Cleaning up in El Paso

I drove into El Paso yesterday afternoon only to hang out in a Walmart parking lot for the night and restocked my supplies in the morning. I drove two blocks to a laundry that I spotted coming in to do a load of laundry while I “cleaned house” and setup all my solar panels to charge up before mid-day. Afterwords, I drove another few blocks to the local rec-center (good planning eh?) and paid $2 to go swimming which I never did. I didn’t make it past a warm shower before going back out to the van for lunch and work. My first proper shower in a week and it only cost $2… I’m good with that.

I’m adapting to my power needs and capability. I nearly killed my engine-battery last night as I lean on it while the house-battery is being charged or been heavily used. The engine-battery can not take much abuse but it is quickly recharged as long as the engine starts… and it barely did that. I am considering replacing it with a marine-type battery but there are good reasons not to do this too.

I’m full on food and fuel and ready to head back out of the city. The plan is to go North-East to Alamogordo which is right near White Sands National Monument. The Lincoln National Forest (home of Smokey the Bear!) is right there too so I am hoping to find a nice spot to camp for a few days. Then I head towards Las Cruces and on into Arizona with a dozen or so possible stops along the way to see and explore. If all goes well, it will be another 7-10 days before I even get into Arizona. I’ve slowed my pace to 50 miles a day, which is better. At this pace I will refuel once a week which fits into my budget OK.