travel heads up in s. new mexico

[jcurtis934]

After visiting carlsbad caverns, staying at carlsbad koa (good), we headed south on 285 to get to I20 (very bad to point of crappy). So let me elaborate on 285...started out good, soon went to single lane each way undivided highway with uneven pavement, sunken pavement in lots of places, pot holes, lots of bulk crude oil tankers running to/from various wells, loads of shreds left over from commercial truck tires, dirt/mud on highway from tankers, a ton of trash in the shoulders from workers, etc. Not a nice drive. Montana looks tan all over from dust/mud due to very light rain on/off down the road. If you like looking at this plus all the pumping rigs, go for it. Otherwise consider you have been warned. Stayed in midland oil patch rv park for overnight in midland texas...don't! The park is okay but there wells are contaminated with 1,4 dioxane from the Midland Groundwater Plume Federal Superfund Site. Did not hook up to water...got free case of water from epa to use when we checked in as well as the warning letter from texas epa. Did not even use their showers either as warning was not to drink or cook with it. Staying for two nights at Coffee Creek Rv Resort in Santos, Texas now. NICE!!! John

[1retired06]

Sounds very unpleasant!

[rohrmann]

Actually, the last time we stayed at the oilpatch, there was a fellow next to us, who was curious about the contaminated water, and called the agency that is responsible for the water. They informed him, that the water filtration system that was installed to fix the problem was working quite well, and that after a certain number of good tests, the posting and the cases of bottled water would end, but the water is actually good to drink now, just not officially. Even before hearing about this news, I just used a good carbon water filter, and called it good, as we usually use bottled water to drink anyway.

[kenandjudy]

John hope you have all the bad roads and campgrounds behind you. be safe see you in Florida. Ken

[DQDick]

The south eastern part of New Mexico used to be a beautiful high desert until fracking started. Now, as you say, the roads are torn up and the air stinks.

[jcurtis934]

We will be back in Florida on Nov 1 or so, Ken. We have a new site in the lakes area...397. Regarding the water at oil patch. Our letter is dated Oct 7, 2011 and they are still taking samples and providing cases of water to people. That was enough to convince me not to trust any of the filtration methods that have been put in place on any of the parks wells. Sometimes, there isn't a lot of choice regarding rv parks depending on routes taken and how your drive milage stacks up. I call this the "oh well" factor. It also applies to owning an rv and the chances of having issues during your ownership period. John

[timandsusan]

Update on US285. We drove south on 285 from Artesia to Ft. Stockton on Oct 23. The last 30 miles in southern New Mexico is basically just a series of patch jobs and sink spots from the heavy oil field traffic. In Texas the road is somewhat better but there are no passing zones that are really needed. Even with oil price down, the oil field traffic was a little less than we experience about 2 years ago. Still it is a slow but steady slog with lots of truck traffic. We tried to stop in Pecos but the recent rains along with truck traffic made it impossible. In Ft. Stockton, the huge new rail yard for sand--for fracing- and the HUGE supple of pipes for a pipeline say this is here to stay. Also several new hotel in town. Will I drive 285 again--probably. Just be prepared to get in line and be careful.

[Art-n-Marge]

Wow, it's been over 30 years since we were last through that area. Sounds like things have gotten real bad.

[Bill and Jan]

We're headed to The Ranch in Lakewood, NM on Tuesday (if we get our tires) and then south to El Paso to the Escapees park in Deming. I hope that road is in better condition and it isn't full of traffic that diverted off of 285.

[Recumbent]

We spent 4 frozen days at Oil Patch in Midland due to ice storm last January, and we stay there every time we go through, we also understand the water is ok to use, but we take the free bottled water provided by gov any way, one case per person per day, makes our overall cost of staying a bit less as we always use bottle water for drinking where ever we are at.