Drive from Abilene, TX to Carlsbad, NM

It was a long drive from Abilene, TX to Carlsbad, NM. Miles and MILES of flat desert reaching to the horizon in all directions. Along the way, we saw hundreds of oil pumps. We also drove through Sweetwater, TX, which is home to the one of the largest wind farms in the world. There were hundreds of huge windmills along many miles of the road.

We had two stressful incidents related to the drive. First, we almost ran out of gas. I was driving and noticed that the fuel light had come on. It occurred to me that I had not seen a gas station for at least 30-50 miles, and we were in the middle of the dessert with no towns in sight. After about 10 miles, the camper started to sputter on an uphill. A town was approaching, and it was a long flat stretch followed by a downhill off-ramp to a gas station. We coasted in. James filled our 50-gallon tank with 50.2 gallons of gas!!! The next thing that happened was that we got a flat tire. Fortunately it was one of the rear tires which has a two wheels on each side, so we were able to drive to safety before calling AAA. Good thing James upgraded our membership to Deluxe RV before we left! :) Unfortunately, driving on the bad tire required that we purchase a new one (very expensive for these heavy-duty things)!

Needless to say, we were very happy to be safely at our campground in Carlsbad! :) Connie