theboondork's RV blog

I'm glad I brought my long johns

4/26/2017

Clouds over the story Lake State Park camping area.

The weather wasn't too bad today, it was a little breezy but not the blow your hat into the lake kind of winds we've been having.

I went into town today and looked around for a while. I wanted to take some pictures of the old buildings that are scattered around town but since it was a weekday it was harder to get around and hard to find a parking place so I wasn't able to take as many pictures as I'd hoped. I think my idea of doing all that on a Sunday works better than anything else.

It's been getting pretty chilly around here lately. For the next few days it's supposed to be below freezing at night and on Saturday there actually predicting snow. That's not something I really want to hear but there's not much I can do about it. The winds are still supposed to be high until then. And I wouldn't want to pull the Arctic Fox anywhere with all of that going on. I'm sure heading north wouldn't help me at all, and I hate to backtrack and head south again. So it looks like I'll just hunker down, try to find where I put my thermal underwear, and wait for it to blow over next week.

theboondork

One of the beautiful old buildings downtown Las Vegas New Mexico

One of the beautiful old buildings in downtown Las Vegas New Mexico. I'm not sure what it used to be but it looks like a hotel.

Buildings in the past were built to show the strength and status of the business within them. I guess that's why their character lives on far longer than the businesses they housed

The Carnegie library Las Vegas New Mexico

This is one of the Carnegie libraries that were built all over the world with grant money from the incredibly wealthy Andrew Carnegie. This one is built in the middle of a city park in Las Vegas.The doors opened in 1904 and it's still an operating library.

7 Comments

Barney

4/26/2017 06:58:22 pm

Going away from snow and freezing no matter if it is backtracking is worthwhile. At least you can go south without going to the same location again. NM is not that big. Just drop altitude as you know better than I.

theboonork

4/26/2017 07:43:20 pm

As usual you are correct Barney. But in this instance since its not going to be extraordinarily cold, and its not gonna last very long, and the winds are going to be blowing every day between now and then which would make travel difficult, and considering I'm too lazy to hitch up and do anything about the problem. It looks like I'm going to have to get out my Pendleton wool blanket and ride it out.

The altitude is the problem where I'm at now. I think anytime you get higher than the Bob Hall Fishing Pier you take a chance on the weather changing drastically. But I'm still learning this way of life and I'm sure there are many bumps in the road ahead of me.

Tom.... Trying to find ways of staying toooo warm.

Barney Ward

4/26/2017 08:40:46 pm

I do not know what Bob Hall had but here in Rockport it hit 97 about 2 pm.

theboondork

4/27/2017 09:02:45 am

The high 90s is awfully hot, and it seems kind of early in the year to see that kind of heat especially on the coast. Your lucky you can plug in, those kind of temperatures take the fun out of boondocking.

Tom

Darrell

4/27/2017 11:17:48 am

Drastic changes in geography and weather is one of the great things I like about traveling. To go from mountains to oceans or from hot to cold keeps the senses awake. Even throw in a little bit of wind, but keep it less than 25 or so and not for extended periods of time. Enjoy.

I know you are from Colorado. I'm doing a little trip planning for this summer and was looking at US 50 from Grand Junction to Pueblo. It looks great from Google Earth and my Mountain Directory only calls out one steep grade near Monarch. Any thoughts? Good trip?

4/27/2017 01:57:53 pm

I figure that is a good and proper attitude to have if you want to be a happy traveler. I think the less picky you are about what you can and can't tolerate, whether it be food, or people, or weather the better off you will be.

So I can tolerate some weather extremes but I don't necessarily like them. I can deal with fairly hot temperatures without too much complaint, and I can tolerate some wind until it gets to the point where it's scary to pull a trailer down the interstate. But the cold is something I can do without.

I wasn't always that way, you can't live in the Colorado mountains for over 30 years without a fairly good tolerance for the cold. But the older I got the less I was able to tolerate it. Now that doesn't mean I can't stand a few days of cold weather especially if it's not even below zero, but living in a place like the mountains of Colorado in the winter is definitely out of the question at this point In time.

As for traveling on Highway 50 you would be hard-pressed to find a prettier highway to go from one side of Colorado to the other. I've made that trip from Pueblo to Grand Junction more times than I can count and almost always pulling a trailer or with a slide in camper in the back of the truck.

Monarch pass is no better or worse than the other commonly used passes through the mountains. You might be a little slow going up with a gas engine but there are places to pull over so you can let people go by. If I remember correctly there's a big tourist gift shop with a very large parking lot at the top of the pass that has plenty of room to park trailers and take a break before you head down the other side.

I'm sure you know when you're going down the other side gear down as low as it takes to keep from using the brakes except every once in a while.

Your biggest problem will probably be dealing with the tourist. People get the urge to stop in the middle of the road and take pictures, or drive with one hand and take pictures with the other [which I'm sure you would never do], so watch out for the other people around you.

I'll be in Colorado for a while this summer before I head up to Montana so drop me a line if you need anything.

Tom

darrell

4/27/2017 02:03:42 pm

Thanks for the information Tom. I'm not sure when I'll be in that area but sounds like US 50 will get my attention. Be safe out there. Have funl

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I'm glad I brought my long johns

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