Tuesday

We had another long day on the road as we traveled from Gallup to Amarillo. It wasn't our plan to put in long days on the road, it just seemed to happen. Our caravan of two motorhomes passed through Albuquerque on our way to our evening destination.

Our route through New Mexico, on I-40, took us through scenes filled with history. One scene that stands out in my mind was that of a row of Native American jewelry stands next to the highway with a small village in the background. In the village was what looked like an old Spanish mission.

A small desert village behind roadside jewelry stands

There was a lot of scenery with big skies and wide-open spaces. Our caravan of two motorhomes arrived in Albuquerque too early for lunch. As a result, we cruised right on through town and continued on our way east. The small community of Clines Corners was to be our target for the location where we would have lunch.

A big-sky scene — typical in this area

Clines Corners always brings back a memory of a very close call we had as we returned home during a trip in November of 1997. I had a white-knuckles driving experience on a patch of ice on I-40 just before reaching Clines Corners and a stalled big rig that was in front of a truck stop. The same truck stop where we decided to have our lunch. After Tom and I pulled our motorhomes into a truck parking area, we all went into the restaurant.

Lunch time finds us in a truck stop parking lot

I've heard it said that truckers know about the best places to eat. Even though the restaurant, we chose for our midday meal, was part of a truck stop at Cline Corners, it was not one of the better places where I've eaten a meal. After our meal, when we were outside heading back to our RV, Kay took a picture of a common desert plant that we saw in many places along our route.

Colorful plants near our parking area

It wasn't very long after lunch that we entered the Texas panhandle and entered the Central Time Zone. When driving east, the added hour we get by crossing into a new time zone makes it easier to go a little farther down the road. It was decided that we would target Amarillo as the place we would stop for the night.

The opposite lane is under construction — rebar is in place on standoffs

I tried to get the maximum range out of a tank of fuel, but I chickened out. I was going to try to get to Amarillo before refueling. Shortly after leaving Tucumcari, New Mexico the "Low Fuel", light began to flash occasionally. I did a quick calculation in my head and figured I could make to Amarillo with no problem.

As the "Low Fuel" light began to flash more often and finally stay on, I began to doubt my rough figures. I gave in with a little help from Kay and stopped at a truck stop 15 miles from Amarillo. As it turned out, there were16 gallons of fuel in the tank, enough for another 140 miles. It was a good learning experience.

We stopped at a nice Good Sam campground recommended by Tom and Nora. I had a surprise when we finally were settled; the battery on our Saturn was dead. This had happened to a friend on a previous trip. I could almost hear Harry laughing.

Our car is getting its battery charged in campsite

I knew about a situation on some GM cars that requires a couple of fuses to be pulled to keep the battery from going dead while towing. I made a call to the Saturn Customer Service Center and they knew right away about the problem. I was given the numbers of the two fuses to pull. They are located in the fuse panel in the engine compartment next to the battery. On our 2000 Saturn LW2 mid-size wagon, the numbers of the fuses are IGN 0/3/CR and IGN 1/2.

When I registered at the Amarillo campground, I was told that this was a "full service" campground. I didn't really know just to what extent they meant by full service. After finding the dead battery, I walked to the office and asked if they might have a battery charger. They not only had one; it was delivered to my campsite and connected to my car by a staff member. The charger was a professional battery charger like those found in automobile repair shops. Full service indeed! If you are in the area, this great campground is the Amarillo Ranch RV Park.

We finished another day on the road with Kay working on a sewing project while I worked on this tome about our adventures up to this point in time.

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