Dodging a bullet in Las Cruces

I froze when Kerri said she wanted to drive into Las Cruces to see friends.I reminded her of my track record with Las Cruces and van breakdowns (specifically brakes) in the most blunt way I could – I’ve never made it to or through Las Cruces without some form of repair. It’s both a curse (always a breakdown) and a blessing (always a parts store nearby). Did we really want to poke this bear so soon after the whole Las Vegas ordeal? And with that question, Kerri pulled out her favorite poking stick

We arrived at the designated boondocking spot to meet up with said friends for the night; Adam and Jen of… and TinyAssCamper and the ex-traveling, now local to LC, couple of Heather and David. Even Beth and Taylor joined in on the fun (after having a breakdown not far out of town… see?) for an evening catching up and watching the moon rise from the Organ Mountains to our East.

The next day we packed up and turned back the way we came. Back towards Arizona on the Interstate, we pulled over not a half-hour out of Las Cruces we pulled over for a pee-break. Walking Moose around I glanced back and noticed a pool of fluid under Big Blue (see?!?!?!) and crawled in for a closer inspection. It was then that Kerri returns with only my legs sticking out from the van. It sure appeared as though we were leaking transmission fluid at a pretty good rate, but after moving the van and not fining any additional fluids or leaks, we came the the only possible solution; we parked on someone else’s pool. Oh man, that was a fright.