Texas for the Long Haul

 

The Organ Mountains Desert Peaks National Monument is the mountains to the east of Las Cruces.  Obama designated the monument on May 21, 2014, with half of the monument designated wilderness, closed to development or motorized use.  We had a pretty good night's sleep at the rest area, and were on the road by 7:45.

Within a half of an hour we were entering Texas...were everything is so much bigger that it takes two signs to welcome you into their state.

Being a Saturday morning, the traffic is light.  The smog coming out of Mexico is not...but it never is.

It was a nice day to travel.  Light clouds, temps in the 60's and low 70's.

We stopped for breakfast and a doggie break at the first rest area out of El Paso, and later at another rest area east of Van Horn, after a quick pass through at the Boarder Patrol check point.  We have stayed in Van Horn many times, but this time I decided on Saddleback Mountain RV in Balmorhea.  

The Saddleback Restaurant and Circle Bar Saloon (both the same establishment) are part of the RV Park.  

This is the 'office' to the RV Park which is really a 'self check-in' procedure.  Pick your spot, go to the office, put $20 (check or cash) in the envelope, write date and site on envelope and drop in the lock box.

There are 40+ sites, and reservations are not needed.  Above is a picture of the back half of the park, not as well landscaped as the front half of the park.

 We are in the front part of the park near the back.

I sat outside with Indy for a good hour, and from my vantage point I got the following pictures to show some of the landscape here.

         

This last one puts it all together so you can see how it all fits together within the various sites.  Our motorhome is there in the middle of the picture, hidden by trees and bushes just a bit.  Each site is lined by rocks, and they seem to be very level.  Each site has electric, water and sewer all for $20.  They do have weekly and monthly rates.

Tomorrow we plan to hit a Cracker Barrel, the next day will be a much longer day since we plan to drive through San Antonio and Houston, but plan to stay at a Passport America park for two days before continuing our drive home to Florida.  That puts us in Texas for four nights and five days (although the first and fifth day are just partial days).