Czerwinski Fam Jam 2022 ABQ & Elephant Butte Lake (3/11-3/24/22)

On Friday, we finished packing up Ruth, put our bike rack on the Jeep and headed on out to Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort.  This first part of our trip was coordinated around a sibling reunion for Mike's sister and her hustband, his two other brothers and sister-in-law.  

Mike's sister Lynn, who has a lake cottage there, had recommended Elephant Butte to us last year when we met up with them at a couple our stops so we put it on the list.  That is just about how scientifically the "the list" is developed .  Locations could come from meet up suggestions, random Facebook or Tiffin Forum posts, recommendations from other traveling strangers around the community campfire.  So far that has worked out pretty well for us.

We would both take our RV's to Elephant Butte for the weekend.  Mike and I would then drive the Jeep back to Albuquerque and hang with everyone for a few days then return to Elephant Butte for a few days. 

Our very lovely spot at Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort

The drive to Elephant Butte in Ruth was uneventful.  That saying something after getting her out of storage.  The weather in ABQ had turned cold and our first overnight in Elephant Butte got down to 23 degrees.  We had to have the furnace on all night, not a great first night's sleep. 

Our first view of Elephant Butte Lake

We hung out with Mike's sister and brother-in-law. Took an interesting side-by-side ride through the arroyos near Elephant Butte.  The desert landscape is pretty and unforgiving in the same view.  Had lunch at Tony's just on the edge of the town of Truth or Consequences, NM.  Had a very yummy, authentic carne asada quesadilla.    

The winds on our first day in EB were significant, not the perfect day for outdoor activities, but this area is known for their hot springs so we booked a morning soak at Riverbend Hot Springs.  It was a lovely setting right on the Rio Grande river.  The hot springs were several different temperatures so we found something comfortable and enjoyed our hour of rejuvenation.  

Riverbend Hot Springs

We made Ruth ready for a few vacant days and headed back to ABQ to meet up with the rest of the family.  We shared an AirBnB that wasn't far from Mike's sisters house.  We checked out Old Town Albuquerque and I had a very high quality Michelada at Downshift Brewery, our cocktail stop.  We had a big extended family grill out at Lynn's house.  Lots of eating, laughing and reminiscing just as such gatherings should be. 

MMMMMichelada, only time I ever drink a beer

The weather was not very nice during our visit to ABQ but we made the best of it by visiting the Petroglyphs National Monument one day and a half day trip to Madrid, NM.  We had lunch at the Mineshaft Tavern and toured the shops of this small (3 block) town made famous by the movie Wild Hogs.  That night we watched Wild Hogs on Netflix just to make a full day of it.  It was a fun way to spend the day. 

The Diner building from the Wild Hogs movie set

We all caravaned to Elephant Butte the next morning and by Noon we were loading everyone on a pontoon for a lake cruise.  The sun had peaked out and wind died down enough to make it a lovely afternoon on the water. 

The floating Burger N Buns was open for the season

Elephant Butte is all about recreation so we loaded up the 3 side-by-sides for a few hour ride to two abandoned mines in the desert and a short, shallow crossing over the Rio Grande.   After a long day of riding we gathered at Lynn's lake house or what I began to call..."Lynn and Keith's House of Fine Food and Weight Gain"  to eat.  Riding in cars, boats and UTV's was not providing the right calorie burn for the amount of food we were eating. 

Yikes!

The Family

There was another day of side-by-side riding and relaxing before we all had to go our separate ways.  It is always great to spend time with everyone.  Once everyone left and we had a couple of days alone, we rode our bikes around the lake front and the Elephant Butte Lake State Park, fixed a leaky toilet and got Ruth ready to ride again to our next stop Casa Grande, AZ. 

We're rollin' on

Did you miss us Ruth? (3/5-3/11/22)

Our long drive to Albuquerque behind us...

Actual tumbleweed stuck in our grill

The temperature in ABQ on our first morning was cold, really cold.  So cold we thought maybe we made a mistake in arriving in early March.  But we were here and it was time to awake our sleeping beauty from her slumber in the relative warmth of her home for the last 5 months.  

Mike's sister and brother-in-law were kind enough to check-in on Ruth from time to time during our absence.  They performed some monthly maintenance tasks to help keep the generator and other systems functional and ready to roll.  

A preliminary check of the engine systems revealed no concerns, however, after further examination we had clearly hosted some unwanted guests inside. 🐭 We were super careful to remove all food items and most paper items from the RV when we put her in storage.   They did however, eat a couple of plastic items and gnawed on one of our wood cornices from the inside. 

AUUUUGGGHHHH!  Not knowing exactly where they had or had not been, necessitated the cleaning of every drawer, dish, utensil, towel, bedding, etc. to totally eradicate their presence.  We had put mouse repellent packets in the RV before our departure, but apparently that was not effective. 

Now it was an all out assault to ensure no mice would be traveling with us.  We set traps, baited them and checked everyday.  No mice were killed or maimed during this time. The good news is the mice likely found no sustainable food items that encouraged them to set up a long term living situation.  Still very gross though. 

Project: Mouse Eradication

Mike had ordered some replacement parts for our two large front slides at the end of our last trip.  He noticed that the plastic slide guides had broken and we found a half of one in the basement storage bay.  Not good to find just half of something.  Per usual, Mike researched the issue via on-line forums and had a plan to replace them before we headed out. 

Four slide guides to replace, a couple of hours each, no problem.  With the slide 2/3's of the way extended, using a floor jack and a 4 x 4 to jack up the slide, you contort your body in the shape of a pretzel, remove two bolts that are barely visible, remove the individual shims, remove the steel plate over a 1/2 curved steel lip and replace the slide glides.  Easy right?  

While Mike was cool as a cucumber I was having angina about jacking up the slide and all the cracking and creaking that was part of it each time he jacked it up higher.  The first two took a total of 5 hours.  The third one, even though we had two under our belts took 6 hours.  Mike spent hours digging, scraping, hammering the steel plate surrounded and cemented in by this foam insulation overspray that the videos did not represent accurately.  There was some not so cool cursing at some point.  

They were all way more difficult than we had initially thought. The fourth provided impossible to access due to a metal plate that was affixed over the access area.  We have a plan for that slide glide if it fails completely on our trip, but at this point we left it alone. Mike's determination to troubleshoot, research and fix things like this is part of the whole RV lifestyle.  He actually enjoys it. 

We took Ruth on a little test drive in 20 mph winds, it was a short drive, but all systems looked Go.

I actually took the opportunity to drive Ruth a couple of laps around the business park before we parked her.  Mike has always done all of the driving, but in case of an emergency, I could probably not run over too many pedestrians or cars on the road if I had to.

After a few fun but cold, and even snowy few days at Mike's sister's house, we loaded Ruth up and got her ready for the travel day to Elephant Butte Lake RV Resort, our first stop.  

Yes, it's a snowball