Wednesday, 12-3-97

Another surprise awaited us when we got up this morning. It snowed during the night. Everything outside was covered with a thin blanket of snow. Then when I got out of bed it began to snow again. It was nice to look out the window and watch the snow falling. This is not unusual for much of the country, but where we live in California, we don't see snow outside our window very often.

Snow falling on us in Albuquerque

By the time we left the campground, the heaviest snowfall was over. This morning, we got under way early enough to stop for a McDonald’s breakfast. The skies were gray with snow falling lightly. As we headed west, the snow stopped falling, but it was apparent that a fairly heavy snow had fallen the day before.

Snow dusted rock formations

All across western New Mexico, we were presented with one beautiful snow scene after another. The rock formations were dusted with a thin layer of snow. It made the fractures in the rock formations show up and emphasizes the shapes. There is a place in western New Mexico where we drove though a field of volcanic formations that were easier to see because of the snow.

Clouds make the view more interesting

Along with the snow covered landscape, there were beautiful cloud formations over western New Mexico. The clouds were heavy, but they provided an interesting backdrop for the desert landscape. As we drove west, the clouds began to thin out a bit.

As we approached Gallup, New Mexico, Kay became a bit excited at what she saw in the side mirror. She saw one of the doors on the side of the motorhome flapping up and down. So I pulled off the highway at the East End of Gallup. Just before I could stop, Kay said that the coach batteries were sliding in and out of the motorhome.

When I finally was able to pull over, I found that the latch on the battery tray was not secured properly. The batteries must have jumped when we had hit a bump earlier and allowed the battery-tray latch to open. Then the weight of the batteries pushed the access door open forcing the lock. I will have to be more careful about securing the latch next time I check the batteries. It appears that no damage was done.

We pressed on into the state of Arizona. As we were leaving Flagstaff behind, we were treated to a beautiful sunset. Just as the sun was setting, it dropped below the cloud cover. This was the first time we saw the sun all day. We pulled into a roadside rest area where I took a picture of the sun shining under the gray cloud cover.

We drove on into the night. By this time, the roads were clear and dry. The rest of the evening was uneventful and we finally arrived in Laughlin, Nevada at about 7:00PM, Pacific Time. We got a campsite in the campground across the street from the Riverside Hotel/Casino. We then hit the casino at about 8PM. We played the slot machines for about 3 1/2 hours, during which, we paid our Nevada taxes. We got back to the motorhome by midnight. I think it will be easy to get to sleep tonight.