Texas & Southern New Mexico

Texas and Southern New Mexico

March 29-April 9

Austin, TX

March 29: It POURED and stormed last night but cleared up in the morning for a beautiful day and drive from Baton Rouge, LA to Austin, TX. Because the back of our toilet was leaking fresh water, we stopped at a hardware store on the way but they didn’t have the washer we needed. So we drove Highway 10 all the way to Austin, passing over a long flooded swamp/bayou that was really cool to see. We had been hoping to see a live armadillo on the trip. We saw many dead armadillos as roadkill, but no live ones. We arrived at our nephew's house in Austin around 6PM and had an Indian dinner take-in. We hung out and played with our 3 year old great-nephew who LOVES playing in the van!  

March 30: In the morning, we walked to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center which was really fun. The gardens there are beautiful and there are lots of fun walks and climbs and gardens to explore with a toddler. With the bluebonnets in full bloom, the flowers were wonderful! We had lunch at the café there and then walked home. While our great-nephew was napping, we drove around looking for the part we needed to fix the toilet, going to several hardware stores. While we didn't find the part we needed, we did find a good bucket at The Home Depot that we could use for our stinky slinky as we were rearranging the back of the van. Then we went to Breed and Co. Ace Hardware where we found a washer that hoped would work to fix the toilet. We returned home and fixed the toilet in the afternoon. We made pasta aioli for dinner, hung out, and then went to bed. 

March 31: We took our great-nephew to his school and then took our e-bikes for a ride on the Veloway and then road the Violet Crown Trail. Getting a bit turned around, we rode about 12 miles, saw a roadrunner on the trail, and then came home for lunch. After lunch, we went to the H.E.B. to do some shopping for dinner and the rest of our trip. After dinner (a stirfry) we drove to the S. Governor’s Bridge and saw the millions of bats fly at sunset. Watching thousands upon thousands of bats flying our from under the bridge and swirling overhead was AMAZING! There were even a few Great Blue Herons that flew overhead as well. 

April 1: We spent most of the day walking around Austin, starting at Zilker Park, passing by many turtles along the river. We then headed to the Austin Public Library, which is a really innovative and cool space for reading, working, seeing art, and just hanging out. Leaving the library, we headed down down 6th Street, perhaps the grittiest and for us the most interesting part of Austin, with lots of restaurants and shops along the road. We left downtown and drove to Radio Coffee & Beer for an Austin Food Truck experience and vegan lunch. We had really good pecan porter and tacos with the Grateful Dead playing in the background. Then we drove to Austin Community College, Highland Campus. The campus is in an old converted shopping mall which was really interesting to see. The images of what the mall looked like and how Austin transformed the area into a community college were fascinating. After a long day in Austin, we returned home, packed up some of our stuff, took showers, and went to Bouldin Creek Cafe, a very LGBTQ friendly restaurant with great vegan options. We ordered the broccoli salad and vegan BBQ meal. YUM! 

Seminole Canyon State Park

April 2: In the morning, we finished packing and headed out toward Seminole Canyon State Park. We drove through Uvalde and stopped on the side of the road for lunch at Brackettville. Along the way, we had to stop at a border patrol check point. While we had nothing to hide, the officers holding back a large German Shepherd was still intimidating. The patrol officers asked us two questions: "Is it just you two in the vehicle? Are you US citizens?" Satisfied with our responses, we were on our way. We arrived at the state park around 2PM. We had booked a 3PM tour so while we waited, we visited the museum in the Visitors Center which told a very interesting history of the canyon and surrounding area. Then we headed on a guided tour to the bottom of the canyon to see petroglyphs and cave paintings which were really amazing. The landscape was a mix of Chihuahuan Desert, scrub land, and hill country with hardwood trees. The ecosystem and terrain are really interesting. After the tour, we walked the short 1/2 mile Windmill Nature Trail and saw three javelinas by the spring. Seeing them were really cool, particularly as we had not seen any during last year's visit to Sonoma's Javelina Cantina. It was really hot out so when we got to our site, we chilled out with a beer in the shade, ate a salad dinner, called some friends back home, showered, and then sat outside to write up these notes and watch the stars come out. It was a beautiful night, finally cooling to about 75 degrees, not too humid. 

April 3: After breakfast, we took a bike ride along the Canyon Rim Trail to the Rio Grande Trail. The rim trail was very rocky and narrow, so it definitely tested our off-road e-bike riding skills, which are not very strong. We were happy that the e-bikes we were able to handle the terrain, even though we had to walk parts of the trail while pushing very heavy e-bikes up the path. The Rio Grande Trail was much wider and flatter and easier to ride. After riding only 7 miles we felt like we got a good workout. Along the trails, we saw a jack rabbit some domesticated goats or sheep. 

Big Bend National Park

Leaving the state park, we drove to Big Bend National Park. Big Bend is beautiful, with fields of blooming Ocotillo, both green and brown with red flowers. We stayed in the Rio Grande Campground with no hook-ups. But the spot was nice and partly shaded. This was helpful as when we arrived, the temperatures were nearing 100 degrees F. By the time we left, they were down in the 50s. During the day, we were surrounded by cows, donkeys, and horses. We also saw bunnies and several small gray coyote around the campground. While the campground was really beautiful, the coin-operated showers were about 1/4 mile away, costing $2 for a 5-minute shower and there was some stinky bathroom smell nearby. The small camp store had wi-fi access, which was helpful. Other than wi-fi near the camp stores and visitor centers, there is no cell reception in Big Bend National Park. However, I was able to use T-Mobile's beta Starlink program to text on occasion in the park. 

Two side notes: 1) We were sorry to have not brought our passports because we could have passed over into Boquillas, Mexico for the day; and 2) Despite a recent Presidential order to move an additional 500 border patrol troops into Big Bend National Park, we did not see any evidence of their presence. 

April 4: Last night was super windy so while it was very hot in the van, we started out with the fan, but then just opened the windows. Today was cooler with the temperature dropping through tomorrow. We had a glorious day today, waking up with a toast breakfast and then driving to the Rio Grande Visitor Center to figure out how to plan the day. The Ranger there was really helpful and suggested that, given the impending temperature changes, that we drive the 45 minutes to Chisos Basin today and stay around the Rio Grande area where we were staying tomorrow. He recommended the Lost Mine Trail, which we hiked and really enjoyed. The hike was about 2 1/2 miles up to the top of the peak and then 2 1/2 miles back down, with spectacular views. Then we drove to Chiso Basin and walked to very short 1/3 mile Windows View Trail. We also spotted another roadrunner and a deer sporting antlers. And then we drove the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive which was beautiful as we drove through the Chisos Mountains. Along the way we stopped at the Tuff Canyon and Castolon Historic District which were really cool to see.  The scenic drive ended at the Santa Elena Canyon Trail that took us along the Rio Grande through the Santa Elena Canyon. The canyon was spectacular as we hiked along the Rio Grande River and looked across the huge canyon walls to Mexico. And on the way back to our campground, we saw two coyotes, one that was picking some roadkill off the road and one that was just hanging out. When we got back to the campground around 7:30PM, we took quick showers, ate dinner and hung out. it was super windy as we went to bed.

April 5: We slept for about 10 hours last night which was wonderful, waking up to a mostly sunny day. After a blue corn pancake breakfast, and while washing the dishes outside, I spotted a vermillion fly catcher and an ash-throated fly catcher in a tree. After cleaning up, we walked the nature trail right from the Rio Grande Village Nature Trail, that connects to the campground. The trail was really lovely, meandering through marsh areas, to a view point that looks over the Rio Grande Valley. We walked around there a bit, admiring the Mexican art and other goods for sale that that people leave along the trail for purchase. They just put them out with price tags and a container for you to pay using the honor system. Then we came back to the campground and drove to the Rio Grande Visitor Center to use their Wi-Fi in order to switch our upcoming reservation in Guadalupe Mountains National Park from Dog Canyon Campground to Pine Springs Campground because we realized that Dog Canyon would be too far a drive. We also created a mobile passport, hoping that we might be able to cross the Mexican border at the Boquillos border crossing. Then we drove to the Rio Grande Overlook, and then to the Daniel‘s Ranch. There really wasn’t much of a ranch there and it started raining so we decided to eat lunch in the van. After lunch, we drove to the border crossing. Sadly, the border patrol officers would only accept a physical passport or global entry card, which we also left at home, so we were not able to cross the border. So we headed over to the Boquillas Overlook and the Boquillas Canyon Trail. The trail was a beautiful walk down into the canyon and out to the Rio Grande River. Because the Rio Grande was dry enough, we were able to walk more than halfway across and step into Mexico. 

Our next hike was to the Hot Springs Historic District. We had originially planned on riding  our bikes from the parking lot to the historic district, but it was cold, windy, and raining so we just drove the van down the mile and a half unpaved road to the parking lot and then walked the 1.5 mile trail to the hot spring. The historic district was really interesting and the hot springs were really nice. Not wanting to change into bathing suits, we just put our feet in. There were a lot of Texans in the hot springs and one made a homophobic comment about the water curing him of being gay. But the views were really beautiful. There was also a Mexican family across the river that we could see. And we watched both a horse and a young boy cross the river from the Mexican side to the US side. 

On the way home from the hot springs we stopped and topped off our gas and took showers. We saw a group of javelinas right near the store. We also saw two roadrunners in the canyon and one roadrunner by the store. And then this evening we saw another javelina run across a neighboring campsite. Back at the campsite, we made a breakfast dinner and then quickly went back up the nature trail to watch the sunset over the Rio Grande. Back at the van, we were warm after a nice cup of tea. No stars tonight unfortunately. Tomorrow we head to Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Big Bend has been a really beautiful amazing surprise for us.

April 6: After a fitful night sleep, we woke up to several javelinas walking through our campsite. We noticed that our house battery was running very low, so we needed to get on the road to recharge. We had toast for breakfast and packed up. On the way out of Big Bend, we stopped at the Fossil Discovery Exhibit where we learned that Big Bend is home to the largest amount of alosaurus fossils. As we walked around the fossil area, we reflected on how interesting and beautiful Big Bend National Park is because of the diversities of ecosystems and terrains, including desert, mountains, canyons, marshes, and rivers. 

Guadeloupe Mountains National Park

Our drive out was a meander to Guadeloupe Mountains National Park. We stopped in Alpine, TX, a college town that is home to Sul Ross University. We stopped at a Morrison True Value Store to find parts for our still-leaking toilet. We purchased a new supply line and some pex connectors, hoping that replacing the supply line will solve the problem. Part of our meander along Rt. 90 West took us through Marfa, TX with a population of 73, Valentine, TX (which Victor, a neighboring camper at Seminole Canyon State Park, told us about), and seeing the Prada Marfa storefront on the side of the road. Mostly, we drove through an endless desert landscape with mountains in the background, passing through several pecan orchards. 

Arriving at Guadalupe National Park, we realized that Pine Springs Campground is really a parking lot in the national park with some parking spots designated for overnight RV parking, and other spots just for day use. Our spot had a great view as it faced back into the mountains. We spent most of the evening trying to fix our toilet. Being partially successful, we tried to order the part we really need from Amazon to be delivered in Carlsbad, NM but the only locker there was full. So we ordered it and will pick it up in Oro Valley, near where we are staying outside of Tucson. 

April 7: Over night, the temperature dropped down to 25F which was very cold. We woke up and hiked Devils Hall Trail, really convenient as the trail head left right from the campground/parking lot). The trail follows along a wash and through a narrrow canyon wall. Climbing over boulders and narrow the wash was really fun. Along the way we saw a Cactus Wrenn, heard an Albert Towee, and little squirrels. After the hike, we drove to the Visitors Center and then drove the short distance to Frijole Ranch to hike the Smith Spring and Manzanita Spring Loop. At first, the hike was really not that interesting but at Smith Spring, seeing watering holes in the desert was really neat. After the hike, we drove the short 90 minutes to the KOA in Carlsbad, NM, took showers, and had dinner. While we reallly enjoyed the national parks in Texas, we were happy to finally have a full hook-up and reliable cell connection, our first since leaving Austin, TX. 

April 8: We woke up, packed up, and started our short drive to Carlsbad Tavern National Park for a 9:30 AM timed entry to our self-guided tour. Because of recent Federal cuts to National Park staffing, we were not able to take a guided tour. According to some of the rangers we spoke with, Carlsbad had to let go of 14 park rangers. Regardless, the caverns are spectacular! We spent about 2 1/2 hours walking through an amazing labyrinth of caverns with incredible cave formations. Returning to the van, we ate avocado sandwiches for lunch and then drove into Carlsbad, which was completely underwhelming. There really is nothing in the town. So we went to Albertsons and did some shopping and came back to the KOA to do laundry, take showers, and eat dinner. Our neighbors at the KOA are from Colorado and seemed very nice. The KOA was really nice with great amenities. You could even order fairly inexpensive food that they would deliver to your site. We didn’t take advantage of this but it was a nice feature. 

White Sands National Park

April 9: We woke up and drove the 3 hours to White Sands National Park, arriving around noon. While the roads surrounding Carlsbad were littered with garbage, once we drove west of Carlsbad and past Artesia, the scenery changed to beautiful desert. And once we entered the Lincoln National Forest, which is huge and beautiful, we entered into a more lush area with hardwood trees and then into more mountainous terrain with tall pine trees. We stopped along the way for a bathroom break and decided to check out May Hill Country Store in May Hill, NM and to see if they had coffee. The woman at the counter was very nice, the store was well stocked, and we enjoyed fresh brewed coffee and a blueberry scone (not vegan) which was delicious. Shortly after May Hill, we reached Cloudcroft and started our 4000 foot decent into Alamogordo, NM. The scenery was amazing and as we drove down steep 6 degree grades, we could see the valley below with a line of white where White Sands National Park is. We drove through Alamogordo to White Sands, arriving around noon. Stopping at the Visitors Center, we filled our water bottles and drove the first part of the 8 mile Dunes Drive scenic drive. The whole area is otherworldly We stopped at one of the rest areas, had a quick hummus sandwich lunch, and stepped onto the white gypsum sand. Gypsum is more packed down than regular sand and does not get as hot, even in in very hot weather. On this 87F day, some people were walking barefoot. Continuing our drive, we saw a man playing the bagpipes on top of one of the sand hills, and others were sledding down the hills. One man was “sandboarding” on a snow board. We stopped at the Backcountry Loop Trail, a 2.2 mile walk across the sand. Because of the time of day and heat, the ranger we spoke with suggested this shorter hike over any of the longer trails. Even though we brought and drank a lot of water along the hike, by the end I was feeling very lightheaded and was glad to be done. The scenery was like being in outer space, feeling like we had landed on Tatooine instead of being on earth. 

After finishing the hike, we turned on the AC in Maude and drove to the 575 Brewery in downtown Alamogordo. Sitting outside in the courtyard drinking very good beer, and eating chips and salsa, the brewery was a highlight of the day. Being somewhat tipsy, we left the brewery on foot and headed into the historic downtown area, which was under construction with not many stores open. So we went into the Lowe’s Market (not hardware store) and purchased a few items that we forgot to purchase in Carlsbad. We ventured into a dispensary across the street and then returned to Maude, looking for a place to shower before heading to our Boondockers Welcome (BDW) spot for the night. Unfortunately, the Kent Quick cost $15 per shower and the Recreation Center which only cost $4 per shower was just about to close. Resigned to taking a bucket bath, we drove to the BDW. The location of the  host was really questionable and no one seemed to be home as we called and messaged the host. We didn’t go up to the door because the place just seemed odd, so we cancelled that stay and drove to the KOA to see if they had space. They did for only $34. Our site (33) was nice, facing the mountains, right across from the shower, and with some shade. And they offered free coffee in the morning! After dinner (salad and meatballs) we went inside, planned out our upcoming  trip to Saguaro National Park and relaxed. All in all, an excellent day!