February 10 – 12: We knew Texas was a large state but, wow! Took us three long driving days to cross from the Louisiana border before we got to Las Cruces NM and by then we were beat. In a nutshell:
Monday: Drove 300+ miles on I 10 through drizzly, chilly, gray weather only stopping for a picnic lunch at Stephen Austin SP ($10 just to get in for an hour!) and gas. Twice. Checked into Palmetto SP for the night.
Tuesday: Nice campgrounds, even if we didn’t get to stay to enjoy it. Woke up to see a curious cardinal perched on one of our wiper blades – what is it with cardinals and cars? Brewed a pot of coffee and went on our way.
San Antonio must be experiencing the Texas income boom: upscale resort-style developments going up like crazy on its northern perimeter with names like Canyon Ranch and Pine Estates. Tired and mostly hungry we stopped in Boerne TX (a San Antonio suburb) at Deinger’s Trading Post for really good tomato soup, quiche (for me) and ham & cheese croissant and cranberry/lemon scone (for Ron). This area was apparently settled by a few German families in the early 1900s because many Germanic names remain on the street signs and towns nearby. That’s when Deingers was really a trading post serving that population; since then it has been a bank, a library, a hotel, an auto shop and a few other businesses until it was bought by a local group and returned to its roots. It is said to be haunted by one (or two) of the original Deinger family, apparently embarrassed by the decline their property experienced over the years. There was plenty for sale in the “trading post” section – all quite trendy and pricey – and the cafe portion was hopping with ladies who lunch and local business persons.
Another two-tank day with gas prices escalating the further we got from the oil-rich Gulf area, from a low of $1.97 to about $2.50 here.
With a shortage of nearby campgrounds, we tucked into the Ft. Stockton Walmart for a restful night. There were a dozen or so other campers with the same idea, with rigs ranging from a converted school bus to 40 foot mobile homes with all the amenities tucked inside.
Wednesday: Left the Walmart early (because that’s what you do when in a Walmart lot) and headed back to I 10 for another driving marathon. Exits with services are few and far between in this part of the state because I 10 was meant for truckers to get from point A (probably Houston or San Antonio) to point B (El Paso and the Mexican border) with as little interruption as possible. Tourists like us are left with very little recourse but to read the exit signs for hints of food stops and gas. So when we saw the sign for Uncle’s Cafe we pulled off the highway and into Uncle’s parking lot. Surprise number one: the outdoor patio tables were covered with at least 2-3″ of snow. Surprise number two: the cook sings along with Sinatra and Elvis while scrambling eggs for the breakfast burritos. So do a couple of the regulars at the table near us. Made for a pleasurable meal, much nicer than in any fast food place we could have eaten. Filled up the van again before going back on the road.
We crossed into New Mexico (snow everywhere!) and headed north, stopping at Elephant Butte SP to see what the lure was. Campers we’ve met all along our way – beginning in 2018 – have mentioned this as one of their favorite New Mexico campgrounds, and it is beautiful, But we decided it was too far from our final destination of Bosque del Apache to get there at dawn, so we settled for a private campground just a couple of miles north of the park entrance. Before settling in for the night we drove the road to the park and saw a few cranes in the fields, apparently being fed by an RV park owner to attract them for his guests, and a few in the ponds near the park road. But on our way out, we saw dozens more roosting in that same pond and as dark descended, we could hear them calling.
After having a quick bite at the Owl Inn (the only place in town, the town being San Antonio NM, population under 500) we drove the road back to Bosque Birdwatchers Campground in the dark, following what appeared to be an erratic driver who slowed down to let us pass, then sped up to pass us, turning on his flashers and traveling at about 20 mph for a while before turning into the same campground where we had intended to spend the night. The city kid in Ron was really nervous for a while but it turned out that it was only our campground “host” who led us into the empty campground and charged us $20 to spend the night.
Thursday: It was 21 degrees when we woke up at 5:30 am, still dark but light enough to find our way back to the parking area just inside the park. There was a photographer already set up on the dike at the edge of the ponds but we could see that there were only about a dozen cranes left there from the fifty or so from the night before but they were surrounded by hundreds of snow geese. As the sun began to rise those hundreds were joined by a fly-in of hundreds – if not thousands – more, honking loudly overhead to announce their arrival. Satisfied, we had a quick coffee in the visitor center parking area and drove both the North and South tour loops, adding a dozen or more cranes to our viewing list. As an aside, hundreds of Pintail ducks, N. Shovelers and evn Mallards make this park their winter home and they swam in every pond and impoundment along the drive.
After our 1,200 mile marathon we were happy to return to Elephant Butte, less than 50 miles away, to spend the night.
The Ultimate Road Trip 