Now back at the Hot Well Dunes BLM Area

 Yesterday, January 02

Both Lori, Chris and I left the dispersed camping area near Holloman AFB around 9:15 AM or so.  We were eager to get going as a cold front had moved in overnight, spreading a light coat of snow over the surrounding mountains.

It was a bit slushy/icy crossing the pass into Las Cruces but we both made it OK.

Here's the peak visible as one approaches the pass in question.

The drive to Hot Well Dunes near Bowie, AZ took about the expected 5 hours including stops for gas.  I arrived at 2PM or so and got my preffered spot; there had been six separate RV rigs leaving the area when I arrived so I figured there were spots.

Chris and Lori had stopped for laundry duties in Las Cruces so they were a couple hours or so behind me.  Once I got set up, I puttered doing some small chores and noting some repairs for the next day.

While waiting for Chris and Lori to arrive, the sunset came along, and it wasn't too bad:

Javelina Peak was lit up nicely

My Camping Site.

Chris and Lori showed up about 6 PM or so I think, it was quite dark but as I had been able to track them via Life360 app; I was able to take Scarlett and wait for them at the entrance.   I guided them in with no issues to the camping area next to mine.

Today, January 03

Spent the morning doing repairs, the trailer's left side wheel cover had again broken off at the rear weld area.  I drilled in some self-tapping screws into beefier sections of the frame, hopefully they'll last longer.  I also repositioned the license plate for the trailer to the rear ramp, rather than the wheel cover that might one day fly off.

I also managed to accidentally induce a "check engine" light.  Turns out, if you're charging the house battery via the generator AND you crank the engine to move the RV slightly, it causes some condition that throws a "weak battery" error code causing the check engine light to come on.

Of course, when the check engine light came on, my OBDII reader failed to communicate with my phone's app.  Sigh.  I'd resigned myself to having to take the VRRV to an auto parts store for them to read the error code for me.  But Chris said he thought the truck would come with built-in diagnostic tool readout.

A bit of googling and he found it.  Some trial and error later, we had the error code indicating a weak battery.  Since I'd noticed the generator revving up when I cranked the truck engine, I thought there might be some correlation.

We disconnected the battery terminals, cleaned them since we had them disconnected, and by the time we hooked them back up...things had reset and the check engine light was gone!  Yay.  I wrote down the procedure in my phone's notes app for future reference.

Next was the repair of the left side fog light on the front cargo rack for Yagi, the TW200.  I'd managed to drop Yagi from the rack while tying it down on Sunday you see, and as it fell, it took the light housing with it.  Doh.  I had a spare light so it went on, easily enough.

Let's see, then I re-secured the mirror extender and handguards on Yagi that had been loosened when it fell from the rack.  Still waiting for delivery of the starter relay switch, should be at the Amazon Locker location in nearby Safford, AZ this Friday.

After lunch at the Z's, I spent the afternoon resting in the VRRV.  After dinner, they came over and we had a few drinks and traded stories and talked about their drone.

I think tomorrow they'll be showing me the drone's operation and we are also planning on taking a dip in the hot well hot tubs.  We'll see.

Here's tonight's sunset courtesy of Chris Z.

and an earlier pic of Stewie and the Z's TW200