The sunrise behind the mountains I’d driven out of was beautiful and the sun immediately felt warm. I was glad that the cold nights weren’t a sure thing. I did a good half hour of pilates/stretching to ease my aching back and slightly tight legs, it did me good. I manouevered carefully out of camp, managing to avoid all the cactus and so punctures.

I drove north away from Mexico and that’s what I did for the rest of the day. I came upon another immigration check where I had to pull over and dig my passport out from the depths of the van. The office at this one asked me more questions, acting as if being friendly, but I knew his game. All was well, he soon let me continue on my way.

Having had a stove failure this morning with absolutely no gas coming out of the burner, I planned my route so I would go through a few towns that hopefully had Walmarts so I could buy another. I’d done some investigation and figured out that the jet was the problem and since it had been a $15 light duty stove that was probably never intended for daily use, it wasn’t worth my time to try and fix it. The first town, Alpine, had no Walmart, which was a shame because I was ready for a stop. I did stop briefly at a Maccas to use some Wifi, but it wasn’t strong enough to upload photos to my blog, so I moved on pretty quickly. I did manage to find out that Pecos about a hundred miles on had a Walmart.

North of Alpine, I left the mountains behind and was driving through flat and barren desert lands, spotted with oil rigs moving like old men in slow motion. It was particularly scenic, in fact it had the opposite effect. I struggled to imagine a happy life out here, especially in the summer. The northern highway was narrow and very, very straight. It was also well used by the oil trucks that I followed and chased along my route. I can imagine this area will look very different in a hundred years after the oil is gone. It is what everyone lives on out here.

Pecos was a disappointment. Not only because the Walmart was too small to stock my stove, but because the library was also closed at the servo I filled up at had overflowing bins and general disinterest in maintenance. All the while, the chick at the counter munched on a doughnut as she served.

I had a quick lunch at the servo, then kept on driving north. Again, I’d underestimated my driving time into New Mexico, thinking I’d have half a day to explore, but instead driving pretty much all day. When I finally got to Carsbad, I’d decided to write the day off as far as exploration goes. The Walmart there also didn’t have my stove, though there was an empty spot on the shelf for one. Grrr. I found a sporting goods store just north of town and drove there. Thankfully, their shelves were quite stocked and they had exactly my stove! It was a bit pricier than the original at $23, which hopefully means it may last more than a few months.

Continuing on a day of errands, I went back into town to the coin laundry and joined a mass of people doing washing. This really made me sad. I can’t imagine a working life where I spend my Sunday afternoon at a bloody Laundromat. I made use of their Wifi as my load churned away, updating my blog and going through the last through steps of my tax. How boring right? I think I got all the way through my tax, but held back on hitting the submit button, I shall review later to make sure I didn’t make any boo boos.

I spoke to Dad briefly as I finished up my laundry, then I was keen for camp. I had intended to drive towards tomorrow’s destination, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, but I just wanted something closeby and so drove north of town to a reservoir which proved to be a nice spot. Perfectly secluded, but terribly windy, I got comfy in the van and stayed there. As I sat in my comfy chair with one window open, I noticed a gigantic swarm of mozzies just outside the car. I am not exaggerating, this was a massive swarm. I closed the window quick smart and looked on in disbelief. It would be carnage if they got into the van.

With the mozzies and the wind, I tried my hand at cooking indoors. The new stove came with a stabilising base and with the space I’d freed up a few days ago, it was quite a comfortable set up and the Mexican rice and beans I cooked up were satisfying. After the sun disappeared, the wind went with it and the mozzies had also found something better to do. It was safe to leave the van. When I did so, I could hear a constant “Pop! Pop-pop-pop!” from somewhere in the distance. There was also a well lit up structure beyond the reservoir. I deduced the noise was from the burn off by a refinery, something I’d seen a lot of on my drive into New Mexico. There’s evidence everywhere that this place is all about the oil.