Day 24 - Adios Tucson; Buenos Noches Carlsbad

Time to say good-bye - to Tucson, to the Saguaros, to Colleen and Dan. This is the first place where saying good-bye has been really hard. Colleen and Dan helped up pack up the car and get the camper hooked up. We took one last photo of us all, then hit the road.

Carol & I drove straight thru to Las Cruces, except for gas at Lordsburg. I remember laughing a lot, but now can't remember why. I think we probably did have a couple more stops and found hilarity with the local populations. We arrived in Las Cruces at 3:15 pm. Carol's friend Gail arrived at 5:15 pm. I spent the time in a nearby KFC, writing in my journal. We loaded Carol's stuff in Gail's car and said good-bye. Thus ends Pat & Carol's Excellent Adventure. It has been great having a travel companion and sidekick for this 3 weeks.

I headed for El Paso. I was worried about driving thru El Paso because I had received so many warnings about it. That traffic is horrible and the mountains one has to go over in town are steep and have a stop light at the bottom of a steep descent. Luckily for me, I was traveling on Sunday. No traffic at all. I took the 375 Loop which goes thru the Franklin Mountains. Most of the trip was spent in 4th and 5th gear; twice I had to go down to 3rd gear on an ascent to keep the RPMs above 2,000 so the car would be able to bring the camper with it. Piece of cake! I filled up my gas tank in El Paso after clearing the mountain pass (not knowing when I would see a gas station again) and hit 180/62 - at night - in the dark - to Carlsbad, New Mexico.



The trip was uneventful. What is it with the white pick-up trucks out here? They are every where. Most of the trip was a gradual ascent up into the Guadalupe Mountains. I had also received dire warnings about high winds at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains. The winds were less than 15 mph. At one point when I had passed two signs warning of high winds, I stopped the car to see how high the winds were. We had higher winds in Oklahoma. This didn't even blow my hair to the other side of my part.

Near Rattlesnake Springs picnic area, I hit something in the middle of the road. It may have been a car fender. Not mine - my fender is still fine.

When I got to my campground at 8:45 pm and put up the camper all by myself, I discovered there was damage to the camper. The side of the utility drawer cabinet was pulled off. And now the electricity to the whole camper does not work -- not even after trying the sink switch! Temperatures dropped to 25 degrees in the high desert overnight. I improvised a mini-tent inside the trailer with 3 sleeping bags and my round pillow. Mostly stayed warm. Not sure how much oxygen I had that night.

Car has clocked 4,150 miles since leaving my house in Saint Paul on January 15th. And because I know you are enjoying the maps, here is the Day 24 map.