Hot Springs is a neat town. Population around 35,000 and a pretty good arts community – in no small part due to the involvement of my friends who helped found the KUHS 97.9 FM community radio station, a community arts center and gardens, among other things. I got my camper popped up in their driveway and we set out for a hike. The national park is interlaced with the town proper, so it both runs through town in some parts…
December 30th 2016 I woke up to more heavy sky and a light drizzle. Since it seemed silly to be confined to my camper all day, I rolled the die to get advice as to what to do. Northward! The die commands to head out, so I did. Argos took one last look around this magnificent park, and we drove north. My mom and step-dad do a lot of campering in their 1964 Avion slide-in camper and favor the Army…
I didn’t want to get up this morning. I didn’t sleep well and really just wanted to stay in bed. I could see the morning lights bleeding through the camper windows, so I opened one to peek out. Holy cow the sky was gorgeous! I leapt out of bed, shoved my feet into shoes, grabbed my camera, and ran outside. Some days I wake up and just feel like driving. At first I felt like I should leave Big Bend…
Solo camping navigating. I’ve been trying to teach Pugsly, but she just wants to sleep. Ow. Don’t mess with Texas. I learned to use duct tape to get those near invisible prickly pear prickers out! Works! It took me two hours to go 10 miles to my new campsite. It’s great! The Chisos mountains and the doggies are my companions. I got to do some outdoor reading, but this giant orange threatening wasp looking creature kept hovering around me, so…
First thing in the morning and I’m packing up when a Ranger stops by. I took a surreptitious photo while he was writing down my driver’s license info. They aren’t kidding around out here. He gave me a warning and I told him I was heading right then to get my pass. I did. Gotta carry tweezers when walking in the desert lest prickers get you. This one was stuck in Pugsly, and when I went to pull it –…
Carlsbad Caverns I’m not a big fan of the over-developed National Parks tourist attractions, so while I wanted to see caverns, I also didn’t want a circus like is at the Grand Canyon South Rim, for example. When I pulled into the Carlsbad parking lot, I immediately wanted to turn around and leave. It was Christmas Eve day and I mistakenly assumed most folks would be happily baking Christmas pecan pie for the Eve dinner. I was horribly mistaken. The…