Travel Archives - Page 27 of 38 - Our View From The Road

Day 18: To the clouds

Good news, we awoke in the same place we parked last evening. The winds dropped fairly quickly last night and it was peaceful on the range.

We departed before 10:00am and headed towards Carlsbad, NM. First a quick stop in Whites City to take a couple of pictures.

Carlsbad is a fairly large town with all of the associated amenities should you need them. We stopped for gas and moved on.

Heading North on SR-285, we drive to Artesia and came across several orchards of Pecan trees. We turned West onto SR-82 and drove through the nicely decorated town center. Heading out of town we were buzzed by student pilots practicing touch-and-go circuits at the local airport.

Continuing West we entered ranch land. Lots of cattle ranches with large gates with names above them along with their branding symbol. Slowly at first and then more noticeably, the land climbed into the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains and onto the Lincoln National Forest. The grasslands became conifer forests as the road climbed to 8,676ft as we entered Cloudcroft, a small town clearly a year-round outdoor destination that had a small but quaint downtown, food trucks and BBQ joints. The ski hill was closed for the season but there were still a few remnants of snow from this past Winter to be seen.

Changing scenery on the way to Cloudcroft, NM

We stopped and picked up pastries from a small bakery and tacos from a well reviewed food truck.

The road from here was all downhill, literally. 6% grades for several miles westward has us taking it easy on the brakes and letting the transmission do its job of managing the speed. We stopped halfway down at a rest stop to eat our Mexican lunch (delicious) and take a few photos before completing the 6% descent into Almagordo, NM.

Our destination is the Oliver Lee Memorial State Park just South of town. No reservation but they tend to have some ‘walk-in’ sites available. We arrived at about 2:30pm and all of the walk-in sites had been taken and all reservation sites were booked for the night.

We were contemplating our next steps when the park host came by and told us that he had room for one rig in the ‘overflow’ area. We took it. No services where we are camping but we have access to the comfort station should we need it and can dump our tanks before leaving. Good for one night!

Overflow camping, Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, NM

Day 17: Carlsbad caverns, Whites City, NM

Good morning. We woke at 8:00am to the wind still blowing and a forecast of very strong winds this afternoon. The night was quiet (putting aside the aforementioned wind). No coyotes or other critters about.

Today we are visiting the Carlsbad Caverns, a well known large cave system in the Guadeloupe mountain range of New Mexico. We have entrance tickets for 12:30pm and so take the morning easy relaxing in the van (to windy and sandy to sit outside comfortably).

We arrived at the Carlsbad cavern visitor center at 12:15pm and were allowed to start our self-guided tour immediately. We had heard that they were strict about observing entry times based on reservations so this was a nice surprise.

We chose to walk into the caverns using the natural entrance as opposed to taking an available elevator directly down the the ‘Big room’ so as to fully experience the caves.

The entrance is huge and is a good indicator of how large this cave system is. They have bat viewings at the entrance in the evenings when the bats swarm out of the caves into the sky to hunt for insects, we were not planning to stay quite that long.

The caves slowly get darker but there are plenty of low level lights that show you the way of the walkway.

The walk down the entrance cave is done on a paved walkway with stainless steel hand rails, there are only a few stairs in very steep sections. As per the signs at the entry, we had to walk down about 750’ (230m) or the equivalent of 75 stories (the height of the Empire State Building in New York).

Along the walkway down the natural entrance cave

In a nutshell, this is one big hole in the ground! It took us about an hour to descend to the level of the ‘Big room’ which is the main spectacle of the cave system stretching many hundreds of feet in multiple directions and containing so many different stalactite and stalagmite formations all lit with accent lighting. The temperature in the caves was a little warmer than we expected at 12C and so the sweaters we wore were off before we completed the descent.

Navigation map when you arrive in the ‘Big room’

Our walk about the ‘Big room lasted about an hour before we chose to take the elevator back up to the visitor center which of course drops you off directly in the gift shop. We purchased a couple of pins for our collection before departing.

In all we were in the caves for a little over 2 hours and really enjoyed the experience. The walk down is not hard but your knees and legs do get quite a workout. You do not need to be Uberfit to complete the walk, but you will want to take advantage of the seating provided along the walkway to rest, hydrate and enjoy the various views.

Not our van, but a serious German adventurer

We drive back to the BLM land on which we camped last night and managed to snag the same site.

The winds had risen significantly while we were underground with wind gusts now at 64km/h. These are supposed to drop steadily overnight, so hopefully we will awake in the same place we parked.

All the best everyone.

Day 16: from wineries to refineries

The wind let up around midnight and the cool air arrived bringing with it a heavy morning dew and fog down in the valley. We slept in. We ate a simple breakfast. We organized the van for a day of travel. We vacated the overlook parking area at 10:00am.

Looking back up the valley to where we stayed

We headed West down the SR-290 towards Sheffield, TX. Stopping briefly at the Fort Lancaster visitor center to take a photo of the fort ruins. Sheffield is a depressing, small town that time appears to have forgotten about around the time the I-10 bypassed the community.

Returning to the I-10W we continued toward Fort Stockton, TX where we stopped at the visitor center. The town mascot is a large Roadrunner statue that stands across the road from the visitor center. The visitor center itself is in a renovated train station that stands beside a SantaFe rail line that ran into Mexico. It’s no longer used.

We tried to procure a coffee at the local McDonalds but it was being overrun by teenagers when we arrived and so we chose to move on.

Leaving Fort Stockton our route turned NorthWest on SR-285 towards Pecos. We were entering Texas oil country. Everywhere we looked there are oil pumps, storage tanks, pumping stations and refineries. The oddest sight to us were the workers camps setup along the side of the highway that consisted of rows of RV shelters and temporary housing structures. The road was undergoing a major reconstruction and as such there were many reduced speed zones.

Arriving in Pecos, TX we stopped at the Pecos Museum where we parked in the RV parking area and made lunch in the van. Afterwards we walked about and took some photos around the museum.

The SR-285 North of Pecos was also under construction right to the New Mexico border, which, because of construction was marked by a bump in the road. No “Welcome to New Mexico” sign. Construction continued into NM however, reduced speed limits of 45mph instead of the Texan reduced speed limits of 65mph meant much slower progress was made. Eventually we turned from the SR-285 cross country towards Whites City.

We are trying for the first time camping on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land. This is US Gov’t owned land and is open for public use. Camping is considered ‘off-grid’ as there are no amenities or even paved roads. Site selection is on a first come first served basis. We have chosen a spot about 500yds away from the highway on a dirt track in the middle of the desert. It is windy, but peaceful. Yes, there is some limited cell phone coverage. We plan on staying here for a couple of days.

Take care everyone.

Day 15: Head West they said

A bit of tidying up and a quick breakfast and we were ready for the road. Oh wait, the water tank needs filling and the other tanks need emptying. Ok, so 10:00am and we’re driving off of our site to the dump station, no waiting, we’re #1. No no issues, time to head west.

Our journey took us out of Austin westward on SR-290 and started as multi-lane highway that all-to-shortly ended at a construction zone. The 290 is an older highway that weaves its way westward across the state. After many traffic lights we were in the country, it was still cloudy and humid after the recent rain. The city had fallen away to Texas Hill Country, the flora was changing to be more tolerant of drought with the trees becoming fewer and the grasslands dominating the landscape.

Johnson City, TX. Not a place we stopped in but clearly the beginning of Texas wine country. Between Johnson City and Fredericksburg there are hundreds of wineries and a few distilleries. Some with interesting names, some trying to sound European, and a few just off the wall, like “Fat Ass Brewery” (where the ass is shown as an outline of a mule). Typically Texan, the wineries and tasting rooms are enormous, some even castle-like in size and appearance so it must be making financial sense to grow grapes and make wine in Texas.

Eventually the SR-290 merged into the I-10W. The surroundings were now clearly desert-like as there are few trees and lots of low scrub. Texans like driving fast, the speed limit is 80mph (130kph) which most seem to exceed. Not us, 75mph is plenty for the van, especially today as the winds have come up and are blowing across the highway not allowing me to relax at all. The temperature is now 29C (up from 17C earlier this morning). No, we’re not complaining of the heat but a little moderation might be nice.

We stopped in Junction, TX to have lunch in a park next to a river. It was warm and allowed us to dry out a few items while we ate.

We stop in Ozona, TX for provisions and fuel. The grocery store, Lowe’s Market, is a typical smaller town grocery store and Barb had some challenges finding exactly what she wanted. However, we will not starve. We decided that Sonic takeout would suffice for dinner and once acquired we were back on the road to our destination.

Fort Lancaster Scenic Overlook (on the old SR-290) had been recommended to us by the Milddogs based on their van trip last year. It’s a picnic area that overlooks an amazing valley. We arrived and chose our spot, there are two other vehicles that look like they’ve settled in for the evening. We ate dinner and then relaxed waiting for sunset. The sunset did not disappoint, the sky was clear except for a few very high clouds that turned a wonderful shade of orange as the sun slipped below the horizon.

We settled down in the van for the night having been joined in the parking lot by two more campervans. As the sky darkened, the stars began to show themselves and what a show. The sky is pitch black, there is no light intrusion from civilization, the stars are brilliant.

Good night all.

P.S. The Milddogs to which we have referred in several of these posts are our friends from home. They too have a campervan and have been traveling about Texas for the past few weeks. Our paths crossed and so we cross-posted in our respective blogs. Please give them a read if you have some time.

Day 14: McKinney Falls State Park 2

Yep, we’re still here. The weather though… ugh. Awoke to light rain that was not forecast. Result: the walk was wet today.

Because of the lack of rain in the forecast we decided to leave our chairs and outdoor rug outside overnight. They are wet and full of sow bugs and beetles. Yuck.

Breakfast was leftover pancakes and bacon with maple syrup. Mmm.

After lunch we accompanied our friends, the Milddogs, on a walk to a few of the interesting sites within the park. We started by walking to the upper falls and then to ‘Old Baldy’ a large and very old Bald Cypress tree. Then onto a cave in the riverbank that was a prehistoric home. By this time the rain intensity had increased to that of being uncomfortable and so we returned to our campsite to dry off.

After drying off we returned to Camp Milddogs for some late afternoon banter and drinks before returning to the van for dinner.

After dinner we hosted the Milddogs for a final evening of cards before they and us each head in our own directions tomorrow to conclude our camping trips. It’s been fun catching up with good friends and being able to swap ideas and tips that we can use while traveling. Bon Voyage mon amis.

Our evening was concluded by getting a jump on preparing for departure tomorrow by loading the bikes and putting away a few items. It is supposed to be a warm 17C overnight, so no heaters or heavy blankets will be required. Tomorrow the heat is supposed to arrive. Stay tuned.