Reviewing my options

I'm in White Rock, New Mexico, staying with old friends Doug and Dotty.   I've been here for a couple of days, now: a re-entry into the world of real beds and real showers and other people.  I stopped in Santa Fe on Tuesday after I left Carrizozo and Valley of Fires and a long leisurely roll along US 285.  In Santa Fe I re-arranged my data allocation for the Verizon Hot Spot,  had lunch at Panera Bread, and filled the gas tank.  The easy driving of the previous days yielded the best gas mileage I've had yet on this trip: 9.5 mpg.

A while back I started to replace the faucet in the "kitchen" sink in the rig.  That proved pretty daunting, so I contended myself with tightening down everything I could find and replacing just the handles (one had cracked.)  As I was packing up to leave Carrizozo, I noticed a wet patch on the ground under the sink; something's leaking.  Dang.  Went inside and fiddled: in some positions of the faucet spout, there's a slow leak at the base.  I tightened it and experimented with different positions, and found one where the leak seems to abate.  I'll improv my way home with this, and then figure out how to do the real fix.

I had thought I'd leave here today, head northwest past the Valle Grande caldera, and camp at Fenton Lake up in the high country tonight (Thursday.)  The temps up there tonight will be in the low 20's, and I'd probably be boondocking.  Possibility of snow when I'd be driving down an 8% grade to get out.  I'm thinking I'll skip that for now!

So I'm looking at maps and figuring out routes.

Insight: I realized just now that I'm feeling like skipping Fenton Lake is some kind of failure.  I said I'd go there, dammit!  That's mildly foolish, of course.  But it's an indication of what a project it is for me to travel this way ... going, as it were, with the flow, rather than following the plan. For other people this is about leaving things behind, to simplify their lives.  De-cluttering.  For me, this represents an opportunity for mental de-cluttering, which is not always gonna be easy.  It's not all that onerous, but it does require attention.

So I'm not sure about the days between now and Tucson on Sunday.  I'll let y'all know:  I think I'll have fairly reliable internet access along any of the possible routes.