February 19, 2005

February 19, 2005

Lakewood, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas

DAY 246

 

Today started out very foggy and cool, but the fog lifted and it warmed up by late morning.

We left The Ranch SKP Park this morning, heading south on Hwy. 285 to Carlsbad, then southwest on Hwy. 62 / 180 past Carlsbad Caverns, heading for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Shortly after passing Carlsbad Caverns, there was a herd of a dozen or so Mule Deer on the side of the road. About 15 miles from Guadalupe Mountains National Park, as the road started to rise into the mountains, it got extremely windy. Ascending up to Guadalupe Pass, with a headwind of 30 MPH, was tough going for Dee-Dee. Climbing to the top of Guadalupe Pass at 5700 ft. ASL, she started to run pretty warm, and could only get up to about 60 KMH / 35 MPH up the steepest parts of the road. I guess this was a good trial run for the truck, as we head into more mountains further west, but it sure seems to be a strain for her to pull Harvey's 11,000 pounds up mountain grades, especially with a really strong headwind.

At the top of Guadalupe Pass, we stopped at the Guadalupe Mountains National Park Visitor's Centre. The scenery was spectacular. The Visitor's Centre is right at the base of El Capitan, the highest peak in Texas. We watched a 20 minute video about the park, then went back to the trailer to have lunch and discuss whether or not to stay there for the night. Their campground is unserviced, and the winds were so strong that it was uncomfortable, so we decided to move on. As we drove down out of the mountains, I stopped a few times to take pictures. Once down on relatively flat ground again, Joanne drove for an hour or so. It was her first time driving the rig on a 2 lane highway, and the first time driving it in the rain. It rained a bit, and produced a beautiful rainbow over the desert plains. We stopped at a road side rest area to change drivers, and struck up a conversation with a couple whose Cadillac had Ontario license plates. They were from Alfred, just outside Ottawa, on the east side, a couple of towns over from Cumberland where we lived. As we were standing in the rest area parking lot chatting, a herd of a dozen or so antelope came by.

Once Hwy. 62 / 180 crossed back into Texas, it turned straight west to El Paso. El Paso is in the west corner of Texas, where Texas borders with both Mexico and New Mexico. We took the bypasshighway around the main part of El Paso, passing only through the suburbs. To get from Hwy. 62 / 180 on the east side of El Paso to Interstate 10 on the west side, we had to drive over the large mountain that El Paso is built around. Another mountain pass ! This time up to 5300 ft. ASL. Tough, tough climb, but what a view of the city and surrounding area ! And coming down is quite a ride also. I had to downshift, and use brakes, to keep it under 120 KMH / 75 MPH.

Just north of El Paso is the bedroom community of Anthony. We have been planning for a month to be here this weekend for the grand opening of the new El Paso Camping World store. We arrived at Camping World at 5:00 P.M. and managed to shop for everything on my lengthy Camping World shopping list by closing time at 6:00 P.M.. The grand opening specials were not as good as I had hoped they would be. Buying everything on my list that I needed or wanted cost over $170. Two miles north of the El Paso Camping World store in Anthony is the New Mexico border, and the New Mexico Travel Information centre. By the time we arrived here shortly after 6:00 P.M. it was closed. We are boon docking in their parking lot over night.

DSK