Monday July 6th 2020

Today was a very long travel day from Grants New Mexico to Amarillo Texas. I got on the road a little later than I’d hoped at 9AM. I made a stop for gas in the Albuquerque suburbs for gas about an hour into the trip and then the adventure began.

Following Interstate 40 east out of Albuquerque was an all new road for my travels. The climb out of the Rio Grand valley in Albuquerque was long and occasionally steep. It topped out well over seven thousand feet in a high plains kind of area. Eventually the road started to drop in altitude.

My biggest annoyance on today’s journey was my electronic gadgets. I usually play podcasts on my phone over Bluetooth to the RV radio. My phone didn’t charge overnight. The micro USB connector doesn’t stay connected with the slightest vibration, so I couldn’t stream the podcasts. I started out fine with the FM radio keeping me alert and entertained, but east of Albuquerque on the far side of the mountain ridge I lost all of the stations. After about an hour of silence with occasional fiddling with the radio, I found a place to stop. I dug up an old CD with an audio book to keep me entertained.

At that stop I also discovered a minor catastrophe in the bedroom. Somewhere along the way one of the wardrobe closet doors not only opened, but broke loose from one of its hinges. I took the time to remove the door from the other hinge and completed the trip with the door on the bed. Now I have to figure out how to put it back up so it won’t come open and off again during the next rolling earthquake travel day.

After six and a half hours plus a change in time zones I arrived at the Amarillo KOA Journey at 4:30 CDT. The city and metro area are bigger than I anticipated. Getting through Amarillo to the campground on the east side of the metro area involved navigating a lot of traffic. The campground is located on the north side of a rather large airport. I’ll be here for the next eight days.