Crossing Western Texas

Reluctantly leaving Las Cruces behind, we headed to our next destination, Van Horn, TX. Along the way, we passed by numerous stockyards filled with cows! Not only could we see them, but we could smell them as well!

Instead of taking I10 the entire way, Rob decided to bypass El Paso by taking 375 which went through the Franklin Mountains State Park. What a very pretty drive!

Fortunately the road was a divided four lane and there wasn’t too much traffic. It did, however, have a few steep grades (8%) but nothing too terrible.

Before arriving in Van Horn, TX, we had to go through a Border Patrol Checkpoint.

Finally we arrived at our overnight destination, Mountain View RV Park, a park that Rob’s aunt & uncle, Linda & Herb had recommended. When we checked in we were told to pick any site beginning with #84 through #87 (we chose #87).

Although the sites are all dirt, they are flat and the pull thru we had was 80 ft. long. There was decent spacing between sites but no privacy and no picnic tables either. Although there were no discounts given at $38.50, the rate wasn’t bad.

We had planned on going to the El Capitan Hotel for dinner (also recommended by Linda & Herb) but being a Saturday night and being lazy, we decided to stay in and relax instead.

The next day, it was a pretty boring drive between Van Horn and Fort Stockton where we had booked a one night stay at the Fort Stockton RV Park but fortunately it was only about a two hour drive so we arrived around 1:30 p.m. CST in the afternoon. Easy check in and easy pull in site (#48). It was a quiet stay.

The next morning we went to the Road Runner Cafe for breakfast which was good.

After breakfast, around 10:30 a.m., we left heading to South Llano River State Park, a new destination for us. It was a 3 hour, very boring drive across Texas.

Nice park with well spaced, big sites (site #11), covered picnic tables and fire pits plus it is an International Dark Sky location. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by a few armadillos. Funny looking critters!

In addition to the camping fee, this park charges a $5 per day, per adult fee which means that instead of the $20 campsite fee, we would have to pay an extra $10 per day. Since we were staying at several State Parks, we bought a Texas State Park pass for $70. Plus you get a 50% discount on the second night so we received $10 off.

Our most strenuous activity during our three night stay was to have a fire each night and to watch beautiful sunsets. Bundled wood was available at the camp hosts site where the sign said to make a donation of $5.

On our last day there, we walked the Turkey Roost trail to the river, an area that is only open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. On our way back, we stopped at the bird blind

where we talked to an older woman from NM for awhile where we saw a ladderback woodpecker. After she left we watched the birds for a bit. Check out the video below of two armadillos that climbed up on the waterfall and spent some time drinking. Pretty neat!