Elephant Butte State Park New Mexico to
Big Bend National Park Texas
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| Santa Elena Canyon |
February 6
After three nights in the wind and cold
at Elephant Butte State Park near Truth or Consequences, NM we headed
north to see if we could handle even more of the weather. We spent
the night at Villanueva State Park. This park is nestled in a canyon
out in the middle of no where. The roads just before the park were
the kind that called for two hands on the wheel and no distractions
from the little lady. No problems with that though as Georgiana was
noticeably quiet. The park was nicely located in a small valley. We
saw only two other camping rigs however no one seemed to be around.
We awoke to a sprinkling of snow; so decided to split ASAP When
George went over to the restroom before we left a park person said it
would be a bit before she could get in as there was blood all over
the place. Another reason to leave quickly.
Our plan was to head up and check out
Santa Fe. Other than that we had no plan; so we decided to get
there, find a place to eat breakfast, and then make said plan. I
can say right now that Santa Fe has gone overboard with the southwest
look. We could find no building that looked like a restaurant, no
signs, no multiple police cars parked outside anywhere. Just low
slung brown buildings blending in with the surrounding hills and
other buildings. The next thing I knew I was dragging the trailer
around narrow downtown streets which I was sharing with many many
others. Not a good first impression for me. We finally escaped by
punching Albuquerque into the GPS.
Our destination was now an RV park
recommended by our new friend, Jim Johnson from Calgary. The name
of the place is the High Desert RV park and it's located on the
outskirts of town just off I40. Clean and cheap, if a bit noisy.
We looked around a little for real
estate but decided that we are just not city people. George called an
old friend we both used to work with in Bethel, Eddy Abeita. We had
dinner with her one night and she looked great. It was good to see
her. Eddy always seemed to have a smile on her face and still does.
She lives with her husband on the Isleta Indian Reservation. It is
hard to believe but Eddy left Bethel in 1982..holy moly
we are
getting old.
We took a day trip through the nearby
mountains to Madrid. It was an old mining town that has turned
artsy. George had read about the town in a New Mexico travel
magazine. It was a real disappointment, nothing much was open and
the town area was very rundown. Summer might help the not open part.
We continued on up to Santa Fe. By
this time my unfair dislike for the city had subsided somewhat and I
was ready for another try. Even without a trailer the city was still
not easy to navigate. We parked in public parking, in what I think
was downtown and walked around the “Plaza”. The sights were a
couple of old churches and many old buildings. There were not too
many people around due, I suppose, to the season and the cold
weather. The shops were very expensive with lots of southwestern
(dah) jewelry which really isn't George's thing. This was a small
blessing. The real estate in Santa Fe was just beyond what we would
or could afford. Back to Albuquerque where we stayed for a week.
The weather was mostly crappy with snow and hail and lots of wind.
Although there were high wind
advisories out for the area we made a break for Sumner Lake State
Park above Fort Sumner New Mexico. It was Valentines Day, and what
better Valentine gift can you give your special someone other than
worry about blowing over. Sumner Lake is a beautiful park right on
the lake of the same name. There were lots of “park” deer about
that didn't seem concerned about us or Teal. A nice place but little
or no warm water for a shower. |
| MOO |
During the early morning of February
15th we had quite a wind storm but our little trailer
managed to stay upright with no damage. We explored the town Fort
Sumner and toured the Billy the Kid museum. It was pretty
interesting. George got ticked off over some republican baloney we
saw posted just as we started our tour. However, as we had already
paid (and figured the owners were just hicks anyway) we continued.
George thought Antiques Roadshow or American Pickers would have a
heyday in this place. Lots of treasures. We had breakfast at the
Rodeo Restaurant which was the only eating establishment open in
town. It was the worst breakfast we've had on our trip. Nice rodeo
pictures on the walls, bad food. After the museum we drove out to
the grave of Billy the Kid. He is presently located in a very sad
little cemetery. Some of the others buried here only have “a rock”
marking their grave. No names just a rock. Billy the Kid's
headstone, which also includes names of a couple of his friends, has
been stolen twice over the years so now there is a large fence around
all three graves to discourage another theft.
A storm was forecast so we left in the
morning for Roswell NM the home of the UFO Museum. Can't wait. We
stayed at Bottomless State Park which is about 16 miles out of
Roswell. This place was also nice with warmer water in the showers.
It turns out that Bottomless Lake maxes out at 90 feet.
This was a location to catch up on a
few items: Teal went to the beauty shop (it was called Puppy Love)
and boy did she come out looking good; George went to do laundry; and
I took the car in for an oil change. I thought I had the hardest
job, but George didn't agree.
Just before dark one night while George
was on the phone in her phone booth (the car) she looked out the
window and a skunk was checking out Teal's empty dog dish. It hung
around a while and we got a few pictures.
The next morning we woke up to garbage
scattered all over (from a bag Chuck shouldn't have left out) and two
bird feeders knocked down and either chewed up or broken. A raccoon
had visited us during the night. Western Meadowlarks spent the day
eating the spilled bird seed. What beautiful birds. The NEXT
morning the raccoon left footprints on the front and back sides of
the trailer perhaps trying to look in. Pesky critter.
We drove to Tatum NM for a day trip.
What a sad little town. I had lived in both Fort Sumner and Tatum
when I was little and had hoped to find something in both towns that
I could remember. However, I was just too young or am now too old.
The only thing I could remember was visiting the Billy the Kid grave
site with my dad. We lived in these area when dad worked in the oil
fields. Oh well.
Oh, George counted 73 antelope between
Bottomless Lake State Park and Tatum.
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| George and Real Aliens |
We awoke to howling winds one morning
so decided to take the opportunity to visit the International UFO
Museum and Research Center. We found it interesting but I don't
think George is convinced yet. She said she heard a young lady say
it wasn't worth the $5 entry fee. But don't miss it if you get to
Roswell; it's somehow really alien.
Bottomless Lake has a wonderful area
for a group gathering. There is a nice roped off area for swimming.
It would be a great place for a family reunion.
After waiting over a month for my
glasses they finally arrived via UPS. We then left for Brantley Lake State Park which is about 12 north of Carlsbad NM. We got another good camp
site (surely due to being off season). When we arrived it was in
the seventies but very windy and with lots of little fly like bugs.
Maybe they were flies.
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| Barney (big) and Peter (little) |
The first day there, while walking
Teal, a woman drove by and asked us if we would watch after her dogs.
She was from Arkansas and apparently her husband had been admitted
to the hospital in Carlsbad the previous evening. She said he just
fell over. Her story was that they would not let her keep the dogs
on the hospital grounds. So for the next couple of days I watched
and fed Barney and Peter and gave them the random pet. The only
hitch here was that the first evening when it chilled down a bit and
I put them in their owners trailer and when I went to feed them the
next morning the door was locked. I could hear scratching inside so
my guess is that this scratching had resulted in locking me out.
Fortunately there was a small door in the rear of the trailer that
was unlocked. This door was to a storage area under a bed; so
pushing junk and mattress and bedding aside I got to the mutts. The
woman and her husband were back the evening before we left and she
said nobody seemed to know what his problem was. She seemed like a
nice lady. The last time we saw her she had a sweatshirt on that
said “Elvis has left the building but Jesus is here”.
The windy weather and three dogs kept
us from exploring much during our stay.
We left for Van Horn, Texas on the
morning of February 24th. We had arranged for our mail
to be sent there AND it was waiting for us (thanks Maggie). It's
good when things work out.
We arrived at Balmorhea State Park
(Texas) the same day and stayed two days. There was a wonderful
fresh water pool with water that stayed at 72-76 degrees all year.
We didn't partake but there were people in wet suits taking diving
lessons. It was a very large swimming area. This was our first
Texas park and we were impressed: swimming, motel rooms available,
lots of activity areas, green grass, and big trees.
Texas has two fees for their parks, an
admission fee and a facilities use fee. We purchased a state park
pass for $70 that got us into all Texas state parks for a year. The
use fee seemed to vary with what they offered. Some parks have
swimming, boat launching, fishing, tennis courts, basketball courts,
places to get married (and other group activities), hiking, horseback
riding, or just having a picnic. The entry fee varied from around
$3-5 and the camping fee is $15-22. |
| Restored housing at Fort Davis |
Our next stop was Davis Mountain StatePark about 4 miles outside Fort Davis, Texas. While here we toured
Fort Davis National Historic Site. This was worth the stop. Fort
Davis was built and rebuilt over the years to help keep the Indians
at bay. Many of the building have been restored and we could see
where others were in the restoration process. Apparently, for a
large portion of the time Fort Davis was used the Indians were no
longer a problem to locals and travelers; so it stands also as an
example of early military waste.
At our campsite at the park we were
visited daily by birds (of course), deer, and one javalina. Our
example was a collared peccary and it loved bird seed. One morning
we had eight deer stop by. One drank water from Teal's dish next to
the picnic table. I was sitting at the table and took a picture.
Unfortunately, the action was too close to get a good picture with my
lens.
Next stop: Big Bend National Park. We
left Davis Mountain on February 29 and arrived at Rio Grande Village
the same day. Rio Grande Village is probably the campground at Big
Bend best suited for large rigs. You do have to haul your water, but
it is readily available, and generators can be used. Cottonwood
would also work but it is a pretty good drive. For full hook ups
there is a private vender with a RV park right at the entrance to the
Rio Grande park. There's also a store where you can purchase
limited food items, do laundry, take a shower, buy gas and propane.
We stayed here 6 days at $7 per night using my old persons pass. I
think the rate for the venders park was $32
Big Bend is a beautiful park with a lot
of traffic. In Texas in general the speed limit appears to be 70mph.
In the park it was 45. 45 for miles and miles. A lot of folks
zoomed right by; but we also saw park police with people pulled over.
The mountains are spectacular and you have lots of time to view
them.
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| View point overlooking Rio Grande River and border |
The first three days at Big Bend seemed
very hot to us at 84 plus degrees. It then cooled down a bit to 73
and we took a drive to Chisos Basin Campground another of the 3
campgrounds in the park. This was a beautiful drive on a paved road
with steep grades and sharp curves. It is recommended that trailers
longer than 20 feet and RVs longer than 24 feet not give it try. I
would concur. The fairly short drive takes you to a campground with
water and flush toilets, but no hook-ups. We saw mostly tent
campers. There is a store and a lodge. It was pretty busy and we
saw a climbing group staged there.
The next day, or maybe it was the day
after, we made the trip to the last campground in the park,
Cottonwood. Cottonwood was about a 130 mile round trip from Rio
Grande. Again all the roads are paved. This park is the least
developed of the three. There are pit toilets and potable water, but
no hookups or dump station, and no use of generators is allowed in
the park. The scenery is great throughout most of the drive but the
highlight is at the end of the road at the Santa Elena Canyon. Here
the Rio Grande has cut into the surrounding stone to create cliffs
1500 feet high.
After six days at Big Bend it was time
to move on. The next stop is Seminole State Park to check out some
4000 year old pictographs.
This entry is a bit later than we would
have liked; and we've moved on down the road a bit from Big Bend.
We'll try to catch up by the end of the month.
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| Very Sharp |
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