2025-11-13 Fun at Old River Road RV, Kerrville TX

I went to Old River Road RV Park in Kerrville TX but my sister-in-law Elaine and I like to arrive early and have some extra time to relax.

So what did we do? 

Well. we joined some of our other friends in the bingo games put on one evening by the park. It's pretty popular with park guests.

Then one night I went out very late (or very early) to see if the northern lights were visible.

That was a bust.

I helped Elaine replace some light fixtures with new led ones. I was just the assistant.

Some of the ladies went to Camp Verde but Elaine s little dog stayed with me while have a online briefing to the RVW board.

And we got a lot of use out of Elaine's propane fire pit.

2025-10-25 Week at Potters Creek COE, TX

My Sister-in-law Elaine and I just spent a week at Potters Creek COE on Canyon Lake near San Antonio TX. 

We thought about Bastrop State Park but it was full as was Blanco State Park but we knew Potters Creek would also be a good choice. Canyon Lake is really low but there is still water and we didn't plan to swim or boat so it was fine for us.

Elaine got a fairly shaded spot right near the bathroom which was great, by the way.

I was across the road and down one site. On the website as well as Google Earth, the site looked very shady but that wasn't the case. I had full hot sun for the entire afternoon.

The weather was nice while we were there. It was cloudy in the morning and one morning this "spotlight" appeared.

This little guy put on a drum solo one day.

He even moved over to the picnic table and hung suspended from one of the supports before moving back to the tree.

We saw a lot of deer but most were does or fawns. This one buck was busy ordering his harem around.

We were sitting outside of Elaine's trailer when we spotted some more wildlife across the road.

This was my best picture. I think he was posing.

Lots of deer.

We didn't really go anyplace all week except for a quick trip to Blanco State Park to check out sites but we did have company for a couple of days.

Kathy Shelton is a member of our Texas Ramblin' Roses chapter of RVing Women but she hasn't been able to attend a rally yet. When we posted that we were here, she came out and joined us for a couple of days.

The park had plenty of sites open. One of our site neighbors told us she was here in May and this mama cat had some very young kittens. This is mama. She is beautiful.

The two in front are the grown up kittens. Apparently there was also a black and white one but something must have happened to it. Sad to think that someone dropped her off or let her out and couldn't find her when they left.

It was a relaxing week sitting outside, cooking meals, watching wildlife, and playing games. The week before this trip I got my slide fixed, reattaching the Swintech slide bar and a new slide seal. Getting a new radio with a floating screen next week. My old RV radio has not worked right in years. Then off to a rally in November.

2025-10-1 Hords Creek COE, Coleman TX

We had an easy run to Hords Creek COE park near Coleman TX. It's one of my favorite parks. It's a large park with two sections, Lakeside and Flatrock on the far side of the lake. There is also a day use area with a swimming area and picnic tables. 

I like the Lakeside a little better. When we camped there in June, we stayed in sites that had a screened house. Unfortunately those were filled the first part of the week and beginning 1 October, that part of the park was closed. This time we had pull through full hookup sites near the dam.

I had shade on my door side all afternoon and my refrigerator was not on the afternoon sunny side which is always good.

We had a relaxing week. We only went into town one day to pick up a few groceries. There are lots of deer that come out every evening.

The sunsets were spectacular especially when there was a little cloud cover.

I saw this great blue heron while out walking one day.

The lake is very low but it was worse last year. This is the swim area for the Lakeside camping area. The yellow line is the floats that usually mark the far edge of the swim beach. 

Steve and Helen, my son and DIL stopped by unexpectedly on their way back from Colorado. They were headed to Brownwood, about 30 miles away to visit my grandson Cameron. Angus decided to stay and camp with grandma since Steve and Helen had to check out of their hotel in the morning; It would have been pretty hot for Angus in their truck once they checked out since they planned to stay in Brownwood much later in the day. Angus likes the RV and camping with Grandma.

We played lots of Rummikub out on the picnic table.

Angus enjoyed morning and evening walks. He is a very good camper and never barks or tries to chase the deer.

We had a fantastic opportunity to see a large flock of pelicans resting on the lake. Initally I thought they were geese with the long necks.

But some enlargement with heads turned sideways showed that we were looking at a flock of pelicans.

We were out walking the next morning when we saw them all take off, get in formation, and head off to their next destination. I guess they must have ending to their winter homes. Unfortunately they were too fast to get a picture.

Angus enjoyed some sunshine outside while I emptied the tanks and got the RV ready to head home. He likes to travel in the RV too. Steve and Helen arrived home several hours after I did and picked him up.

Ahhhh, the end of another great trip. The RV is in the shop to get the slide fixed for next time.

 

2025-9-27 Yoakum County Park TX

So the big question yesterday was "where to next"? That's one of the perks about not being locked into reservations. We decided against Ruidoso due to predicted rain although we hated missing the chance to see Brenda. Our decision was to head back to Texas but we were not in a hurry. 

Texas has a number of free or low cost campgrounds that are often sponsored by towns hoping you will stop and spend some money there seeing the sites, eating at a restaurant, or buying some groceries. We had a number of options the direction we wanted to go including the Ray and Donna West RV Park in Muleshow TX where we stayed on our way to New Mexico. Or the Coleman RV Park in Brownfield TX. 

But we opted for the Yoakum County Park that our friend Maritha told us about last year. After arriving at the park entrance, you will find 8 RV hookups locate along the left side of the road. Each post has two separate RV hookup boxes on it. If you arrive first, it's just polite to pull up to the very last pole so that others can easily come in behind you. Elaine pulled in ahead of me as far as she could go and still reach the outlet box. And then I pulled up immediately behind her. That put our RVs in the optimum position for hookup since she tows her trailer and I tow a car behind me. There are both 50 and 30 Amp plugs in each box. There are also water hookups.....the kind most of us don't love as they are in the ground. Luckily, I had plenty of water in my tank.

We stayed overnight here last year so we knew what a lovely little park it was. Lots of trees and grass

There is a pond with a fountain and lots of ducks and geese. 

If you continue up the road past the last RV hookup pole, there is a golf course. It is pretty popular but certainly didn't detract from our stay. That fence marks the end of the course closest to the pond. We arrived on Friday and decided to stay two nights. You are allowed three nights.

There is also a community building between the 2d and 3d RV poles. We were sitting out on the backside of our RVs enjoying the shade and beautiful weather when we noticed a small group of people setting up behind the community building towards the pond. They carried out chairs and set them up and then set up two arches. A gentleman walked up towards us to chat. Turns out that he was a minister and there was going to be a wedding. It was a beautiful setting and he had conducted his daughter's wedding there the year before. This photo is a closeup shot as we were quite a distance away. The geese can get a bit excited and noisy so I hoped they weren't planning on recording the ceremony, lol. It was a lovely small wedding. After it was over, a woman came over to chat with us. Turns out she was the mother of the bride and she wanted to share some of the cake with us. They had Italian Creme Cake and Orange Dreamsicle Cake. It was delicious. When she came back with the cake, she was followed by her son and his fiancé from Australia. The son was in the Marines and was going to retire in two years so he was probably mid 30s and their plan was to RV around the country for a few years after he retired so they had lots of questions. He currently has a truck camper but they plan to get a motorhome when he retires. Anyway, it was a most interesting afternoon. The wedding was all packed up by dinner time.

Sunday about noon, we set off for Hords Creek COE near Coleman TX. No need to get on the road early as you cannot check in until 3pm.

 

2025-9-25 Valley of Fires Recreation Area N.M.

Our original plan was to head north to Chama to camp and do the loop around Pagosa Springs and Durango in a daytrip. That would involve crossing the Continental Divide several times and Elaine just doesn't do real well in higher altitudes. So......... We left the Santa Fe and the Rodeo de Santa Fe where we camped and headed south to Valley of Fires Recreation Area near Carrizozo N.M. That's one of the really nice parts of not making advance reservations, it's so easy to just change your mind about "where to next"

 Valley of Fires is a BLM recreational area in New Mexico (not to be confused with the Valley of Fires State Park in Nevada). I stayed there with my friends Birdie and Mary Jane on our way to Arizona quite some time ago and checked it out again on a day trip from Ruidoso. Last time we just paid the camphost. This time was more confusing. Now you can make reservations but some are first come-first served. Elaine's site #6 was first come-first served. My site #7 had to be reserved the first night but was first come-first served the second night. Then to add further confusion, they have a new system called Scan/Pay. Elaine couldn't get that to work so she went online and booked which of course charged her a booking fee. At least that was off set by the America the Beautiful Senior pass which gave her half off. I did manage to figure out the Scan/Pay including the half off.

Next challenge was trying to get level. Be prepared for that. Elaine has a trailer so front to back leveling is no big issue but side to side was a real challenge which took both of us. The driver's side was considerably lower so we had to keep adding the lego blocks but we got it. I would have preferred to park going the other direction but I have jacks and I won't lift the back end off the ground. Front is no bigger. After several moves forward and back as well as closer and further front the edge. I got it leveled okay. I got my water connected and running. Elaine's water just gushed out of a valve on the bottom rather than coming out the spigot. We tried everything. Finally, we tracked down the camphost who told us that both 5 and 6 valves were broken. Would have been nice to have a sign posted so we could have put her in a different site. Whoo! Time to take a break. She doesn't travel with water in her tank as trailer tanks are notorious for not being strongly attached. She had some bottles of water and used the shower house so we crossed that hurdle too.

This is not the best place to camp when it's hot because it gets very hot but the weather was great while we were there. The views are very unique.

The view over the volcanic rock is very unique.

Restrooms/showers across the road. There is also a Visitor Center open during the day.

Elaine does not like spiders so wasn't thrilled with this nice big sign.

This is the real reason people come here.......the trail across the volcano. Elaine said it was too hot but I said it won't be too hot tomorrow morning!

And so, the next morning we set out to do the Malpais Nature Trail.

The scenery is just so unique here. There was not a huge volcano erupting and shooting lava into the air. This was a much slower process of lava oozing up along a huge length of land.

It's amazing how the vegetation managed to either survive or ....

grow on the volcanic rock after it cooled.

This was a crack that formed. I should have mentioned that there is a trail of either concrete sidewalk or raised boards that you must stay on. Volcanic rock is very sharp.

There were several benches along the way and the trail is well worth your time for this very unique land perspective.

I could see my RV from along one of the pathways.

Looking down from above to a covered bench area. 

In spite of the challenges of our arrival, we had a very enjoyable relaxing time here. We also walked around the whole campground the next morning. It's a very unique place. Be sure you check out the tent areas at the back of the campground if you have this place on your bucket list.

Okay, so the next decision was "where next"? We were definitely thinking about Ruidoso which was about a hour and a half away. We have a good friend there camphosting at the place we stayed last year. We even called about an RV park we knew would have room. And then we checked the weather....rain in Ruidoso. Much as we hated to miss a chance to see Brenda, we decided to pass on Ruidoso this time.

Another issue came up while we were here. My slide went out fine but when I happened to walk around that way later on, I discovered that the back lower track was missing a bunch of screws and had moved a bit. Yikes! I carefully brought it back in and decided then and there that it was not going back out until I got it repaired. Fortunately, my RV is completely usable with the slide in. Okay, you can't turn the recliners into a bed but I very rarely ever need to do that. 

So where did we go next??? Stay tuned for the next post.