Elephant Butte (sojourn day 1) 2/28/23

Yesterday, we left V&S’s beautiful home and headed south to warmer climes. It was a late start, thanks to last minute unexpected problems (isn’t that how it always goes?): the truck wouldn’t start (battery terminals) and Pippin started leaking a lot of water. Gratitude to the patience and ingenuity of S&V: we were able to address both issues successfully and head off into the sunset and high winds around 2:30 PM, arriving at Elephant Butte around 7:30pm.

After a good night’s sleep in Pippin, which, as you may know, has a too small bed (6′ x 5.5′ for 2 adults and 2 dogs, but that didn’t matter as we were all tired. We rose to a beautiful, warm morning. Needing groceries, we drove into Truth or Consequences, got drinks at Mile Marker 7 Coffee Shop, and then stopped at Bullocks, where Alan documented a found-object collage art van. (Zoom in for some curious details).

After lunch, we took a 6 mile hike along the lake, hardly saw a soul, and were exhausted by 40mph headwinds and walking through sand. GREAT training for backpacking!

Now, we’re relaxing in Pippin, after a sumptuous spaghetti dinner. We’re watching the latest Itchy Boots video on YouTube. Our mobile Starlink is up and running; it took all of 5 minutes to set up and works wonderfully. What an amazing thing, I’m able to teach from the road. We’ll sleep in Big Agnes (our 6-person tent) tonight, on fat air mattresses. Tomorrow, we move to a more remote campsite. In a couple days, we’ll head further south, no destination yet….