Advertisement
Published: October 20th 2011
Holy Ghost Campfire
Hot fire in low 30's temperatures (F). New Mexico really is the “Land of Enchantment”. Albuquerque is quite a beautiful city. Located at the base of the Sandia Mountains, near the middle of the state, with nearly 900,000 people, it is one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S. The temperature while we were there for about 10 days averaged around 75 degrees fahrenheit. The exception was two days of pretty good rain. My sister said it hadn’t really rained since December 2010! It rained in Sonora, California the day we departed on our journey, in San Diego, the second day out, and the day after that in Albuquerque. Perhaps we brought it with us?
We liked Albuquerque for its Old West charm, it’s metropolitan, trendy shops, restaurants and café’s. If you want it, Albuquerque has it. A real blend of old and new. And so beautiful, with crystal clear skies, warm sun, forever views of mesas and mountains, and the Rio Grande River. We really could have stayed a lot longer. But, 44 more states to go and we can’t spend all our time in just one!
We headed north on I-85 towards Santa Fe. This is a good time to mention the term,
Holy Ghost Campground
Conner keeping warm under the Milky Way Galaxy covered night sky...Pecos River in the Pecos Wilderness, Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico “trailer-sway”! When I was 15, I broke my right wrist when I was skateboarding down a wide, freshly paved street in Tehran, Iran, named Nakoda. It was one of our favorites because it was so smooth and fast. Just one catch. The bottom of the hill had a 90 degree left turn that was little more than an alley. You had to stop, or crash into one of the marble fronted houses at the bottom. We would usually slide our skateboards sideways to a screeching halt. But on this particular occasion, I went so fast that I got the uncontrollable speed wobbles and was flung off the board, landing on my wrist at about 40 mph. Snap!
That was a frightening experience. But, it doesn’t compare to getting speed wobbles while driving a 6,000 pound Suburban towing a 7,000 pound, 27’ long travel trailer, in 40-50 mph wind gusts on the interstate being passed by 75-80 mph 18-wheelers! The flat sided trailer acts like a big sail in the wind, but when a semi truck blows by, it starts swaying. The only thing I could do was tell Conner to hold on and steadily apply brake pressure, hoping it
Conner & Pecos River Rainbow
It may be only eight inches, but a pan full would'a been good eatin'! We let the lonely little guy go unharmed. would slow down and come under control. My knuckles were white and my upper lip broke out in a sweat. My rear end clenched so tight, I thought I ripped the seat! That was at 55 mph. So, we drove between 50 and 54 mph all the way from San Diego to Albuquerque.
I did some internet research and talked to a few RV people, but the only thing I was able to determine was, well, trailers sway. SWAY! That was more than sway! So, Conner and I tried several things to try and get it under control. Raising the rear by increasing pressure in the air shocks. Raising the Suburban’s tire pressure to max pressure of 44 PSI. Raising and lowering the hitch on its adjustments. Moving weight forward in the trailer and lower to the ground. Tightening the “sway control bar” (I’d determined this was actually an expensive joke) on its tightest setting. Hooking the weight-distribution hitch springs (WDH) on the hitch to five links of chain. Shifting weight in the Suburban (spare water containers, generator, tool boxes, hydraulic jack, etc.). Draining the black, gray and fresh water tanks from the trailer. Nothing seemed to work.
But, on the way to Santa Fe, I had an idea. It seemed to me that the trailer was going to sway a little no matter what. But, it seemed to dictate what the Suburban was doing. Granted, it weighs a thousand pounds more that the Suburban, but the Suburban has four wheels on four corners versus four wheels in the middle, and therefore, should be more stable. I’m no engineer, but it seemed to me the steering in the Burb felt light and the trailer was “wagging the dog”, so to speak. I lowered the hitch to the second from bottom adjustment to increase weight on the hitch. I tightened the springs on the WDH to four links…as tight as I could get them. Finally, I lowered the front tire air pressure to 35 PSI from 44. All this in an attempt to put more weight on the front end and increase the contact patch of the front tires. We pulled onto the highway and accelerated to 45…50…55. No sway. And the winds were blowing pretty good, too. A few semi’s flew by and other than a slight jostle, she seemed pretty stable. Well, we set the cruise on 55 mph and drove from Santa Fe to Glorieta and that white-knuckle, sweaty upper lip, seat clenching pucker never happened! YES! So, 35 PSI front, 44 rear, hitch on second to lowest setting with four links in the WDH and the sway control bar all the way tight. Viola!
We got to the Pecos River in the Pecos Wilderness in the Santa Fe National Forest. This is the third largest Wilderness Area in the United States. We meandered our way up Highway 63 past Monastery Lake and the Benedictine Monastery (http://www.pecosmonastery.org/ ) to Tererro. At the bridge over the Pecos River, we turned left and followed Holy Ghost Creek up to Holy Ghost Campground. It was absolutely beautiful, nestled between two steep hillsides covered in pine trees. The creek was sparkling clear and the aspen trees were neon yellow in the evening breeze and setting sunshine. We parked the rig, set the jacks, hooked up the generator, and settled in for some serious quiet and solitude. This is bear country! The New Mexico Black Bear, a sub-species of the American Black Bear, is known as Ursus Americanus Amblyceps, is a native to Colorado, New Mexico, west Texas and the eastern half of Arizona into northern Mexico and upwards into southeastern Utah. We did hear some strange noises throughout the night, but that could have been a mountain lion, skunk, or raccoon. There were no people around. It was pretty spooky going outside and walking around the trailer to get something out of the Burb in the pitch dark. I’m pretty brave, but coming face-to-face with a 300-500 pound black bear would rivaled the Suburban speed wobbles for sure. http://www.sdcmountainworks.com/hiking/backpacking.php
It got below freezing Monday night, so Conner and I used sleeping bags and slept in the bedroom with Danger (our little Chi-ter-poo mutt we brought along with us). It was pretty cold, and I turned the heat off to conserve fuel in the generator. We both woke up at 4 a.m. and had to go to the bathroom. BURRRRR! We didn’t waste anytime getting back our sleeping bags. Danger had crawled down inside to keep warm!
The morning dawned bright and clear, but very chilly. We woke up with coffee (me) and hot chocolate (Conner). Then I made us a smoothie with almond milk, bananas, granola, protein powder, and strawberries. We then got right to school. Around nine we took a break and headed to Tererro’s General Store. She was closed for the season (Memorial Day to Labor Day), and was busy getting ready to take a horse pack trip into the wilderness for hunting season. But, the proprietor, Sherry, graciously opened to sell us a fishing license and some supplies for our camping…marshmallows, graham crackers, etc. Then, we went fishing for a bit, but didn’t catch anything and headed back to camp to finish school. http://www.pecoswilderness.com/default.aspx?xmlSource=history.xml
Conner made us dinner of Italian Sausage, and spaghetti and sauce. Check out the video. Then we settled in for an episode of the Walton’s (70’s television show about a depression era Virginia family… “G’night, John Boy!”). Then, I went out into the freezing cold and built a pretty big fire from abandoned wood we’d gathered from other campsites here. We stayed out by the fire for two hours, laughing, talking, and alternating staring at the fire, then up into the Milky Way Galaxy. The stars were incredible. We’ve seen such starry nights high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and it never ceases to amaze me the vastness of God’s universe. I then showed Conner what the stars look like through binoculars. He was blown away at how many more stars there are to see through them. And Venus was absolutely beautiful. Finally hitting the sack for another very cold night.
Today, we woke up around 6:30 and I made us some oatmeal with strawberries and bananas and almond milk! After we finished school around noon, except for some reading, we loaded up and headed down to the Pecos for one last cast for some New Mexico rainbow trout. I tried a few casts and momentarily hooked one. Then Conner said, “Dad, cast right here!” So I did and as soon as the fly hit the water, a trout rose…I watched the strike and he was hooked. It was only about 8 inches, but we thought we’d catch another and have them for dinner. When we didn’t catch anymore in the next 30 minutes, we let him go and away he swam, unharmed. We then drove back down 63 to I-25 and then north toward Las Vegas, New Mexico and Trinidad, Colorado. We stopped for the night in Raton, NM at a KOA and will leave in the morning for a drive through Colorado up to Bayard, Nebraska to stay with my mom for awhile. The weather is supposed to be nice for the next 10 days there. But, on this trip, it is literally, one-day-at-a-time.
Stay tuned for more next week! Pray for us to continue to have a safe and trouble-free trip. God Bless you.
(Videos will be posted later this week)!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.127s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 12; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0405s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Jim Spears
non-member comment
Your Blog
Hi Trace and Conner, Thank you for sharing your blog with me. I enjoyed reading the whole thing and the photos. Miss you guys. Have fun and stay safe. Jim