Thursday July 2nd 2020

Today was a little warmer and a little more humid. A monsoon weather pattern is starting to move into New Mexico. It is bringing more cloud cover and humidity. So far, it hasn’t brought any rain to this area of the state.

Yesterday the governor of New Mexico issued new pandemic control measures. In addition to re-enforcing the mandatory mask order with a fine, she ordered travelers entering the state by any means to quarantine for fourteen days. I’m not surprised. This state has been very proactive fighting the virus.

Figuring out all of the ways I’m impacted is not very clear. Being out of the campground playing tourist is certainly not in the cards. The worst case scenario would mean I have to extend my stay here for another ten days to complete a two week quarantine. The most likely scenario is that when I leave here on Monday I have to leave the state.

To implement that plan, I’ve booked a stay in Amarillo Texas as my next stop. It means a long travel day of about 370 miles with one fuel stop. My original plan had two more stops in New Mexico, but what’s the point if I have to stay in my RV home. I doubt I would even be allowed to stay longer than one night anywhere in New Mexico. One place I checked with in an attempt to shorten my travel day was only taking same day one night reservations.

This whole thing is very fluid. I’d pack up and leave now, if it wasn’t a holiday weekend. Finding a place to stay in a state that is taking travelers on the long weekend isn’t easy. There have been several different interpretations of the Governor’s order on TV. The inn keepers seem to be responsible for implementing the order, but there isn’t any specific enforcement mechanism. Hopefully, things will stay in flux over the holiday weekend and I can escape the state on Monday.

Just like Tuesday and Wednesday mornings this park cleared out of all but the longer term residents by today’s 11AM checkout. Around 1:30 a new set of RVs started to arrive. There aren’t as many tonight, but I counted fifteen new arrivals so far. I expect all of them to leave in the morning. If they don’t it will be telling. I’m not sure what, but it will be telling something.