Day 75 - (10/01) Elephant Butte, NM

It's another beautiful day ... sunny, clear skies.  Dick has been inspecting the trailer tires for the past weeks, decided they needed to be replaced before we get home, and picked today to do it.  We got a tire store reference from the Tucson campground staff and left the campground at 9:30.  

We stopped at the Western Tire Center on the way out of Tucson and got great service.  They replaced all four Goodyear Marathon tires with Gladiator tires in an hour.  We had put 20,932 miles on the Marathons and the street-side set were very worn.

The desert views across Arizona and New Mexico were desolate, but very beautiful.  We're going to miss these sights as we angle northward.

Desert view

Desert view

We stopped at Kranberry's Family Restaurant in Lordsburg, NM for lunch.  This sleepy, out-of -the-way town is working hard to present a fresh look.  The restaurant was new, clean and very well run.  The meal and service were great.  They helped our travel plans by suggesting an alternate route (NM-26) that provided a shortcut around Las Cruces to I-25.

Though unplanned, our route took us by one of our favorite campgrounds from last year's trip.  We were there on 09/14/09.   We decided to stay there again and weren't disappointed.  

The Elephant Butte State Campground is just off I-25 a few miles north of Truth or Consequences.  Our campsite is set on a hill with a beautiful view of the lake, mountains and desert.  We had watter and electric service and a dump station.

Elephant Butte lake from front window

Desert sunset from back window

We had a pleasant salad dinner in the trailer and played a few games of Bananagram.  What a pleasant way to end the day!

Map Tracks
Start:  Rincon Country West RV Resort - Tucson, AZ
South on Mission Rd. to Valencia Rd.
East on Valencia Rd. to Western Tire Center
East on Valencia Rd. from Western Tire Center to I-10
Southeast on I-10 to Demming, NM
Northeast on NM-26 ti Hatch, NM
North on I-25 to Elephant Butte, NM
End:  311 miles @ Elephant Butte State Park - Elephant Butte, NM