~Tuesday, November 23, 2021~
Day 527
So this is what our campsite looks like! What an amazing location with views of the lake framed by the Caballo Mountains. We’ve gained a little elevation with our 2-day home base at 4,100 feet. And there is still a hint of
Fall color on the few trees there are. Evidently this lake is used mostly for irrigation with the Rio Grande serving as an outlet and inlet for this reservoir. This is the kind of place you just come to relax, maybe enjoy a little
water recreation, and take in the desert scenery. There really is not much else around. Including hard to find grocery stores.
So we had to drive into Truth or Consequences (about an 18 mile drive) to pick up all our fixings for Thanksgiving….their only main grocery store...the WalMart Marketplace. The first thing we checked on was the turkey selection. NONE!! They ran out yesterday. Last year while we were in Tucson, we shopped the day before Thanksgiving and snagged one of the last 2 small turkeys. So we figured a few days before would be enough time to find something, especially the size we’re looking for…..very small. However, we were able to find everything else we needed to whip up a terrific Thanksgiving feast, with a new mission to find our bird. At checkout, I asked the clerk if there were any other grocery stores in the area. Bullocks seemed to be our last resort. I phoned ahead of time, and yes, they still had turkeys, and only a few miles away from Wal-Mart. Jeff was able to find a 13-lb. bird with a choice of frozen or fresh. Since we have very limited refrigerator storage, he opted for the frozen which should be thawed out in time for the big day. With Thanksgiving shopping complete maybe it will be easier to get in the Thanksgiving groove. Having desert weather and moving at such a fast pace lately, has made getting in the spirit more challenging. But, repeating our stay at Diamond J for Thanksgiving should be good fun. We have very fond memories of meeting new neighbors, enjoying the smells coming from everyone’s kitchens (including our own), and rooting for our favorite football teams, all while in the beautiful Sonoran Desert. It’s really interesting how your environment and the people you're with can change your spirits.
While unloading groceries, we had a great chat with our neighbors from El Paso, TX. They call Caballo Lake Campground their Thanksgiving retreat having come here for years. Sometimes relatives come, and sometimes it’s just the two of them. They also have a pontoon boat that they store nearby. It sounds like they had quite the day on the water after catching a hefty 20-lb. bass, already in the freezer. They were really talking up the place, suggesting other great campgrounds in the area; lots of boondocking options.
We spent the afternoon calling around various tire shops to check pricing for 4 new tires for the trailer and our Miata (in California) with plans to drive the Miata for a short road trip to Oregon soon. Ouch! I’d forgotten how expensive tires are, never settling for cheap tires. It looks like the trailer tires are going to cost us around $800 and the Miata….$1,000 (for that tiny little car!). We’ll likely go with our tire guys in Napa, CA since we’ve enjoyed our relationship with them in the past. And we really want to support local businesses. With the fact we’re buying 2 sets of tires, we’re hoping to work a better deal.💲😉 In our phone calls, it was quite the learning experience. But one of the most important pieces of advice was to do tire rotation. I’ll be honest. Jeff and I had never done it on the trailer. We’re religious about rotating the truck tires every 6,000 miles, but didn’t think we needed to do it on the trailer. When you have a double axle like ours, the front tires take a much bigger hit with “dragging” as they roll forward and turn, which is where we’re seeing the most wear. The back tires just follow, which makes sense why they don’t look as worn. We didn’t know that rotating them was just as important as doing it on your tow vehicle. So every 6,000 miles it is. We also learned that checking the wheel bearings was equally important. Haven’t done that either, and if you don’t do it, your wheels could seize up. It’s kind of scary to know that we’ve put on this many miles, and haven’t done either of these things. Another live and learn experience.