Back to Texas- Guadalupe National Park, and On to Oklahoma and Arkansas

Thursday October 23 to Sunday, October 26, 2014

Thursday morning we were still hoping to hear from the business about the windshield since we were about to pass through El Paso, but, no such luck. So, we packed up and did some errands in Deming. By the time we were ready to drive on, it was lunchtime. One hint to Greg and we drove to The Patio. Yay! Green Chile Cheeseburgers again for lunch. Stuffed and satisfied until we are back in Deming again, we headed east to Las Cruses and El Paso, and then drove east on US-62 to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. We passed through here our first January on the road. It was snowy, windy, and in the thirties. After seeing the visitor center, we drove on to Carlsbad Caverns National Park and toured the caverns. Underground doesn't matter with the weather!

The woman behind me is grief-stricken because her green chile cheeseburger is gone!

Flowers blooming across the desert east of Deming

We vowed to come back in better weather, so here we were, ready to explore the park. The tenting area is really lovely with dispersed campsites among the trees. The rv's are relegated to no hook-up sites on a blacktop parking lot. No matter! The spectacular scenery makes up for it. We had a good night's sleep at the higher elevation (cooler), and got up ready for a morning hike before we left. Guadalupe Mountains National Park encompasses the highest point in Texas, Guadalupe Mountain at 8,749 feet, and the dramatic El Capitan Peak, both a part of the Permian Reef, the old ocean coral formation that yields oil and gas underground today. The hike to the peak is over 8 miles with a vertical climb of almost 3,000”. We decided to do the more level, shorter hike to Devil's Hall at a little over 4 miles. Then we could spend the afternoon driving east.

Salt Flat west of Guadalupe Mountain

El Capitan and Guadalupe Mountain

Looking up from camp 

RV Parking area

Big mistake! For the time and effort we put into the hike we might as well have scaled the peak and had the view! The first mile of the hike was on a regular trail. Then it descended into a dry wash riverbed and that became the trail, all the way up into the canyon. The only problem was that for the next three miles up and back we scrambled over boulders and gravel, to get to Devil's Hall. On the way back, we decided to mix it up and not take the trail for the last mile. We continued through the riverbed until we reached the campground. (Suggested by a ranger we met on the hike.)

The trail up to Devils Hall

Ferocious 3-inch beast

The wash leading up to Devils Hall

Recent rains had filled this tank (natural rainwater pool).

Devils Hall

A cool spot to rest before heading back

Not a place to be during a thunderstorm.

Greg climbing back down the rockface we had to scale to get up to the pool of water and Devil's Hall.

House-sized coral boulders carried down by past floods

The wash spreads out in the softer alluvial deposits below the Permian Coral bedrock. Heading back to camp.

Huge fruits on prickly pear

The hike was great exercise and interesting, but took us 4 hours instead of 2, so we didn't finish lunch and get back on the road until 2 pm. We drove north past Carlsbad Caverns National Park, through the city of Carlsbad, both back in New Mexico, and then back into the Texas Panhandle. We found a free city park campground in the town of Brownfield. It was right on the main highway, and a bit noisy, but it had water and electric hook-ups and a dump station.

New Oil Well

Old Oil Well

Cotton to the horizon, also sorghum, peanuts, and potatoes

Friday morning we really needed showers after the hot hike the day before, so we took advantage of water and a dump and dismantled the shower closet. Yay, showers! Only problem is that it resulted in a late start. It's time consuming to unpack and repack the storage. We finally got on the road and set our sights for Oklahoma and the Black Kettle National Grasslands. They had free camping, but it was campsites sort of mixed in with the day use parking. We found a wide spot in the road looking over the Dead Indian Lake, (long sad tale from our nation's history), and spent the night.

Roger "King of the Road" Miller Museum in Erick, OK

Free camp on Dead Indian Lake

This morning we thought we'd try to find another small campground in the Grasslands away from the day use area and spend another night, but after researching it online, Greg was less interested in exploring the fragmented grasslands, and the weather forecast of 90 degree temperatures made us decide to move on from our treeless spot. We drove all day across northern Oklahoma through small towns and agricultural areas, and passed wind turbines, gas wells and fracking sites. Oklahoma is experiencing an unprecedented number of earthquakes that are now being linked to the fracking activity. Thankfully, we haven't experienced any.

Canadian River. More water than usual after the recent downpours.

LOTS of wind farms, but no wind today!

Oklahoma-sized tractor and disc harrow on the main highway

Late afternoon we found an Army Corps of Engineers campground along Kaw Lake near the Kansas border, and took one of the few sites left. Saturday night isn't the best time to find a site among the camping locals on the last hot weekend in Oklahoma. Tomorrow we will drive east into Arkansas and look for a campsite in the Ozarks. Trying to get out of the heat, into cooler, but not cold temperatures any sooner than we have to as we travel to the east coast!



Update- Sunday night finds us at another Army Corps of Engineers campground at Beaver Lake east of Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters for WalMart. Today was “get lost day” as we traveled across the northern tier of Oklahoma by backroads and small towns. We missed Arkansas by a few feet and wound up in Missouri before finally getting to Arkansas. Bad maps, small towns with no route signs, (Everyone there knows where to go. Tourists? What tourists?), and narrow roads with no place to turn around an RV made for an interesting day. Hoping for cooler weather tomorrow as we drive further into the Ozarks to explore a bit before heading farther east.

New Mexico- Old Favorites, Elephant Butte and Rockhound!

Friday, October 17 to Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Leaving Datil Well on Friday morning, we were immediately stopped by a road construction flagman who told us we might as well shut off our engine while we waited for a pilot car and make a bologna sandwich for ourselves and one for him, too! The white haired and bearded man turned out to be Don Hargis, who along with his father, spent their lives as country music performers. They played with Buck Owens and other country musicians, mostly out of Bakersfield, California, which apparently is a hotbed for country music. Who knew? He told us he had been to Maryland and the roads were so narrow that people sitting on their balconies could have handed him a cup of coffee as he drove by. We've driven through old Western Maryland towns like that!

Datil Wells camp

The pilot car finally showed up, he switched with the driver and drove us to the next stretch of highway. That portion of road took us past the Very Large Array. We made a quick stop at the scenic view pull-off and decided not to go on the tour. We toured it twelve years ago when we, plus our daughter, the aspiring scientist, were the only visitors that morning. We were able to visit the control room and happened to be there when the scientist in charge was given the rare order to re-position the huge dishes. We got to watch through the large windows as the discs turned to a new direction to seek radio waves from space. Very cool, and not likely to be repeated that morning. Instead we had a good conversation with an RVing couple from Phoenix who were stopping at various sites that the wife found in the book, “1,000 Things to See Before You Die!” We shared the joy of living the spontaneous life as nomads, and we left in opposite directions on the highway to pursue our spontaneity!

The Very Large Array was contracted into a compact formation instead of spread out for many miles.

We made the decision that with the short time we had left before we needed to be back in Maryland, that we would visit some of our favorite places in New Mexico. A lot of people prefer Arizona over New Mexico, but for some reason, the later resonates more with us. Since we were in need of laundry and showers, we headed down I-25 to Elephant Butte State Park at Truth or Consequences. We didn't renew our annual pass this year, but at $14 a night for water and electric, it's still a good deal. The park has lots of sites, but we were informed that the snowbirds had arrived early due to cold weather farther north. Coming in on a weekend gave us fewer sites to chose from, but we found a good site in Quail Run, our favorite section.

Chillin' at Elephant Butte and T 'r C

Giving Thanks in New Mexico

Elephant Butte camp

This Ruby Crested Kinglet supervised us closely all weekend.

Looking down at Elephant Butte Lake

Saturday we headed to the laundromat and then had lunch at Maria's Mexican restaurant nearby. Back to camp and just chillin' for the next few days. We had some rain at night, one rainy day, and a dramatic storm one afternoon, but plenty of time to walk and relax. Elephant Butte Park is good for that! Greg spent time talking to insurance reps to try and get our windshield replaced. The crack from the “gravel attack” in Montana has spread, but we finally left on Tuesday after never hearing back from the glass replacement business in El Paso. (Just as well, we got another big chip in it while crossing Oklahoma...)

Maria's had a great reward for finishing the laundry!

Thunderstorms moving in from the south

Lots of dramatic lightening, thunder, and heavy rain.

We could see the double rainbow from end to end!

Tuesday morning we finally gave up for the moment on the windshield and left Elephant Butte for Deming and Rockhound State Park. I think this park is definitely one of my favorites. We spent last Thanksgiving there, after sitting out the snow at Pancho Villa State Park near the Mexican border. Links to previous posts. But first we were on the hunt for Green Chile Cheeseburgers! Getting off the Hatch exit from I-25 we went looking for Sparky's. We had our first GCCB here and found them closed the last time we came through here. Since it was a Tuesday, we figured we would be fine. What!? Closed again!? Greg searched the internet and found good reviews for the Valley Cafe, also in Hatch, so we drove there.

Roof covered with drying red chiles

After the recent rains, the dry lakes weren't!

We had decent GCCB there, and drove on, knowing that the Holy Grail of GCCB still awaited us at The Patio in Deming. Greg had his birthday dinner there last year. We arrived at Rockhound State Park in mid-afternoon and were surprised to find the park full. The host said that the snowbirds had arrived early, (again!), and he could offer us a space in the day use picnic area. We still had a covered picnic table, but no hook-ups, which of course are no big deal to us, so we stayed. Our view wasn't quite as good, but we were happy to be there.

Overflow camp at Rockhound day use area

We walked the nature trail to reacquaint ourselves with the cactus and other greenery, and had a quiet night gazing at the stars and the lights of Deming below. (My favorite part of this park!)

Prickly Pear fruit

Hedgehog Cactus

Don't tease the cacti!

Barrel Cactus Fruit

Looking up at the volcanics of the Little Florida Mountains