Day One - Rough Start and Smooth Finish

7/3/25

We have been planning this trip since last September, and today we finally hit the road.  The last couple of days have been stressful as we tried to work in last minute appointments as well as prepare the RV for our 11,000 mile trip! Yesterday the inverter as well as the fridge weren’t working… fortunately both got resolved before we left this morning.  Our assistive breaking system, however, decided to be a butt as we pulled out of the driveway.  For those of you non-rv’ers, that is the system that brakes the vehicle you are towing when you slow or stop the rv.  It is a weird looking thing that sits on the floor in front of the drivers seat of the tow vehicle and hooks onto the brake pedal.  When the rv brakes, the magical wires and cables brake the vehicle (in our case, a Ford Maverick pickup truck) so that it helps to slow both vehicles and keeps the truck from trying to hit the back of the rv.  It took a LOT of starts and brakes in an empty shopping center before we were confident it was working as it should.  Forty minutes later, we jumped on I-10 and headed east.  

This trip we have Maggie, our 80lb dog, with us.  She takes up a LOT of room.  She’s a good traveler, though, as long as I (Pam) don’t get out of the RV and leave her.  She’s still trying to figure out the best place to hang out while traveling.  She’s tried to stay on the recliners but finally settled on the floor on her dog bed. 

Today’s trip was all about getting to Alamogordo, NM.  We’ve been here before so didn’t visit White Sands National Park this time.  We saw some very impressive thunder clouds as we drove along, but fortunately didn’t hit any rain or any of the wind New Mexico is famous for.  We also passed the kitschy tourist trap where you can see ‘The Thing.’  We actually stopped there  year ago and Erica and I checked it out.  I won’t go into much detail about that here… you’ll just have to stop yourself! 

Turns out the RV park we are staying in tonight is owned by the guy who also owns the brewery across the street!  One day in and I’m impressed with Steve’s location choices so far.  

After getting settled, we walked over to the brewery with Maggie.  All the seating is outside under shade cloths.  We ordered a couple of beers and their ‘nosh board’, a yummy mix of crackers, cheese, nuts, pickles, and the usual charcuterie.  They had a guy playing guitar and singing, mostly country, and after we left we could hear it from our RV.  We set up our chairs and enjoyed the show from a distance.  We headed inside once some of our neighbors set off a few fireworks and Maggie freaked out.  Fortunately, we brought her sedatives with us.  Hopefully tomorrow’s RV park is a bit quieter regarding fireworks.