Monday, April 14, 2014

Tow Truck

Katie in her stroller - this is what she does when she doesn't want me to take her picture - squint.


Here are a few photos from our walk yesterday.  First a bird nest in a tree across the road, made of lots of fishing line.  These birds sure love the fishing line for their nests.  I'd love to see what the inside is made of, but it must be something soft for their eggs and babies.  The fishing line must be easy to work with, and of course it lasts a long time.  I'll bet these nests last from year to year to year, even with all the winds in New Mexico in the spring.


I noticed this little colorful bug sitting on a post.  He was so pretty - a type of beetle?



Here's The Palms in the distance with Elephant Butte in the background:



Per John Hedges in a comment on my last post:  "Having gone to EB spring and fall for the last 4 years I caution you of the soft sand by the water. There a local guy with old army surplus trucks pulling people out of the sand at $500.00 per pop."

Sunday afternoon I saw a large army camo truck pulling a large motor home going up the street.  I was thinking, Well, that's a new kind of truck to pull an RV.   Then I remembered seeing them last year when I was here.


Then he went by again with another large Class A.  Then another.   I finally realized that Army truck was a TOW TRUCK.   I looked down at the beach below me, and where there had been a lot of RVs camping, it was now almost empty, obviously many of the RVs were towed out.  I should have gotten a photo of the tow truck pulling one of the RVs.


As nice as it would be to park down right ON the water, after getting stuck in the sand at Hot Springs LTVA, I'm a little gun-shy of parking on sandy places.  And at a $500 fee?  WOW, that's a lot.  I'm wondering if our roadside service policies would cover a tow out of sand along a lakeside, though.  That's not really "road side."

So, fair warning to anyone heading this way.  Make sure you're on a solid surface if you want to be close to the water.  Especially big rigs - the three I saw driving by behind the tow truck were all long Class A's.  What an expensive weekend that was for those RVers.  :(

This morning I looked out the window at the place all the RVs were camped out over the weekend, and this is what I saw:


The put a bunch of concrete barriers on the sand and placed a bar-b-que and picnic table in the middle to keep vehicles out of the area.  Obviously this is where the RVs were stuck in the sand yesterday.


It looked like a full moon last night, but not quite yet.  Here are my photos from yesterday evening:




The full moon will be tonight.  And tonight, or I should say early tomorrow morning after midnight, there will be a blood moon, the first lunar eclipse of 2014.  All lunar eclipses happen during full moons, and this one will start at 2:58 am CDT. The total eclipse will happen between 2:06 and 3:24.  This is when the the moon is completely immersed in the earth's shadow.  You can read more about it HERE.  Will you be up and watching, or snuggled in under your covers?  I hope to be up, but realistically - I'll be sound asleep.

From me and Katie - have a great Monday, everyone!  :)

 

20 comments:

  1. I forgot to mention that $500.00 fee is cash only. No credit cards accepted. I know it has caused a lot of people from ever going near the sand again.

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    1. And who has so much cash on hand when going camping???

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  2. When I saw the header I thought: OH NO, not again! :)) What a relief - it was not YOU! That would be a hefty price for being on the water. Maybe it was worth while for them? Short way for the kids to the wet elements. Laugh!
    We usually park only where we see someone has parked before. And beware deep ruts in the sand! So far we have had luck with us.

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    1. Bea, I thought the same thing !! LOL I had to read quickly to find out if it was Barbara or not.

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  3. Oh- I forgot. Fishing line is pretty dangerous for the birds. If they get entangled they die. Gras would get brittle and break of over time, but not nylon.....:((

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  4. Mud is something else to look out for. When we were in Sedalia MO at the fairgrounds for a rally, many many rigs got stuck in the mud and there were tow trucks circling everywhere. $300 to tow you about 20 feet to the pavement. We just waited for the mud to dry and drove out. Like Bea - I'm glad it wasn't you being towed anywhere.

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  5. Your bug looks like what we call a stink bug. If you mash them they stink. They get on tomatoes in a garden and ruin them.

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  6. Although I'd love to be up to see the blood moon in person, I suspect I'll be tucked up in my bed fast asleep. I'll have to make do with the news reports.

    Enjoy your time!

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  7. Whew--speed-reading through your blog to find out how you were doing! Yahoo! You're fine...others, not so much. That guy's going to retire early! Looks like his next victim--uh, customer, might be that travel trailer on that little bitty spit of land/sand! Katie's squint just cracks me up! And the fishing line bird nest--using the available resources.

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  8. And we're experiencing a change in the weather with wind & clouds...no blood moon for us!

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  9. Well of course Katie knows when she squints you cannot see her. :-)
    --jool in north texas

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  10. Your pretty green 6-legger is some sort of Hemiptera (true bug), looks like a Green Soldier Bug although hard to tell for sure in the photo, but they have that fairly sharp yellow or yellow-orange perimeter line. If so, Martha hit the nail on the head: green soldier is one of the big so-called "stink bug" group. That shield shaped body goes with the order Hemiptera though, in any case. SJ

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  11. Guess he's got himself a bit of a "captive market" there. If one has more money than brains, then I guess parting with some of the money is bound to happen.
    That's a serious vehicle for towing, since I *think* all six wheels are drive wheels. Spinning is not an option.

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  12. I'm always fascinated with how birds make their nests.

    That is one gorgeous spot you are at now Barbara.

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  13. Love the Katie in her dog stroller picture. I have a dog stroller for my two dogs too. They love riding in it!

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  14. I think we will keep our feet/tires on firm ground. There is something about being able to think logically. Katie is a cutie, as usual.

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  15. Glad to read that you didn't need the tow truck.

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  16. Love the doggie stroller. We really enjoy using ours for the two Shih Tzus.

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  17. These pictures are amazing. It looks like you had a really nice day. I have been looking into getting an RV for my family and I have been on the fence. I mean it just makes so much sense if you do not have anything tying you down. I think I feel that selling our home would be a mistake.

    Natashia Winters @ Hansen & Adkins Auto Transport

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