. 

Merging on to I-10 

heading East 

we can see what I believe are the Pyramid Mountains in the distance.

Going by several fields filled with yellow wild flowers. 
This was the least blurry picture.

I wonder how many pictures I have of this sign?
Yet every time going East or West I watch for it.

The smoothest highway today was going through
the construction zone. 

I could see cattle grazing in the sea of golden grass.

As I mentioned above we stopped in Deming, NM for groceries at Walmart and as luck would have it there was a Wendy's just across where we were parked so that is what we had for lunch. (Side note: I had the Chicken Caesar Salad and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of chicken in it nicely cut up into bit size pieces.) Then we made one last stop for diesel at the 5R Travel Center on NM-26 which is very convenient since it is the highway we take from Deming to Hatch. At $3.85 a gallon we were pleased. The last time we put diesel in the Stinger "B" was in Gila Bend, AZ at the Pilot on April 13th and we paid $4.60 a gallon. 

On NM-86 Wind Turbines moving in the wind.

Part of a large section of solar panels.

The road ahead.

I just liked the look of these clouds

and all the green.

Again, I liked the look of these clouds.
I could sort of see a roadrunner.

A small patch of yellow.

Then there were larger solar panels.

Organ Mountains

Hatch, New Mexico we have made it to our destination.

Today's ride was a pleasant one and went by fairly quickly even with the stops. The wind itself during the ride was not as bad as we thought it would be according to Tom and he was doing the driving. It did pick up later in the evening but by then we were parked. 

More about our arrival and meeting new friends in the next post because as hard as I try I seem to end up with more pictures then I thought I would when we travel.

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.

Moving into a New Time Zone

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

We are at Rusty's RV Ranch in Rodeo, NM. We have enjoyed three nights in this quiet place and tomorrow, Thursday morning, we will be moving again. We have stayed here in the past and each time have taken a ride into the Chiricahua Mountains that we can see in the distance. It is a lovely ride that takes you up through the mountains and over to the Chiricahua National Monument. We have enjoyed this ride in the spring and fall both times beautiful. 

The sun setting in the distance. It will soon slip behind the
Chiricahua Mountains.

There are three goats, a rooster and a chicken across the way.

After taking their picture I turned and took a picture of our site.
We have a firepit, picnic table and a nice clay tile patio.

Looking East as the sun set.

Tuesday, April 11, 2023

We could see the clouds coming over the mountains to the southwest late in the afternoon. Dark and ominous they brought wind and rain.

Still windy we did get some pretty color in the clouds 
after the sun slipped behind the mountains.

It rained on and off for several hours and the wind lasted well after dark. Though it was quiet when we woke up Wednesday morning.

How we got here:

Monday, April 10, 2023 ( The Ride to Our New Spot)

We did not pull out of Quail Ridge RV Resort until almost 11 o'clock this morning. The good news we only have about 120 miles to our next destination. The bad news we will lose an hour today. After leaving Quail Ridge we made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up a few extra groceries. This is going to be an interesting trek back to Michigan for us without a 

"toad" we can rely on. I know we will be just fine and figure it out as we go; what we will miss is the freedom to take side trips as we travel along. The decision has been made to tow the Jeep home and take care of it there so we will not be looking back and second guessing the decision. I am not sure what "Plan" we are on now but luckily there 26 letters in the alphabet...lol

As we approached Ft. Huachuca it looked like they were
bringing the Tethered Aerostat Radar System down.

Huachuca Mountains still have some snow on them.
We are now on AZ-92.

I believe these are the Mule Mountains in the distance.

We are driving along the southern edge of Bisbee.

Still passing by the outskirts of Bisbee, AZ

Now on AZ-80, this highway will take us all the 
way to today's destination.

Cattle crazing on a sea of green.

Passing by Cochise College I spotted this semi.

We have entered Douglas, AZ and the "D" Hill is in the distance. 

Heading north on AZ-80.

I spotted a lot of these along the side of the highway today
and I have not idea what they are but they are pretty.

I am pretty sure we are now seeing the Chiricahua Mountains
in the distance.

These would be the Peloncillo Mountains off to our right.

Is that a face peeking over the hills.

We are also on Historic US-80

The Chiricahua Mountains.

A motorcycle rider pulled in just as we were going by the 
Geronimo Surrenders Monument.

A makeshift Border Patrol Inspection Station.

Then we crossed into New Mexico and lost an hour.
We are now on Mountain Daylight Time. 

Not long after the above sigh we arrived at Rusty's RV Ranch.

This will be home for three nights.

Thursday, April 6th through Sunday, April 9th, 2023

Looking back at the time we spent at Quail Ridge RV Resort there are no complaints. It is a nice stop and we have always enjoy our time here.  We had originally planned 8 nights which ended up expanding to 16 for the reasons I have mentioned in previous post. 

We did get the driver's side airbag replaced on Friday, April 7th, so that was very good news. As I mentioned in a previous post there was a problem securing one from Freightliner but Jonathan Smith the young man who did the work for us was able to find one. He and another young man, who works for him, arrived Friday morning to put it in but had an issue with one of their tools and had to go back to his shop in Benson to secure a new one. Even with this unexpected delay in about three hours we had a new working airbag. (Side note:  A few years ago we had a similar problem and ended up at a shop in Tucson where we had to have both front airbags replaced. We had to bring our motorhome there two mornings through Tucson traffic and it took two long days to replace the two airbags. We now question what they were doing all that time.) Back to the present, the work we had done was by Jonathan Smith his shop is Pitstop Auto and Mobile Repair in Benson, AZ. The really nice part was he came to us. If you are ever in this area and need work done we would highly recommend him. Plus, the price especially knowing what we paid last time was very reasonable. 

The sun setting on what was a good day. Our airbag is in and
Patsy and Bill got their truck back. Plus, we spent a wonderful
last Happy Hour with them for this Adventure.

This was our home at Quail Ridge RV Resort.

As I was writing this I realized I have no idea what we did on Thursday, April 6th or Saturday April 8th. I am going to guess they were both good days.

Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

We woke up to beautiful blue skies on this Beautiful Easter Sunday. 

Mass was at 9 o'clock at this lovely little Mission Church just
down the road from where we are staying. We could see a
Deacon on the left and a Priest on the right
 waiting to start Mass as we walked up.

The altar area was filled with beautiful flowers.

After Mass we went back home had breakfast and we talked with our children and grandchildren. We spent part of the day packing up and getting ready to leave in the morning. 

Tom replanted the tiny Saguaros we found at a
shop in Tombstone. At the rate they grow this
 little pot will be there home for a few years. 
 

This was a good day!  

We are glad you stopped by!

If you have time to leave a comment we would enjoy hearing from you.