Heading to Arizona

 SAY HI! BEFORE YOU DIE 

We are heading to Glendale AZ for a reunion with a bunch of guys I (Steve) worked with at Orange County Sheriffs Dept. over 50 yrs. ago. This trip will include stops at state parks in Arizona and a trip to Palm Desert to visit Daph's relatives.  We are traveling in the trailer with the dogs.

We haven't been out in the trailer since February of last year, when we met with the same crowd in Arizona, so we had some work to do. The trailer is a 2003 model and is showing some wear.  The refer died and I replaced it with a 12 volt unit.  Of course this required a upgrade of our solar system and batteries.  This hopefully will allow some limited boondocking as the sun will allow.

We left Central TX on 1/23  We normally stay at the South Llano State Park when we're headed west, but it is closed for hunting several days in January. This time we stayed stayed at North Llano RV Park in Junction, TX. The park is on the river which makes a nice place to walk the dogs and during the summer it is probably pretty scenery, but the weather for us was a cold dreary, both the drive and all day after we set up camp. We were stuck in a space in the back as we had a discount pass.  With the discount the cost was $27.50.  The normal price ranges from $50 to $70 a night. The prices have gotten out of hand!  Be warned that I will probably complain a lot about the prices of camp grounds and the need to make reservations months in advance.  This is the result of Covid and late blooming boomers coming onto the RV scene.

On the 24th we spent the night at Saddle Back Mountain RV park in Balmorhea, TX.  It is an RV adjacent to a truck stop.  Only $20 a night. Again, the state park in the area is closed during this time. The spaces here are large, and there are plantings of native cactus and small trees between each. We've stayed here before and it suits the purpose, in addition to having a lot of space for walking dogs.

The landscape here is wide open and makes for a good view of sunsets and in this case, the almost full Wolf Moon.  

Just as we were getting ready to leave in the morning we discovered a nature trail on the outer row of RV spaces. We'll check that out next time. The sign says there are maps of the trail in the "office" but we've never seen the office open! They've always had a self-check in procedure. 

1/25 - Today we're are finally out of Texas!  It takes 2 1/2 days to leave the state (We only average 250 miles a day)  We're now settled in at Rockhound State Park in New Mexico for 3 nights.  This is one of our favorite places, both for the scenery and the campground itself. Really spacious sites, lots of vegetation around each site, all carefully maintained, and a beautiful display of sunsets over the town of Deming every evening. 

This park actually has two separate units, the second being Spring Canyon. This area is more rugged and has no services, but offers interesting and challenging trails and some excellent photo opportunities. 

In the morning we took a short drive up into the canyon and did a bit of exploring, but the chilly wind discouraged further adventuring.... that would be more fun on a warmer day!

We did make a quick stop beside the road after leaving the Spring Canyon section, but before returning to the main park. 

Steve noticed a roadside memorial, so I hopped out of the truck and walked over to inspect it. 

The photo below is all we could see from the road.  When I walked to the center of the arrangement there was an amazing collection of objects, all carefully positioned and some protected by low edging, like a flowerbed might have. Some of the items were religious, some cute toy type things, the neat paths were lined with stones, and at the very end a small plaque with a photo of a young woman and a name. 

I did a little research and found a rather sketchy story, the makings of a book if one were so inclined. Lots of mystery but no real answers as to what happened, why the memorial is located here close to the park, and why there were no comments anywhere online about the husband. What little I discovered is attached to her photo in the album for this post... you'll have to go there to find out what few facts I uncovered!

The town of Deming is only about 13 miles away, so close enough to hop over for a good Mexican dinner and a little sightseeing. We planned to visit the  Deming Luna Mimbres Museum, but it seems they have closed for the time being and no details were available on the reason or when they'd open again. So we did a little shopping and then moved on to an early dinner. 

At the suggestion of the campground host we tried Irma's Restaurant, a homey little place in downtown Deming. The street itself is interesting with murals and other art objects depicting the culture and history of the area. The food at Irma's was plentiful and really good! 

We were back at camp early enough for a walk with the dogs before they had their dinner, then enjoyed the ever changing sunset. This one hit a cherry-red stage just before the sun sank over the horizon, but the photo just doesn't do it justice. 

Tomorrow we pack up and head for Roper State Park in Arizona.