Day 28: Holbrook, Arizona to Cochiti Lake, New Mexico
- Miles: ~280 miles
- Left: 8:40 AM, Arrived: 2:15PM Mountain Time
- Weather: Sunny, Highs in the upper 80's, Lows 40's
We both were up around 6AM for showers then we called Steve’s mom for her birthday since they were 3 hours ahead of us. We decided to eat breakfast at a restaurant within walking distance of the KOA. It was decent but not great for the price. The coffee was terrible at almost $5 a cup. We both decided to enjoy our coffee at the camper in the future & not spend the extra money for restaurant coffee. It’s rarely as good as what we make.
We were hitched up & on the road by 8:40AM. We made one stop for gas, $3.69 /gallon in New Mexico. Gas was cheaper in NM than Arizona. It was mostly an easy drive on I40 that alternated between smooth & bumpy. So many semi trucks though!
We lost an hour when we crossed into New Mexico so we arrived at Cochiti Lake Campground at 2:15PM. There was no one at the gates so we went straight to our campsite, #49 in the Elk Run loop. It was a great site overlooking the lake, level with covered patio / picnic table & pea gravel for tent area.
We got setup pretty quick & ate a late lunch. It was warm & windy but hot in the sun. The site was non-electric so we had all the windows open & fans on high. The temperature swings in the desert are pretty amazing. It can be in the upper 80’s in the afternoon & in the 40's & 50's overnight which makes for great sleeping weather.
Late afternoon we biked to the nearby convenience store for tea & to see what else they had. We noticed they had cheap gas so we planned to fill up before we left for Texas. We bought a few teas than biked around the campground. There are a few loops that had electric but ours didn't have any hook ups. There were two loops that were completely empty so maybe they don’t book those in the winter. The other two loops were completely booked the weekend we were there.
We ate leftover barley chili for dinner & Steve setup his color scope for night imaging since we were in another dark sky area. Very quiet campground overnight.
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| Site 49 Elk Run Loop |
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| View from Site 49 |
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| Belle actually enjoying the dog pen |
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| Sammie enjoying the fan |
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| View from site 49 |
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| Lots of clear skies at this campground |
Day 29: We had a low key day spent mostly at camp. We took the dogs for a walk early and then did a Trader Joe's run to stock up for the rest of the drive home. We went early since it was supposed to be almost 90 later in the day. The sun is so hot but it felt good in the shade. Besides TJ's & filling up with $3.36 / gallon gas we spent the day hanging out at the campground. The normal highs for mid March are in the 50's. It was the start of that excessive heat dome that was moving across the country. Once the sun starts to go down it gets chilly fast though. The low's were in the 50s with humidity less than 10%.
It was Friday so later in the afternoon there were lots of folks coming in for the weekend, some folks had massive rigs, like 40+ foot. They made our Casita look even tinier if that is possible. We spent the evening getting things packed up as we were starting our multi day journey home the next morning. Steve did get one more night of imaging though.
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| Night sky setup |
- Rating 5/5
- Paved, level sites. Had covered picnic table & concrete side walk to picnic area. Pea gravel for tent area
- Campsite: 49 Elk Run Loop
- $11.25 / night with discount - had to pay for 3 nights since the weekend is a 2 day minimum stay even though we were only staying Thursday & Friday. Otherwise it would have been $7.50
- No hookups
- Quiet overnight
- Sunny upper 80’s highs, lows in 50’s
- Road conditions: Good
- Clean bathrooms & showers - Hot water, OK water pressure
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