Day 3: Bernalilo, NM to Alanreed, TX

Today was a planned travel day.  You may be shocked to hear that there is not much between Albuquerque, NM and Amarillo, Texas, but it’s not exactly tourist friendly.  We did know this in advance, so we made this a driving day.  We actually got further than planned and are happy for the buffer.  Our RV is due in Virginia on the 25th, and while we can extend for a day or two, we’d like to try and beat the clock.

Given all the Covid-19 progression, we decided to stock up at Walmart - hopefully the last stop for the trip.  After a few days in our 25’ home, we have a better sense of how much we can store and what we realistically need.  Needs: lunches and dinners that can be grilled or cooked on the stove, crafts for the kids, and a broom for our quickly dirty RV/home/bedroom. We hope to just use what we have to get through to Virginia, as the idea of being in a store becomes less and less appealing.  Social distance all the way. Did get paper towels but haven’t seen toilet paper yet.  Good thing we took some from our hotel in Mesa.

We crossed from New Mexico into Texas and started seeing wind farms.  Endless windmills.  Turns out that the panhandle of Texas (the rectangle part at the top) is one of the strongest wind areas in the country.  Did not expect to see massive amounts of sustainable energy in Texas.

We downloaded Roadside America at the advice of friends and are using it for roadside kitsch.  Today we saw lumberjack man, a huge figure on top of a Vietnamese restaurant in Albuquerque and Cadillac Ranch.  For those that don’t know, Cadillac Ranch is an art installation where 10 cars are half buried in a field.  People spray paint them all the time.  It’s actually quite neat.  We were able to borrow some spray paint and contribute.  Then washed our hands, of course.

David suggested looking for a national or state park for the night and we lucked into the most amazing campsite.  We are 3 miles off the highway in an US National Forest - Lake McClellan.  There are probably 50 sites here with about three RVs tonight.  The weather and scenery is stunning and we have tons of space.  We have a grill and a fire pit (not common at RV parks, we’ve come to realize).  We chose a spot next to a field so the kids could run.  Looking forward to some energy burn in the morning before we hit the road for Oklahoma.