New Mexico

It's been a quiet couple of days.  The Navigator got back from her Chicago dental appointment safely, I picked her up at the airport and we carefully navigated the 7 miles back to the hotel.  DFW has a spaghetti-like system of roads leading in and out and no matter what, you have to pay $2 to approach the terminals.  Quite a racket.  And, Dallas drivers are frightening.  I'm going to sound like a curmudgeonly old person but don't they put turn signals on cars in Dallas?  Pickup truck speeding 80 mph on crowded freeways, zooming across lanes...ok, rant off.

Thursday we picked up Chuck and headed out of the Dallas area for a nice KOA campground in Abilene, TX.  Chuck is driving well and we're slowly getting settled into the reduced space.  We haven't felt level enough to put the big slide out yet, but we can get by with the 3 little slides if we have to.

From Abilene we headed into New Mexico, arriving in Hobbs on the eastern border on Friday.  This is oil country, and the RV park is full of towables (trailers) that are settled in for the long haul with external propane tanks and built-on steps and decks.  It's well-kept and tidy and not at all creepy as some of these worker camps can be.  If the wind is from the wrong direction, we smell a petroleum odor coming off the oil fields.  Our plan was to only stay one night but the weather forecast yesterday morning called for high winds and rain so we decided to stay in place.  It gave me a chance to assemble the Navigators new desk chair among other things.

The winds came about 4pm and the rig started rocking.  Looking at NOAA (gov't weather site) and other sources, we were clear of tornados, but the prediction was for higher winds and heavy rains..  Deciding to be cautious, we loaded the cats into their carriers and drove to the RV park's clubhouse - reassuringly solid brick building with comfy furniture.  At one point I asked the Navigator if we could move to the LaQuinta Inn if Chuck blew over.  We settled in there for a couple of hours until the worst of the weather passed and then came home to Chuck which was still standing on all 4 wheels.

Today we have a short, 70 mile drive to Carlsbad (the city) and may see the cavern tomorrow.

Living in Chuck.  Note Beanie in the window and the new chair.