Spring 2010 page 2
We made one stop in New Mexico, in Deming to be precise.
The Route:
We were really surprised to see a lot of nut tree orchards in New Mexico. "Nut tree" because I don't know what kind of nuts they were growing. Maybe pecans. Maybe hazelnuts. Maybe.... Anyway, I expected desert and cactus.
We experienced a dust storm while in Deming. Very fine dust. The storm started while we were visiting a nearby State Park which allows rock hounds to collect rocks. Not many parks allow visitors to tote stuff of so we had to go check this out. Turns out, you have to be able to identify rocks a lot better than I can to take advantage of this offer. Anyway, back to the dust storm. Since we had left some windows open while out exploring we returned to find a lot of dust in the trailer. In fact, we were still finding hidden pockets of the stuff weeks later. The dust was very thick, just like in the movies. You could hardly see across the campground and the hills surrounding the area were completely obscured. The good news was that it was a dust storm and not a sand storm so the paint on our vehicles was not damaged.
On to Texas.
The Route:
Taken near our campground in Fort Stockton. Pretty well describes west
Texas. Not a lot to see but what there is you can see at great distance.
Fredericksburg was a very enjoyable stop. Lots to do in town including a great museum of the Pacific war and a nice museum on the life of Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Our third Texas stop was at Lake Bryan.
The Route:
Here we stayed in a small park owned
and operated by the local utility company. It was overflowing on the
weekend and the music from the band on the dock was annoying to those who don't
wear hearing aides. During the week we were the only ones in the park.
Sunset over the lake.
We stopped here to visit with Phil and Jennifer. Bob and
Susan came down for a visit at the same time so we had a mini-family reunion.
In Bryan.
And a picture of their house.
Near Bryan, there is a huge antique fair held the first weekend in April. This is in Round Top and it is quite a sight. There are hundreds (maybe even thousands) of vendors setup in tents, barns, and buildings along about a 10 mile stretch of road. Many setup in the days before the big weekend so you can shop til you drop for days on end.
Phil and Jennifer also have a travel trailer so we went down to Matagorda on the Gulf Coast for a couple of days.
The Route:
The beach at Matagorda is huge, 20 something miles of empty beach that you can drive on, or let the dogs romp on and, the RV park there is very nice too.
Our last stop in Texas was at a Corp of Engineers park on Bardwell Lake.
The Route:
The COE parks are great deals. The price is usually pretty low to start and then gets cut in half with our senior discount.
