Our Last Day at Pancho Villa State Park, NM

Yup, it's true, our Tracker is FINALLY finished!  I posted a short blog a while ago from my cell phone, with two photos of the Tracker and the engine.

We are more than pleased with the repair job.  Art Miller did a good job, and he was frustrated a few times about the wrong parts being delivered etc. to get the job done.  But it is finished and we were able to go over the list and pay for the work done.

• turned the crank shaft
• new piston rods
• new piston rings
• new rod bearings
• new main bearings
• cylinder head reconditioned
• new oil pump
• new water pump
• new clutch, throw-out bearing, pilot bearing, pressure plate
• new belt
• new gaskets, oil, filter
• new antifreeze coolant to our radiator

The engine is very clean now and they even did tiny things like replaced some wires and clips, even replaced our missing cap on AC fill nozzle for the freon. And he came in with a final price $100 below his estimate, and we were quite pleased with the work. The bill was $1,500 plus tax.


We put on over 80 miles tonight to make sure all was good.  It ran perfectly, and we are going to be able to move on in the morning!

For supper, I made up a pan of an old family favorite... Tater Tot Casserole!

1. mush ground beef in the bottom of a pan 
2. sprinkle chopped onions or dried onions
3. spread a can of cream of celery (or mushroom) soup over the hamburger
4. arrange frozen tater tots on top
5. season with Lawry's, pepper and parsley flakes
6. cover with tin foil and bake half an hour at 350
7. uncover and cook 15 more or until brown and bubbly.

OH, we did have rain yesterday... it poured twice for a good 15 minutes and then some drizzles.  The most rain we have seen our entire six weeks of vacation!

Our sweet RV neighbor Hazel took out a recumbent trike to let Steve air up the tires

 and we got to give it a spin around the park.. 

what FUN! 

I peddled around and got the hang of it. 

strange to kinda steer from the rear, like a boat! 

Steve took a turn around the park too,

and got a kick out of this big boy toy!

On our way back from our Tracker Test Drive, 

we saw the amazing clouds hanging low over the mountaintop,

actually covering the summit.

and this sunset just breathtaking as it was reflecting off the clouds....

Our final night for a sunset here in Pancho Villa State Park did not disappoint us, and it was in it's glory as it went down by our site....   it almost felt like an eerie space ship!

Our plan is to get north tomorrow as far as we can and start heading east at the northern end of NM into TX, OK and then into KS.  We hope to hole up for a day or so with friend Rosie in Bethel, MO. Then the final mad dash home to Wisconsin, where hopefully all of the snow and ice are GONE! 

And They Call the Wind ---- WINDY!

Well, we knew it was coming, and saw it on the weather reports.  But the morning was calm with some nice breezes but nothing too bad.

Steve had been talking to the park superintendent here, and found out they use a mechanic about a mile away to do all their repair work. And as a matter of fact, that guy recently rebuilt a lady's Tracker who was stranded here in the park with just about the same problem!

So Steve took off across the desert to walk over to the guy's place and see what he could do.  After chatting up a bit, the guy sent two of his workers over to the park to check out our Tracker.  Steve and the host were able to hook it up behind the host's truck, and tow it over to get it worked on.  The guy gave a ball park quote of "worst case scenario" of around $600... but really won't know till he rips it apart.  So our budget is holding it's hands together in prayer and we will see how much will slip through our hands to pay the bill??? LOL

As the afternoon unfolded, 

so did the winds.  

Oh MY!!!!!!!!!

We were getting 

sustained winds 

in the 35-40 range, 

and gusts up to 50+ mph!!!!!  

We were rocking back and forth, with dust blasting us from all directions.  We learned a good trick a while back in our last sand storm to run both of our air conditioners on "fan mode" full blast... it creates a positive air pressure inside the rig.  Doing so doesn't allow the dust and sands to seep in through all the cracks and crevices of the motorhome.

We took the poor doggers out a few times and had to hold tight to their leashes so they didn't blow away!  Would have been a good time to brush them, as all their excess fur would fly on over to Texas!  But it was hard to even stand out there, the wind takes the breath away and makes you dive for cover back inside the motorhome.

Outside, it was almost like a brown fog was everywhere... and one could not even see the mountains to the west. If you look in this pic, very faintly you can see the mountains above that horizon of the desert floor. Everything was an eerie yellowish brown hue.

The winds were so bad, we were not expecting our friend, Seann to arrive as planned. He was coming from the west, but had a pretty good tail wind behind him, I should say!

He blew on into the campground as planned, and pulled into the campsite we were saving for him.  (our lawn chairs kept blowing away, so Steve had weighted them down with big rocks!)

 This pic is crooked because I was blowing away!!!!

Seann got situated on his campsite and came over to share dinner with us.  Of course, being the dog lover that he is, he also brought yummy treats for Finney and Binney!   Last time we camped with him, he had treats for Ducky and Duke.  Ducky fell in love with Seann and followed him everywhere, even inside of his camper! LOL....  Too bad Seann is allergic to dogs, or else I think he would have a whole pack of them travelling with him!

We talked into the night, rocking and rolling inside of our motorhome.  The winds sounded even worse as the night went on.  The weathermen said the wind advisory would last till 7pm, but the howling and whistling winds continued on into the night. 

By 4 a.m. we could hear the unmistakable sounds of RAIN on the roof!  The winds had died down to nothing, and now it was a nice soft drizzling rain. Ahhhhhhh we will take the rain any time over the winds! 

Seeing this out of our window this morning was a pretty sight! 

I leaned out the open window to snap this pic, it's blurry, 

but yes, Seann is camped behind us.

Perked up a pot of coffee this morning, and baked a pan of cinnamon swirl coffee cake...  waiting for Seann to come a knocking and probably come over with his pockets stuffed full of treats for Finney and Binney. 

Yup, he just did!