Made it to Gallup New Mexico during Saturday's abbreviated travel day. We're about 3 days behind schedule now - 2 of those were due to leaving the seller's house 2 days later than scheduled. We pulled into a great RV park just before dusk - USA RV Park. Beautifully maintained, all level sites, all full hookups, all pull-thrus. Most of the other campers were Snowbirds headed to Albuquerque for the balloon festival as their first destination of the season. This campground was really impressive - we highly recommend it. Many of the snowbirds said they stay in this campground every time they pass through Gallup.
In the morning, we learned the temperature had dropped into the 20s overnight. We were good though, since we had learned our Cold Start lesson. There was no wind, and the sun was behind our RV and shining brightly, so we raised the engine compartment door and let the engine basked in the sun. We plugged in the block heater while we fixed ate breakfast. We had charged the coach batteries overnight, so we tied them to the engine batteries for more power to the starter. After breakfast, the engine started instantly...without using starting fluid! Super-gratifying, as many of the fancier, newer coach diesels had really struggled to start this morning.
In the morning, Lone took her bear around the campground for photo ops - the bear is her Flat Stanley. You may have noticed him in some earlier pictures. Has been all over the world, and all around the country once already, with her. Hope you have good eyes! I've blown up the picture with the brown bear to give you a better chance of finding him.
While Lone was taking pictures, I thought this would be a great hour to do some quick repair work. The drain line cap had been dripping ever since we first saw the coach, though neither the seller or I had time to do anything about the problem - it was minor and there was always something more pressing. Lone and I had bought some new drain valves somewhere along the way, so I thought this would be a great morning to replace one of them - so peaceful, quiet and sunny. Best guess for the leak was the gray water valve, so I set out to replace it in conjunction with disconnecting and stowing the drain pipes. Turned out the bolts and nuts were a wet, rusty mess and half-dug into the valve body. None of the wrenches I had with me seemed to be the exact right size - I was going to need some more specific tools and more time to replace the valve. Disappointed, I cleaned everything up and we took off in the bus.
We made it to Santa Rosa NM, pulling into the campground after the office had closed. Our reservation was on a board outside their office, and we pulled into our assigned spot, made all the connections, covered the windows, washed up and went to sleep.
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