Bill and Devi's Wild Ride!: Traveling the Great Plains to New Mexico

We bid farewell to Maria and Brian and Bill drove to the Remax RV Repair shop in Topeka to get the slide-out awning fixed while I drove to check out "The Merc" - Lawrence's local co-op. Maria had been telling me all about it and I couldn't leave without going there, especially since I had a little time on my hands. I was most excited to find my favorite "Zum" products there. On quite a few of the shelf labels it specified how far away (in mileage) the products were from - lowering their carbon footprint, and when I noticed that Zum was close by I was shocked to see they were from Kansas City. I first found Zum at a natural foods store in Colorado Springs and have been ordering it online ever since. I love their Frankincense and Myrrh scent and use the body lotion, room sprays and other products. This store had so many different products - kitchen cleaning, a cleanser - plus all of the usual body products. Finding this stuff, alone, totally made the trip worthwhile. And the timing couldn't have worked out better as I pulled into the repair shop just as Bill was filling up our propane.

We got lucky with the awning repair - as soon as the tech looked at it he saw that there was a piece missing - it probably was there originally but not put on as tight as necessary. They had the part in stock and in no time at all and under $100 we were ready to get on the road.

After checking the weather forecast and seeing the crazy winds and rain that were in the area from Topeka to Dodge City we changed our travel plans and headed straight south towards Oklahoma City. We wanted to spend the night somewhere in OK anyway so it worked out fine. We have a U.S. map on the inside of our door with stickers of all the states where we have spent the night and we needed Oklahoma! We found a Walmart in Yukon, OK to spend the night and we set off again the next morning for Las Vegas, New Mexico. Bill was putting in some very long days but he was up for it and it was good to keep moving west. I really got excited to hit another time zone, one hour closer to California.

We camped at Storrie Lake State Park in Las Vegas, New Mexico for a couple of nights and had beautiful weather. Bill and I went for a little run before we got ready to spend the day at Montezuma Hot Springs, about 5 miles away.

Finding these hot springs proved to be a bit of a challenge, but when we finally did find them they were right off the side of the road down an embankment. We trekked down the hill and went from one hot spring hole to another trying to find an unoccupied one that also had the right temperature. We found one that was about bath water temperature and jumped in. Another couple that had arrived about the same time as us and were following us ended up in a hole just a few yards away and after awhile I went to check that one out finding it just a bit warmer and roomy enough for the four of us. We introduced ourselves and soaked while getting to know each other over the next 5 hours! Mary and Mike were from Albuquerque and had been there many times but had never found this particular hole. And it was definitely the best! The sky was alternating sun and clouds all afternoon with temps in the low 70's - just perfect for staying in the hot water. We had our thermometer that our friend, Daniel, had given us when we first started full-timing and over the afternoon the temperature ranged from 106-112 - all in the same little hole which was about five feet square. The afternoon passed quickly and we were finally saying our goodbyes to our new friends. They wanted to know how to follow our travels and we gave them one of our cards that has our blog address on it. As we left we mentioned that the following day we would be going to the Marble Brewery with Bill's friend in Albuquerque and they should try and join us.

The trip to Albuquerque was a little over two hours and uneventful until we got off the freeway to go to another one of Bill's long lost Air Force buddies' home. A "no trucks over 3 tons" sign was posted on the main road to the subdivision where he lived. We backtracked and got on the freeway to go to the next exit where we hoped we could get in from another direction, but no - there was that sign again. Oh well, it was just a few miles on it and there was no other way in! We made it safely, found a good spot in front of Chris' house and prepared for some relaxation.

While I was looking up information on the Marble Brewery I noticed that day they were having a blues and brews event - the temps were forecasted to be a lovely 81 degrees, so I happily threw on a sun dress and got ready for some fun. We got a text from Mary and Mike asking where the hell we were (that's cleaning it up a bit) and we jumped in Chris' truck and made our way over there. The brewery was hopping and happily the beer was not, ha ha, they brew a fabulous oatmeal stout of which I had quite a few - enjoying the sunshine and music - life is good! Afterwards Chris drove us over to Annapurna's World Vegetarian Cafe which our friend, Suzanne had mentioned we should check out. The food was fabulous and wonderfully spiced. By the time we got back my tummy was full of food and my head full of beer, music and sunshine and I hit the mattress pretty hard.