Back home to Texas

We've been at home for a few days now, completely buried with mowing, unpacking, catching up on mail, and all the other bits related to settling back in to a different routine than we've had for the last few months.

Before we close out the travel reports for the season I have to report on the two stops we made in Texas on our way home. I know every state has "history" and something interesting has happened at some point everywhere you go, but sometimes you really have to dig to find out what that history is. In Texas it's usually easy, as the state and residents are so proud of their history that there are signs and monuments everywhere. Our first stop once we crossed the Oklahoma/Texas state line is a perfect example.

Collingsworth Pioneer Park, is an unexpected gem along the highway.
It's a beautiful, grassy park, campground, and rest stop just north of Wellington.

The friendly hosts will proudly tell you about the Bonnie and Clyde's Red River Plunge. The old bridge abutment off which they plunged was only two spaces down from our site.

part of the old bridge to right of tree

A small sign at the entrance to the park describes the event now, but a much larger history information kiosk is currently under construction. It will have more detail about the event, which was the typical Bonnie and Clyde shooting and mayhem, and will include other information about the region when it's finished.

Shiner very much enjoyed the huge expanse of grass here, and the hosts are very "dog friendly" too. They even warned us about where NOT to go along the river to avoid the nasty burr grass.

Swimming pool

We headed out fairly early for what would be our last night on the road, Abilene State Park State Park, near Buffalo Gap, I just love the name! Only a few miles from the big city of Abilene, this makes a great central location for exploring what is a very historic area.  At the time of the Civil War, huge herds of buffalo roamed this area. A favorite buffalo run was through the gap in the Callahan Divide, near what is now the town of Buffalo Gap (pop. 464).

Lake Abilene was originally intended as a water source for the town, but in the way of all Texas lakes, it dried up at one point, so rather than relying on it for that purpose it became a focal point for recreation and wildlife. The fishing's great I hear!

The park has several CCC buildings which have been perfectly maintained, and there are several trails to wander, along the creeks and fishing holes.

 They'd had rain here so the wildflowers were starting to come back with an almost spring-like effect.

We were assigned a space in the Wagon Wheel RV circle..... odd parking arrangement. You back your rig in to what would be the hub of a wagon wheel. It works fine for rigs shorter than ours, or if you unhitch, which we didn't want to do. And, the power and water for two adjacent sites is located on one spot, so it ends up being on the "wrong" side for half of the rigs. Fortunately it wasn't at all crowded so we were able to make-do.

Scenes from Abilene State Park

That particular part of the park is the only option if one wants clear skies for any kind of satellite reception. There are other areas set up for RVs but they are in dense forest.

We were home by early afternoon, and began the gear-shifting to "ranch" mode. We'll continue to write about local travels, RV related products, and any improvements we make, so stay tuned!