Las Cruces, New Mexico: An Unstoppable Force Meets An Immovable Obejct

There's an old, supposedly unanswerable question that college students are tortured with, something along the lines of "what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?". Generations of potential physicists, philosophers, scientists, architects, engineers, etc. have pondered this question to no end while in college.

Not me mind you. The only thing I pondered in college was which party I was going to attend that night and was there any chance I would be going to said party with a companion of the female persuasion. And if I did go without a date, which happened on occasion (OK, almost always), was there a snowball's chance I would meet a young lady who would be willing to be seen with me in public. Or at least willing to sneak out back for a little smooch. With those two options you can see why I had problems getting a date...

All this thinking about my social life, or lack thereof, left me precious little time to ponder the "Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object" question. Actually, my thinking about women while I attended college left me little time to do homework or to think about any other subject. After all, you have to set your priorities and stick to them...

Well, for those of you who are for some reason perplexed by the "Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object" question and are still searching for the answer, just give me a call. I now know the answer: Stuff breaks. Into lots of pieces and it isn't pretty.

Allow me to elaborate.

When you are RV'ing & arrive at the location where you intend to camp, one of the things you need to do is put the RV's slide(s) out. We have four slides in our RV and each is controlled by it's own switch that brings the slide in or out. Push the button and the slide moves.

Pretty easy, except, you have to make sure there is nothing in the way of the slide, either inside or outside of the RV. The slide motors are very strong because they are moving hundreds of pounds of weight. If there is a tree or post outside you have to make sure the slide will not hit said tree or post when the slide is 'run out'.

For the inside, each slide has it's own requirements to ensure the slide operates without damaging anything else. For the driver's side slide you need to ensure the driver's seat is all the way forward. Easy to say and simple to do except, since we do this so frequently it's easy to simply push the button without checking everything carefully.

Running the slide into something clearly happens frequently to RV owners because there are warning signs all over the RV, the slides, and in all of the manuals. PLUS the dealer's personnel who do the initial training also stress this 'check clearances before pushing button' rule.

Well, as you have probably guessed by now, we had an incident the another night when setting up camp. Mary Lynn ran both front slides out at the same time. You can't watch both slides at once and well, that's when the unstoppable object (the slide) met the immovable object (the driver's seat). When the trim around the slide hit the driver's seat, the trim stopped; the slide did not.

I heard the noise from outside the coach and came running in to find the trim in many more pieces than when it had started the day. The look on MLA's face was one of shock and she was on the verge of tears over some 'stupid' piece of wood (well technically, it was now several pieces of 'stupid' wood).

Some of you would say this was clearly MLA's 'fault' since she was operating the buttons inside the coach and I was outside the RV. If that's what you thought then chances are you are an incredibly naive unmarried male, or if married, you are still incredibly naive & your chances for hitting your 25th wedding anniversary seem limited.

MLA quickly pointed out two things: 1) she was amazed this had not happened sooner since we do this so frequently and it is so easy to have happen and 2) she forgave me.

"Forgives me for what?" you might ask. Well, as the last driver of the day, clearly it was 'my fault' the driver's seat was moved all the way back and partially reclined, right in the way of the slide.
Don't worry about the logic here; it varies from situation to situation. The important parts are: 1) it's already done/broken 2) doesn't matter who broke it 3) it still needs to be repaired, probably by yours truly.

If you still think it's important about who's fault it is I say to you, my unmarried and/or inexperienced friend, if you want to have harmony and peace (not to mention any chance of warming your tootsies on your mate), learn to repeat the following: "No worries mate, sorry about that and I'll fix it as soon as I buy the parts". No need to mention all the cool tools you'll 'need' to buy -- in situations like these, no questions will be asked, trust me.

There, that wasn't so hard was it? And I guarantee your tootsies will be warm...

In any case, today was a day of chores: shopping for supplies (& tools), maintenance for the RV, cleaning, getting ready for our departure tomorrow, and converting several small pieces of wood into one larger piece of wood. All in all, a pretty relaxing day.

I hate to leave New Mexico as it is very special here. In Las Cruces, as in much of New Mexico, the days are sunny and warm, the nights are clear and cold. I spoke with one local who told me they have sun 350 out of 365 day per year. And, she told me, they are working on the other 15 days.

The quality of the sun here in New Mexico is special as well. Artists flock to this area to take advantage of the light, which is incredibly strong, resulting in more vibrant colors. Throw in the cultural connection with the Native Americans and their art, the relatively inexpensive, wide open spaces, and a touch of real cowboys/cowgirls and you have one beautiful destination. Lots to see and do; I know we'll be back (when it's warmer) to do more exploring.

See Ya!