A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 122 miles from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico, including some wind and light snow!
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Posts featuring the coach.
Travel from Las Cruces to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico
We drove our coach 122 miles, about three hours of driving, from Las Cruces, New Mexico to Ruidoso Downs, New Mexico.
The map route, heading northeast:
Or an interactive version from my trip planning, with potential stops marked; we only stopped at the TA and the overlook:
Heading east on I-10:
Recycled roadrunner artwork:
Heading down towards Las Cruces, with socked in mountains:
The Rio (not so) Grande:
A fuel stop:
Third of a tank of diesel:
Giant chile:
High horse:
Always nice to see Dutch Bros coffee:
Space Murals:
Peak:
A motorhome passing us:
We stopped at a nice viewpoint, the San Augustin Pass Overlook, for lunch:
Rather cloudy, but still a nice view:
But partway through lunch, the wind suddenly picked up, rocking the coach, with sleet or graupel blowing:
So we decided to get moving, to get down off the mountain.
In passing, the US Army rocket exhibit:
Rain:
Mountains:
Passing by White Sands National Park:
An immigration checkpoint:
White Sands National Park visitor center:
A water tower:
The world’s largest pistachio:
A tumbleweed on the road:
Tularosa:
Mountains:
Elk crossing and view:
Snow on the ground:
Dogs on the road:
Actively snowing:
Our destination:
The office:
Amusing signs to pull forward:
Sometimes a golf cart guides us to our site; here, a car did that:
Las Cruces KOA Journey
We stayed at Las Cruces KOA Journey in Las Cruces, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)
A nice view with a pull-in site.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-10-15
- Check out: 2022-10-24
- 9 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- One day of monsoon rain and thunderstorms
- High temps ranging between 73-83°F, lows around 45-56°F
- A little wind, stronger on that rainy day, and the last day
Noise:
- No road or train noise (distant freeway noise, only audible outside)
Site:
- #28, pull-in, gravel; unusual to have a front-in site
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
- Fairly level
- Large site: about 55 feet long by about 45 feet wide
- Full hookups (on both sides, for front-in motorhomes and back-in trailers):
- 50 amp power, not very conveniently located
- 45 PSI water, fairly conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
- Picnic table on concrete pad; no fire pit
- City and mountain view
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 6-50 Mbps down, 3-24 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- Verizon: 10-50 Mbps down, 5-45 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- AT&T: 11-24 Mbps down, 7-17 Mbps up, 90 ms ping
- Campground Wi-Fi: 3-8 Mbps down, 2 Mbps up, 50 ms ping
- Starlink: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpster
- Pool
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Pull-in sites with a great view
We stayed in one of the “view” sites and were thrilled that they let motorhomes pull-in to enjoy the view out our windshield. We also lucked out and had the corner site (28), which was absolutely massive. The staff were all terrific, and when we needed to extend our stay by a day due to the weather at our next destination, they were very accommodating. We will definitely be staying here again when we swing through Las Cruces. We camped at Las Cruces KOA Journey in a Motorhome.
We were scheduled to depart on 2022-10-23, but there were 63 MPH wind gusts at our next destination, so we decided to delay our departure a day. They actually called us to warn us, though we keep an eye on such things. With a high profile vehicle, strong winds can be dangerous (not to mention unpleasant). Fortunately the KOA was able to let us extend our stay:
The park map:
Our site; unusual in that we fronted in to the site, so we could enjoy the view:
We lucked out with a corner site, that gave us a larger-than-usual site:
View from our site:
View from our coach:
There were utilities on both sides of the site, to accommodate motorhomes fronting in and trailers backing in:
Our site from up the road a bit:
Other sites:
Tiffin Phaeton:
Tiffin Allegro Bus (in a nice color):
There are several feral cats in the area; here’s one by our truck:
Another feral cat under our coach:
Another feral cat on the slope below our site:
Paladin watching the feral cat:
Views from the other side of the RV park:
The office:
Office chandelier:
Playground:
The heated pool was open… though often locked:
Tent sites:
Camp kitchen:
A nice park.
Video: Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to Las Cruces, New Mexico motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, just 72 miles from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to Las Cruces, New Mexico. With a trailer having a tire blowout in front of us as a fun way to start the trip.
Travel from Truth or Consequences to Las Cruces, New Mexico
We drove our coach just 72 miles, about an hour of driving, from Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The map route, heading south:
Or an interactive version from my trip planning, as seen in yesterday’s post, with a potential stop marked; we didn’t actually stop, since it was a short drive:
Before we headed out, I replaced the wiper blades; pretty easy:
Our coach and truck, getting ready to toad up:
Joining I-25:
A border patrol checkpoint on the northbound side (that we passed through a couple of times):
Interesting mountains:
A nice Las Cruces sign on an overpass:
Rio (not so) Grande:
Roadrunner artwork:
Las Cruces and mountains:
Our destination, Las Cruces KOA Journey:
Palomino Campground at Caballo Lake State Park
We stayed at Palomino Campground in Caballo Lake State Park in Truth Or Consequences, New Mexico. (Campground Reviews listing.)
We do enjoy state parks, and lake views. Our specific site only had a glimpse of the lake, but still nice.
Dates:
- Check in: 2022-10-09
- Check out: 2022-10-15
- 6 nights
Weather:
- Mostly sunny
- High temps ranging between 67-77°F, lows around 49-53°F
- No significant wind
Noise:
- No road or train noise
Site:
- #2, pull through, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad; parked beside coach
- Fairly level
- Smallish site: about 45 feet long by about 40 feet wide
- Full hookups:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located
- 50 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connections, conveniently located (1 10-foot pipe needed)
- Picnic table on concrete with shelter; no fire pit
- Partial lake view
Internet (in usage priority order):
- T-Mobile: 12-25 Mbps down, 18-26 Mbps up, 70 ms ping
- AT&T: 90 Mbps down, 7 Mbps up, 72 ms ping
- Verizon: no service
- Starlink: not used
- Campground Wi-Fi: none
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpster
- No pool
Here’s our review on Campground Reviews:
Picturesque and pleasant park
We stayed at Palomino, Site 2, and thoroughly enjoyed it. We were met by the camp hosts who helped get us centered on the site and chatted for a bit. The site was level and pretty big, with plenty of room outside of the picnic shelter to get settled in. The only downside to the setup in Palomino is that all the sites are backward, so you can’t enjoy the view of the lake if you have a motorhome. If you have a fiver with a rear window or a toy hauler with a “back deck” you’d get much more enjoyment of the view. The picnic shelters are also backward on the site, so you have to walk around the wall to get to the table. Weird, but not dealbreaker stuff by any means. We camped at Caballo Lake State Park in a Motorhome.
The park map online is not great, but does highlight our site:
Here’s an interactive map — tip, site 4 would be the best view of the lake (site 3, not shown above, is the camp host):
Our site:
A glimpse of the lake:
There were a number of birds in the area, and some liked to nibble dead bugs off our mirrors, which Paladin found super fascinating:
Utilities:
A lake view from the edge of the campground:
Other sites:
The camp host site, briefly vacant during changing of the host:
Bathrooms:
Dump station:
Cacti:
We got out our bikes to take a ride down to the lake and around the campsites:
Me on my bike:
Boat ramp:
Another campground; this one has power and water, but not sewer:
A video of the bike ride route:
Some sunsets:
Video: Albuquerque, New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 176 miles from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
Travel from Albuquerque to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico
We drove our coach 176 miles, about 3 hours of driving, from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.
The map route, heading south:
The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta finished on a Sunday morning, and we were scheduled to leave the following day, but I noticed that our next site was available on Sunday, so we decided to grab that and leave a day early:
A view of the mountains by Albuquerque:
Freeways:
Downtown Albuquerque:
Heading south on I-25:
Wide load of the side of the road:
It wasn’t a particularly long drive, but we had an early start to the day for the fiesta, so we stopped at both of the rest areas on the route; here’s the first:
Interesting collection of elevated picnic shelters:
Onward:
The second rest area:
Paladin asleep:
I-25:
Truth or Consequences:
Paladin climbed on the back of Jenn’s chair while she was driving:
Back in a more normal place:
Interesting clouds:
A glimpse of Caballo Lake:
Our destination, Caballo Lake State Park:
Palomino Campground, one of a few in the state park, but the only one with full hookups, which we really needed after dry camping at the fiesta:
Our site:
Our coach approaching our site:
Video: Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta timelapse
A timelapse from our coach at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, showing hot air balloons flying over our coach, traffic, and weather.
Balloon Fiesta: morning day 3
On the morning of our third day at the Balloon Fiesta, we decided to sleep in a little, as the 4 AM wake-ups were getting a bit much. We woke up to the sound of hot air balloon burners overhead.
Here’s the view out our windscreen, through the Magne Shade:
Going outside, an impressive view of dozens of balloons drifting over our coach:
Jenn taking pictures with her big camera; I’ll probably do a followup post eventually with some of her pics:
A balloon landed nearby; a little later, a car from their chase team drove up and asked if they could park behind our coach while they packed up their balloon (which I was happy to agree to; once they were done, they gave us a sticker and a couple of patches, which was much appreciated):
Another balloon joined them:
Breakfast watching balloons:
Several more balloons landed in the nearby parking lot:
Taking down the balloon:
Mounted pollice:
A magical experience. Seeing the balloons take off from the field is amazing, but seeing them over our coach is very special in a different way.