RV Adventures

We left Arkansas about 2 weeks ago and made our way into Oklahoma and spent three nights at a lovely Corp of Engineers campground on a reservoir.

After that, we decided to work our way across Texas to New Mexico. A stop in Amarillo was midway. We decided to spend the night for FREE at the Big Texas Steak Ranch.

The camping was free, but the take out steak dinner wasn’t. What a hardship. Not!

Next stop was our destination, Las Cruces, New Mexico. We booked two weeks in a nice RV park here.

But I’m burying the lead.

bury the lead

In journalism, to open a news article with secondary or superfluous information, thus relegating the central premise (the lead, which usually occupies this position) to a later part. “Lead” in this sense is sometimes written as “lede.” I don’t usually have time to read news articles all the way to the end, so it really annoys me when they bury the lead.

I remember being shell shocked when we decided to buy the Blue Flame in 2014. Little did I realize how much our world would expand. We have new friends and favorite places all over the country. We are truly grateful for the life we have been able to lead these past few years.

Seven years later, it has sunk in (to me especially) that we are not getting any younger. It’s time to suck all the enjoyment out of this life that we can, while we can. But living in New York State and driving 3 days minimum to the wonders of the western part of our country is making that exploration difficult.

So, this past week we have been exploring Las Cruces, New Mexico. Can you tell what is coming? Drum roll please…..

Saturday we bought a building lot here.

I’m feeling shell shocked once again. This is a huge decision. For now we will keep the town home in New York. But it will eventually mean leaving the area that we called home for 40 years. The New York snow won’t be missed, but the friends we now call family will be.

The plan is to build a new house that will include an RV garage for the Blue Flame. We will also include a full hookup RV pad for our RVing visitors. Of course, we’ll take non-RVing visitors too!

We will have BLM land behind us (i.e. no houses can built there) along with A Mountain (A stands for Aggies as in the New Mexico State University Aggies).

From the front yard you see the Organ Mountains to the east.

It will be a slow process to get this house built. Heck, it has to be designed first. But you have to start somewhere.

An added bonus is my Dad and brother Jim and his family are a 3.5 hour drive north in Albuquerque. That will be the closest we have been to family in 40 years!

We are quite excited about this big change. There is lots to do and I suspect we will be spending quite a bit of time in Las Cruces in the RV while the house is being built.

In the meantime, I’m going to start researching UTVs. I’m hoping there is a four seater in my future!

Now Jim would like to say a few words…..

Some may ask “why Las Cruces?” We like the south west. Las Cruces has a major north south freeway and a major east west freeway. Easy access when we want to ‘escape’ in the RV. Also weather. Looking at temperatures it is one of the more moderate climates in the south west. Yes, it gets hot in the summer, but not nearly as bad Arizona. A big reason is the elevation. It is also much milder in the winter than the northern part of the state. The city is around four thousand feet in elevation, and we will be about 500 feet above that. So we will even be a little cooler. Another weather reason is being far enough west to be out of the worst of tornado alley, hail areas, and severe storms (if you have ever seen a thunder storm in Oklahoma, you know what I mean), and far enough from the Gulf to avoid hurricanes. Yes, we did some homework to pick this area.

Speaking of weather, a case in point is the “relative” temperature. Where we have lived so far the humidity makes hot days seem hotter. An 80 degree day can feel like 90 plus. It is so dry here that on the hot days the heat index (what the temperature actually feels like) is LOWER than the actual temperature. For example, today’s heat index is going to be five degrees LESS than the predicted actual temperature. What a change! It will take some getting use to. For a Las Cruces and Rochester weather comparison check the following link.

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/3287~21245/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Las-Cruces-and-Rochester

Las Cruces is big enough to offer all the services that make life convenient, but small enough to feel comfortable. It is also a college town making other activities and events possible, giving the town a younger ‘vibe’. The city also seems to be transitioning from a farm oriented area to a more professional ‘upscale’ area. From what we’ve seen and been told, it is growing at a steady, but not outrageous, rate.

Why the location we selected? First the view. Second, we have lived in a semi-rural area with farms etc. around us our entire marriage. In Las Cruces, the farming here is all down in the valley where it can be irrigated, but the openness gives a similar feel. If you look closely at the plat map above you will see that ALL the land surrounding our subdivision is owned by the US Government Bureau of Land Management. Thus our views should remain unrestricted by new subdivisions surrounding us. How did this one small area get dropped into this location? That is a mystery yet to be solved. There is also space. We wanted a RV garage and room for RV guests. Closer into town, most lots were too small and/or had height restrictions and/or RV restrictions.

So we feel good about this location, but only time will tell. We have lived in the eastern 1/3 of the country all our lives. Now we want to spend more time in the western 2/3. Plus, as Corinne said, we aren’t getting any younger. And we have had too many friends and family members die or suddenly get too sick to travel. So it is a case of “do it while you can because you don’t know what tomorrow will bring.” Or as we heard recently “you’ve never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul” (i.e. you can’t take it with you).