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On the Road to Las Cruces
Our Trip to the FMCA 1998 Winter Convention
Page 4

Tuesday, 3-3-98

What a day. We were up early again and I saw the sunrise for the forth morning in a row. It turned out that we didn’t need to get up so early. We were close enough to Las Cruces so that we needed to leave only as early as 10:00. Most of the motorhomes in the campground had morning entry times to the FMCA convention, so the place emptied our fairly early. As a result, none of the motorhomes in our party had to wait in line to dump holding tanks. Some of us used empty full-hookup campsites to empty our motorhome holding tanks.

Preparing to get out on the road for the day

We were on the road around 9:30 this morning. I was leading the pack because I needed to top off the motorhome fuel tank before getting to our destination. The lead position would allow me to find and pull into a gas station while the others find a parking place to wait for me.

The other three motorhomes in our party were delayed in town and I ended up on the freeway before the others were able to get behind me. I drove a few miles until I found an exit to pull off and wait for the rest of the crowd to catch up with us. As I saw them approaching in my rear-view mirror, I pulled out ahead and we were traveling together once again.

As we drove along, Tom saw a sign for a trading post ahead. One of the offers on the sign was "Free fireworks with minimum purchase." How can a person pass up a deal like cactus jelly and a bag of cherry bombs? So we all stopped to check it out. Kay bought a T-shirt and I bought some cactus jelly and saguaro honey for our son and his fiancée.

The store had more fireworks for sale than I’ve seen since I was a kid. Fireworks are legal to purchase and use all year in New Mexico. I passed up the offer for free fireworks. There were all kinds of jewelry items made from various parts of rattlesnakes, mostly the heads.

When I got back on the road, it didn’t take long until I found a place for me to fuel up the motorhome. I paid $1.12 per gallon for gas. So far, the lowest price I’ve paid for gas was $1.05 at a truck stop back in Arizona. While I waited in line to get up to the gas pumps, the rest of our group used the opportunity to have lunch. They were ready to move out as soon as I was finished refueling, so Kay fixed us some sandwiches as we drove down the highway. A short distance from Las Cruces we saw a long line of Prevost motorhomes on a frontage road being staged to enter the convention.

Entering Mesilla Valley looking at the Organ Mountains

We entered Las Cruces, New Mexico at about noon and we found ourselves in the FMCA traffic line 15 minutes later. We didn’t have any idea what was ahead for us. We expected a smooth quick entrance into the FMCA convention grounds. It was not meant to be. We were in line for more than four hours before we were finally parked in our campsite.

We kept ourselves occupied with CB radio chatter and watching the parade of motorhomes. Also during long periods stalled in line, some of us got out and walked around taking in the sights. I took advantage of these stopped periods to get out and take pictures of the long lines of motorhomes.

Dave takes photos while we are waiting, waiting, waiting ...

This all seemed to make the time waiting in line go by faster. By the time we arrived in the staging area on the campus of New Mexico State University, there were no more camping areas left. So part of the staging area was dismantled and we were directed over to the side to line up in our campsites for the remainder of the week. As it turned out, we were lucky; we had a place to call home by the end of the day.

Our campsites had been part of the staging area

Because our campsites were in what used to be part of the staging area, we had a show going on in front of our motorhomes. We quickly set up our tables and chairs to sit back, relax and watch the spectacle in front of us.

The remainder of the staging area consisted of four to six lines of motorhomes, waiting in front of our campsites to get in to the convention. They waited for several hours before the drivers were told they would be left in line until 7:00AM the next morning. Their place in line became their campsite for the night.

When we finally settled down in our campsite Tom and I fired up our barbecues so we could grill chicken for our evening meal. After dinner we all got together to visit for a while before turning in for the night. While visiting, we met some of the people who had motorhomes stuck in line.

One man decided to unhitch his towed vehicle and drive to El Paso, Texas for an evening of entertainment. This man looked, sounded and had facial expressions like my Uncle Phil*. I’ve heard that we all have a "Double" somewhere in the world and this man could have been my uncle’s double. I talked to him about the resemblance and asked where he lived. He said he was from Minnesota while my Uncle was from Kansas.

* I learned after getting home from our trip, that my Uncle Phil died a few days before our arrival at the FMCA convention. He had been buried the day before my encounter with his "Double." In retrospect, it was almost as if I had a chance to see my Uncle Phil one last time.

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