Mar. 11
Today Lorraine asked me to do something while I was already doing something else. I patiently explained to her that I didn’t have her facility for multi-tasking. She said that she had long ago resigned herself to that; and that she would be “more than satisfied” if I would just “task.” You see? That is the kind of blatant disrespect that I have to put up with on a daily basis. If it wasn’t dead-on true, I would be highly offended.
Our RV, which we purchased in 2008 ago from a guy I used to work with, passed the 100,000 mile mark today just outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico. It continues to run great and provide very comfortable shelter and transportation for us. The former owners, our friends Bill and Jan Daly, who I hope may be reading this, are the only ones other than us who can really appreciate the significance of this, since they have logged even more of those 100.000 miles in the “Born Free” than we have. I know that they loved it like we do (and took much better care of it!) After all their years of travel, they decided to pick a place in Arizona where they now rent for 3 months each year. If we find ourselves on that trajectory, we may try to stop by to say hello. I think they stay there until the end of March before they go back to their home in Minnesota. They may not be all that anxious to see me (few are), but I know they would love to see the RV again.

Mar. 12
On Sunday, we stopped into a little church outside of Carlsbad that we remembered fondly from the last time we were through this way about 4 years ago. We received a similar warm welcome. I am always surprised, and delighted, at the “neighborly” treatment we experience in this part of the country.
Last night, we went back to a “Cracker Barrel” restaurant, since we have discovered that the Sunday night dinner special is fried chicken; and it is out of this world! My objection to the Colonel (Sanders, that is) has always been that his chicken is fried with the skin on. So to get that tasty batter, you have to eat the skin, which I’ve never been fond of. But at Cracker Barrel, at least for the Sunday night special, they skin the chicken breasts before they batter and fry them. As God intended. The Cracker Barrel was in Las Cruces, about 200 miles further west from Carlsbad. It would have been worth the trip even if we weren’t going in that direction, trust me.
This morning, we planned to travel a bit north to Truth or Consequences, NM where we know some hot springs to be. We have stayed before in an RV park there that has a hot springs right on the premises. When we got on the road however, the brakes started making a noise that sounded very much like “HAVE ME LOOKED AT RIGHT NOW.” So as I write this, I am sitting in the waiting room of a repair place waiting for the diagnosis. The place is very dog friendly (there are two wandering around the room I am in), and they said that Logan could stay in the vehicle while they are working on it. The mechanic took my key and got in the car to drive it into the work bay, with Logan inside. That must have been a bit confusing to him - seeing someone else sit down in my seat and drive off, with us nowhere in sight. But like me, he is just happy to be in the southwest, and sees everything else as negotiable