Going Down The Road With The Leu's

Year 2 Day 28 Entering Texas Hill Country

Today, as we continued our leisurely journey to Kerrville, Texas, we entered the outskirts of what is known as Texas Hill Country. The Texas Hill Country is a special area of Texas located on the Edwards Plateau at the crossroads of West Texas, Central Texas, and South Texas. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country could be considered the end of the American Southwest. Kerrville, where we will be staying for 12 days, is in the heart of Hill Country, located along the Guadalupe River.

We have always wanted to explore this beautiful area and chose Kerrville for three primary reasons. First, it is centered in the Hill Country; second, it is an easy drive to both Austin and San Antonio (two places we are anxious to explore); and third, it has a wonderful city park with full service hook ups and a beautiful river that flows by. We arrive there tomorrow and we are excited about that!

Our drive was uneventful if you consider being passed by 50-foot-long and 12-foot-wide oversized trucks going 80 MPH. Yikes! In Texas, the speed limit on back roads is 75 MPH and on freeways it is 80 MPH. One truck, which totally filled the speed lane from shoulder to centerline, passed us as we were going 65 MPH on the I-10 freeway. To pass us, he had to pull way over onto the shoulder, throwing tons of dust and rocks up at us. I had watched him come up behind us and pull over to pass us. I was shocked at how wide he was and moved LeuC over to our shoulder. Once he passed us we were being rained on by gravel he had thrown into the air so I quickly slowed down to avoid a rock hitting and cracking our very big and very expensive windshield. Thankfully, we were spared.

After three or so hours of driving we pulled off the freeway and found our flat open area that is between the frontage road and I-10, about 10 miles west of Sonora. I will post photos so you can see how nice this area is, especially since we have this huge area all to ourselves.

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Along the way and as we entered the edge of Hill Country, Mary Margaret took lots of photos so I will let her photos describe what we saw.

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Year 2 Day 27 Pecos, Texas And Oil, Oil Everywhere

We returned to our journey “goin’ down the road” today as we said goodbye to the Carlsbad, NM area and drove to Pecos, Texas. It was just 128 miles but was filled with countless oil wells and construction of oil well support facilities. We were surprised and impressed with all of the oil-based activities going on. This included a few drilling operations; lots of active oil wells – some with large gas flares shooting flames high up in the air; scores of small crude oil storage tanks scattered around the oil patch collecting crude oil, and a large number of crude oil transfer facilities located along US 285; and all of this way out in the middle of nowhere. The oil transfer facilities consisted of a large crude oil storage tank; huge supporting pumps; large, thick concrete surfaces to support the oil tanker trucks that drove into and out of the facilities; and overhead pipes where large tanker trucks would pull under and then the oil would gush into the tanker trucks until they were filled to the very top. Some facilities were servicing 4 to 6 trucks at a time with trucks coming in and going out.

A tanker truck delivers crude oil to NuStar’s terminal on Texas 85 in the Eagle Ford Shale, where it then is transported by pipeline to Corpus Christi.

Along with all of this, we passed a few oil field “cities” where scores upon scores of trailers, RVs and other types of temporary housing had popped up to support the oil field workers. It all was very impressive.

After 2.5 hours of driving, we reached the outskirts of Pecos, Texas and pulled off the road into a very large picnic area where we will be spending the night. At each end of the large grassy area were three large concrete picnic tables, an overhead sun shield protecting each table and a large BBQ grill. We are the only ones here spending the night, although during the afternoon a few pickup trucks and cars drove in to rest and grab a bite to eat before continuing on their journey.

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Tomorrow, we continue “goin’ down the road” for about 200 miles and plan on using another stopping place that is a bit unusual. We have noted that there is a nice, large pull off space just off the frontage road along I-10, about 10 miles before you come to the little town of Sonora, Texas. Hopefully, it will be as nice as Google Earth shows it to be… 10 Miles West Of Sonora, TX

Year 2 Day 24 – 26 Carlsbad Caverns National Park

Wow! That is the best word to describe what we saw today deep, down in the dark, dark, Carlsbad Caverns. The caverns are massive, with caves and caverns that are still not fully explored or discovered, since they have so far explored over 110 miles of them. Wow!

We explored the Big Cavern which was massive and filled with more remarkable pillars, stalactites, stalagmites, flows, and straws then we have ever seen before. It was just too much to take in with one visit. We spent about three hours down in the caverns and had a hard time absorbing it all.

The Big Cavern is so big that it could contain 14 football fields in it and still have room left over. In one area, it is over 340 high and is yet over 700 feet before the surface. Wow!

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We saw so much that instead of writing about it, I am posting lots of photos to show you what we saw. I will let the photos do the talking.

The photos will be posted in collages but if you click on a photo within the collage, it will pop up as a full-size photo which you can better inspect.

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Tomorrow we leave our campground here in Brantley Lake State Park and continue goin’ down the road as we slowly make our way east. We will be spending the night at a picnic area within Pecos, Texas.

Year 2 Days 22-23 Brantley Lake State Park

Yesterday we bundled up LeuC, said our goodbyes to the wonderful Pancho Villa State Park and headed down the road once more. Our goal was Brantley Lake State Park, north of Carlsbad, New Mexico. I had made reservations there to stay 5 days. This would allow us time to explore the area, especially the famous Carlsbad Caverns.

To get there, we skimmed across the northern boundary of Mexico, being as close as just 2000 feet away. It is hard to get any closer and still be in the US! This area of New Mexico is so desolate and harsh. We did see a couple Border Patrol vehicles slowly inching by on the south side of the road, but did not see anything else besides miles and miles of desert, scrub brush and yucca plants.

After about 1.5 hours of driving, we entered El Paso, Texas. This is our 6^th state we have visited since we started our RVing life last September. The last time we were in El Paso was way back in 1984 when Mary Margaret and I, along with our three little kids, were moving from Delaware to California. Back then, El Paso was a rough and tumble, dirty, hole-in-the-wall town. It has since modernized and it appeared to us that it has all of the typical conveniences of most medium size cities (population of about 650,000) in the US.

After filling up LeuC with diesel ($2.77/gal; Whoo Hoo!), we continued our trek down the road. We passed into golden brown, dried grasslands with the range being wide open and free of barb wire, no houses nor any sense of civilization being nearby. This was confirmed when we passed a sign that said the next service was 128 miles away!

Within a few hours we approached and then drove past the Guadalupe Mountains National Park with El Capitan, massive with its impressive cliffs, jutting high above us. The mountains are surrounded by the massive Chihuahuan Desert of western Texas. It’s known for its bright-white Salt Basin Dunes, wildlife-rich grasslands and fossilized reef mountains. It is part of the Permian fossil reef, now recognized as one of the most well-preserved fossil reefs in the world. We had originally planned to stop here on our way to Carlsbad Caverns but those plans were killed by the massive storm that swept passed us and forced us to hunkered down this last weekend. Actually, it was very fortuitous that we did hunker down since the shutdown of the US Government by Congress over the weekend had closed the National Park and we saw how its entrance road was barred closed as we drove by.

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After 5.5 hours of driving, we pulled into Brantley Lake State Park. We decided to not stay in our reserved site, since the site was on a slope that would have prevented us from leveling LeuC. Because half of the sites can not be reserved and are on a “first-come, first served” basis, we picked one of those sites that provided 50-amp service, water, a flat pad to park LeuC on and it also had one of the best views of the reservoir that skirts around the park.

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Today, we ventured into the town of Carlsbad. We needed to re-provision and we wanted to visit the Carlsbad Museum and Arts Center. After shopping, we entered the museum and were surprised by how wonderful the museum was. We were the only visitors and the docent was warm and friendly. The museum was one of the better local museums we have ever visited with massive glassed displays of arrowheads found locally (some dating back to 9,000 BC), intact ancient Indian pottery, an original 1800s Wells Fargo stagecoach, a whole room setup with miniature trains, including a working mine, an 1800s western town, cattle yard and ranch. It also had two rooms displaying original paintings by local artists and a large room dedicated to dinosaur bones and castings of huge T-Rex tracks found nearby. It also had two rooms filled with photos and stories of local men who had fought in past wars including the Spanish American War with pictures of Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders, the Pershing Punitive Expedition of 1916 which chased Pancho Villa throughout northern Mexico, WWI and WWII.

Tomorrow, we hope to drive over to the Carlsbad Cavern National Park. Since the government shutdown is now over and the National Parks System is once again open. Whoo Hoo!

Year 2 Day 20 Pancho Villa State Park

Yucca_ela_400 As we waited for this massive storm that has gripped the west to sweep past us, we remained hunkered down at this wonderful but simple state park. It is a typical southwestern desert park with lots of different types of cactuses sprinkled around the campsites mixed in with Soaptree Yucca plants and their beautiful long silver spikes, topped with globes of white, bell-shaped flowers flying high about the plant’s base.

The area is so pleasant that before the storm front arrived this afternoon, I just had to slip out of LeuC and hike around the park to take photos to share with you. I also wanted to capture some of the historic remains of Camp Furlough, the US Army camp which Pancho Villa raided back in March of 1916. The park is built on the former site of Camp Furlough. The battle that was fought here was only the second foreign army intrusion into the US; the first being during the War of 1812 when the English army marched on Washington DC and burned the capital.

An Overlay Of The Former Camp Furlough As It Was Expanded After The Villa Attack And The Current Pancho Villa State Park.

Camp Furlough And State Park

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Coot’s Hill As I Approached It From The South

Views From Coot’s Hill

Remains Of Camp Furlough’s Headquarters and Judge Advocate’s Office.

During my hike I also stopped at the remarkably wonderful Visitor’s Center that this park maintains. It contains a museum that documents and memorializes Pancho Villa’s raid where 18 Americans were killed and resulted in General “Blackjack” Pershing leading an army of 10,000 into Mexico, where he chased after Pancho Villa and his army. I have documented my exploration with lots of photos, which I will post to this blog.

Route Of Villa’s Attack. Note Location Of Coot’s Hill. Note The Original Location Of Camp Furlough. Also Note How Villa Used Coot’s Hill To Hide Their Approach.

Pancho Villa And His Troops and The Results Of His Raid On Columbus, NM

Pershing And His Troops Arriving In Columbus After Villa’s Raid And The Build Up Of Camp Furlong Where The State Park Is Now Located.

As I returned to LeuC, the leading edge of the storm’s front reached us here in the park. Strong winds blew up out of nowhere, reaching speeds of 30 mph. I spent the rest of the day with Mary Margaret as the winds buffeted us inside LeuC.

It looks like the worst of the storm is going to pass north of us, dumping lots of snow in Northern Mexico and Colorado. However, the route we will be taking to get to the Carlsbad Caverns, winds through some mountains, with a passed well above 5,000 feet. It too is supposed to get some snow so I am happy we are sitting this storm out here in Columbus, New Mexico.

Year 2 Days 19 Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

This morning, before the sun came up over the horizon, Mary Margaret and I bundled up LeuC and drove over to the sump dump. We were anxious to get on the road very early in hopes of getting over to Rock Hound State Park, just outside of Deming, New Mexico. We had called that park yesterday to see if they would have any space for us. The ranger said they were full but each morning a few spaces open up as people leave. Our best chance of getting a space was to get there as early as we could and then keep our fingers crossed.

We were on the road this morning by 0730 and arrived around 1030. Alas, the last open spot was taken just a few minutes before we arrived. Our backup plan was to drive 35 miles south, returning to Pancho Villa State Park so we turned around and drove down to Columbus, New Mexico, where Pancho Villa State Park is located.

When we pulled into the park, we were greeted by our old friend, Ranger Martin (pronounced Marteen), who remembered us and was so glad to see us again. After hugs and handshakes, we drove over to site 32 and parked and unbundled LeuC.

We had been watching the weather and noticed that a massive snow storm was about to impact our travels this weekend. Similar to sailing across the ocean, touring in a RV is impacted by weather. Some wind and rain is not really a big deal but snow, freezing rain and gusts up to 40 mph are all stuff we wish to avoid. If we can not avoid any of it, then our strategy is to find a place where we can plug in and hunker down until the storm passes and the roads clear.

Here are the weather maps that we were watching and which made us decided to sit tight though the weekend here in Pancho Villa State Park.

As you can see, this coming storm is going to harass the route we wish to take to get to where the Carlsbad Caverns are located. Furthermore, the nightly temperatures will be dropping down into the 20’s, making the wet roads icy well into the morning. Thus, our decision to hunker down here at the Pancho Villa State Park, with our 50-amp service, staying warm, dry and safe inside LeuC.

We do have reservations the Brantley Lake State Park just north of Carlsbad, New Mexico that start on Monday. We can make that reservation by driving on Monday the 6 or so hours our route will take. While we are trying to keep our drives down to just a few hours, one needs to do what one needs to do!

As an aside, I am getting a number of comments to yesterday’s blog requesting guidance on how often I should post our blogs. If you read between the lines, I am leaning toward changing the format so that I write a blog or two at each significant stop or event. The comments tend to favor that also. Thus, I believe I will go ahead in institute this change.

Year 2 Days 17 and 18 An Alternative Format

I am playing around with the concept of modifying the format of this blog and I would like your feedback. Up until now, I have mostly been doing a daily blog, with some exceptions when the blog would cover two or so days. This has worked pretty well since, up until now, we have been doing a lot of things, seeing a lot of people and traveling a lot. Since we are planning to take a more leisurely pace in the future, I am thinking that I would write one or two blogs describing each significant place we visit, instead of a daily blog. My thinking is that this would provide a more enjoyable blog, with the high and low lights of each visit discussed. Anyway, I am putting this out to you in hopes of getting some direction from you as to how I should proceed. Please take a minute and share your thoughts with me. Thanks.

Year 2 Days 15 and 16 The Party Is Over

Yesterday morning the kids packed up their trailer and pickup truck, hugs and smooches with the grandkids and kids were had, and Mary Margaret and I waved goodbye as the Boyless troop drove away. We do not anticipate seeing them again until Christmas when we return to Tucson for the end of year holidays. We had such a wonderful time and are so glad that Christina and Michael took time off from work to extend the weekend to 4 days. Whoo Hoo!

When the dust cleared from their departure, Mary Margaret and I were faced with…. Quiet! The decibel level was noticeably lower. It is remarkable how active and noisy three normal kids, 5 and under, can be. This is all part of the deal in raising three curious and smart kids when they are so young. Christina and Michael shared with us that they think they are about 2 years away from being able to go camping for longer periods of time and maintain their sanity.

These last two days Mary Margaret and I have just relaxed and rested, with a nice, long walk mixed in. Tomorrow, I will spend some time refining our travel plans. This next phase of our journey is rather loose. We know we wish to go up to Carlsbad, New Mexico, where the famous Carlsbad Caverns are located but exactly how we get there is still up in the air. Once this is resolved, I will share what we decided with you.

Year 2 Day 14 Tombstone

This morning we all piled into our respective vehicles and headed down the road to Tombstone. The grandkids were all excited about seeing cowboys. I had visited Tombstone this last October and thought that the little ones would enjoy the experience.

After getting oriented at the Tombstone Visitors Center we walked the wide streets over to the OK corral, which was the location of the famous gunfight between the Clanton-McLaury gang and the Earps and Doc Holiday back in 1881. We explored the museum and the outside displays. The grandkids were able to sit in buggies, splash their hands in gold mining sluice, see actors dressed up as the “bad” guys and lawmen. We opted not to watch the reenactment of the gunfight as I had watched it last October and was very disappointed with it.

Instead, we walked to the western end of the town, to where another gun fight reenactment would be held. There was a mini-arcade with a shooting gallery that Isaac and Stella with a little help from Christina, really enjoyed. We then watched the gunfight and afterwards, Stella went up to meet the actors and was scooped up into their arms with a big smile on her face. Isaac, to my surprise, was a bit intimidated and hid behind Christina, too shy to get involved.

After a big lunch, topped off with a visit to an ice cream shop, where the kids seemed to get more ice cream around their mouths then in them, we returned to our campground. Once there, well deserved naps and rest time was had by all.

After dinner, we once again retired to the fire ring and with a nice fire blazing away, marshmallows were roasted and enjoyed. This was going to be our last nightly fire together as Christina, Michael and grandkids will be returning home tomorrow. This three-day weekend has gone just too fast and it has been wonderful to share our RVing experience with the kids and grandkids.

Year 2 Day 13 The Caverns

After a yummy breakfast of eggs and bacon with lots of strong, black coffee, Mary Margaret and Wyatt headed down the campground road, jointly pushing a stroller. They would be staying in the campground while the rest of us would be exploring the Visitor Center and then touring the cavern called “The Rotunda”.

The Visitor Center is excellent with lots of displays that explain how the caverns were created, discovered, and what has been found inside the caverns. It is very educational as well as entertaining.

We next went outside to be part of the tour group and received a nice briefing by our ranger who would be giving our tour on what we were going to be seeing. There were 17 in our party. We then piled into the tram that took us up part of the limestone mountain that contained the caverns.

Once at the entrance, we walked through a series of big, steel, bank vault like doors, each time stopping to be locked within the cave. This was to prevent the natural cave humidity to escape as we moved deeper and deeper into the cave system. In the last enclosure, we were misted by misters mounted into the walls just to be sure that our clothes would not absorb any of the natural humidity within the cavern.

Once acclimated to the natural temperature and humidity of the cave systems (70 degrees and moderately high humidity), the last of the big steel doors was open and we walking into the cavern itself. We were greeted by huge cathedral like pillars, stalagmites, stalactites, ribbon flows, 20-foot-long straws hanging from the ceiling and walls, as well as a ceiling of various colors. It was beautiful, almost breath-taking. The tour was over after an hour and we saw and learned a lot. It was great to share this with the kids and grandkids.

We returned to LeuC and spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our time with the kids and grandkids. After dinner, we once again lit a fire and roasted marshmallows. Mary Margaret and I retired for the night, tired but happy that we could spend this time with our kids.