But for now, time to pay a short visit to kin, and head on out west to some drier, higher, cooler weather.
June 28th, we left home headed west for Rotan, Tx to visit the wife's Mother and sister's family. Bill, my brother in law, rehabbed from his terrible intestinal problems from last year, thank God, but the poor fella suffers from the same ailment as I, lumbar stenosis. We're both getting along in years, and the pain & limited movement really bothers us. But life goes on, we'll enjoy what of it we can.
As I no longer enjoy long days in the truck, Lanora & I decided to stop at the rest area just outside Hamilton, Tx. A little (ok, a lot) on the warm side as we were getting into the more arid parts of the state, but we made it ok, at the scenic little park.
We arrived in Rotan on the 29th, and enjoyed their hospitality until July 7th, then headed on west to overnight at Haystack Mountain in New Mexico. We only stayed one night, I didn't take any pics as I had written about it back on 4-9-19.
From there, on to Cave Canyon Campground. We had a short stay here back in July of 2018. Only a one nighter as medical problems forced us back home, but I really wanted to explore the area. So here we are again. The price is right at this BLM campground, free for a max stay of 14 days. This time, we're in the travel trailer, much more comfortable.
The nights were cool, making for good sleeping weather with a fan. The addition of 200 watts of solar power made it easy. Another plus, we met a couple of Texas ladies that do a YouTube channel, FrugalRVGal. They were hosting at the Rob Jagger campground just around the bend, and Cave CG fell under their bailiwick. Truly great folks, we haven't seen the last of them. We stayed here for 8 days, then decided to go to Baca Campground.
Baca Campground is only about 10 miles NE of here, but is in the Capitan Mtns, the National Forest. Trees! and shade! A truly beautiful place, easily our favorite boon-docking place in New Mexico, so far. We found a spot beneath two large trees, a pine and a juniper.
A few afternoon showers really greened the place up. As you can see, there is a myriad of camping spots available, but there were very few takers, only a couple of campers over the weekend.
We had met another couple while at Cave CG, Fred & Nancy. They are New Mexico natives, and told us of many other places to camp while here, be it summer or winter. Below is the tear-drop style, small camper that Fred built, all the comforts of home. Quite an accomplishment, as Fred had had a tumor removed from his intestines, and had to wear a colostomy bag. But at 82 years young, it didn't slow him down much. And Nancy was a whirlwind, taking care of Fred & the camp.
As of today, 7-25-19, we have moved yet again, to Rob Jaggers Campground. Remember FrugalRVGal? The place she cares for. Here we have water & electricity. The idea of better water pressure & hotter water for showers wore us down, not to mention the company. Since it's BLM, our Geezer Pass gets us a 50% discount for all services. $5 a nite... I like it.
Rob Jaggers CG is also an equestrian camp spot. Folks bring their horse trailer/campers & horses and BLM even furnishes corrals for the stock. Folks can spend many days riding the area hills and mountains.
Unsure how long we'll be here, but I must be back home the first of August for more medical procedures. We'll make it last as long as possible.
*******************************************************************************
Well, as long as possible has arrived. Today, 7-29-19 Monday, we decided to head for home, at a leisurely pace of course.
We left R Jaggers CG headed east, and drove into Texas before stopping for fuel & a late lunch. I had thought fuel would be cheaper in Texas, but not in Plains, our first stop. Regular gasoline was still $2.699 per gallon, exactly the same as we had been paying in New Mexico. Ah well, lesson learned. We did have a good hamburger and ice cream at the Dairy Queen. Still hard for us to pass up these treats.
From Plains we turned south on Tx-214 toward Denver City. I had heard and read reviews for the Yoakum County Park and RV stop over. We stopped to check it out. A really nice place, and the County offers free RV parking, along with free water & electricity. We didn't need the water, we still had 20 gallons in our fresh water tank, but in the west Texas heat, electricity for the air conditioner was a blessing, so we are over night-ing here at the Yoakum County Park, just a couple of miles north of Denver City.
The park had many shade trees, a nice pond with ducks, clean restrooms, and a rather large golf course attached. I don't know how many holes... I've never played.
Headed east on the morrow to kinfolks a few hundred miles away... bet we can squeeze a free nights stay and a meal. :>)
7-31-2019
We pulled out of Rotan, the kin's home, and headed southeast. We had decided to spend a few days at Mother Neff State Park, near Moody Tx.
Afraid there wasn't much to Mother Neff. A flood of the Leon River, back in 2006, destroyed it. The park re-opened in 2015 with a new visitor's center and a paved loop with only 20 RV sites... two of them are taken by park hosts. The rest of the park with the exception of a small tent camping area, remains closed to the public, not yet restored. You cannot even get close enough to see the river.
However, the RV pads & areas are top notch, excellently leveled, concrete drives, water, sewer & electric hookups. There are large, clean restrooms with showers also. Other than a few short hiking trails, most of the park is off limits.
Friday, August 2 was must return home day. 5 weeks out, 5 weeks of a growing jungle in the front and back yards. Gotta do something about that.... tomorrow.
Until next time,
As always, comments welcomed.
