Back in the The Republic/Trip Summary

March 8, 2023

Our first night back in Texas was at a somewhat unusual, for us anyway, RV park right near the freeway. Saddleback RV Park, Truck stop and Steakhouse is the ultimate package deal!  

We usually try to get as far away from a freeway as we can, but there aren't a lot of choices in Balmorhea, and after the high prices we'd seen elsewhere for bare dirt with thorns everywhere we were quite happy to see well groomed sites (meaning few if any thorns and stickers) for only $20. All pull-through, with utilities. About half the sites, those closest to the front of the park, have nice cactus plantings in the spaces between the generously sized sites. I suspect these are the original sites, with the others put in later. Yes, there's no grass, but this is West Texas, nobody has any grass! especially with the drought conditions we've had the last few years. Perhaps the rain gods will bless us with some of that wet stuff this year. 

If you're in the mood for a steak for dinner, the restaurant is a stone's throw away, and so are the fuel pumps. I must have slept really soundly as I didn't hear any trucks during the night. 

Early the next morning we pulled out for the last leg of this trip. Next stop:

South Llano River State Park. This is one of our favorite Texas parks, especially for the first and last nights out, as it's only about two hours from the house.  

We had reservations for our favorite site, #19. It's fairly private on the back side and easy to take the dogs for a walk with no complications. The sites have shaded picnic tables and fire rings, and are really spacious, with native vegetation in between most of them. 

This park is particularly focused on the wild turkeys and has an area where they roost that is closed at times to protect them from disturbances. Those times are posted in the park office and on signboards near the trails.  The bridge entering the park is under construction at the moment, as it was damaged during recent flooding, and it looks like they're building a new visitor center too. Something to explore on our next visit!

Birdwatching is popular here, and there are bird blinds available to shelter photographers who are patient enough to sit and wait for the perfect shot. I'm happy to watch from camp, as they flit through the trees around us and sing back and forth from their perches up in the tree tops. 

Here's a post on the first time we stayed here, when we first moved to Texas. It was also in the spring, but there was more wildlife than we've seen this time. 

We thought we had a neighbor camper who was practicing bird calls as the songs seemed a little more frequent than usual, but upon meeting said campers we discovered it was their parrots! Two of them, and they were doing a fantastic job of imitating the Cardinals that are native to this area. I hope they didn't leave the local feathered residents too confused!

We'll be home by this afternoon, and then the unpacking begins!

Summary:  We were on the road for 28 days and traveled 3039 miles.  Total cost (not including food as we eat when we are home!) $2105.  Camping fees: $650 and Fuel:$1504 This averaged out to $77.00 a day.  The daily average was affected by staying at our friends in Fountain Valley for 5 days.  I shopped for the best deals on fuel and paid an average of $4.22 a gallon for diesel and averaged about 9 mpg pulling the trailer.  

Comparing to our travels in 2017 we averaged $43.00 a day.  Fuel prices are up from then and State Parks are about the same.  The big difference was in private campgrounds which were usually around $50 a night currently.

RV touring has changed considerably since covid.  Fuel prices are up and campground fees are up.  The biggest change was the need to make reservation for nightly spots.  I made reservations for this trip starting in September 2022.  It is frustrating as it removes flexibility while traveling.   

Rockhound State Park

 Rockhound State Park, near Demming New Mexico, has been a favorite stopping point for us since our first visit. 

Approaching the park from the southwest Demming (Stirup Rd SE) it appears as a few scattered bright spots gathered against the base of the Little Florida mountains. Those bright spots are reflections off the RVs in this small and very special campground Once settled in a campsite, you have a grand view of the valley below, sheltered by the Little Florida Mountain peaks that surround you. The location offers not only amazing view of the valley during the day, but some of the beautiful sunsets New Mexico is known for. 

This park is a small oasis of cacti, yucca, wildflowers and multiple bird species, not to mention the rodents and reptiles one doesn't often see, but are documented here. 

The park is unusual in that visitors are actually encouraged to gather a few mineral samples while visiting. In the past there was a limit of several pounds, which was abused by commercial dealers, so now the limit is much smaller. 

A small visitor center at the entrance to the park has great visuals and descriptions of local wildflowers and wildlife, as well as the geologic history of the area. We were lucky in the timiing of our visit, the Mexian Gold Poppies were just beginning to bloom and really brightened up the slopes of the mountains. 

State geologic groups have donated some amazing mineral samples on display in the visitor center, and there are samples for sale too, for those who don't want to roam the hillsides looking for something to take home as a souvenir. Rock shops in Demming offer additional opportunties to "collect" samples from the area.

A botanical trail meanders around the north side of the campground and makes it easy to enjoy the several types of prickly pear, barrel and cholla cactus. Any time after early March will probably offer wildflowers, and the birds are always singing. My Merlin app identified 6 different birds in a 90 second recording. 

A smaller day-use-only park, Spring Canyon, is also available to explore - admission to that is included with your entrance to Rock Hound park. We haven't explored that park yet, so it's on the list for our next visit. 

For those interested in more of the geology of the area, The New Mexico Department of Geology and Mineral Resources has posted a Geologic Tour for several areas, the tour for Rockhound State Park is here. In short, the area is basically volcanic in origin, that translates to a lot of granite as well as the minerals that make up granite. The cactus love the decomposed granite soil, and are some of the healthiest I have seen. Over time water trickling through the layers of mineral deposits has created geodes, lots of geodes! The visitor center has some lovely ones on display as well as excellent information on how they are formed. If you know what to look for while you are hiking the trails you may find one to take home!

The evening views are worth waiting for.

Kartchner Caverns State Park

 March 3-6

Home for the next few nights is Kartchner Caverns State Park. 

We planned several nights at this stop, a chance to really settle and relax, we hoped. Unfortunately Steve developed a dental problem and had to seek out a dentist, on a Friday! It seems none of the dentists work on Friday, however, the Chiricahua Community Health Center came to the rescue. A quick trip to town and he came back to camp with the problem solved. 

While he was in town the pups and I did a bit of exploring on the trail nearest our site. The trails here are really nicely laid out, with the edges defined with stone (to discourage wandering off the trail) and in most places dressed with decomposed granite which makes for smooth walking. I don't know who appreciated that more, me or the dogs. 

Some of the trails have a few informational signs and benches placed at strategic locations, and we found one of those where the trail crossed a small creek. The creek made very picturesque site, but the campground host said the creek is usually dry and only running now due to the recent rain. 

The park visitor center (Discovery Center) features displays and videos with information about the discovery of the cavern, how it was formed, and aftifacts related to the history of the area. It's also where you meet the tram which will take you up to the entrance for your cave tour. There are several tours you can sign up for on the park website. Reservations during peak seasons are recommended as the numbers of visitors that can be handled is limited. Photography in the cavern is not permitted unless you are on one of the tours organized especially for photography. 

A glance at the surrounding hills shows the interesting profile of the many limestone layers, sculpted by erosion. It is spaces within these layers that forms caverns of this type. The Science of the Caverns explains the details of this process. The site also includes information on the bat population, and ongoing research on the cavern rooms. The bats are an important part of this park, and great care is taken not to disturbe the population that calls the caverns home.

There are several loops with RV spaces and a few cabins for rent. Overall the camp sites are quite spacious. There are also several shaded picnic areas around the park for use by campers as well as day-use visitors. 

As our visit is in early spring the trees haven't leafed out yet, and the grass is still dormant, but the variety of plants on display in the Hummingbird Garden Walk around the Discovery Center demonstrate the potential and I know spring and summer are absolutely beautiful here. 

And the sunsets aren't too bad either!

There's a nice overview of the park in this video which is available on the park website.  

A Quick Change of Plans

 February 28, and a quick change of plans. (This post is out of order.... I discovered I'd missed it!) We'd been trying to meet up with a couple we knew from our time in Oregon and there had been scheduling conflicts, but we finally hit on a date we could all be in the same place at the same time. It's tricky when you are all traveling in different directions!

The plan required us to find a spot in Arizona for one night and we didn't have reservations, which is risky these days, so we decided to try out one of the boondocking areas in Quartzite. This particular area is known as the "Hi Jolly" camping area, named for the man who came to the United States in 1856 to assist the U.S. Army in developing their Camel Corp. 

 We love the wide open desert, and this loosly organized area fit the bill. The dogs loved it too as there was less need to be on a leash all the time.  

Some of the campers in this area stay for quite awhile, up to two weeks, and mark their areas if they have to leave by leaving a chair or other piece of equipment and creating stone boundry markers. Other people just like playing with rocks! At any rate, this solution worked well for us this time, and the scenery was great!

We met our friends for lunch at a nearby casino and had a great time catching up. 

Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

March 1-2

Picacho Peak State Park is beautiful in the spring, and attracts a lot of visitors during the wildflower season. We saw a steady stream of day visitors coming through the park entrance to hike and photograph the early flower display. Reservations are definately recommended!

The Spanish word "Picacho" translates to "peak", so, the name in English would be "Peak Peak". 

This area is puncuated here and there with volcanic formations, which form a deep pass, a sharp ridge, and a broad, open valley. 

The pass formed in this rocky ridge is noted for being the site of the only Civil War battle fought in Arizona. . . the Battle of Picacho Pass. 

The battle was a small, fairly minor engagement, resulting in the deaths of 11 men. The Confederacy claimed victory as they killed Lt. James Barrett who was in command of the 1st California Cavalry. 

Fifteen years before this battle the Mormon Battallion passed this way, heading for California. 

Another monument has been erected honoring this group, as it was the first group to fly the United States flag in Tuscon. 

Monuments to this event, and other items of interest, are displayed on Monument Loop, near the entrance to the park.

Our campsite was on Loop B, which offers spacious sites and beautiful views of the surrounding desert all the way around. 

We settled in for the night, expecting it to be chilly, and were a bit surprised in the morning to find it had snowed! The peaks all around us were decorated with a thin coat of snow, most of which melted off by noon. In the photo below Picacho Peak is actually almost hidden by a cloud, behind the closer, and shorter peak that is more visible. 

Morning surprise! Snow on Picacho Peak

Once things had thawed out we headed in to the north side of Tuscon for a bit of stocking up before we move out to our next campsite, Kartchner Caverns.

With all the purchases stowed the pups and I decided another hike was in order. 

There are several well maintained trails in the park, this one leads paralell to the main road for quite a distance, and gave us really nice views of the wildflowers and surrounding mountains. Picacho Peak is center in the distance in this photo. It's double, sharp peak is very distinctive from some angles.

One of the best features of this Sonoran Desert landscape is the dramatic sunsets and sunrises, made even better by the striking sillhouetts of the saguaro cactus. 

I never tire of their quirky shapes.