New Mexico Hates Me, or Day Two Part Two, or Where things went awry

I had this sudden realization that if we were to go swimming in Santa Rosa, it was going to be in a swimming pool.  I contacted the owners of an RV park in Santa Rosa via cell phone and secured a site for the evening.  We were booking it across New Mexico heading toward swimming.

Heading into New Mexico

My family has a love/hate relationship with New Mexico.  We love it because it contains the highway between us and Oklahoma.    But, it has also eaten several of our cars.    We have yet to get through New Mexico without an "adventure".  But, I thought to my self, there is a first for everything, right?  And, it had all been going so well.  And to be clear, it isn't all of New Mexico.  It is the stretch from Albuquerque to Tucumcari.  It is in this stretch all of our adventures have occurred.   The town of Santa Rosa is in this stretch of road.

Sunset as we climb out of Albuquerque

Things were going great, we grabbed gas and dinner in Gallup.  We got to Albuquerque as dusk was falling.  We grabbed a treat and moved forward to Santa Rosa, a mere 2 hours east.  The sunset was divine. As we moved up from Albuquerque to the plains, we watched a magnificent lightning storm, in the general direction of Santa Rosa, light up the mountains.  This only concerned me as far as swimming was concerned.

Vinny in the pool at the Campground

We arrive in Santa Rosa, just in time to get in the swimming pool.  It closed at 10pm, and we got there at 9:30 having lost an hour as we crossed into New Mexico.  I quickly had the kids change into their suits and told them we would set up after we got a chance to swim.  It wasn't quite the swimming pool of our dreams, it was only about four feet deep and because of the surrounding storm, it was a little chilly.  But, Vinny loved it, Anna jumped in and Frankie and Gianni sat on the side.  Frankie, exhausted, sobbed that he wanted to go home.  After about 15 minutes of this, I decided it was time to go and get the tent set up.

Someday in the future, when asked to describe their mother, my boys will point to the next situation to explain how determined I was.  I hope.  Some people mistakenly have the notion that I just roll with the punches.  The honest truth is once I have put down a plan, it is hard for me to deviate.  I had already deviated significantly during the day and I wanted to finish off the day as planned and try again.  I was determined to set up camp.  And as it was late and everyone was so tired, I decided I would go it alone and cheerfully asked the kids to keep occupied in the car.  I was in such high spirits, the adventure was still salvageable.

Keeping Anna Occupied in the car

 The tarp proved to be the first problem. It kept moving about in the wind.  I called the boys out to help me. They did, and we got the tent extended and up.  But getting it to stay was another problem.  I began trying to stake it, in the dark into the pull through of the campsite.  This proved to be too hard as the ground was packed solid.   I asked the boys to help me to move it to the "grass".   There is very little grass in this part of New Mexico, a fact I had quite forgotten. What appeared to be grass in the dark, was actually puncture vine.  Sharp pointy painful stickers that jammed themselves into my children's feet.  Poor things!  I sent them back to the van to nurse their punctured soles.   I got the first two stakes in and then, bam! A giant gust of wind caught the tent and I heard the sickening and unmistakable crack of tent poles and pieces breaking as the tent collapsed.

Vinny's Selfie

Never fear! Cheerful, still manageable.  I reminded the kids, this has happened to us before (in the desert last year with the Scouts), we just can move the items out of the back of the van and sleep there, after all we have already paid for the campsite.  Let us just be adjustable and jolly and move on.  The boys willingly help me to move everything to the front seats of the van, fold down the back seat into the floor of the van and we lay out the sleeping bags.  There was one small difficulty. The space we could clear wasn't big enough for all of us.  My legs were resting on the ledge of the van, as there wasn't enough room for Vinny to stretch his legs, they were bent up as he lay on his back.  Anna was under one arm and Frankie was on top of me.  This was not as comfortable as it sounds...

I shut the back and tried to snuggle in for the night. Then I realize the difference between our night in the van the year before and this night.  Last year it was cold, here in New Mexico it is stiflingly hot. So hot that we soon find it difficult to breathe.  I tell the kids that we have to open the back door, but first, I had neglected to notice that there isn't a handle on the back gate on the inside.  Vinny had to be cajoled into leaving the safe van and walking around in the dark to let us out.  Gratefully he does.  We open the back of the van with a whoosh of fresh air and we can breathe again.  I move myself to the bumper to make space for Frankie and settle in for a long night of balancing myself on the edge.

The kids began to become concerned about their safety.  Never Fear! Still doable!   I had pepper spray and we were in a campground with others.  Then, the wind died completely.  And the mosquitoes came out.   Droning droves wandered into the van.  At first, I began by telling the kids to snuggle under their light blankets, by this time Anna had fallen asleep and was in the middle of the boys.  I thought to myself, only three more to go.    At first, I wasn't noticing the mosquitoes, so I told Vinny that I wasn't being bit, it was ok.  But then, I noticed the bites.  There were many.  After 20 minutes (or more) of trying to ignore them and reassuring my boys that all was ok, I finally realized how stupid I was being.  Seriously stubborn. Why couldn't I have listened to Elsa, and just "Let It Go"?

I realized that about 2 hours ago, somewhere around the broken tent, we should have headed to the motel less than a 1/4 mile away.  So, with that epihany, I now begin the process of putting everything back as quickly as I can. It is so dark and the wind picks back up. Everything starts flying around.  Untangling the mess of the tent (that I had just wrapped up and shoved under the van, determined to deal with in the morning) became a lot like fighting Shelob (the giant spider from Lord of the Rings) in the dark.  It wraps around me, none of the poles are going in the right way, folding and refolding the poles, I put it in and out of the car several times, it won't fit.  It very nearly gets left behind in the campground on several occasions.  My children learned some new choice words. Sweet Gianni keeps offering to get out and help, but I fear the puncture vines and heaven knows where their shoes are now in the chaos.  It was horrible. Finally I get it in the car.   I drive towards the motels with stuff piled precariously around the kids, Gianni spends the ride keeping the tent off of his sleeping sister.

Comfort Inn Pool the next morning

I promised myself I won't shop around the strip of motels. I was done being determined and thrifty. I am just surviving.   I would just take the first room available to us, regardless of price.  Comfort Inn.  I can only imagine the contrast my wild and crazy self made in their very well manicured lobby.  I am pretty sure my hair was standing straight up after the wild, wind whipped experience I had just had.  The clerk hardly blinked, making me wonder what a crazy night in Santa Rosa looks like.  We get a room on the second floor and I make my way upstairs carrying everything I need, including Anna in one load.  The boys were still wide awake and in their swimsuits from the earlier escapade, despite the fact that it was 1:30 in the morning.  I couldn't find 80% of what I wanted due to the reorganization and stuffing the dark at the campground, but we found enough.  I got the boys finally settled down, after much bed shifting and discussion of who was sharing what and at 2am, I crashed.

As I look back at this evening in New Mexico, I don't know that any of this measures up to the car crash, or even the destruction of our engine.  But in total, with the long drive and the effort I made to make the drive enjoyable and then to add all of these mini-disasters on top.  It made for a long night in New Mexico.  I have to find a way around this part of the I-40.