Day two was
uneventful as we traveled from Oklahoma, and across the panhandle of Texas into
New Mexico. Since we had traveled this route many times before we decided we’d
start our visiting sites later in the trip, and just get closer to Las Vegas
the first two days.
One thing we
did notice was at the Texas border I-40 turned into 75 mph and someone forgot
to tell the wildlife that it had.
We crossed
into Texas in the early morning and the amount of road kill was tremendous, so
if you happen to be traveling that way during wildlife moving hours be sure and
be aware of this so you don’t get unwanted hood ornaments for your vehicle.
Some of the victims of the fast moving vehicles were very large deer.
Speaking of
wildlife during our trip we saw many different animal crossing signs
Some of which were, deer (pretty standard here in Oklahoma), elk, cougar
and cow. We also saw falling rock signs different
from the ones we’d previously seen
Signs that
should have been shown, because of what we saw on the roads included wild boar,
raccoon, and porcupine. Highway 40
seemed to be really hard on wild life.
Now on to a
better subject, well sort of, the trip budget.
We left with a budget of $50 a night for lodging with us paying for 21
days of lodging—not including the nights the company had paid for at the MGM
Grand in Las Vegas for us, fuel for $4.00 per gallon for a roughly 2,500 mile round trip and then an additional
$500 for miscellaneous things and then we had a $1,000 emergency fund for just
in case, back at home, that could be transferred to the travel account easily
and quickly. After all Murphy dearly loves us.
When
calculating the fuel budget we figured 2500 for the round trip including side trips. We also calculated we would average
approximately 7 mpg because of pulling the fifth wheel and with all the
mountains we would climb.
The grand
total for this trip therefore would be $3,000 give or take. Plus the $1,000 emergency
fund. Our goal was to come in as far
under budget as possible, partly because of all the Murphy snafus we’d had
before we left, and partly because we are tightwads that want to travel and get
debt free at the same time. I know this
budget sounds extremely high for someone on the Dave Ramsey Total Money
Makeover plan, but please remember that the company was paying nearly $500 of
our fuel costs, plus there would be two weeks at around $100 a week that dh
would not be paying for fuel to drive to work, so that is $700 total of our fuel
budget that was not above our normal costs. Plus we were planning a three week trip.
So far at
this point we were doing pretty well we had found fuel each time we filled up
at under $4 until we had to purchase fuel right after lunch and had to pay
$4.04 a gallon, and with boondocking that first night we were $50 ahead on
campground fees. This, in our book was a
very good thing. By the end of day two
were were $112.30 under budget. Things
were looking good in spite of that $4.04 per gallon fill-up on our 33 gallon
tank!
As we drove
through Groom, Texas we smiled at the Leaning WaterTower and nodded our approval at the Giant Cross, both of which are on Route 66 but can be seen from I-40.
We made it
to Santa Rosa, New Mexico before dark to pull into the Santa Rosa Campground. We stayed here
on our previous trip and knew exactly what to expect. We were not disappointed. It is a plain Jane campground with all level pull-thru
spots and full hook-ups. AT $28 per
night they were well within our budget.
When we were
there in 2008 they had just re-opened their restaurant for business and we’d
had a very good meal there at a reasonable price. We contemplated doing the same thing as we
drove there, but as I checked in I found out that the restaurant was closed on
Sunday’s. Since we weren’t certain if
we’d stay an extra night or not I picked up a copy of their menu and quickly
decided that their prices had gone up. A few samples of the menu prices are :
Chicken Fried Steak—8 oz $10.95; Fried Chicken—Breast, Leg and Thigh $11.95, BBQ
Beef Brisket $11.95.
While we
opted to not dine, with them and instead cook one of the numerous meals I had
packed, we did opt to use their showers instead of the one in the camper. They were clean and well maintained with
plenty of fast hot water, but the shower stalls were actually smaller than the
one in my camper.
If you are
traveling with a person that needs a handicapped shower or toilet stall, this
campground does not have one that we saw. In fact if memory serves me right
there was no wheel chair access to get into the women’s restroom at all, due to
a step down to the entry door.
As a person
of shorter height, I also had a problem with having to stand with my broad
backside pressed against the cold wall to keep from being hit square in the face
by the fixed shower head spray.
So if you
are planning on showering small children there be aware that they will probably
be hit full force in the face while trying to rinse off.
Our dinner
cooked camper meal for that night was Stir FriedChicken, rice and egg rolls.
Oh I nearly
forgot, we saw the cutest thing while we were flying down the highway and
unfortunately I didn’t have the camera ready so I didn’t get a photo.
Traveling on
old Route 66, parallel to route I-40, was a gentleman riding a bicycle that was
pulling several little red wagons full of his belongings. Each wagon was linked
to the one in front of it and the front one of course was hooked to the back of
his bike. The cute part was what he had
on the wagons. It was one of those large
yellow and black truck banners that said “OVER SIZED LOAD”. Gotta love the fellow’s sense of humor,
considering the load was plenty long enough for the sign to be stretched out in
full. You also have to admire the leg
muscles he had to have had to be pulling that load up the hill as he rode!
Jan who was
glad for her hot shower on day two while away from OK.
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