Carlsbad -- not bad

After some 7 hours of driving out of the hills of San Antonio, loving the sight of the yellow and purple wildflowers along the road and fighting the fairly stiff cross-winds at times, I made it out of Texas in one day (a personal goal of mine achieved -- missed it by a few miles last year after the AC went out in my Jeep and I settled into a motel in El Paso and the nearby Texas Longhorn steakhouse for a tall, cool draft beer).  The trip from Ft. Stockton after leaving I-10 and rolling up US 285 was mostly 2 lane highway and the speed limit of 75 seemed a bt excessive for the condition of the road -- though I probably hit that a few times when passing other slower RV trailers and cars.

Hardly anything picturesque about the countryside unless you like sagebrush and cactus mingled with a number of oil rigs pumping in the middle of nowhere -- maybe the wind farms on some of the mesas in Texas would have been worthy of more close inspection but, I didn't want to unhook the Jeep and climb some of those dusty roads (probably riddled with rattlesnakes, scorpions and Gila monsters) -- like this area too.

Staying in the heart of Carlsbad on the eastern shores of the Pecos River in the dinkiest of RV parks I've been in -- only 17 spaces and I'm in one of the two pull-thrus facing the river.  Mostly dust and dirt with a number of pecan trees dotting the spaces and mine has two of the biggest and most mature so, I've gathered a small pile of the nuts on the picnic table on my site (may try cracking a few and see if they are edible (expecting they won't be anywhere as good as the ones I enjoyed from Janet and Joe's).

No real amenities with this park but, there is a Riverwalk along the Pecos River and it is dammed up as a reservoir to provide outdoor recreation for all the residents (and us visitors too).  I walked about one-third of the park this morning and saw many other people out (some with their kids in strollers) doing the same.  I've seen pictures in the RV park store of fish caught here under the nearby bridge and at various other places up and down the park -- some trout, some catfish and other big catfish too.  There are lots of grass carp too which I saw and they are being asked to be returned if caught.  It's only about 25 yards to the stairs leading down to the Riverwalk from my RV.

There's a nice recreation center just a short distance up the river on the same side as the RV park and a really nice wooden climbing structure for the small children.  Lots of concrete benches along the walkways have been donated by various people and groups -- plaques are laid in the concrete crediting their donation and by whom.

Today it was in the 90s and tomorrow is supposed to be 100 so, I will be heading for the Carlsbad Caverns to enjoy the 56 degree temps that are publicized -- take some pics of the beautiful sights too.