Kathleen & Paul Smith's RV Travelblog

05/19/12 - Arizona to New Mexico Click to add your comment This morning Paul drove from last night's campground (Blake Ranch RV Park) to SpeedCo just outside the RV Park. They specialize in performing oil changes and such on semis and RVs. They are very good and have been highly recommended. Within a couple of hours our motor home had a new crankcase oil and filters. A Trifectra: Full fluids in Fuel Tank, Tranny and Crancase! Nice folks there and they did a good job. While waiting to be serviced, K noticed the Honda did sustain damage yesterday. We guess it happened when the Honda swayed to the side where the Motor Home exhaust pipe sticks out. Thank God that's a very strong pipe, but it bashed in the driver's side of the Element. We don't think it has any effect on drivability of the Honda, so we will live with that. Several folks on the Foretravel forum have written about our pin separation yesterday. This seems to be a VERY unusual occurrence. Some think someone might have pulled the pin. But we were with our RV from the time Paul connected the rig to the motor home, to where we repaired the failure, so it wasn't someone pulling a stunt. We still think there was some sort of malfunction of the pin or something back there. Anyway, we will stop at the next Camping World and purchase a couple more of these guys or else go "on line" and order some. We left Kingman about 10:40 a.m. and drove 313 miles to Gallup, NM. (IMHO that's too long a drive for Paul, and I will continue to nag him until he cuts down his driving time per day.) Tomorrow we think we'll get to Santa Fe before heading for Colorado. Weather here has been delightful - and the roads have not been too busy - though a lot of semis drive along I-40! I must say that I-40, at least through Arizona is a very bumpy - terrible road. Since it is so used by big rigs, I suppose that's to be expected. The scenery in northern Arizona and the short distance into New Mexico has been magnificent. No matter how many times we pass this way, we are always amazed at how awesome it is. Today we saw so many trains going in both directions: they are about a mile apart - no more than 2 miles. They are mostly LONG trains! Some will have 3 engines in front and possibly 2 more engines at the rear. Oh, how we miss seeing the cabooses! They are a thing of the past! We made it to this RV Park in Gallup, NM. It is called "USA RV Park" and it is a very nice park - probably at one time it was a KOA. It's a large RV park, nicely laid out and pretty full today! Their "store" in the office area is the largest and best stocked we've seen. They carry jewelry, clothing, food, motor home/trailer supplies, and items too many to list. Temperatures tonight are supposed to go down to 40 degrees! (Oh dear, how our friends in El Centro could take a few nights like these!) Love and Peace! Paul and Kathleen

Next Earlier Item	Next Later Item

5/24 - A SERIOUS PROBLEM with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. People become reinforced in the paradigm that they are determined, and they produce evidence to support the belief. They feel increasingly victimized and out of control, not in charge of their life or their destiny. They blame outside forces--other people, circumstances, even the stars--for their own situation. - from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

Life on the Road with Paul & Kathleen: "Not bad for two dumb kids from Ohio" - Proving once again that it's never too late to have a happy childhood

Our Lazy Daze at Kirk Creek Camp on CA Hwy 1 40 mi N of Hearst's Castle 11/24/03: Shortly after full-timing began.	Foretravel & Toad at Rio Grand Village Full Hookup Camp, Big Bend NP 5/24/06 - Note the Turkey Buzzard at left with wings outstretched