Merry Christmas to all who celebrate, or Happy Holidays!
To mark the occasion, here’s a post out of sequence. We stayed in New Orleans around Thanksgiving this year, and while there attended the New Orleans City Park’s Celebration in the Oaks holiday lights. The blog posts about New Orleans aren’t scheduled to be published until February (yes, I’m rather behind; we do things faster than I can post about them!). But I figured I could bring this one forward to a more appropriate time.
This holiday celebration has driving and walking options; we did both. Here’s a map of the routes:
We started with the driving portion, where one drives along roads in the park that have holiday light decorations:
A timelapse video from my 360 camera of the drive:
We then parked at the mini golf in the park, and played a round (Jenn won):
Then proceeded to the walking part, wandering around the New Orleans Botanical Garden and environs, with lots of holiday lights:
Jenn reaching for a star:
A cute narrated Cajun Night Before Christmas story, with synchronized lights:
An amusing New Orleans variation of 12 Days of Christmas:
Model trains:
Amusement park rides were also included, but we didn’t participate in any (considered the train, but it was full, and the carousel, but didn’t want to wait):
It is a nice historical carousel, though:
A fun festive evening. Always interesting to see local variations of holiday lights.
This is an older KOA with new owners who are working on improvements. I see a lot of potential and will stay here again because it’s just so convenient to I-40, but the rates are a bit much for what it is currently. The staff here are all fantastic. Friendly, helpful, and on the ball when you report an issue. And who could argue with cooked breakfast brought right to your door? However, the biggest drawback is that most of the sites are buddy sites. They have nice, new concrete “patio” sites at the back of the park but ruined it by having them all be buddies. I cannot overstate how much I dislike buddy sites. We camped at Tucumcari KOA Journey in a Motorhome.
Tip for Other Campers: Kix on 66 was very tasty and has that whole Route 66 retro vibe going on.
An interactive map:
Our site, facing another site:
We usually make sure we arrive before dark, but this was an exception; we decided to travel at night rather than stay at the truck service center another night, mainly to help catch up with our scheduled travels. Our coach on arrival:
Our site in the morning:
Utilities:
This was the first time we’d had a sewer hookup since we were here the previous time, before the Balloon Fiesta — 11 days. We did get a water top-up at the truck center, which was good as it was down to about 20%. After all that time, our gray tank was up to 67% and black to 83%, not too bad:
(We have since purchased a water bladder and sewer tote tank, and accessories, which will alleviate concerns about dry camping in the future.)
Other sites; the place was pretty full when we arrived, but emptied out early in the morning:
We drove our coach 139 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Moriarty, New Mexico to Tucumcari, New Mexico.
A rare nighttime drive! Our coach was finished being fixed at the end of the day; we could have stayed overnight again, but we were keen to get back on schedule. So we decided to head out, even though we normally avoid driving at night. It helped that we were familiar with the route, having done it (both ways) recently, plus were familiar with the destination RV park, since we stayed there on the way to Albuquerque.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading east:
An interactive map:
On the road again, back along I-40:
Not sure what that truck on the left is hauling:
Clines Corners truck stop:
Flying C Ranch billboards:
We stopped at Flying C Ranch again:
Sunset:
Lots of swag:
DQ for dinner:
Back to our coach:
Sunset reflected in our coach, plus a sliver of moon:
Driving in dusk:
The cameras weren’t overly useful when driving in the dark:
Going past the rest area where we were stuck for a couple of days:
Our stay here was as pleasant as one could expect from a repair situation. It was nice to be able to put out our slides, have power, and a diner across the road. Plus, of course, getting our coach back on the road!
A timelapse of our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, being towed 65 miles from Santa Rosa, New Mexico to Moriarty, New Mexico, after one of the brakes seized up. (With a badly synced picture-in-picture from our truck.)
Our coach was towed 65 miles, about 1 hour of driving, from Santa Rosa, New Mexico to Moriarty, New Mexico, to a truck service center that could fix our seized brake (see the previous post for details).
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map:
The heavy-duty tow truck arrived:
Preparing:
The front tires were lifted off the ground; the best way to tow our coach, since we have independent front suspension (being on a lowboy trailer would be even better, but not feasible when the wheel wouldn’t turn):
The drive shaft was removed, so the rear wheels would freely turn:
The mudflap was held up, so wouldn’t scrape on the road:
Heading out:
We stopped on the side of the road about halfway along, as the strap holding a front tire had broken. Not ideal:
Re-secured, we started again:
Not a huge amount of clearance; our coach is 12 feet 7 inches feet high, plus lifted a foot or so:
Paladin wasn’t thrilled to be in his carrier in the truck:
Arrived at the truck repair shop:
A somewhat nerve-wracking process, getting our home towed, but done professionally, with no damage (and paid for by Coach-Net, our roadside assistance service). Stay tuned for the continuing story….
High temps ranging between 73-75°F, lows around 39°F
Negligible wind, gusts up to 20 MPH
Noise:
Loud freeway noise
No train noise
Loud trucks arriving, departing, idling
Site:
Pull through, asphalt
Didn’t need to disconnect toad; parked behind coach
Very unlevel side-to-side and front-to-back, but air leveling coped well
Rest area truck parking about 70 feet long by about 15 feet wide
Some trash
Utilities:
None
We used our generator and solar each day
Internet (in usage priority order):
T-Mobile: 14-27 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 100 ms ping
Verizon: 16-26 Mbps down, 5 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
AT&T: 35-104 Mbps down, 9 Mbps up, 60 ms ping
Starlink: not used
Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
Garbage bins
Rest area
An interactive map:
Our coach in the rest area truck parking:
We used air leveling, since the site was very unlevel, and put out only the bedroom slides, so we could sleep:
This picture shows our coach level, compared to the slope of the other vehicles:
Several motorhomes, probably mostly also on their way from the Fiesta:
Trucks and coaches:
There was a taco truck, though it was closing when we explored the rest area on the first evening, and was closed the next day (Sunday):
Bathrooms:
We felt bad for taking one of the truck parking spaces, though we wouldn’t have been here by choice. Unlike this rude car parked in the truck parking; there’s plenty of car parking spaces, plus they’d be more quiet:
This was our first time sleeping in a rest area. Not something we’d want to repeat any time soon, though we actually slept surprisingly well. Perhaps still catching up from the early starts during the Fiesta.
