We packed up to hit the road early, and faced another long driving day heading west through the dusty desert in Texas.
We had a strong headwind, whipping up dust into the air. There were numerous warning signs on the roadside advising drivers about dust storm conditions. Fortunately, we made it through Texas without experiencing a dust storm.
With the strong headwind, our fuel consumption skyrocketed. We had to stop at a run down gas station in Sierra Blanca. Turns out, they ran out of fuel while I was pumping. I paid the three dollars for gas and hoped it wasn’t contaminated with sludge from the bottom of the tank. Wouldn’t that suck being stranded in the desert.
We returned to the highway and watched the distance to empty gauge steadily count down until the next gas station along our route. We slowed down to conserve fuel but the headwind didn’t help. We stopped at another gas station on the outskirts of El Paso with 10km of fuel left in the tank. From Susans stressful past experience, we know we can drive another 70km when the gauge shows empty.
El Paso is a much larger city than we imagined with numerous bridged interchanges between major roads and highways. The USA/Mexico border runs close to downtown. Looking across the border into the city of Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, the population looks more than twice the size of El Paso.
From the highway, we could see a huge border wall, running from horizon to horizon, zig-zagging through the city, over the mountains, and through the desert.
Texas is a huge state, and after driving for three days, we crossed the state line into New Mexico. Our first stop was a rest area…with warning signs about Rattlesnakes. Susan was thrilled.
We continues west, and used an App called RV Parky to locate upcoming campsites. Knowing the data in these apps are sometimes unreliable and out of date, we have a key principle – be flexible.
Our flexibility after a long driving day was put to test.
Plan A – Camp at White Sands Missile Base – the App showed we could camp, however, the site is reserved for military personnel only, and within the heavily restricted and guarded missile base. The armed guards didn’t look amused with our attempt to camp inside their base.
On our way back to the highway, I saw movement in the desert scrub besides the road – a Gemsbok. I thought I was imagining things. They are native to the Kalahari Desert in Africa – not New Mexico.
The antelope stopped and looked back at us from the cover of the scrub. I pulled forward the get a better view, and saw the unmistakable face of a Gemsbok in New Mexico staring back at me before it turned and disappeared into the thicket of thorn shrubs.
Plan B – Boondock at Lake Hollman – the App gave us directions, and when we pulled off the highway, the dirt road was gated with a warning sign saying the site was closed effective immediately…and a whole lot of legal reference to some regulation number posted by the Holman Airforce Base. Oh boy, we were running low on fuel again, and we were on a long road.
Plan C – Refuel in Alamogordo, then drive out of town and take the first dirt road into the wilderness. We had visions of the trailer in the middle of nowhere like an episode of Breaking Bad. The few roads we saw with potential dispersed camping sites in the desert had big red warning signs posted by the Bureau of Land Management – stating we would receive a $500 fine. Gasp, the sun was getting lower and lower and we were tired. It was much cheaper to camp at a state park.
Plan D – Head to a State Park – The App gave us directions to Oliver Lee Memorial State Park. We liked what we saw, but noticed it was almost full. We drove around and tried to squeeze into a tight spot. People from across the road came over and advised us they had already reserved and paid for it so their friends could arrive later. We checked the post…oops…it was reserved. The campground was full.
Luck was on our side. On our way out of the campground, we drove past one of the wardens who advised us they had just opened the overflow parking. We drove into the large open area and set up for the night. Fortunately, our trailer is configured for remote camping. We settled in for a well earned rest and watched a stunning sunset. What a lucky break…we had unrestricted views over the valley.
