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 -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 136

Day 136, Tuesday, March 3, 2026 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood, NM, Day 2 - 0 Miles, 4,629.5 Miles for the Trip.

52°F overnight, 61°F for my morning walk, 72°F at noon, and the high for the day was 73°F.

It is still fairly windy so sitting outside in the shade is too cool & in the sun too hot. I did sit out and read for a bit hiding under the shade of my chair.

Eventually the wind got strong enough that I headed inside. My weather app said 30MPH gusts. Not shaking the trailer, but not comfortable sitting.

I ran some speed tests on the internet here at the park. AT&T, while it shows one bar on my phone or modem does not do a connection to the internet. Verizon looks OK at 82.67Mbps down & 11.74Mbps up. Starlink came in the winner at 127.64Mbps down & 16.64Mbps up. 

Dinner was an Amy's Enchilada with Spanish Rice & Beans Bowl.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 135

Day 135, Monday, March 2, 2026 - City of Rocks State Park, Faywood, NM - 185.6 Miles, 4,629.5 Miles for the Trip.

49°F overnight, 59°F for my morning walk, 84°F at noon on the road, and the high for the day at City of Rocks was 83°F.

I climbed out of bed after my 7:00 eye drops (I usually go back to sleep for an hour or so) and called the Long Beach Conservation area in Wainfleet, Ontario to make reservations for the Guidos & me for the July Bolerama rally (today is the first day for reservations). I didn't get to talk to anyone but left a message. I hope we get the sites we asked for since some of them are pretty bad. All are either dry or 15 amp electric sites, with a few sharing a single 15 amp receptacle. I couldn't get back to sleep so I started an early day with lots of on line reading.

After packing up I headed out of Roper Lake at 10:00. The plan was to go through Silver City, NM to get to the City of Rocks State Park, but my GPS kept insisting that I go to Lordsburg to Deming to City of Rocks. I thought I fooled it, but soon discovered that I was 12 miles from Lordsburg so I followed the GPS.

I'm in site E6, an electric & water site since my favorite dry site #1 was already booked. Needed 2 1/2" side to side & 1/2" raise on the tongue. I don't plan on going anywhere so I left the truck attached. The site has a fire ring/grill & a picnic table with a large shade structure covering it. The site is fine gravel. Three nights at $35.00 per night plus a $10.00 reservation fee.

Site E6

I thought about setting out the hummingbird feeder and discovered that I left it at Roper Lake. Could be worse - after setting up I discovered a Jackery 100 watt solar panel against the wall around the picnic table. I told the hosts but they don't have a way to contact the previous folks in the site so it depends on how far they get before they find it missing to determine if it is worth coming back for it. I did discover that it makes a great wind screen for the grill, but I'll leave it in case the owner comes back for it.

City of Rocks is a pretty park. Here is a quick photo of some of the rocks. I'll probably do some more over the next two days.

Dinner was a grilled cheese brat & a salad.

Until Next Time -

2025-26 Trip to the Southwest, Day 134

Day 134, Sunday, March 1, 2026 - Roper Lake State Park, Stafford, AZ , Day 2 - 0 Miles, 4,443.9 Miles for the Trip.

51°F overnight, 61°F for my morning walk, 80°F at noon, and the high for the day was 87°F.

A warm night although it cooled off towards morning. After my walk & breakfast I read on line for a bit. I set up my Starlink Mini since, while AT&T looked fast, at times it slowed to a crawl, and Verizon kept dropping my internet radio stations. Starlink - 195Mbps down & 67Mbps up. A first for me - I set it up, went to the alignment section of the app and it said it was perfect. Good guess!

A little before noon I headed to the Station Laundromat in Stafford, about a 6 mile drive. Clean, only 3X and up front loader washers and large dryers. $7.00 for a load in a 3X washer & $.25 per 4 minutes to dry. 40 minutes dried the washer load. Very little seating; I dug out one of my camp chairs and sat outside under the open roof. On the way back I stopped at a Walmart for milk & stuff. 

Back at the trailer I put the food away as well as the washing, then did my monthly update on my retirement & banking spreadsheets. After that it was sitting outside in the shade reading. While the hummingbird feeder is down a 1/2", I haven't seen one.

Around 4:30 I headed to the bathroom for a shower. 2 stalls, one disabled. I used the one with a 5" entry lip. A shelf well out of the way of the shower but both shower & drying area are the same room & level - no shower curtain. A low volume 3" shower head with adjustable water, plenty of hot water. Only one hook in the room. 3/4 of the floor gets wet but clothes on the bench stay dry. Overall, a B-.

Back at the trailer the sun was down enough to enjoy sitting out & reading until dinner.

Dinner was a Healthy Choice Sweet Sesame Chicken Bowl.

Until Next Time -