The last 2 days have be leisurely travel days. They were both very rough days due to the amount of wind blowing, 20-30 MPH. Happy we weren't planning on traveling far.

We took off from Hord's Creek and I saw a mountain lion crossing the road and field(at least it sure looked like one). Tom missed it completely as he was in the car checking the braking cable he had adjusted. I did not have a chance to take a pic. All I had handy was the cell phone and that takes forever to take a picture. I am sorry I missed it. First one I have seen.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and we are now in Livingston, TX for a week. We have some phone appts, car appts, get the Mh and car weighed etc etc.

After that we will be heading for Sedalia, MO to an RV Rally. I also signed up for a photography class before the rally. These rallies are always fun and keep us very busy. 4-8 sessions per day, break for supper and then evening entertainment. We are staying an extra day and then we will be driving on to Williamsburg for a couple of months. Looking forward to meeting with all our friends again and some food I can't seem to find on the road. We also have doctor appts. Grass doesn't grow under our feet.

We left Monahan Sandhills  SP and had to go on the interstate for 40 miles. We then switched off to the secondary roads and there was virtually no traffic. I can always tell when we are in Texas, the speed limits are very high. On roads that I think 50 is a nice speed(and I have a heavy foot) the speed limit is 70/75. Mostly no shoulders, up and down small, sometimes blind, hills. I cannot picture going that fast on these roads.

To create some excitement on the road we met 5 small oil tanks coming against us. Well marked as oversize. How true....Took their lane, the shoulder and part of our lane. Just keeps the driver wide awake. We never realized that the tanks were made then transported. These were OK what really is exciting is the arms for the windmills. They are one piece, probably 75' long. We have seen them stuck trying to make turns. We are seeing more and more windmill farms on the road.

Sharing the Road

A Very Large Windmill Complex

We pulled into Hord's Creek Lake for a couple of days. Very large, COE(Corps of Engineers) park. There are 2 sections and we are by ourselves in a section that holds about 25 rigs. Everything about this park is spacious.


Our first site was right on the water, wonderful views. Unfortunately, the electricity didn't work. Tom went out to look for another site in the car. I look for sites that have nice views, he only worries about the satellite tv antennae. Oh well, it is only for 2 nights. Next time I will go scout out a site if needed.

We set up and settled in, did some odds and ends around the MH, things just shake loose.

We took a drive and discovered we are the only people in the park, the next day we had some more people but everyone was on the other side of the lake, couple miles away.

The next day we took a drive into town to mail some mail, found a donut shop(very good donuts) and took a country drive. So nice to see green and lots of trees again instead of desert.

I am getting very tired of wind. In Deming we had 25-30 MPH winds, in Monahan Sandhills the wind was only 10 MPH. In Hord's Creek we are back up to 20 MPH. It is not just the constant wind, driving the MH is tough and tiring with a constant wind. Then add in the unexpected gusts!!!!!

Monahan Sandhills State Park is a small park with many sand dunes, hard to walk on as the sand is very fine, loose and dry. The roads are partly covered with sand. Being here just overnight we had sand gathered around our electric cord.

After visiting the park, with very short drives and walks, we drove to Monahans, TX. A partly dying town that apparently was busy in the past but the oil or whatever industry has no passed them by. The one interesting thing we found was a train graveyard. Trains that had been in accidents are brought here and dismantled, recycled. We couldn't go in but took some pictures from the road. The other interesting train was going down the track backwards, with 6 engines, slowly. There is nothing around here so we had no idea what it was doing.

We ate a Pappy's Barbecue, good brisket, spicy sausage and potato salad. Have enough left for at least one more meal, maybe even two if I make some cornbread.

Today was an interesting drive. We were mostly on back roads, virtually no traffic. Then we arrived at Orla, TX. This is just a crossroad but must be in the heart of the Permian Basin for oil development. Traffic was horrible, back ups for 1/2 mile or so. Truck after truck carrying pipes and other big equipment. We had planned to fill up with gas and take a break for lunch. We managed to get the gas but no parking. Took us over an hour to go 30 miles due to the traffic. Stop and go, mostly stop.

We arrived at Monahans Sandhills State Park and got settled into our site. Had an hour time change so reset all the clocks. These time changes mess things up. Sunset is an hour later as is sunrise. Just messes me up for a day or so.

 Our Travels for 2018

There are a lot of entries you will need to look at. The last update was about a month ago.



We have finally left Deming and moved on to Hueco Tanks State Park NE of El Paso, TX. Our new philosophy is to stay at as many state parks along(more or less) our route as possible. We have also decided to stay 2 nights so we have an entire day to visit the park.

Driving to Hueco Tanks was very interesting. Outside of El Paso we saw gigantic sand dunes which surprised us since they seemed random and out of place. As we drove across the high desert we could see mountains in the distance but also a group of rock outcroppings. These rocks is where Hueco Tanks is located. 

This park has very strict rules as it is a premier historical site and was heavily vandalized in the 90s. We have never encountered a park with these type of rules before. We had a mandatory 15 minute introduction movie before we could even get to our campsite. Once that was completed and we finished the sign in process we had to go through a closed gate to get to the campground. The park is locked up at 7 PM each night though we were given an access code. There a re 2 campground hosts, one for each loop. Usually we would expect maybe one for this small of a campground.

Hueco Tanks has had people going though for 10,000 years. The Tanks are actually eroded rocks that hold rainwater most of  the year so the Tanks were a popular stop. There are many pictographs around the park showing the history of the passing peoples. Because of the water the park was also part of the Butterfield Overland Mail system from St. Louis to San Francisco. Most of the park is only accessible with an authorized guide. We will do that tomorrow.

This evening we took a walk around the campground, cottontail rabbits abound. While walking we saw on the cliffs above us at least a dozen rams, at least that is what we think they were. We will check with the ranger tomorrow.

We asked the ranger this morning and it is a Babary Sheep. Has great curved horns.

Our campsite beneath the cliffs

The "ram" sighting

Part of the cottontail population

Travel for 2018


Due to high winds we stayed an extra day. To keep us occupied we took a trip down memory lane and drove down to Columbus, NM. This a where we went to our very first RV rally, back in the 90s. We primarily went to the rally to look at the big trucks as were were wannabees. Everyone offered asked if we wanted to drive

The town was so welcoming. The population was probably a thousand and everyone was welcoming. There were 3 restaurants in town and we all made sure we ate at each one. The oddest event was that the town had a dinner theater(of sorts). We all went to the theater and the cast served us dinner and then performed for us. We all had our trucks on the street and the locals were walking  up and down looking at the trucks. When we let the theater we all blew our air horns.

As part of the rally we had a truck parade. We probably had around 40 trucks, we all lined up in the state park and the lone policeman in town took care of the intersections. The  mayor was driving the first truck. It was like 4th of July in town, everyone was out looking at the parade and all the kids were in the  playground watching us go by.

The parade became a tradition at every truck rally we went to after that. Just a neat way to thank the town.

The town has grown some now, a few more houses, a few more restaurants and businesses. The dinner theater was still there as were the 3 restaurants we ate at.

Just one of our very good memories.

We have been having problems with one or our slideouts as it is stuck in. When we try to slide it out only one side goes out. I posted the problem on a couple of sites and tried various solutions but none worked. As we were trying one solution today we noticed that the motor and the gear box had separated. At least we know what is wrong and an idea of how to  fix it but first we think need a new motor. I sent notes out to the mfg. of the Mh and the mfg. of the slideout to find out which motor we need.

On our way back to town we stopped to  investigate Spring Canyon and Rock Hound State Parks. Drive became interesting when we say a sign for a 17% hill and a blind curve at the top. Though the sign said 2 miles, it was only maybe 1/3 mile of 17% grade.

What goes up must go down!!!!

Picnic ramada at Sprin Canyon SP

Park was on the side of a mountain, great views

The next challenge of the day was our printer. Totally stopped working, blobs of ink were coming out. I cleaned the cartridges, didn't help. Googled the problem and decided I needed to clean the print heads, if this didn't work, a new printer. Nothing to lose. I spent an hour or so cleaning the print heads, ended up with black fingers(I didn't have gloves), let everything dry and printed a test page. It worked. No need to buy a new printer.............

Overall this was a very good day. Tomorrow we leave for our next stop.

I thought it was a good day a bit too early. Since I had a Windows update yesterday some of my software has been acting funny. Now the problem has hit my picture software. I will need to update the software tomorrow if I have internet(I doubt it).

Today we did our shopping, visited every dollar store in Deming looking for a new dish pan, We did find one. MH sinks are very small and the standard dishpan doesn't fit. From past experience I know the dishpan from one of the dollar store fits. I thought it was Dollar General but those no longer fit. Finally found one at Family Dollar. Tom was really thrilled with all the dollar store visits.

We came back to howling winds, Tom has his weather station up and it was clocking 25-30 mph winds. The dog walkers in the campground didn't go very far, went to the protected side of the rv, let the dog do its thing and back inside. Very quiet campground today.

For lunch we tried a new place, Alpine Deli. This was 9 miles out of town, most definitely a locals place. Drive 9 miles, turn on dirt road, go to end, restaurant is in  the building that looks like a dump. No signs. Food was great. Known for their onion soup and great sandwiches, huge. The tables were all clad in copper, neat. The restaurant decor was very different.

Look carefully at what is covering the lights

Had to step over the dog to get into the restaurant

 

 

We have migrated from Tucson to Deming, NM. The campground we are in belongs to a group that we are members of. Last night was Taco Tuesday at the hotel next door so we all met up and walked over. A lot of talking and reminiscing, 4 of us were from NJ so we talked about the shore, bread, deli's, boardwalk, ice cream, on and on. Everyone had a good time and since the group is a regular, we had a private room, very nice.

Our drive to Deming was not so nice, took us 6+ hours to go 220 miles. Heavy wind, dust blowing, lots of dust devils, visibility poor at times. In one area the police had us all slowed down to 40 mph. A very rough trip. The wind is suppose to be worse today. We had planned to stay a few days. Good planning on our part.