2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 40

Day 40, Thursday, November 27, 2025 - Whitewater Draw, McNeal, AZ, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 2,975.9 Miles for the Trip

Happy Thanksgiving!

A little after 5:00 yesterday evening an Escape 5.0TA pulled in and parked on my side of the loop. I introduced myself & then they headed off to see the cranes. He headed out around 10:30 AM this morning.

The cranes got quiet around 11:00, then got very loud around 4:00AM. Still dark so I don't know if any left. Quiet again until around 6:00 when they left to feed. You can hear one or two croaking now at 11:30 but the pond is mostly empty.

Down to 34°F overnight, 57°F by noon. Partly cloudy; the solar panels are struggling putting out 55 watts or so. After making my morning coffee the batteries are at 55%.

Whether you call them grass burrs, grass spurs, goat heads, sand burrs, etc they are a pain in the foot. I have heard that they are strong enough to puncture bicycle tires; I know they are strong enough to survive tracking in on my shoes then stabbing my bare feet. Along with the mosquitoes that thankfully only come around in the evening & morning, the flies are also numerous. It might be because the dumpster & vault toilet are near by. Even being careful when opening the door I have managed to swat 4 of them this morning.

Around 2:00 I went for my morning walk. Not as many cranes in as yesterday, but since I heard lots of them arrive around 5:00 yesterday, I'll make another round then.

I ate my turkey dinner around 3:00 since that is the traditional time when I was home in Oswego. I do miss a full bore turkey dinner built around a Plainville turkey, but on the road you do what you have to do. It is clouding over; the solar panels are down to 9 watts.

Dinner was snacking since my turkey was what I call linner.

Around 5:00 I headed to the pond to catch the evening rush. The mosquitoes chased me away before I managed to see very many flights, but I got a few. Nice light until the sun went down.

As usual, a few more images at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Back at the trailer I processed the photos. There are two vans here in the circle that look like they are planning to spend the night. 

As i mentioned, just a couple of snacks before bed. By the way, the Stouffer's Turkey dinner was pretty good, many steps above the typical TV dinner, but, of course, nothing like the real thing.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 39

Day 39, Wednesday, November 26, 2025 - Whitewater Draw. McNeal, AZ - 91.7 Miles, 2,975.9 Miles for the Trip

Another cool night, 34°F at 6:30AM. No morning walk since I hope to get to Whitewater Draw early enough to get a site on the circle. 

After breakfast I hooked up & headed out a little after 9:00. Rt 80 switches back & forth between NM & AZ, ending up in Douglas, AZ where I got gas at $3.17 per gallon. Headed north on US 191, and arrived at Whitewater Draw around 11:00. I shouldn't have worried about getting a "site" (sites are just park along the outside of a loop around the vault toilet). If you line up with an opening, you get a picnic table. No hookups. The site needed 1 1/2" lift side to side, but level with the trailer hooked up. Since there isn't anywhere to go, I left the trailer connected. There is one other RV in the loop, a Class B van. It warmed up along the drive, 66°F at 12:30.

My Site on the Loop

I was down to 51% or 148 amp hours at the time I left, the lowest the batteries have been since I installed them in 2019. The drive (9 amps from the truck) and the sun (11 amps from the solar panels) brought the batteries up to 66% by 12:30. With a light haze in the sky I doubt I'll get to 100% by the end of the day. I ran a speed test on AT&T - 142.61Mbps down & 12.40Mbps up. My Verizon phone shows a couple of bars, but I didn't do a speed test since AT&T looks good.

There are some cranes here; I can hear their distinctive cry, but at this time of day most of them are out in the fields eating. I took a walk anyway since I had skipped my morning walk and found quite a few cranes. I also found some bat houses, and some dried muddy footprints suggesting that a walk around the pond area when it is wet is not a great idea.

Many more photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

While I was on my walk around the pond it warmed up nicely. 72°F outside, and almost too warm at 80°F in the trailer. I have the MAXX fan running and windows open. Still 79°F outside at 4:30. The predicted overnight temperature is 37°F so I suspect it will cool down quickly. I sat outside in the shade of my hooded chair and read until the mosquitoes got so bad sitting wasn't fun. When I headed in I rediscovered another problem with the picnic table area - grass burrs. They limbed themselves in your shoes, then get loose inside, waiting until you are walking around barefoot or in your socks.

Dinner was a Bubba Chicken Burger & salad.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 38

Day 38, Tuesday, November 25, 2025 - Sunny Flats, Portal, AZ, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 2,884.2 Miles for the Trip

A cool night, going down to 35°F by 6:00AM, and 36°F for my morning walk. 

Two of the campers on the sunny side are leaving today. One is too short for my trailer, but I'd fit in the other. Still, I'll probably stay here since I'm only down 20% on the batteries. While the outside set up is minimal because there are no hookups, putting away everything to be move proof inside takes a bit of doing. 

After my walk I made breakfast, then fired up the Starlink Mini (I shut it off last night since I wasn't using it and it draws around 19 watts all the time it is on). I did shut down the snow melt feature, otherwise it would be drawing twice that. Still too bad a connection through the trees & surrounding mountains to work well with internet radio. I used the WiFi calling option on my iPhone 17 for a call this morning and it worked until it didn't. I guess the fact that I could make any connection without the usual 10 mile drive is a plus.

Around noon I walked around the campground. Both of the sites that opened this morning are filled so even if I wanted to move, I can't. I took a few photos during the walk. A camera does not do justice to the views from this campground. The mountains surrounding it are beautiful & majestic. There is even a bit of snow on one of the Chiricahua mountains. The road into the campground continues paved for a mile or so, then becomes a dirt road that eventually ends up in the Chiricahua National Monument. I've taken it a couple times on past visits to Sunny Flats & each time it became a snow covered muddy road. I never made it completely over the pass into the monument. It would be a beautiful drive (not towing the trailer) during a dry summer day.

On another walk around the campground loop I met a fellow photographer from California. He has a larger connection of Nikons & lenses than I do and is doing some nighttime photography. Another cool day only reaching 53°F. The altitude is probably a factor since we are over 5,000'. Rodeo, a small town less than 30 miles from here had a high of 65°F today. 

Dinner was a Tyson Foods Chicken Asparagus & Cheese and a baked potato.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 37

Day 37, Monday, November 24, 2025 - Sunny Flats, Portal, AZ - 120 Miles, 2,884.2 Miles for the Trip

A cool morning at 37°F. After breakfast I finished hooking up the trailer and was out of Sunrise RV Park by a little after 9:00. The drive was on I 10 & NM/AZ 80, with the last 12 miles on Portal road and Cave Creek road. Sunny Flats only has 15 or so campsites and at least 3/4 won't fit the 21. The good news is there was one site left that fits the 21. The bad news is it is on the shady side of the camping loop. Sun is important this time of year because it both warms the trailer & feeds the solar panels. The site needed 2 1/2" correction side to side & a 6" drop on the tongue. There is a picnic table, lantern pole, bear box & fire pit behind the site as well as a tent pad. While shady with too many trees for a view, great views from the road at the entrance to the site:

Looking Left

Site 9

Looking Right

No hookups, $10.00 per night with the Senior Park pass. Very shady - we have as much full sun as can get through the trees & the solar panels are cranking out 3 watts. The only sites left are very short & shady sites before the loop. There is a men's & woman's pit toilet & fresh water station at the pay post. There is also a host site that has an electric hookup.

I did manage to get a Starlink connection by placing the antenna at the entrance to my site; 26.86Mbps down & 17.73Mbps up. Without a Starlink connection I would need to drive 10 miles out of the campground to pick up a cell signal. A number of the campers in the campground have Starlink.

I need to get into the habit of camping without an electrical hookup. While I have 300 amp hours of battery, I also use more than most, and parked in the shade doesn't help. I set the furnace at 66°F, and probably will set down to 63°F when I hit the bed tonight.

At 12:30 the current temperature is 53°F. I'd be comfortable sitting outside in the sun, but I don't have any so it is inside reading for me. It is going to be a quiet night. I usually listen to some background music, but the Starlink is too broken up for internet radio, there are no FM stations to be had, and too much tree cover for my XM Radio. 

Dinner was a DiGiorno Personal Hand Tossed Pepperoni Pizza.

Until Next Time - 

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 36

Day 36, Sunday, November 23, 2025 - Sunrise RV Park, Deming, NM, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 2,764.2 Miles for the Trip

A little warmer this morning at 42°F, but light rain off & on. A short, light burst last night at 7:30, then off & on throughout the night. It is raining now at 11:30. It is suppose to clear by the afternoon.

While I skipped my morning walk because of the rain, I did manage to listen to the NPR Sunday Morning puzzle over the internet on my home station WRVO. It was at 6:45AM rather than the usual 8:45 because of the time zone differences. At 10:00 I switched to WNCW for their afternoon "Celtic Winds" program. I miss Fiona Richie's "Thistle & Shamrock" program when it went off the air last year and am glad I found this 4 hour program. It is followed by 4 hours of "This Old Porch", mostly Bluegrass, so my listening for the day is set (as long as the internet holds up - WNCW dropped out a couple of times yesterday). No idea if it was local Verizon or the station. I have to remember that one of my favorites, "Hearts of Space" will be on at 8:00, not the usual 10:00. 

I made a trip to Peppers Supermarket. Good size with lots of stuff, but no grape Zero Gatorade. Picked up a few things I forgot yesterday. Still off & on light rain. There was a patch of blue sky, but it went away. 

A little after 1:00 I hooked up the sewer connection and drained the tanks. I'll be dry camping for the next 5 days and while I don't need to dump, it is here so why not? A minor repair on the sewer cap. A plastic "string" keeps the cap tied to the dump outlet when the cap is off. The plastic tab on the cap broke (the reason I replaced the old one was for the same problem) so I screwed it to the cap. While the cap end should hold, who knows about the end that connects to the outlet. 

As I was dumping the tanks one of the campground hosts stopped by and mentioned that they were doing a turkey dinner in the Club House. It ended at 1:00 and it was 1:30 so all that was left was some turkey & pumpkin pie, but it made a good lunch. Wish I had known - I would have made one of my blueberry pies.

After that I headed for the showers. There are 2 in the men's bathroom, one very large disabled although it has a 1" lip to get in. The other one is a good size standard shower with a 3" shower head and adjustable water temperature. A set of shelves hangs from the shower head. A 4" lip & shower curtain keeps the dressing area dry. The dressing area is shared by both showers (and the rest of the bathroom) 3 sets of double hooks and 2 benches. There is heat in the bathroom, but not much, and the shower floor could use a bit of cleaning - a couple of soap stubs on the floor but overall I'd give it a B.

With the sun that popped out to the west it made it up to 61°F this afternoon. After doing the dishes I added a bit of water to the fresh water tank and put the water hose away while it was still warm.

Dinner was snacking since I had all that turkey for a late lunch.

As long as my Starlink Mini gets a connection at Sunny Flats I'll post an entry, but if it doesn't, I'll be gone for 2 days.

Until Next Time -