Tag: Headwind

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.

Day 3 – Idaho

We woke up in Pendleton, OR; had breakfast, packed away the beds and Jon washed a few dishes before we hit the road.

We are getting pretty efficient at packing up and hitching up the trailer. We got on the road around 10:30am and headed towards Idaho.

Day 3

There has definitely been a learning curve to this whole RVing adventure. We encountered massive headwinds which drastically reduced our fuel economy. As we passed Baker City, we looked at our fuel and thought, we can totally make it to the next gas stop. Ha ha ha

Jon was white knuckling it as we swerved all over the highway. The wind was brutal and had massive gusts of crosswinds. We watched the gas gauge drop faster than the Hellevator on a summer day at the PNE. We cheered as we saw a huge GAS sign off the highway. We took the exit, pulled under the overpass and searched for the gas station.

Nothing! There was no gas station in sight. We saw a road crew truck and asked where the nearest gas was and he said it was either back at Baker City or possibly at Huntington.

We got back on the highway and Jude pulled out his phone and said there was a gas station at Huntington. Siah reached over and hugged Jude for finding the gas station. It was an epic moment of family bonding and panic.

Based on the info from Jon’s truck we might make it or we might need to park on the side of the road and unhook and just drive the truck in to get gas…..or the third option was to just drive as far as we could and hoof it maybe 2 kms to the gas station.

We had options. It was a glorious stomach clenching, breath holding 15 minutes. And the worst was when the truck stopped counting the kilometres left and just said low gas.

As we rounded the final corner into Huntington and saw the little old gas station with its one pump – but 4 Tesla charging stations? – we cheered, breathed a sign of relief and then all three of the guys hoped that it had enough for us to fill up.

We filled up, used the restroom, grabbed some food from the trailer and started the final leg into Idaho.

As an FYI, Jons truck holds 25 gallons and he filled it with 24.2 gallons. That’s closer than we’d ever like to get again.

Note to self, make sure you know where the gas stations are on the trip. And fill up earlier than necessary.

We made it into Idaho and hit 1000kms travelled. Pretty exciting, eh?

I am LOVING the scenery. The rolling hills, the blue skies , the open spaces. It’s so beautiful.

We made it to Twin Falls and had reserved a spot at Rock Creek RV Park. The boys said this was their favorite spot so far. It was less RV park and more parking lot with power but there was grass and trees and pathways and a tiny river and it was in a little canyon in the middle of town surrounded by rocky hills that Siah climbed. We got unhitched and plugged into power but there was no running water or Sani dump to connect to.

After dinner we went for a walk. That’s a weird aspect of travelling. I’m used to getting in 10,000 steps or more per day and I’d be surprised if I hit 4000, even with our walk.

We’ve seen a few tumbleweeds as we drove and Jude was excited to find one in the campsite. It was big and prickly and SO light.

It started to get cold so we headed back to the trailer, played a few games, made oven s’mores and got ready for bed.

The boys have always surprised me with how well they travel, given how much they seem to crave routine and familiarity. Jon has been a rock star of dependability and strength and it’s been a great couple of days. I’m looking forward to the rest of our adventure. We are aiming for Utah tomorrow. Woot!