Tucson to Albuquerque

We had a leasurely departure from Tucson and had difficulties with the switch that brings in Bill's side of the bedroom (slide) and Beaudry, Monaco, and the supplier were all out of stock. Fortunately Brett Howard had one and they overnighted it to the Elks Club in Albuquerque since we needed a street address for delivery. Balloon Fiesta Park just did not have a location for us!

The day started off as a beautiful day but as we crossed from Demming on Route 26 to Interstate 25 our beautiful day became VERY difficult! I was driving this stretch when the winds and clouds picked up and the sand storms started. Tumbleweeds and sand were flying across the highway aand the visability dropped to about zero. I finally found a place to pull off in Nutt and Bill continued the driving - very carefully! We made it to our destination in Truth or Consequences, NM safely but the winds made driving most difficult!

Saturday started off as a lovely day but a phone call from friends allerted us to the snow and closing of I-25 north of Albuquerque and of I-40 east of Albubuerque. As we stopped at a truck stop we learned of motorists stranded for 14 hours and tents being set up to protect the travelers.

We phoned ahead to the Elks Club to allert them to the fact that we had a package being shipped and it had already arrived! We stopped and loved the location, when for fuel and returned!

Whoever planned this location for a convention has to be half crazy because it is in two venues about 8 miles apart. All the seminars and vendors are at the Expo (about two miles from the Elks Club) and all the RV parking is at the Balloon Fiesta Park. Parking due to 4 inches of snow at the Balloon Fiesta Park was very backed up and many had to be relocated due to the softness of the ground. The more we heard the better our location at the Elks Club seemed - they were even serving pizza for dinner at $6.00 per person!

Unfortunately we did not take pictures of the bad road conditions on Friday or Saturday morning. We had to drive through some falling snow but nothing was sticking to the roadway.

We had the opportunity to enjoy some of the miles by chatting with Lindsay who was enjoying her Spring Break with Tom visiting colleges.