Arizona 2024: Day 29: Anthony, NM: Now don’t hang on

Sleep good. Early rise. Shortish walk at 3.6 km as we had a schedule and I only had 30 minutes or so. I did see a coyote (4 legged kind) in the wash/canal/drainage ditch (whichever you choose to call it). I attempted to grab a picture but fortunately he did not like me and took off when we made eye contact. Imagine there is a coyote in the middle of this picture.

For the rest of my walk I fretted over whether that coyote was going to eat my new roadrunner friend. When I returned, Mrs Milddogs had bathed Amy, thus filling our grey tank. I described my coyote sighting and my concerns and Mrs Milddogs assured me that the coyote never gets the roadrunner. Meep meep!

I had the usual breakfast made even better by my new relaxed state concerning the roadrunner and then dumped the tanks, given the overflowing state of the grey tank and all. We went 5 days, still had room in the black tank. In those 5 days there were 2 showers in the van and 1 dog bath. Pretty good for our little 11 gallon waste tanks.

Tanks dumped, I was off to the shower. Slight delay: there was a ~four year old girl crying by the side of the street. I attempted to ask if she needed assistance but perhaps my crappy beard and hairy bare chest put her off. Another fellow came along and we were able to ascertain that: her parents let her wander off; she did not want to tell us her name; she did not know where her campsite is. Just as we were convincing her to let us take her to the campground office, a mother candidate came by and claimed the child. No need to thank us (apparently) just express some anger at the child.

Shower time was successful. No update on the score. I used a shower on the opposite side of the room and failed to clue in that the single shower knob would obviously be reversed as it was on the opposite side of the room. Hot first on this side buddy boy! Had I known that I would not have waited the 2 extra minutes for the water to wam up.

We hit the road a bit ahead of schedule and started the long eastward and windy drive down I-10. For the first part, it was uphill and into a headwind. Then it varied between close reach and a run. Depending on the direction of the road and the whim of the wind.

We stopped after about an hour for our first short break. Next we stopped at Dwayne’s Fresh Jerky in Bowie, AZ. We picked up some peanut brittle (more expensive per ounce than many precious metals).

They let us bring Amy into the store and she had a preference for the raccoon caps. Amy and Daniel Boone would be good friends,

More driving in the wind followed as we watched the dust blowing and a fair number of dust devils.

Crossing into New Mexico we set the clocks ahead an hour. We stopped in Lordsburg, NM for a break and some fuel. We separated those tasks as we took the break and had lunch at the visitor center/rest area rather than lunching at a gas station. Although, the gas station did have an Arby’s. Nothing says regret like 2 for $6!

The historic marker says that Charles Lindbergh landed on Lordsburg in 1927. I’m glad they both recovered.

We took the drive through town and stopped at Dollar General (shareholder) for a few things. They never disappoint and also never please. Was nice to see all of the people doing their Easter Sunday grocery shopping at the DG. We parked behind the store to shelter us from the wind, but when Mrs Milddogs opened the van door, a cloud of Amy hair shot up into the van. The collections of hair were the size of tumble weeds as they danced about in the van. I opened my door, as instructed, and most of the hair storm shot outside. I had great pleasure watching that dog hair flutter about the parking lot for the entire time Mrs Milddogs was in the DG. Amy is a non-shedding dog, after all.

It was pretty much a straight shot to Anthony, NM after the stop in Lordsburg. We crossed into Texas, got off of I-10 and headed back west a few KM and across the Rio Grande river (yes, that one) back into Anthony, NM.

We are at a nice harvest host farm. The dust is still blowing. Mrs Milddogs purchased a dozen eggs.

Easter dinner was chicken tika masala (pre-fab), some naan and a salad. We considered stopping at Sonic for a real Easter dinner you can never forget, but opted not too. So far, only one trip to Sonic. That must get corrected soon. We do miss our Tuscon food trucks!

We attempted an evening walk but there is so much dust blowing we opted to just go up and down the driveway a few times until Amy had reached a sense of relief.

There is one other camper here, a couple from Boise, ID in a Winnebago Solis. We had a little chat with them sharing concerns about the weather forecast and discussing why the Travato is a better choice than the Solis.

Tomorrow is another longish drive to a secret spot. The wind is supposed to pick up by 1000 and be worst south of the Guadalupe Mountains. If we depart by 0900, we should beat the worst of it. Of course, a 0900 departure with a recent time change may be a challenge.

Happy Easer: Take care of each other.