Small Home – Big Yard

Beymer Water Recreation Park

Departing Palo Duro Canyon we headed north through the Texas Panhandle, through the Oklahoma Panhandle and about 70 miles into Kansas. Following the tradition of RVer’s everywhere we wanted to apply at least one more sticker to our “been there” map. Last night about 5pm we poured a celebratory Margarita and applied the Kansas sticker to our map.

Beymer Park Lakes

We’re parked at the Beymer Water Recreation Park, just a few miles south of Lakin, Kansas. So far off the beaten path, we’re the only ones using one of the 8 sites that provide water and 15/30 amp electric, covered picnic tables and freestanding charcoal grills. At one end of the row of RV sites is a large group pavilion and at the other end is the bath house. Between the main highway and the park are several small sand lakes that attracted a few fishermen while we were there.

Kearny County Wind Gage

Behind the sites are a tall row of trees that provide a good wind block. Unique in character and location, the only downside to this park is the bath house facility. Older and without any kind of privacy between toilets and the one non-working shower, these really need a fix-up. But, to the county’s defense – these facilities probably haven’t been used much during the winter months – so the fact that the water is turned on and the doors are unlocked was somewhat of a surprise. And, for a $5 overnight fee, this was by far the least expensive, and certainly the most private park we’ve been in.

Ready to Roll

Today we’ll head west out of Lakin on Highway 50 which follows the Arkansas river into Colorado. We’re only about 6 hours from home, so assuming all goes according to plan, this will be the last blog post for the Texas Road Trip 2011. In May we’re headed to Moab – so more from Utah.



Palo Duro Canyon

What do you call a bunch of wild turkeys? Whatever it is, we were awakened by a group of 5 clucking and scratching as they wandered through our campsite this morning. We made the long trek to the Texas Panhandle yesterday all the way from Lake Travis to Palo Duro Canyon State Park, the “Grand Canyon of Texas”. Located at the end of a 2 lane county road about 10 miles off of I-27, you approach through the grass and wheat fields that stretch as far as can be seen. Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge canyon begins to open along the road. Entering through the state park gateway you drive a bit further along the rim and then head down into the canyon. All facilities, day use picnic areas, rustic as well as electric/water sites, stables and miles of hiking/biking trails are located on the floor of the canyon.

Palo Duro Canyon

We’re in site #32 in the Hackberry Camp Area. The site is one of the first as you enter the loop, fairly private and close enough to the showers – but it’s not level. Even with all of our leveling blocks we can’t get the front of the truck high enough. A better site would be #30. Roughly in the center of the campsite loop is a shower house with two clean showers, sinks and toilets. There are dumpsters scattered along the loop road and an RV dump station nearby on the main road. There are 3 camp areas that cater to RV’s with power and water connections. The first as you drive into the canyon is Sagebrush, the largest with about 40 sites, then Hackberry with about 30 sites and finally Mesquite with about 20 sites. Each of these areas provide 30/50 amp electric & water service, a shower house and a nearby dump station.

Hackberry Site #30

When we arrived about 6:30 last night, the wind was howling out of the south with gusts to nearly 50 mph. But, down in the canyon the winds were a bit more mild and it became calm after sunset. We fired up the grill and enjoyed a good dinner. There is no TV or cell service in the canyon, we’re completely “unattached” here. This morning the winds stay fairly calm until about 9am. Once the red dust of the canyon starts blowing, we pack up and head out. Today we’ll continue north, finally leaving Texas, passing through the narrow panhandle of Oklahoma and into Kansas. More later.

The grass is brown, it’s nearly 100 degrees and the wind is rotating the endless fields of huge white electric wind turbines – it must be West Texas. The trip through the hill country was pleasant with a few sightings of roadside blue bonnets and Indian paint brush. However, in general the wildflowers are nearly non-existent this year. The dry conditions being blamed on La Nina and the unusually hot temperatures have ended the wildflower growing season. In this western area and into the panhandle, there are wildfires blazing. Sounds like a long summer for this area of Texas.

We’re about an hour south of Lubbock, and about 3 hours south of Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It’s going to be a long day, but it looks like we’ll be back on schedule this afternoon. More from the “Grand Canyon of Texas”

La Hacienda Office

We’re about an hour further west than planned, after arriving at McKinney Falls State Park and finding the RV sites fully booked. A few calls to nearby State Parks confirm that this is a very busy weekend in the Austin area with most RV sites booked through the weekend. So, it’s back to a “commercial” RV Park for the night. We opt for La Hacienda RV Resort near Lake Travis.

La Hacienda & Lake Travis

On the eastern border of the Texas Hill Country, the Austin area is carved out of beautiful rolling hills covered in mesquite, pecan, oak other hardwoods and scrub brush. Dramatic views abound within the city limits as well as further west around Lake Travis. La Hacienda is a large RV park (around 200 RV spaces) with plenty of amenities and services including full hookups, WiFi, 50 or so cable TV channels, large pristinely clean laundry and shower facilities. It’s conveniently located high on a bluff between two of the largest Lake Travis bays and not far from the famous Carlos n’ Charles on the lake. But, like nearly every other park like this, it feels very tight. If it wasn’t for the constant drone of air conditioners, you’d be able to listen to your neighbors conversation or TV. And, air conditioning was necessary yesterday – the Austin area broke high temperate records with 95 degrees – and, of course these temps are accompanied with the sticky humidity that this area of Texas is known for. It’s beautiful, but it sure can get muggy.

Fortunately temperatures dropped fairly quickly after sunset. We enjoyed a quick dinner, caught up on some email and the TV news before calling it a day. This morning after breakfast we packed up and were on the road by 10am. Today we’ll cut diagonally across the hill country into the plains of west Texas. The goal is to reach Palo Duro Canyon State Park tonight – but that’s a long haul, nearly 500 miles from Austin. More later from West Texas.

We packed up and headed out of the south Rio Grande Valley about 10:30 this morning. We’ve had a great time enjoying the warm weather and exploring our favorite places from Mission, TX to South Padre Island. As has become tradition, we spent an afternoon across the border in Mexico, doing a bit of Tequila shopping and having an authentic Mexican lunch along with $1 Mexican cervazas. The recent drug wars have undoubtedly deterred some, but Progresso was still fairly busy with Winter Texans. And, as in past years, we experienced nothing but welcoming shop owners and street vendors. There was certainly no sense of the violence that has disrupted other larger border cities.

Earlier in the week we spent an afternoon on South Padre Island. The beaches were unusually busy even though Spring Break officially ended last weekend. Occupying the very southern tip of the Island is Isla Blanca Park with nearly 600 RV spaces. Some day we’d like to stay here in one of the largest RV campgrounds in the state. Within walking distance are beautiful beaches, fishing piers and several bars and restaurants.

Last night we celebrated my birthday and had a farewell dinner with a friends and family at a local Harlingen Mexican food restaurant. Thanks to everyone that has made this yet another unforgettable winter get-away. We really enjoy spending the time with each of you every year.

In yet another change of route, today we’re headed toward Austin instead of Kerrville as originally planned. After our good experience at South Llano River State Park, we have opted to explore one more Texas park, McKinney Falls State Park near Austin. This routing will place us a bit further east making the drive toward the Texas panhandle longer tomorrow. More from McKinney Falls.

Pepe's Flooding, July 2010

One of our favorite diversions while in South Texas is Pepe’s Riverside Bar & Grill located along the banks of the Rio Grande in Mission, TX. With water from the river literally lapping at the patio, the huge unenclosed palapa covered a large dance floor with a stage and surrounding tables. Winter Texans came from miles around to enjoy the music, burgers and cold beers at Pepe’s. Unfortunately the floods of July, 2010 may have seen this landmark begin to fade away. With water nearly up to the thatching of the palapa, all electrical, plumbing and appliances stood in flood waters for over 30 days. Today when we visited, the gates are locked, there’s a small For Sale sign nearby and the weeds have been allowed to take over the parking lot.

The Riverside Club

Just upstream from Pepe’s is the Riverside Club. Formerly an events center for special occasions and private parties, the Riverside Club appears to have adjusted their operating hours for more frequent openings to former Pepe’s customers. The main dance hall is similar in size to Pepe’s, but built from a modern, clean metal structure with huge garage doors on two sides that can be opened up to the river breezes. Replaced wood paneling about 3 feet from the floor remind of the flood waters here. Today when we were there, with temperatures over 90, the doors were closed and the air conditioning was keeping the dance floor and table area comfortably cool. Outside, closer to the river is a large grassy area and several covered picnic tables for those that prefer the river experience. While not quite as rustic as Pepe’s, the Riverside Club is a great facility with friendly staff, good bar food and the most important, cold beers. Hopefully they will be around for a long, long time.

Mission, TX - 14 Jul 2010 - Margaret Jackson, left, and Cindy Frey walk out from the Riverside Club as water from the Rio Grande River flooded the area Wednesday morning in Mission. Photo by Gabe Hernandez/gabrielh@themonitor.com

Mission, TX - 14 Jul 2010 - A sign is displayed as water from the Rio Grande River rises near the office from Chimney Park RV Resort Wednesday morning in Mission. Photo by Gabe Hernandez/gabrielh@themonitor.com

Mission, TX - 14 Jul 2010 - Gordon Rudd helps move a friends golf cart from flooded water Wednesday morning at Chimney Park RV Resort in Mission. Photo by Gabe Hernandez/gabrielh@themonitor.com

Choke Canyon State Park

We’re now finally closer to the Gulf of Mexico than the Rocky Mountains!  Today we drove through San Antonio, turned south and are about 200 miles from the lower Rio Grande Valley.  We’re camping overnight at the Choke Canyon State Park, just outside Three Rivers, TX.  The 40 electric/water hookup sites are situation alongside the 26,000 acre Choke Canyon Reservoir, part of the water supply system for Corpus Christi.  The sites are spread out across two large loop areas with natural trees and grass.  This is an older park and not maintained nearly as well as South Llano river.  But still, it’s quite comfortable and very nice to be camping near water again – quite a change from the arid desert around Elephant Butte. 

Choke Canyon #133

The internet service is barely hanging in there – the Verizon Broadband comes and goes as does the T-Mobile cell phone coverage.  But for just a quick overnight, this will work fine.  However, the TV signals from San Antonio are strong, so we’ve been able to catch up on some of the news and weather.  This will be the last night in the camper for awhile – tomorrow we’ll arrive in Harlingen where we’ll spend about 10 days relaxing and enjoying the warm weather along the golf coast.  More later…

South Llano River State Park

We’ve just packed up and left South Llano State Park outside of Junction, TX where we spent two nights.  We arrived about 2:30 on Sunday afternoon, found the wireless connectivity to be adequate (cell phones only, no Verizon Broadband) and selected site #21, way back in the far corner of the electric/water loop.  This area of Central Texas is very dry – the camp host said the last measureable rain was back in October!  The leaves are just now showing up on the trees, and most grass areas are still dry winter brown.  But, even with the winter-like conditions, the area is beautiful.  This is a huge birding center – over 250 varieties of birds stop here on their way to points north.  The Rio Grande Turkey is also abundant in the park, having just left their winter roosts, the turkeys can be heard wandering through the scrub oak and Mesquite. There were even a few spotting of this surprisingly agile, quick bird.  Even more surprising is their size – standing fully upright their head must be a good 4 feet off the ground – not something you’d want to get in a fight with!

We’re still one day ahead of schedule after rearranging the route in West Texas.  The original plan was to spend two nights in Davis Mountains State Park, but we’re glad we ended up at South Llano instead.  The 50 or so campgrounds are spaced far apart, some with heavy brush and trees making it impossible to see a neighboring site.  Each site has a fairly long, narrow, level pad with convenient water and power hookups, a picnic table and plenty of shade.  Some of the picnic tables are covered with a wooden gazebo. The camper services building, in the center of the long oval loop has very clean, well lit showers, sinks and toilets.  There is no laundry facility in the park.  There is a convenient dump station at the entrance to the campgrounds. 

Over 500 acres adjacent to the South Llano River are divided into three areas, nearest the river is the turkey roosting area, closed during the winter months, the camping and facilities area in the center and wildlife management area to the east.  This wildlife management area easily constitutes 80% of the park with numerous hiking & biking trails, a scenic overlook and 4 bird blinds.  This was a working cattle ranch until the late 1970’s when it was donated to Texas Parks and Wildlife.  Following infrastructure improvements, the park opened to the public in 1990.

On Monday we enjoyed a break from the traveling routine – working for several hours and exploring the park.  We didn’t manage to say parked all day, due to a short drive into Junction for a few grocery items.   Our plan after leaving South Llano is to make one more overnight stop at Choke Canyon State Park, about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio.  We’ll travel about 200 miles today and then be less than 200 miles from Harlingen, our final destination.  More from Choke Canyon!

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Hueco Tanks State Park

We’ve just packed up and hit the road after an overnight stay in Van Horn, TX.  Van Horn – that wasn’t in the plan?  Yep, we’ve made a few routing changes.  With our focus on state parks this year, we knew that a potential trade-off would be internet and phone service.  Before leaving Truth or Consequences yesterday we had already discussed the possibility of replacing Davis Mountains State Park (the planned stop tomorrow night) with somewhere else.  Not only were we concerned about access, but Ft. Davis is about 150 miles or so out of the way.  We left T or C about 10am and were in Hueco Tanks State Park around noon.  Hueco Tanks offers WiFi access, but only at the entrance gate.  And, there was no cellular service with either Verizon or T-Mobile in the campsites.  It’s early in the day – we can’t catch up on work without access – we decide to keep heading east.  This will definitely take Davis Mountains out of the plan.

West Texas Sunrise

After rejoining I-10 on the east side of El Paso, our first destination is a RV Park in Sierra Blanca about 2 hours east.  Pulling into Sierra Blanca we find a near ghost town.  The only activity seems to be an Amtrak train rumbling through town.  The RV park, just 1 block off the tracks looks like an abandon RV junk yard.  It doesn’t take us long to get back on I-10!  Our next destination is Van Horn, about another hour east along I-10. There are several RV Parks to choose from, we select the KOA which seems furthest from the highway and train tracks. 

Van Horn KOA

The Van Horn KOA turns out to be a small oasis in the otherwise sparse desert of west Texas.  Very friendly staff, a café (that’s a Kafe in KOA speak), a small store, pool, laundry room and clean showers.  We’re settled into site #D1 about 5pm (we’ve now crossed into Central time) and watch the nearly constant procession of coaches, 5th wheels and travel trailers arriving at the campground. 

Van Horn KOA

The west Texas sunset is beautiful as we enjoy a dinner of grilled chops, fresh broccoli and baked potato.   One of our neighbors is pulling what must be nearly 50’ of combined RV and horse trailer.  Inside are two horses that make the annual trip from Pennsylvania to Arizona in the Fall and back again in the Spring.  Conveniently located next to the campground is a horse boarding stable where the two horses will spend the night.  Having left the Phoenix area around 4am, they must have traveled nearly 550 miles yesterday.  And, they are back at it today, after a pre-dawn departure, headed for the Arkansas/Texas state line – nearly 700 miles to the east.  Texas sure is a big state!

With this route change, we should be in S Llano River this evening – one day ahead of schedule.  More later from  Central Texas.

Elephant Butte State Park

Much better!  That’s how we would rate the camping at Elephant Butte State Park over the small RV campgrounds that dot the area surrounding the lake.  Last year we spent the night at Lakeview RV Park – without a chance of a lake view!  This year we opted to “rough-it” a bit.  For $17 (including park admission and overnight) we had a true lake view, plenty of space on a level double paved pad, privacy afforded by short scrub vegetation, a covered picnic table, a clean fire pit plus electric (30 or 50 amp) and water hookups. 

Lake Elephant Butte

There are 3 campgrounds near the main entrance to the State Park.  The first is Desert Cove, a small loop with 17 sites configured around the outside.  Inside are large group picnic buildings and overflow parking.  The next is Quail Run, a row of 27 sites configured on both sides of an access road.  The furthest, and probably the original campground, Lions Beach sits out on a bluff that once overlooked the lake.  With the waters receding at least 200 feet, it now overlooks a dry bay of sand and tumbleweeds.  Lions Beach has about 50 sites configured in 3 rows and felt much more dense. 

Site #12

We opted for site #12 at Quail Run.  Each campground has a camp host that we met as soon as we selected the site.  New Mexico uses a system of green or red signs on each camp site.  Green allows unreserved use of the site for a single night.  Stays of more than overnight need to be confirmed through the central reservation service, or you face possible “eviction” each day.  Shared between the Quail Run and Desert Cove is a camper services building with 4 toilets and 2 showers.  And, unlike Colorado State Parks, the showers are free, no need to plug a quarter slot.  There was also a self-service pay station and an RV dump station in this centralized service area. 

Before heading out, we’ll join my Uncle for breakfast at the Hill Top Café.  The ratings for this Truth or Consequences landmark vary from “…basic diner food, however the green chili is top notch prepared the same way forever.” to “Nothing fancy about the Hilltop. Tasty green chili, good service and all the basics” and “I cannot understand how this place could stay in business with all the health code violations I observed.”  I’d agree with all the ratings, good home cooked food, tasty green chili and fair portions in a true greasy spoon environment.  After talking with Dick Chan, the owner of 14 years, we found he’s retiring next month.  This may be the last chance to visit the old Hill Top Café. 

We’re bound for the El Paso, Texas area this afternoon.  More after we arrive at Hueco Tanks State Park.