September 3rd - Getting Ready for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

I'm slowly getting things lined up for the trip to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta the end of the month.  I took the truck (Moe) in today to have the front alignment checked after the rough roads in Newfoundland ruined the front tires. Sure enough he needed an alignment for $69.95. Here is a picture of Moe's front end with the new front tires and a fresh alignment. He goes in next week to get an oil, oil filter, and fuel filter change so all is fresh for the 2,000 mile trip.

Marge gets a professional bath next Sunday compliments of my daughter, Annie. Once that is done I need to take one of the propane tanks in to be filled, get gasoline for the generator's tank, check to make sure the furnace, water heater, and fridge all work on propane. We will then be ready to load up clothes and food for the trip.

Since so many people will be traveling to the Balloon Fiesta I thought there might be a problem finding a place to stay where we can fill up the water tank and dump our sewage tanks. We need to arrive with a full water tank and empty holding tanks. I decided to make reservations for our stops on the way out. It is a 1,000 mile trip we will make it in three days. Our first stop will be September 30th in Quapaw, Oklahoma. We will stay at the Downstream Casino RV Park.  Our second stop will be in Amarillo, Texas on October 1st. We will stay at the Big Texan RV Park.  We will pull into Albuquerque mid-afternoon on October 2nd. It will be interesting to see what the dry camping spots will be like. I am sure there will be a lot of dust on the big lot and lots of noise from generators at least during the day all week.

The new plug for the 30 amp cord arrived today so I installed it as well and checked it out before putting it away. Here is a picture of the new plug ready for duty.  Hopefully this one will last longer.

The parking at the Balloon Fiesta is dry camping so I won't need this cord or any other during that time. All electrical needs will be provided from the batteries and generator. The biggest challenge will be not filling up the holding tanks with waste water over the extended period of time. I believe there will be a honey wagon available if the tanks need to be dumped. (A honey wagon is a septic tank truck that comes around and pumps out your tanks for a fee.) It is hard to tell what that will cost. It is a captive group so they can charge what they want.  Kelly and I can be pretty conservative with our water usage when we want to. Maybe we won't need the service.