Thank you for visiting RV Ramblings, the daily happenings of full-time RVers, James and J, as told by James.
You may share this particular blog entry by referring to www.rvramblings.com/?date=2009-12-07.
Visit www.rvramblings.com to view the latest blog entry. Click here to create a bookmark that will take you to the latest blog entry.
December 7, 2009, a Monday
Caballo Lake State Park (Appaloosa) to Elephant Butte Lake State Park (South Monticello), New Mexico, USA
— Ran errands and moved to a new location
Had my normal breakfast then started to work up a blog entry. We prepped the RV to move, and went to dump around 10:20. The dump station has a nice slope for our RV — the front and right of the RV are raised slightly. In order to get an even better dump, I used some Lynx Levelers to raise the front and right even more. After dumping, I hooked up the Jeep to tow. We left at 10:42.
We took the back road up to Truth or Consequences instead of I-25. We stopped at the fair grounds in Truth or Consequences to unhook the Jeep. We left at 11:11 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We went to the Soap 'N Suds laundromat in Truth or Consequences at 11:13 and started our laundry. It's nice to have the RV with us when we do the laundry because we can work or relax in the RV while the machines are doing their thing. I finished up a blog entry and J read some magazines. We put the laundry in the dryer around 11:55.
I had lunch of Clif Bars because I didn't want to eat another sandwich on the nasty EarthGrains Jewish Rye bread. We took the laundry out of the driers and put away the critical things, then we left at 1:03 with J in the Jeep and me following in the RV.
We went to Ralph Edwards Park in Truth or Consequences at 1:09. It's a city park named after the Truth or Consequences television game show host. They have some remote security cameras there, and part of their installation includes an open Wi-Fi network. Both of us had been waiting for some free internet so we could do some bandwidth-intensive work without eating into our 5GB monthly allocation on each of our Verizon Wireless data plans. I wanted to upload the 78 images selected from my last stock submission (330.6MB worth of data), and J wanted to backup her website to prepare to move it to a new host. The Wi-Fi network wasn't that fast, but at least it was free. I started to upload my images, then looked at light stands. I found two lots of two Bogen/Manfrotto 3372 light stands on auction on eBay that were were going for an incredible price, especially because the auctions were ending later today. I did some computer work. My files finally finished uploading at 4:37! J wasn't quite ready to go, so I did some more computer work and placed some bids on the Bogen light stands and a Sunpak 383 flash. We left at 5:19 with me in the RV and J in the Jeep.
J went to look for a bank, and ...
I went straight to WalMart in Truth or Consequences to start some grocery shopping at 5:28. J arrived, and we finished shopping around 6:15. I checked the eBay auctions, and the Bogen light stands had gone way up. :( I upped my bids a little, and was still outbid. I was still winning the Sunpak 383 flash. :) I hooked up the Jeep to tow, and we left at 6:28.
We went to McDonald's in Truth or Consequences at 6:30, and I went in for a Big Mac and fries to go while J ate a bananna and microwaved some popcorn in the RV. We had a really gourmet dinner in the RV when I returned. We left at 6:48.
I went right by Exit 89 on I-25 because it wasn't signed for South Monticello Campground like I thought it was, so we went up to Exit 92, turned around, and went back. Then I missed the turn off of the frontage road to South Monticello Campground because I thought we had already turned onto that road. Because there wouldn't be a good place to turn around the RV with the Jeep in tow for quite a while, we just stopped in the middle of nowhere to unhook the Jeep. I performed a five-point turn to turn the RV around on the two-lane road, and then J performed a three-point turn to turn the Jeep around. Yes, it was a big comedy of errors.
We finally reached Site 25 of South Monticello Campground in Elephant Butte Lake State Park around 7:40. It was extremely windy! Our friend Andy Baird, a fellow full-time RVer who was in Site 24, had "reserved" the site for us.
We went over to Andy's right after we got parked. He had baked a blackberry cheesecake, and it was most tasty. We had a nice visit.
We returned to the RV around 9:20. I plugged in the electricity and loaded up our fresh water tank. When I went online, I was happy to find out that I had won the Sunpak 383 flash, and that the next similar flash was already bid up more than I had paid. :) I did some computer work. Before going to bed, I checked eBay for more Bogen light stands, an the seller of the ones that were on auction today has listed two more. :)
We took the back road up to Truth or Consequences instead of I-25. We stopped at the fair grounds in Truth or Consequences to unhook the Jeep. We left at 11:11 with me in the RV and J following in the Jeep.
We went to the Soap 'N Suds laundromat in Truth or Consequences at 11:13 and started our laundry. It's nice to have the RV with us when we do the laundry because we can work or relax in the RV while the machines are doing their thing. I finished up a blog entry and J read some magazines. We put the laundry in the dryer around 11:55.
I had lunch of Clif Bars because I didn't want to eat another sandwich on the nasty EarthGrains Jewish Rye bread. We took the laundry out of the driers and put away the critical things, then we left at 1:03 with J in the Jeep and me following in the RV.
We went to Ralph Edwards Park in Truth or Consequences at 1:09. It's a city park named after the Truth or Consequences television game show host. They have some remote security cameras there, and part of their installation includes an open Wi-Fi network. Both of us had been waiting for some free internet so we could do some bandwidth-intensive work without eating into our 5GB monthly allocation on each of our Verizon Wireless data plans. I wanted to upload the 78 images selected from my last stock submission (330.6MB worth of data), and J wanted to backup her website to prepare to move it to a new host. The Wi-Fi network wasn't that fast, but at least it was free. I started to upload my images, then looked at light stands. I found two lots of two Bogen/Manfrotto 3372 light stands on auction on eBay that were were going for an incredible price, especially because the auctions were ending later today. I did some computer work. My files finally finished uploading at 4:37! J wasn't quite ready to go, so I did some more computer work and placed some bids on the Bogen light stands and a Sunpak 383 flash. We left at 5:19 with me in the RV and J in the Jeep.
J went to look for a bank, and ...
I went straight to WalMart in Truth or Consequences to start some grocery shopping at 5:28. J arrived, and we finished shopping around 6:15. I checked the eBay auctions, and the Bogen light stands had gone way up. :( I upped my bids a little, and was still outbid. I was still winning the Sunpak 383 flash. :) I hooked up the Jeep to tow, and we left at 6:28.
We went to McDonald's in Truth or Consequences at 6:30, and I went in for a Big Mac and fries to go while J ate a bananna and microwaved some popcorn in the RV. We had a really gourmet dinner in the RV when I returned. We left at 6:48.
I went right by Exit 89 on I-25 because it wasn't signed for South Monticello Campground like I thought it was, so we went up to Exit 92, turned around, and went back. Then I missed the turn off of the frontage road to South Monticello Campground because I thought we had already turned onto that road. Because there wouldn't be a good place to turn around the RV with the Jeep in tow for quite a while, we just stopped in the middle of nowhere to unhook the Jeep. I performed a five-point turn to turn the RV around on the two-lane road, and then J performed a three-point turn to turn the Jeep around. Yes, it was a big comedy of errors.
We finally reached Site 25 of South Monticello Campground in Elephant Butte Lake State Park around 7:40. It was extremely windy! Our friend Andy Baird, a fellow full-time RVer who was in Site 24, had "reserved" the site for us.
We went over to Andy's right after we got parked. He had baked a blackberry cheesecake, and it was most tasty. We had a nice visit.
We returned to the RV around 9:20. I plugged in the electricity and loaded up our fresh water tank. When I went online, I was happy to find out that I had won the Sunpak 383 flash, and that the next similar flash was already bid up more than I had paid. :) I did some computer work. Before going to bed, I checked eBay for more Bogen light stands, an the seller of the ones that were on auction today has listed two more. :)