HALFWAY BENCH

4/12/18

Carrizozo to Roswell Excitement

Adventure Location: New Mexico
Adventure Date: April , 2018
Click the picture to enlarge it

The run from Carrizozo to Roswell on highway 380 is a very picture inviting area. The western half is through some very nice mountains on a two lane road. The tourist areas were the Smoky The Bear section and the Billy The Kid area. 

If we had not had the Castle along we could have stopped to see the sights and take pictures. The crowds seemed to be filling all the parking places so we had to keep rolling. We recommend it for a place to play tourist and enjoy the locations. It looked well worth the trouble.

After we came out of the mountains heading toward Roswell it was a major change in terrain in a very short distance. It became wide open plains with expansive views.



After all these miles today it was getting time for a short stop. Suddenly up ahead was a rest stop. We whipped in and the rig stopped funny but the OFM had more important things to tend to.

When we had time to check things out the OFM went over to the sign to see what the excitment could be in these open spaces.



Oh really. He searched the area looking for a missile silo. There was nothing to see.



When we had the chance, Google was consulted and a silo with an open door is visible. It is about ten miles west of Roswell near the rest area.This was a nice interesting road today. When we got ready to leave it got even more exciting.

The brake controller notified the OFM that it was shorted out and braking was not available. With a few hills and mountains to go, that was not good news. The OFM went to crawling around under the Castle to see where a wire was shorting out. After a bit of time scooting around on the warm pavement, he found NOTHING. 

He checked the truck to trailer connection and found nothing wrong there. The controller was still not controlling the brakes. The OFM  try to make it to a repair shop in Roswell. As he turned onto the out ramp, the controller flicked on for a few seconds. The OFM got up onto the highway and no traffic was in sight. He reached down and grabbed the wiring harness and wiggled it. The controller came on then off a couple of times. He pushed the wiring plug toward the controller and it came on.

We drove gently all the way to Brantley Lake SP like that. When we parked at a safe spot in the SP, the OFM got on the truck floor and pulled on the wiring harness and it popped loose of the controller. Then he pushed it into the controller and it “snapped” into place and has worked correctly since then. Our guess is Mr. Clumsy got a shoe hooked on the wire and pulled the plug partly loose. Then all the twisty turning bouncy mountain road worked the plug a bit more loose until it failed at the rest area.

Since then all the rest of the way back to Del Rio it gave no more trouble. After setting up at San Pedro the OFM tugged on the plug and it was still set solid. That is definitely worth checking frequently to be safe.

Having good working braking on the trailer is a major step towards trying to have tooooo much fun.

No comments:

Post a Comment