theboondork's RV blog

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5/11/2023

I recommend clicking the pics, but only the ones that deserve a good clicking.

Sunrise at Elephant Butte Marina

Another beautiful day in New Mexico. Even though it's getting in the 80s during the daytime, it's still getting down to the 50s at night, which is great sleeping weather for me. It's mostly been blue skies, but starting this weekend, it looks like there's going to be seven or eight days of cloudy weather coming in. The temperatures will stay the same, but there's a decent chance of rain almost daily. But if I'm lucky, I may get some nice sunrise and sunset pictures.

I tried to remove the propane valve on the refrigerator, but I couldn't get it off due to not having the tool I needed. I, of course, have that tool in the Arctic Fox, but that doesn't do me much good here. Also, looking at my calendar, it appears I only have two weeks left of my winter travels since I need to get back to Denver before the Memorial Day holidays. So I'm running out of time to fix my refrigerator while on the road.

I want to get rid of this RV absorption refrigerator and get a DC compressor refrigerator. I've got a decent solar system and a pretty good battery bank, so I could easily run a DC refrigerator, and it would be a lot less hassle than what I've got now.

I think tomorrow I'll run over to the dam on the Rio Grande and see what's going on with the river. I don't think I've ever seen it before when it had a decent amount of water in it; most of the time I've been there, it has been dry except for some large puddles scattered up and down the river that only carp could live in. So it would be nice to see it actually flowing.

Theboondork

There was a bunch of wildlife officers here with their boats.

I'm not sure what they were doing, but there was four or five LEO's in three different boats which is too many guys to be out checking fishing licenses.

It kind of bothers me to see "Game Wardens" dressed up like a SWAT team. Being armed is fine I have no problems with that, but the game wardens I dealt with in my area of Colorado wore blue jeans. But I guess these are different times and these guys and gals are dealing with a different kind of people....Mexican cartels comes to mind

They milled around for a while, then headed out into the lake as a group.

Returning as the sun was going down they sat in their boats for a long time probably doing what they would call "debriefing," but GIs call "telling lies and war stories while having a cold one."

On the other hand, they all might be too sea-sick to stand up.

4 Comments

Larry Worsham

5/12/2023 06:12:00 am

I may have sent this to you before. This outfit makes 12v conversion kits for rv refers. Haven't read anything bad about them on the webs.

Happy hunting....... https://jc-refrigeration.com/

I understand you issues with the refer. Leveling with a truck camper is an issue.

???? Where would your recommended place in NM be if I would want to escape the Tx heat in August!!!

Safe Travels home

Tom

5/12/2023 07:22:19 am

Yes I have seen that place before Larry, I've even watched a couple of videos of folks installing the 12 volt conversion kits from that company. By the looks of it I'm not sure if I would want to go to the trouble of putting that kit in myself. I would have to pull out my current fridge, and there's no place to put it inside the camper to work on it. What I really need is a place that can install them quickly and easily without disrupting my life too much.

Most places I stay in the desert areas are pretty level to start with, but anytime I'm in hilly or mountainous areas leveling can be a chore. But this "Levelmate" gadget I installed in the camper helps a lot. It doesn't get me level, but it helps me locate the levelest place in the area so I need the least amount of blocks, if any at all, under my tires. It wouldn't help much if you're in a campground because you have to stay where they tell you to, but it's a big benefit when boondocking. But overall leveling the camper is a minor annoyance and not a problem.... the City of Rocks State Park has been the biggest leveling problem that I've faced so far.

Escaping the heat in August is going to be difficult no matter where you go and due to how far south New Mexico is the choices are few. But as a rule of thumb, the higher you go the better. Maybe Cloudcroft down south, would be cooler since it's about 8500 feet. And up north possibly Taos New Mexico which is about 7000 feet. Keep in mind at those altitudes the high temperatures for the day will only last a couple of hours, the rest of the time, especially at night, should be pretty comfortable. For me personally in Colorado during the heat of the Summer I'm not comfortable till I get above 10,000 feet. But bear in mind I've never spent a Summer in New Mexico, so I'm just guessing.

Tom

5/12/2023 10:41:12 am

Installation of any refer is a problem in any RV. I've seen post where the have to pull the windshield out of a class A to replace a refer. The factory does installs but the are way up in Northern Indiana........a drive for sure. Good luck on your research.

I've heard of the level mate but never researched it. Use the a bubble level and confirm sometimes with an app on the phone. May look into it....I'm a gadget guy.

10,000 feet would probably kick my butt due to being out of shape, heart issues and living at sea level. I'd like to find a spot I could boondock for a week or two but have some time of cell contact.....got to be able to respond to relatives for their health reasons. Low humidity and up to 90 is fine. I need to research around Taos and Cloudcrate for boondocking. The Raton are looks interesting also. Heck, I would head up to Datil if the cell service was bette.

Safe Travels

5/12/2023 12:36:02 pm

I could probably install it myself but it would take me a while. And I would have to do it in the summer when I had some help. But I would like to avoid that if possible. And yeah Northern Indiana doesn't sound like a fun drive to me.

I have bubble levels on everything and in some situations there just fine, but on the Lance, I couldn't see the bubble levels until I got out of the truck, so I spent a lot of time getting in and out of the truck. And just about the time I was going to figure out a way to put the bubble levels in the truck the levelmate came along. And it's basically a remote bubble level. The sending unit in the camper is level to the refrigerators freezer, and my cell phone reads the sending unit while I'm sitting in the driver seat moving here and there as my phone gives me instantaneous readings of how level the freezer is. It saves me a lot of time and hassle trying to get semi level. But it sure would be nice not to have to worry about being level.

10,000 feet is tough on most folks, but I've spent a lot of time living, working, and hunting in, and around that altitude, so I'm just used to it. I moved from absolute sea level in Miami, to a house that was at 9000 feet in Colorado, and I'm very thankful I didn't try to do that when I got older. And even now, The older I get the longer it takes me to adjust to that altitude when I get back to Colorado.

Yeah Datil had some of the worst cell service I've come across in my travels. I think I had rather have no cell service than cell service so slow it's almost unusable. I've been to Cloudcroft and Taos but never in the summer, but the altitude would indicate that the heat there should be tolerable. I've never boondocked in either one of those places but there's a lot of national forest in the area so there should be boondocking available.

I like Raton, I of course go through there every time I'm leaving Colorado. I think it's about 7000 feet in altitude, if I remember correctly. Sugarite Canyon state Park is just down the road from Raton and is one of the few state parks in New Mexico that I haven't stayed in. Don't know why, never heard nothing bad about it, its just never worked out for me.

I think Raton's claim to fame is it's the home of the NRA Whittington Center which is one of the largest shooting facilities in the country. They have a campground, but there 40 bucks a night, you usually need reservations... And I'm just not a reservation kinda guy.

Tom

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