Monday, January 18, 2010

A LONG AND BLESSEDLY UNEVENTFUL TRAVEL DAY THROUGH WEST TEXAS

At 7 am in Davis Mountain State Park near Ft. Davis, Texas, there is only the barest hit of dawn tracing the outline of the mountain tops surrounding our little valley.  Hugging the Mountain/Central Time Zone line, the morning sun comes very late here.

Yesterday was a long day (for us): 249.1 miles from our site at Sunny Acres RV Park to Davis Mountain State Park.  Time spent driving: 4:21 hours.  Average moving speed: 57.4 mph; maximum speed: 67.7 mph - the speed LIMIT was EIGHTY miles per hour! 

We hit El Paso before 10 am, and Sunday morning traffic was very light – unlike the smog, which was very heavy.

CameraWe crossed the time line near Van Horn (we lost an hour), where we turned south on Hwy 90 for another 40 miles or so, until we made a left on a little two lane road barely large enough to two cars to pass each other.  In another 20 miles (thankfully, the road widened again) we reached Ft. Davis and rolled on to Davis Mountain State Park. 

This is our third visit here, the first time we have come through so early in the year.  The park is nearly deserted so, for the first time, we had our choice of favorite sites.  We moved into Site 16, full hookups including cable TV – football games, you know.  :) 

Luna relaxes in site 16 Site 16, looking east.

The sun was shining brightly and, for the first time in weeks, we walked around without jackets or fleece!  I opened up all our windows while we set up camp, then sat in the sunshine watching Luna enjoy the change of scenery.  What a difference 15 degrees makes!

No Verizon service in this valley, but our phones will work if we drive/hike up to the scenic overlook that takes in miles and miles of Texas.  Of course the aircard doesn’t work, either – but free WiFi is available to campers at Indian Lodge, an historic, pueblo-style hotel (with restaurant and pool) built by the CCC in 1933, on the state park grounds.  We’ll visit there later today to catch up.

3 comments:

  1. Great pictures - but I never did like El Paso and seeing that pic reminded me!

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  2. I think we crossed each other today :)
    We drove west from Marathon to Anthony, TX and passed Ft Davis, El Paso and Van Horn. We sure enjoyed the great weather here today, and all weekend long.

    The speed limit is amazing. Even on smaller roads the speed limit is 75.
    Enjoy your stay in the amazing wilderness of TX. We loved it.

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  3. Welcome to the state I live in. I'm in West
    Texas too but quite a few miles from you. Look up Snyder, Texas sometime - home of the white buffalo (actually a bison but what did those cowboys know).

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