A short stay in Santa Fe

Friday, Nov 24, turned out to be a great driving day.  Temperature got up to 74F and winds were gusty in spots but pretty light most of the way.  We found the scenery changed considerably during the day.  Starting out the landscape was flat and brown which was a continuation of the previous few days.  As we headed west we started to see the snow capped peaks in the distance and tumbleweeds were replaced by large junipers providing a splash of green.

Lots of flat and brown but some hills with green starting to appear

Now were talking.  Got to wash the windshield. 

We are running 2 GPS.  One is the trucks onboard system and the second is our handheld Garmin 760 RV GPS.  We tend to trust the Garmin more as I updated the maps just before we left and we can enter the height and length of our unit.  It is supposed to keep us from clearance issues.  So far it hasn't failed us but the 2 systems do sometimes offer differing routes.  We have to get in the habit of checking their recommendations against our Rand McNally Road Atlas, paper based, before we depart just to give us the bigger picture of where we are going.

US Military on the move.  Train must have been a couple miles long.

We left on Hwy 412 which, contrary to my previous comments about high highway numbers, was a smooth, divided 4 lane most of the way.  That took us to I25 which was smooth as glass for most of the rest of the trip.  We had booked a reservation for 3 nights at Santa Fe Skies RV Park which is up on a hill south of Santa Fe.  Provides a great view with good hookups and reasonably level gravel parking pads.  We are starting to get to the part of the country where camping fees are rising and with taxes,  our 10% GS discount we were at almost $50 per night.

Got setup, made a shopping list to finally stock the fridge and pantry and headed off to Walmart.  This summer we had purchased an Induction hot plate from Costco for $50.  Between this and our electric roaster purchased in Yuma last year we figure we will seldom use the propane burners or oven in our unit.  The oven is now being used for storage.  Both the hot plate and roaster can be set up outside so we can do our cooking and not heat up the rig.  With induction you have to have compatible cookware for it to work and we thought we were ok till Lori started to prepare dinner.  None of our 4 pots or 4 frying pans work with Induction.  Off to Walmart again however their selection of Induction compatible cookware was pretty limited and we noticed the Santa Fe Outlet Mall was next door and it had a kitchen store.  Off we went and picked up a 10 piece set of pots and frying pans for $50.  All Induction friendly.  Most of our old cookware ended up in the dumpster with a couple of the newer frying pans stored under our bed to be repurposed for the house upon our return.

Our Walmart visit on Black Friday.
Busiest shopping day of the year.
Some low prices on entry level Samsungs but not a lot of people.
News reports on Saturday said in-store sales were down significantly.
Amazon was up 50%.  The trend accelerates.   

I now had the time to fully diagnose our electrical issues.  On Thursday night when we were parked in Clayton I had turned on the radio, which runs of the 12 Vdc system.  No power.  A light went off in my head and I immediately knew what the problem was.  Remember from my earlier post when I found 2 15 Amp fuses were blown.  Turns out that when the service guys at the dealership had taken my old battery out to charge it they crossed the wires when they reinstalled the battery, reversing the polarity.  That results in blown fuses in the main fuse panel, 2 blown 40 Amp fuses in the Power Converter and a blown fuse in the back of the radio.  You might ask how I know that all these fuses would blow.  Cause a couple years ago I took the battery out to charge it and when I returned it to the battery box I crossed the wires.  I was so mad at myself, thinking only a complete moron would do something so stupid.  Turns out that I'm not the only moron out there.  In fact the Converter has those 2 40 Amp fuses for exactly that reason.  When someone reverses the polarity on the battery hookup the fuses blow and not the converter or the entire 12 Vdc system.  I removed the radio that is mounted in the slide wall, replaced the fuse, then emptied our basement, removed a wall panel, dug through the mass of wires and found the 2 fuses and replaced them.  Luckily I had spare fuses so no trip to an RV repair shop was required.  Good thing as those 40 Amp fuses can be hard to find.   We now have power and I have a nice new battery charger.  Probably a good addition to my growing collection of tools that stay in the trailer.

Saturday was a beautiful day and we spent the afternoon sitting in the sun reading and taking in the rays.  Sunday is a little cooler with a north wind but still pleasant outside.  We may take an exploratory drive around Santa Fe or perhaps not.  NFL is on TV and still have a few odd jobs around the trailer so we may not venture too far.  One positive about being in RV Parks that are mostly empty is that the Wifi, which is usually spotty at best, has been great.

Cottontails everywhere.  Had to keep a tight grip on Charli's leash.

The view from our RV Park at dusk.

Thats us just inside the gate.

Not the best southwest sunset but still some nice colours.  

Monday is a driving day to Holbrook, Az and then we have booked a 3 day stay in Fountain Hills, AZ.  That will leave us a short 90 minute drive to Gold Canyon where we will be stationary for 4 months.