Thursday, November 04, 2021

Boondocking in New Mexico, Days 1 & 2

 Wednesday, Nov 3: I left the overcrowded cesspool that is the Metro Denver area and hit the road for warmer climes.

Things had gotten chilly enough that there was no incentive to hang around further; so with my loving wife's permission, I was off!

By 2:30 PM I had made it to the Springer Lake Wildlife Area in New Mexico.  I'd been here before, its a usual stopping point for the long drive to/from warmer parts of the American Southwest.  I avoid using I-70 because it's already experiencing snow-related conditions.

It was only an overnight stay so not much in the way of pictures, I just tooled around in the Sammy for a bit but not much found to photograph.




As you can see in the second picture above, there was only a car/tent camper in the campsite area when I showed up.  I would see two more such campers over the course of the evening, everyone keeping away nicely though. 

Though the overcast skies were quite thick, the sunset wasn't too bad:


Thursday, Nov 04

I woke to 26°F (-3°C) outside and barely warmer inside the VRRV!  I'd not turned on the catalytic heater you see, having stayed nice and toasty under my two blankets.  You can bet I hurriedly turned on the heater soon afterwards though!


The cold weather in Springer created this nice surface fog, through which the top of nearby trees poked through.

After breakfast, I broke camp and made it out back to the US 25 highway a bit after 8AM.  Just shy of 2PM I was at my next destination, the Monticello Road BLM boondocking area.  Another usual stop for me; its gotten quite popular it seems!  My usual spot was taken but I was able to find another a bit further down the road with no issues.

Very tired.  I had gotten the Covid-19 booster shot AND the Shingles Vaccine shot on Tuesday during my scheduled appointment with my primary care provider at the VA and was still getting over the soreness yesterday.

Felt better today, but still very tired, probably from driving though.  I don't like long days behind the wheel.

So I drove around with the Sammy to check out my neighbors and to see if the area had changed any, nope.  I did find this neat beach area, part of the Elephant Butte State Park and I'll do some more thorough explorations tomorrow.

The Sammy is running a little hotter than usual, I figure (and hope) its because its really much warmer down here.

4 comments:

CCjon said...

Am surprised you were able to get both the booster and the shingles shot the same day. I was told I had to wait at least a month between the two shots. Hmmm, different state, different rules. Which explains why there is not a consistent policy, maybe no one really knows the best procedure for addressing the covid challenges.

Is it all just a roll of the dice? Here's your shot, hope it works kid.

Oh well. glad to hear you are on the road again. Looking forward to your photos and stories.

redlegsrides said...

I too had my doubts, CCjon, but I asked the same question of several medical personnel and they all said it was okay.

I feel much better now 2 days after with just some very minor lingering soreness at the injection points.

SonjaM said...

I was wondering the same as CCjon... please take it easy for a while. A hiker buddy of mine recently continued his long distance trail one day after the booster shot although feeing unwell. He must have overdone it, it was hot and he hiked 30+ km. He was found collapsed on the trail the next morning.

redlegsrides said...

Thanks for your concern, SonjaM, And I will watch it. Feeling better today, did some exploring with the Sammy and no issues except for slight soreness at the injection spots.