Now in New Mexico, Boondocking north of Truth or Consequences

 I woke way before sunrise, ate breakfast and broke camp.  I hadn't loaded Yagi onto the URRV's front bike carrier last evening due to the leveler blocks causing too high an entry angle for the ramp.

"Unfortunately", this meant that the S.A.W.* that had parked real close to my campsite was in the light of the URRV's headlights when I turned them on to have working light.  It was still dark you see.  Shame really, the light probably woke them up too.

I got Yagi loaded up with no issue, then turned on the fog lights mounted on the bike carrier so I could see what I was doing as I got everything tied down and packed up.  Shame really, how those lights continued to light up the S.A.W.'s fifth wheel trailer just a few feet from my campsite.

As I was doing my final checks, I saw the S.A.W. exit the fifth wheel with his two mangy looking hounds and walk off quickly to have them spread their crap around the area.  I'm sure he's the type of dog owner who doesn't pick up after them you see.

As dawn was beginning to make the eastern horizon glow, I left the campsite and made my way back to the small town of Bowie where I took Business 10 Loop east and eventually got onto eastbound I-10 heading towards New Mexico.

I arrived to the BLM area serviced by Monticello Road, about ten miles or so north of the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  I had the whole area to myself at 11:00 AM and was able to grab my usual camping spot almost two miles away from the highway.

As you can see, clear skies and sunny.  Temperatures wouldn't get above the low 60s but it felt nice under the sun.  I did go on a few miles worth of riding with Yagi but failed to wear my windproof liner so I felt the strong wind chill factor, which limited the speeds I could go at.

Didn't find much except for one spot on the west side of the highway junction but it was too close to the highway in terms of noise....it would be OK for an overnight stay but not for a multi-day stay.

I'll range further tomorrow, this time more warmly geared up!  There's some promising BLM terrain to the NW near some hills visible to the rear of the URRV in the first picture above.

The clear skies rendered a "meh" sunset, I didn't even bother going outside, choosing to shot the distant mountain range's blues through the URRV's window.

* S.A.W. :  Soiled Ass Wipe

Hanging out in the Indian Bread Rocks BLM Recreation Area

 Sunny but cool today, I don't think the temperature reached 60°F (15.5°C) which was the forecasted high.

The sunrise was meh but it was a good opportunity to test the new camera's capabilities in low light conditions.  Some post-processing was again involved.

I was using f8 to achieve the sunburst when the sun broke past the small hilltop to the east of my campsite.  Not bad.

I did get some Cactus Wrens wandering near the URRV and it was a good chance to use the zoom capabilities of the new camera:

More zoom testing, note the little red spot by the rocks....she's with the camper you can see on the right, they were parked at a nice distance from my campsite and had come in last night in the dark.  I bet they had such fun parking their rig.

Now how did I know it was a she in the red jacket?  Zoomed in to 728mm, the max optical zoom setting:

I'm really liking the zoom on this camera!

Didn't really do much, the cool winds dissuaded me from riding until nearly 3:30 PM and then it was just some short riding to explore other possible campsites. 

Upon my return, I found this shithead from TX setting up camp damn near my campsite, sigh.  What part of dispersed camping don't some Arschlöcher understand I continue to wonder.

This of course cemented the decision I'd been weighing whether to leave tomorrow morning!  I'll make sure to make lots of noise, bright and early tomorrow.

Boondocking at the Indian Bread Rocks Recreation Area (BLM) and testing a new camera

I displaced from the vicinity of Gila Bend and the Barry Goldwater AF Range Thursday morning, and parked at my FIL's place so I could hand deliver the title for Fiona to my insurance company's office in Phoenix.  

Thursday after, after a lot of anguished thought, much bothering of both CCjon and Scooter in the Sticks' Steve Williams, thinking about needs vs wants, trying to establish and adhere to requirements grounded in reality....I went ahead and picked up a new camera at the BestBuy store near Sun City, AZ on Thursday of this week.

Image source: Best Buy

It's full name is Sony - Cyber-shot DSC-HX80 18.2-Megapixel Digital Camera.   I examined it at the store before buying it and missed one thing that might spell trouble and cause me to return the camera (and pay the 15% restocking fee).  It's aperture range is f3.5-f8 whereas my old Sony A5000 had an aperture range of f3.5-f22!

Since I have to pay a restocking fee whether I returned it the next day or before January 16, I decided to keep it for now and put it through its paces.  Steve Williams reminded me most of my pics are outdoors and in daylight so the not so fast lens on this camera should be OK.  CCjon reminded me that not having the ability to save pictures in RAW format isn't a factor if I'm not going to make large prints of my photos.

Otherwise, it's like having a smaller version of the A5000, same interface and pretty much same capabilities though a smaller sensor with 18.2 Megapixels vice the A5000's 20.1 Megapixels.  It even has the same flip-up monitor that the A5000 had for selfies but which I use for low to the ground angle shots.  Oh, and it has a pop-up EVF or Electronic View Finder for situations where the monitor is washed out due to sunlight.

The big pluses are its small size, making it pocketable so I don't need a tank bag anymore and its 30x Optical Zoom which means no need to carry extra lenses like with the A5000.  I don't have to learn a different camera manufacturer's software interface either!

Here's a selfie for your amusement:

Early Friday morning, once I finished packing up the URRV, I climbed on top of the URRV to get this picture of the palms and White Tank Mountain in the distance.  I was seeing how the depth of field held up as I like both the foreground and background in focus.

And then I zoomed in to the maximum optical range of 728mm:

Not bad eh?  The above were shot in the "Superior Auto" mode, I plan on experimenting with Aperture Priority mode later on as that's what I use for Sunrise/Sunset shots.

I left my FIL's place at 9:30 AM and five hours later I was pulling into the Indian Bread Rocks Recreation Area's camping section.  The place was near full with many RVs and car campers, more than I've ever seen for this place.  My favorite spot outside the camping section was taken, dammit, so I grabbed almost the last available spot further into Happy Camp Canyon which is where this BLM site is located.

Once again trying out the optical zoom:

The camera has image stabilization so the use of a big optical zoom setting doesn't require a tripod for sharp results.  At least in this case, I'm sure at lower light levels, a tripod will be mandatory as this camera doesn't have great low light level performance reviews online.  As I said, we'll see.

I rode Yagi, my Yamaha TW200, around the other campsites to see what remained open.  Nothing that I could find that would easily fit my URRV!  The great outdoors, at least in this area, is getting crowded...though it is the weekend.

What do you think of the image quality of the above photos?  Your feedback is requested!

Note: As always some post-processing was done by me, but in light of the testing, very minimal changes were done, mostly dehazing and lightening of shadows.

Birds, Bugs and Bushings

 A pretty quiet day here in the desert.  

Some Gambel's Quails came by to check out the URRV but did not tarry.  Sorry but the camera in my Pixel 4a, as with most camera phones, is lacking when it comes to zoom function.  The below pic is shot at 2X zoom, I think its optical, but not sure.

As to bugs, there have been very few flies this time around, probably the cool temperatures at night killing off any remaining flies from summer/fall.  There are however, enough black beetles crawling around, to get one's attention when walking or sitting outside the URRV:

These beetles, when they detect your approach, freeze and stick their butt up in the air.  Not sure why but I'm guessing they will spray something at you from that end if they sense an attack.  I basically left them alone unless they were headed towards the URRV, in which case I scooped them up with a shovel and carried them away from the site.

As to bushings, I finally remembered to send some pics to RichardM to help me identify the rubber bits in the picture below.  Turns out they're the Sway Bar Bushings and while not exactly falling apart, should probably be replaced with newer/stronger ones.

I occasionally hear a metallic "klunk" while the URRV is moving and am hoping it's these bushings which appear to be quite "squashed".  I plan to work on replacing them when next I am home with the URRV.

Speaking of home, the plan now is to start heading back to Colorado as soon as this Friday/Saturday to take advantage of a period of "warm", snow-free, weather forecasted for my route back there.  I'll be taking the I-10/I-25 route through Albuquerque, NM...probably overnighting in BLM land near the town of Truth or Consequences, NM.

Before that, I have to turn in Fiona's title to the insurance office in Phoenix tomorrow and hopefully also have time to remove the gearbox and final drive from poor Fiona.  I'm hoping these components are salvageable and got permission from the insurance rep to do so.  The insurance settlement has been finalized, they await only the receipt of the title.

The amount of the settlement was higher than expected so that's good.  I'd still rather have Fiona in one piece and working but it is what it is.

Update: DEC 3

The process involved with just gaining access to Fiona at the Insurance Auction Yard run by IAA which my insurance company uses proved to be quite the PITA!  All this to access components whose condition might not be worth the time/effort to get into sellable condition.  I realized, afterwards, that I was just being greedy.  So, the effort to recover the gearbox and final drive is at an end.

I did get the title to Fiona dropped off though, it was of course on the opposite end of the Phoenix Metro Area but traffic wasn't bad at all.

I'll resume my drive back to Colorado tomorrow.