Depending on how long it took to have the oil changed I wasn't sure how far we would get today. The furthest I thought we might get was Big Spring, TX. Because the overnight temps are supposed to be below freezing we decided we would stay in a campground where we could be plugged in and run the heat pumps. Kathy called the Big Spring campground about an hour before we got to Big Spring. They were already sold out. We were trying to stay at one of the places were we would get a discount because of one of our club memberships. She found a campground in Midland, TX that offered a 15% discount to Escapee's. She called it while we were still 2 hours from Midland and reserved the last of their165 spots. We pulled in around 6:30 PM. We have had supper and we went for a walk around the campground. We will be soon be hitting the bed. If I remember in the morning I will take a photo of the working oil well not 150 yards from where we are parked.
A point that was interesting to us was that today, west of Abilene, we saw the first tilled ground that we have seen in Texas. We have seen areas where they bale hay but previously had not noticed any cropland.
Back to the oil change. We stopped at a Speedco facility in Dallas. They are nation wide and service large trucks. Their "preventive maintenance" service pack includes an oil & filter change, fuel filter change, chassis lubrication, fluid level checks, etc. I saw them with the old fuel filter and it appeared that they were confused about what to use as a replacement filter. A guy headed toward the RV with a new filter and I asked him to show it to me so that I could write down the number. I went to CAT's web site to find the CAT filter number and then went to the Fleetguard web site to get a cross reference. The number was not what they installed on the RV. I went into the office and asked that they double check what they had done since the CAT 3126E has only one filter and it must be a 2 or 3 micron filter. They said that since they service only large trucks the don't have any filters less than 20 micron. They put my old filter back on. To their credit they must have filled it with fuel because the RV started right up and never missed a beat.
Today's weather was beautiful. The sun shined brightly all day. It was great to be warm. Driving into the afternoon/evening sun wasn't much fun. We did get to see two complete sunsets. The first time the sun dropped completely behind a ridge and then, as we topped the ridge, the sun was fully visible again and we watched it set a second time.
From the YWAM base to here was 425 miles. From here to Deming, NM is 402 miles. I thought that, with the oil change, we would probably need 3 days to drive it since we don't like to drive after dark (you can't see the scenery). Now it looks like we will make Deming tomorrow. We will probably stay there two nights so that we can spend the full day going to Silver City and the Gila Cliff Dwellings.
Tomorrow is supposed to be another sunny day. That may be the first two we have had in a row since we hit Texas. The high here is supposed to be 57. In El Paso it is supposed to be 58 and in Deming, NM it is supposed to be 54. With the bright sunshine you don't even need a jacket with those temperatures, a long sleeve shirt is fine.
Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.
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