2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 142

Day 142, Monday, March 9, 2026 - Pecan Valley RV Park & Farm, Junction, TX - 186.1 Miles, 5,256.3 Miles for the Trip.

56°F overnight, 71°F at noon on the road, 74°F for an afternoon walk at Pecan Valley, and the high for the day was 74°F.

A warmer night with heavy clouds at 7:00AM. After breakfast I finished packing up the trailer, read for a bit, and was out of the park around 9:30. Stopped at a Loves in Sonora ($2.89 with $.10/Gallon discount) and arrived at the park at 1:30. Greeted by name as I arrived and escorted to site 5, a full hookup pull through on gravel with a picnic table & fire ring (although there is a burn ban so no fires). $50.00 per night for 2 nights. 1" side to side correction and I had to raise the tongue 1/2". I didn't unhook since there isn't really anywhere to go. Pecan Vally is about 7 miles from Junction, and there isn't all that much in Junction anyway. I bought my usual bag of candied pecans & they arrived at my site before I finished hooking up the utilities. The chickens & goats are wandering the RV park.

Site 5

The Guidos made our reservations for the Algonac rally in Algonac State Park in MI in September, and I made the reservations for the Dalewood Conservation campground in St Thomas, Ontario, our one night stop between the Algonac Rally & the Niagara Wine rally in Niagara Falls, Ontario. $76.00 per night Canadian which worked out to $56.20 US.

While there is a strong AT&T signal (4 bars) here at the park, it is unbearably slow so I dug out the Starlink Mini. The Mini shows 63.77Mbps down & 19.83Mbps up. While AT&T shows 104.34Mbps down & 24.27Mbps up, I don't believe it. It was so slow that I kept timing out on pages when making the reservations in Canada. I don't know if AT&T cheats on speed tests by Speedtest or not, but both tests were done with Speedtest on my laptop & no matter what it says, the Mini is much faster.

Maybe it was just a problem connecting to Canada, or temporary since now AT&T is working as expected.

I spent the afternoon sitting outside reading. I finished Dana Stabenow's Not The Ones Dead last night and started The Camp Bird Cafe by Chinie Miller. Miller's Bud Shumway series is not the best written one I've followed, but it is about an area of the west that I've visited and enjoy reading about.

Dinner was a Healthy Choice Sweet & Sour Chicken Bowl.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 141

Day 141, Sunday, March 8, 2026 - Fort Stockton RV Park, Fort Stockton, TX, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 5,070.2 Miles for the Trip.

46°F overnight, 52 for my morning walk, 74°F at noon, and the high for the day was 76°F.

For those that can't abide traffic noise, you need to look elsewhere. I 10 is not too far from the park, and while there isn't direct noise, there is a constant background hum & tire noise. With the windows closed it almost goes away; putting some low level music on the radio covers it.

I slept in a little extra this morning since my internal clock is messed up. Both crossing a time zone and daylight savings time didn't help with a normal sleep, although my sleep is usually anything but normal anyway.

After my morning walk up & down the rows of sites I made breakfast, sat outside and did some reading, then a little after lunch headed to Loves to fill up ($3.09 with $.10 discount) and Walmart to replace my hummingbird feeder, a bottle of Windex, and, of course, some food.

Back at the trailer I did some more sitting outside watching the RV arrive & read. Around 4:30 I headed to the showers. I used the individual room showers in the back of the park. Six stations, each with a sink, toilet & shower. While there is a shower curtain, some water gets under it and wets the closest 1/4 of the floor. Still plenty of room to get dry. Lost of shelves in the shower with adjustable hot water and a standard shower head. Only one hook in the drying area but a bench that you can use for your stuff. Overall, a B+.

I hooked up the trailer to save doing it in the morning & will disconnect the water after dinner. I also added a bit of air to the trailer tires with the Viair compressor.

Dinner was a Chef Ramsey Alfredo Lasagna with Chicken, the first time I've had it. Like all the Chef Ramsey meals, pretty good.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 140

Day 140, Saturday, March 7, 2026 - Fort Stockton RV Park, Fort Stockton, TX - 262.9 Miles, 5,070.2 Miles for the Trip.

47°F overnight, 55°F at noon while on the road, and the high for the day was 66°F.

I finished packing up the trailer by 9:00, headed to the dump station, and was out of the park by 9:20. A long drive, mostly on I 10 with a stop at a very busy Loves in Van Horn, TX ($2.89 with a $.10 member discount). 

I'm in site 7, a pull through full hookup site on gravel needing 1 1/2" correction side to side and raising the tongue 1". Basically a parking lot with services - no shade or fire ring. They do have showers at both ends of the park. I didn't unhook since I don't plan on going anywhere, but I may change my mind and go out for dinner tomorrow. Here for 2 nights at $45.00 per night with a $5.00 vet discount.

Site 7

I do miss the on site restaurant. Although it was nothing special, it was convenient. I also mentioned that they no longer have the most comfortable laundry room chairs I've ever found. Someone broke the last one so they are back to standard folding chairs.

By the time I got set up there wasn't much left of the day so I read for a bit in the trailer then made dinner.

Last night I finished Dana Stabenow's No Fixed Line, and started #23, Not The Ones Dead, the last in  series.

Dinner was a Chef Ramsay Chicken Pot Pie. The last time I had one I cooked it in the oven & it was OK. This time I followed the microwave instructions, and I liked it better. The crust in the oven cooked one was tough. Not a lot of chicken at least compared to the Boston Market version which is my favorite, but a nice selection of vegetables.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 139

Day 139, Friday, March 6, 2026 - Hueco Tanks State Park, El Paso, TX, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 4,807.3 Miles for the Trip.

52°F overnight, 61°F when I walked to the tour starting point, 74°F at noon, and the high for the day was 74°F, 67°F at 4:00.

I decided to walk to the tour start so by the time I got there I had done 1/2 of my daily walk. By the time I finished the tour and got back to the trailer I had done almost 4 miles. Most of the hike was on gravel paths, but there was some rock crawling and head ducking sections. Some photos from the tour:

More at today's LakeshoreImages page.

It was almost 1:00 by the time I got back to the trailer. Quite a bit of wind. I sat outside and it was too cool with the wind when in the shade, but too hot in the sun. Eventually, I moved into the trailer and started on this page. Still cool enough that the AC was not necessary. In fact, it got cool enough that by 4:00 I shut off the MAXX fan and just left a window & the fan cover cracked open. The wind also calmed down, but the entire site is in the shade so it feels cool at 67°F.

Dinner was one of my frozen leftovers - My chicken chili.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 137

 Day 137, Wednesday, March 4, 2026 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood, NM, Day 3 - 0 Miles, 4,629.5 Miles for the Trip.

42°F overnight, 55°F for my morning walk, 72°F at noon, and the high for the day was 73°F.

Not as windy as yesterday, but fairly heavy clouds making it feel cool sitting outside.

Last night I finished C. J. Cherryh's Downbelow Station (The Company Wars #1), and started Dana Stabenow's Shugak #17 A Night Too Dark. I have 2 more of the Shugak books downloaded which will finish the series for me.

I attempted to reserve a couple of sites at Longbeach Conservation Area in Wellfleet, Ontario for a one night stop over on our way to the Algonac Rally in September. It seems that every year the site forgets my password and requests a new one. This time it failed to email me the new password link, would not let me change the dates on the reservation page, then told me my zip code & phone number were in the wrong format. Eventually, I logged on through my Apple credentials and managed to secure the sites for both of us. Since I was not able to talk to anyone and only was able to leave voice mail for the Bolerama reservations this July, I sure hope it worked. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent reading. I thought about a shower, but is is a longer walk than I'd like in shower shoes on gravel & shorts in the cool wind. On top of that, looking at the last time I used the showers here they were lukewarm, and the water so soft that it took forever to rinse. I'll hold off until tomorrow, hoping that the showers at Hueco Tanks are OK.

Here is a "Golden Hour" photo of the rocks on the hill behind my trailer.

I'm running on Verizon since I put the Starlink Mini antenna back in the trailer to save packing it up in tomorrow's cold morning predicted 42°F. Same with the water hose. I will use the electric overnight for heat...

Dinner was a Scott & Jon's Shrimp Scampi Bowl.

Until Next Time -