White Rock Visitors Center

View from the White Rock Visitors Center

On the 4th, we left Abiquiu and drove up to White Rock, NM, which is technically a neighborhood in Los Alamos.  We planned to stop at the White Rock Visitors Center because we knew for sure it had reliable Verizon service, spots big enough for our 5th wheel, electric hookups, and water and a dump station on site.

Admittedly, it's not a very scenic place to stay, especially after the grand views of Abiquiu, but it gets the job done.  We needed to move to a spot not too far from Albuquerque, where I have an appointment with my new rheumatologist tomorrow, and we wanted to gain some elevation since the temperatures this week were predicted to be in the upper 80s to low 90s in Abiquiu and Albuquerque.  That's too hot for comfort during the main part of the day.

Here in White Rock the temperatures have been in the mid 80s, the sun is intense from 10 am-4 pm, and we've been staying inside the trailer with the air conditioning on during that time period.

Even though it's not yet monsoon season, in the afternoons, thunderstorms have been building up over the mountains.

Rainbow at the Visitors Center

In general, I'm feeling disappointed and a little down.  Part of it is due to our location: I'd rather not be camped out in a parking lot, surrounded by blacktop.  White Rock has many trails, but most aren't within easy walking distance.  I don't enjoy taking the dog on his many daily walks when I'm limited to making laps around a large parking lot or along paved sidewalks through residential areas.

We checked out two nearby possible areas for camping, areas we hoped we'd be able to move to, but they weren't viable.  The first, Juniper Family Campground is located in Bandelier Park.  The loop with the largest spots did have Verizon 4g but the sites were more appropriate for short trailers or tents.  We also checked out the boondocking sites along Camp May Road.  The sites here are laid out along the road climbing up to the ski area.  We saw several sites that would have been long enough for us and we did have Verizon service, but the road was a no-go.   The first half-mile is at the same time very steep, curved, and narrow with a  sharp drop off on one side.  It would be fine for shorter trailers and rvs, and trucks with toppers, but I was worried we wouldn't have the power to make it up with our 5th wheel and would get stuck on a blind corner.  It was a beautiful area, though, with trees and some fabulous views down over Los Alamos, and we stopped on the side of the road and wandered through one of the sites and along one of the forest roads. 

My main reason for feeling down, though, is the difficulty we're having finding sites to camp that meet our needs. I  thought when I selected a new cohort of doctors in NM that we'd be able to find lots of places to camp at higher elevations (and thus cooler temperatures during the summer) within reasonable driving distance (two hours or less) of Albuquerque and with reliable Verizon data service.  I'd heard great things about the New Mexican State Parks.   But my searches haven't revealed much that meets our personal needs.  We're at the point where M. was researching satellite service, even though it's relatively slow and very expensive.

I'm also feeling down because I really want to be camping and living outside more.  I don't want to be living in a big metal box or looking at it whenever I sit outside in our campsite.  I don't like that we're limited to campsites that will take a 30 foot trailer or to roads that are suited for pulling a heavy trailer.  But I know that's it just not practical for us to tent camp for more than a few days at a time or to live and work full time in a significantly smaller trailer.   We can, however, satisfy some of these longings by taking more drives on back roads after work or going tent camping on weekends, while leaving our trailer in place at a home base.

And, okay, maybe I am a little homesick....

It will all pass.