The Buchanans Rolling Down The Road

Wednesday April 1st 2020

Day 3 of our trek north

Day three finds us in an empty parking lot at the Cracker Barrel in Las Cruces NM, enjoying a take out breakfast, it’s what we always try to do for the use of a little piece of parking lot. The Cracker Barrel chain is very good to the RV traveling society, this restaurant alone has 7 RV/Bus parking spots, our coach fits fine but we have to detach the towed to fit. In this case we were able to just tuck into the outer parking ring that we were able to settle into, well because we were the only RV here and one of at most a dozen vehicles.

So you might be wondering how the drive across the country, well in the most simplest terms it’s been really good, other than trucks and RVers there is little to no passenger vehicles. In fact it’s amazing how well traffic moves when the majority of drivers on the road are professional … I talking about the truckers, no more jack asses cutting in and out of traffic, not having a clue what they are doing or where they are going to until it’s too late. Ya not even one hard braking situation because the traffic is moving smoothly, even when construction had closed one lane there wasn’t some jerk in a BMW or Cadillac cutting into traffic at the last moment!

Yesterday was just a straight shot east on I-10 for 265 miles, but today we are headed northeast to catch I-40 east of Albuquerque NM so I-10 to I-25 to US-70 to US-54 then catch I-40 east bound at Santa Rosa NM. Quite a scenic route by the White Sands National Monument the to 6500 feet (1982 meter) of elevation, the roads were pretty good, but here is my question of the day … why when a stretch of road is no longer good enough to maintain the speed limit … rather than repair the road … let’s put up a couple of dozen road signs and drop the speed limit twenty miles an hour which is still way too fast for the bad road condition … so just a simply why?

It turned out to be a bigger day than we usually, with 311 miles (500 kms) which is well over our normal day, but the day was overcast with a little high cloud, the roads were clear, light traffic, a few hours later and we are now settled into a busy Flying J for the night. Temperatures are low 80’s (27 Celsius), a lovely evening for sure. Fuel cost (rolling rent) $117 for 47.3 gallons (179 litres) at $2.48 per gallon. I’m liking the dropping fuel prices but I fear we will soon be having dropping temperatures to match, we are making good time and will be back in Canada soon.

Remember to be safe out there, and stay healthy!

Tuesday March 31st 2020

Day 2 of our trek north

We are reading a lot of different reports about the state of the coronavirus pandemic, and the effects it is having on all forms of travel, besides the stupidity that is still running rampant here in the States with idiots still hoarding butt floss, sanitizer, and the like … now there are runs on everyday grocery items … people pull your head out of your ass long enough to realize you are a big part of the problem.

So as we sit enjoying our morning coffee, we are seeing more and more lock downs and closures, we had planned to settle tonight on some BLM land just north of Las Cruces in New Mexico, but have just read that all BLM land in New Mexico has been closed. So we have made the decision to just start heading north, and just find spots to stay the night as we can and where we can. It usually makes for noisy nights but it’s looking like it is going to be the only way.

So today we made it to Las Cruces, New Mexico, a little farther than I was planning for today as we didn’t get on the road till 11 o’clock, had to get everything finished up before we left. So we fuelled again today only $85 for 31.7 gallons (120 litres) at $2.68 / gallon and travelled 263 miles. And now are tucked into a nearly empty Cracker Barrel restaurant parking lot, that in itself is almost a little eire, but maybe I will get a takeaway order of biscuits and gravy for breakfast, that should be a good start as we aim to Amarillo Texas, I think it’s too far for a one day drive but we will just see how far we get.

From what I have found on research, after we cross the border we are required to a complete a mandatory quarantine for fourteen (14) days, which is not a big issue it just means planning on our side, to be prepare for 42 meals, plus whatever snacks you might desire, in case you haven’t been in an RV lately, fridge space is tight. Which means a lot of meals will need to be prepared items, like canned soup, canned vegetables, fruit and such. Pastas, rice, and other dried items which would be great if they were even available to purchase. As we are hoping to head to LHR (Lake Huron Resort) to complete our quarantine, we need to have ourselves ready for limited facilities and only partial hookups as best. We were to be there for two weeks of preparation for the opening on May the first for the season, but that was before the world fell apart. We are also seeing some states deeming campgrounds as essential services, while others non-essential services, so some are open but many are not. We have now seen that most states have all the restaurants and bars closed down other than take out to try to stop the spread of the virus. As usual Miss Laurie has kept us well stocked and we have always prepared the majority of our own meals anyway, but as purchasing has become a challenge we are picking up what we can where we can.

Author: The Buchanans Rolling Down The Road

April’s fools day