Ring of Fire
October 14, 2023 – Day 16
This is the big day, eclipse day! Paul probably checked the weather forecast every two hours. He’d fall asleep then wake up again, grabbing his phone. Still, 0% chance of clouds. We got up and just relaxed. Paul setup his iPhone on a tripod for a time lapse movie. He didn’t expect to see the disc of the sun, just the surroundings darken. (Fast forward, it is pretty boring, it didn’t get nearly as dark as he thought it would.)
First contact between the moon and sun was a few seconds before 10:18AM. Paul first noticed a disturbance in the top of the sun through his eclipse glasses around 10:20. But we had both watched a simulation before and he knew where to look. He honestly couldn’t say he would have seen that without knowing exactly where to look.
Paul sat outside watching for maybe half an hour. It was actually pretty boring (susan here: watching paint dry would be a similar experience but you’d have a freshly painted room). He came in with Susan and they hung out together, Paul would periodically check now and then. When it got to be about halfway or more he told Susan “time to go” and they came out together.
We stayed until it was fully covered. You could see the “ring of fire” very clearly. Paul made a pinhole projection gizmo, just a paper plate with a pinhole in it and a white notebook, and Susan photographed it.
Totality was over around 11:47AM. Paul had wanted to stay until the eclipse was completed. But, he realized that it was actually pretty boring and he had already since exactly what was going to happen. It would be the reverse of what he’d been watching. *yawn* We had lunch and set out, expecting to get to the campground plenty early. Yes, you know what that means…cue the ominous music. Best laid plans and all that nonsense.
It was really difficult finding a campground that had spaces available and was just the right distance between Andrews, TX and Winslow AZ. We had expected to be leaving from Grants NM on the 15th which was a pretty easy hop. Leaving Andrews, TX was a 600 mile drive to Homolovi State Park where our next reservations were. It just wasn’t safe or possible for us leaving mid-day to drive that far even though the speed limit is 75 (we don’t do 75, more like 65). Did we mention how difficult it is to find a campground in the middle of nowhere? If we drove a long afternoon there would be nowhere to stop. Drive a more manageable distance and it set us up for a very long day the next day. It was another red pill blue pill choice. Instead, we chose fire. Susan had pulled one out of her hat! We had a spot at the Valley of Fires National Recreation Area just a few miles from Carrizozo New Mexico, a 260 mile trip. We can do this! Perfect length for afternoon drive and even better we left earlier than we expected! Things weren’t as bleak as they had looked not that many hours prior.
The NM scenery did not disappoint.
We stopped at an historic marker approaching Roswell, NM. We were passing through Llano Estacado. Oddly, no mention of aliens.
Nomadic Native Americans and countless buffalo herds dominated this vast plain when the Vásquez de Coronado expedition explored it in 1541. Later it was the focus of Comanchero activity, and in the 19th century it became a center for cattle ranching. The name LLANO ESTACADO, or Stockaded Plains, refers to the fortress- like appearance of it’s escarpments.
We were about to enter the area of “no gas” so were were very careful to plot out our next stops, and that would be in the land of UFOs aka Roswell, NM. We weren’t able to stop and take a picture at the sign. With those yellow bollards there we suspect it may have been clipped more than once. Fortunately we skirted around the outside of Roswell.
So just enjoy these other tourists doing what we should have done. We found our first pecan grove of the trip. New Mexico grows a lot of pecans. Pecan’s are New Mexico’s #1 crop.
We saw this cool mountain in the distance.
The tallest one is Capitan Peak at 10,049 feet, to it’s right is Sunset Peak, 9,242 feet high. We drove south of this, watching it for some amount of time.
The road got narrower but the drive was quite pleasant, we even met some of our people on the road.
And some of our people can’t drive!
Fortunately we have good lane discipline. We also know that many RVers don’t. Susan saw them coming and had already given them a wide berth.
Soon the rocks grew very interesting. Yes! That’s lava!
We took that picture at about a quarter to 5, pulling into the campground just a few minutes later. We’re minutes from parking, getting the RV level, hooking up utilities finishing with a well deserved adult beverage. Right? Right?
Some bozos had parked their work truck in our spot. Site poaching is one of the things travelers never do. But this wasn’t a traveler. It was a work truck towing a trailer with a floor sander on it. With nowhere to park we just parked the RV across the road from our site. No, it wasn’t obvious at all that we were waiting for someone to come back. A helpful camper stopped by to see what was going on. He wasn’t the camp host however had been a camp host before. He hopped on his e-bike and drove around looking for the owners of the truck. He spotted two guys walking the path in the lava field. They eventually came out. Paul told them to move on that they were in our spot. They muttered something under their breath as they walked on by. And you know what? They had the nerve to flip us the finger as they drove away! Some people are just jerks.
Wow. We were we ready for those adult beverages! Not yet! This site had have to have been the least level site we had ever encountered. There were points where we were as much as 20″ out of level. That doesn’t sound like a lot but it is. It also means you can’t extend the slides. It took probably 45 minutes to find a place where we could get level-enough with lots of planks and plastic blocks and reach the power. We almost couldn’t reach the power. As it was we had only 15 amp service which was enough for lights and fridge but pretty much nothing else. We didn’t even bother trying to get water, we still had some from Canyon TX two days ago.
The views were worth it though.
That is the lava field with yucca stems sticking up. And we took that picture at quarter past 6, 90 minutes after we arrived. That’s got to be one of the slowest landings we’ve ever had.
We’re certainly coming back to this campground. The city of Lincoln that we drove through just begs to be explored. And we wouldn’t mind seeing this lava field for a few mornings.
Daily: 260
Total: 2,504
Moving Miles/Day: 313
Overall Miles/Day: 157
mpg: 7.31