Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Snow, snow everywhere

I posted the pictures yesterday morning of the snow as we left Bullhead City, and it got worse and worse as the day went on.  We pulled over in Williams, AZ, elevation about 6,000 feet, and the snow was just wild.  There were few people on the freeway and Julius was blazing a path on the right lane.  No tracks in the snow at all in the left lane and just a couple in the right lane ahead of us.  We talked about it.  The women thought we should stop in Williams for the day but the guys thought we should push on in the snow, worrying we could get stuck there for days.  So since they are doing the driving, push on we did.  Past Flagstaff, things improved and we decided to drive on to Gallup, New Mexico and get a little jump on our schedule in case we did need to stop for weather in the future.  We camped at Red Rock State Park and it was amazingly beautiful.  There were only two other trailers there, long termers, we think, people who work in the city and camp in the park.  It was snowing hard again when we pulled in and the park ranger told us she didn't think there were any sites with working water because it was so cold.  Julius had very little water in his tanks though we were full, so we needed water.  The park ranger went to a couple of sites where she thought there might be water, and sure enough, there was working water.  Julius filled up, put away the hose, and we started settling in for the night.  Sam and Lucy loved the snow.  We parked our trailers in an "L" to help block the 25 MPH wind.  Hal hooked up the electricity and stabilizers, we got the dogs pooped and peed and bundled into the trailers.  Patricia made a heavenly soup/stew, warmed up some fresh bread, we opened a bottle of red wine and were toasty warm in their trailer for a great dinner.  We opened up all the interior cabinets to help keep the pipes from freezing, turned on the electric heaters and the propane furnace, turned on the mattress pad heaters and settled in for a very cozy night.  The park is just lovely in the snow and as the sun set, it was kind of magical, out there, mostly by ourselves in this snowy wonderland.  This morning we were going to go to Santa Fe, but we decided to push on and make some more good time today.  The sun is bright and warm and the temp outside is a balmy 22 at 7200 ft. altitude.  We feel so fortunate to be able to do this.  I personally feel so fortunate to have a husband who can pull an 8,000 pound trailer through snow and ice and still be in a good mood when we get to our campsite!  And we feel fortunate to have such great friends to travel with on this amazing trip.  As I write this, we just crossed the continental divide

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