Tag: New Mexico

A Free Camping Day at KOA Albuquerque New Mexico

I finally made it to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to enjoy a free camping day at the KOA.

KOA

Before I left on my adventure I bought a KOA Value Rewards Card for $30. The card gives you 10% off each night at a KOA and you camp free on September 17 if you book for September 16.

I booked the Albuquerque KOA for September 16 and got September 17 for free.

I like KOAs. They always have free showers and internet, a swimming pool, and they are clean. Often though, they are situation in or around town centers. That’s ok with me though.

Albuquerque KOA

When I first arrived at this KOA I was disappointed. Most of the campsite is made of of fine gravel. From my experience this is pretty common in desert areas. However, it was still disappointing.

The campsite I was given had a picnic table on a pad of artificial turf. Surveying the situation, I decided to switch it up and put my tent on the pad of turf and move the picnic table to the gravel. This is also one of the adventages of having a free standing tent like the Big Agnes. I don’t need to peg anything down to erect it.

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After exploring the campsite I discovered these two days weren’t going to be that bad after all.

Work Desk

The weather was beautiful the days I was there. The KOA had a really nice patio with comfortable chairs and an overhang to provide shade.

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I spent pretty much all day on the 17th working on Daily Journals, planning and just plain relaxing.

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I even ate out there – the lunch of a bachelor who doesn’t want to cook ha ha ha

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The KOA clerk actually had a good laugh and said she would send some women to my campsite to cook for me. She never did 🙁

Evening

In the evening I relaxed by my tent and watched a bit of a movie they played for the kids at the campsite.

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All and all it was a nice time relaxing and working at the KOA.

My Location for September 17, 2016

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Wet stuff and Running Out of Gas

I have to admit I was cranky as I packed up wet stuff. And it only got worse as I almost ran out of gas.

Packing Up

I awoke this morning and packed up my wet and damp belongings. Worst of all was putting on a wet helmet and a damp riding suit. It felt gross.

At the same time, I felt fortunate to have survived the storm without any damage.

Roswell New Mexico

I made my way to Roswell. Roswell is famous for a reported crash of a UFO in 1947. The city now capitalizes on the incident with lots of references to aliens and UFOs.

I really wasn’t that interested at all.

Running out of Gas

As I was leaving the city I saw I had 130 km or 81 miles of fuel range on my motorcycle. When I was in Alaska I always filled up when I hit the 200km range mark. But in the lower 48 states I often waited until my fuel light came on at 80 km before looking for a place to fill up. Today was no different.

I got to a fuel range of 100 km or 60 miles and checked on my GPS for gas stations. It didn’t show that any were ahead. They were all behind me. I still figured there had to be one in the next 50 miles. I kept going.

As I got further away the GPS still showed no gas stations ahead. I began to slow down to 80 km in a 121 km zone to save fuel.

As the miles piled up I saw on my GPS that a gas station was 60 km ahead. I had a range of 60km! That is if my guage was accurate. Who knows if it is. I slowed right down and began riding 50 km in 6th gear on the side of the road. I have no idea what the best speed or gear is to conserve fuel, but I figured this was it. I was keeping the RPM as low as possible.

I watched the gap between my fuel range and the distance to the gas station increase. I kept hoping there would be a gas station over the next hill that wasn’t on my GPS. There wasn’t. Between Roswell and Vaughn there is nothing!!!

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I was so happy when I saw in the distance a gas station. I had managed to conserve enough fuel that there was now 16 km on my fuel range. I had made it. It took forever though as I crawled along on the side of the highway.

After filling up with gas I was soooooo happy to be going the speed limit again.

Albuquerque

I finally made it to the sunshine of Albuquerque. After eating in A Taco Bell where I watched homeless people pick scabs off their faces, I went to the KOA where I dried out my stuff.

My Route for September 16, 2016

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