Day 17 – New Mexico

We got up and got ready for the day. Wifi still sucked. Kids still complained. It was sunny but windy and freezing cold. We still had no firm plan about whether we were headed through New Mexico or up into Colorado.

Part of the dilemma was that New Mexico had brutal winds and driving against or across wind with our decidedly not aerodynamic trailer sucks. It sucks because it pushes the trailer around and Jon ends up driving with a death grip on the steering wheel or it just literally sucks gas.

Colorado was going to be less windy but was actually going to have below zero temps and possible rain and snow. So, we decided to push through New Mexico and hope for the best.

Day 17 and still smiling…mostly.

We headed out just before 10am and planned to make it to Cuba and then we’d reassess if we were done for the day or felt we could do a bit more driving. New Mexico is beautiful.

We drove from the central east of New Mexico through Albuquerque and towards the north west of the state.

The photos don’t do justice to the depth or beauty of the landscape. It truly is even more stunning in person.

We stopped for lunch and gas just before Albuquerque and the winds were 50 km’s per hour. It was crazy!

We climbed and climbed and climbed in elevation until we hit over 7,000 feet above sea level and we crossed the Continental Divide. There has been lots of interesting learning opportunities along the way and it’s been fun to learn as we go.

As we approached Cuba, New Mexico, we decided that we still felt good about traveling a bit further and I found a decent RV park in Farmington, New Mexico that was only an hour and a half further so we made the call to carry on.

We pulled into Farmington around 6:30pm, made dinner and settled in for the night. This RV park definitely has more acceptable wifi than the last place.

While planning our route for the next day, we realized that Moab and Arches National Park was 3 hours away AND we could actually get timed entry tickets. We had wanted to go to the park but I thought we would make it there for Saturday and I wasn’t sure we’d be able to get the timed entry tickets as it was a free entry day. So we had given up on going. BUT…because we were a whole day earlier, everything worked out. We got a timed entry ticket, the park pass AND booked an RV site. We plan to leave Farmington at 10am. Arrive at our RV park for check in at 1pm and head to the Park shortly after. Woot! I’m excited.