2026-10-2 San Angelo State Park, Almost Home

 As we sat around our last night in Roswell, Elaine decided she was really ready to head home. When Jimmie was with us the plan was to spend two nights at Abilene State Park. We were going to spend one night somewhere on the road there. Anne and I decided that we would head further south as a shorter way home and arrive one day early. I started looking for an RV park that had pull throughs since it was just one night. Nothing came up at all. We finally decided we could make it all the way to San Angelo and the state park there had pull throughs. We each made a reservation.

I arrived at 4:15 PM and checked in. Anne arrived 16 minutes later and there was no one there to check her in on a Friday night. She came on through since she had already paid and reserved online. 

We sat outside with the dogs and had a glass of wine. It was nice to relax. 

Home tomorrow.

2023-6-7 Anniversary Trip

I wanted to take a little trip for our anniversary and the trip together was more important to me than the location so I asked my husband Dave to choose. He chose Wichita Falls and San Angelo TX which really didn't surprise me. We lived in both those places before we moved to San Antonio. Getting his picture taken is not his strong suit.

I made reservations at the Baymont Inn in Wichita Falls. Harley was traveling with us and they are pet friendly.

Dave wasn't too thrilled about Harley traveling with us but Steve and Helen were out of town and Harley is an experienced traveler even tthugh most of his travel is in the RV. He sleeps most of the time while you drive. We arrived at the hotel, checked in and headed up to our room on the second floor. Harley handled the elevator like a pro.

He checked out the lobby from the hall balcony.

And then headed down the hall to our room I think he pictures himself as the next Crusoe if you are familiar with the famous dachsund traveler. He was always ready to greet anyone who wanted to give him a pet and believe me, he was very popular. He never barks or has an accident so he is a welcome visitor. We were disappointed that the hotel no longer has a hot tub but we enjoyed the pool and had it all to ourselves both nights we were there. Dave also used the small fitness room. Breakfasts put on by the hotel were pretty good with waffles, scrambled eggs, and bacon as well as cereal and pastries.

Of courses, Red River Harley Davidson was on Dave's must visit list. We spent some time with the owner Jimmy and Dave still saw knew some of the other long time employees. We used to ride our Harley on most of the weekend supper runs while we lived there.

The dealership used to be located in Iowa Park but is now closer to Wichita Falls. We drove around town and checked out all the old places and were surprised at the all the new places. We ended up at a chinese buffet for dinner and were very surprised when the waitress told us that the people in the booth next to us paid for our dinner when they left. 

The next day we drove out to Sheppard Air Force Base where we lived when we came to Wichita Falls the first time. Our house on base is long gone replaced by much newer housing. the golf course which was such a popular place for military coming to Sheppard is also gone. All the old buildings are gone replaced by newer brick ones.

Harley enjoyed a long nap while we were out. 

We also drove by our old house on Palmetto. The neighborhood isn't quite as nice. Then we drove out to Turkey Ranch Road where we lived before moving to San Antonio. The current occupants added a building for a business but the RV storage building and the cute little barn were still there. Dave put a silhouette of a horse looking out a paddock door on the front of the barn and it was still there freshly painted which was nice to see. We were surprised to see that the house was for sale. Dinner that night was at Hunan's.

Wednesday morning we headed south to San Angelo which is the first place we lived in Texas after returning from a tour in Japan.

We stayed at the Pearl on the Concho in San Angelo. I chose a room with an outside entrance here and was so glad that I did that. The room was nice but the hotel needs some updating. The rooms on the inside are all around an atrium where the pool was located. The smell of chlorine was overwhelming. We didn't use the pool there as it felt like you were on display and again, the chlorine was too strong. We picked up a couple of salads for lunch after driving around to see all the changes here. Our grandson Cameron goes to college in San Angelo but we didn't get to see him this trip as he was tied up with training for a new summer job and a trip back home to Brownwood.

 We drove past our old house here but the neighborhood has really gone downhill badly some 48 years later. We also drove out to Goodfellow AFB. It has changed a great deal too but much more to the positive. Many new dorms and other buildings. We had dinner at the Texas Roadhouse which was very good and got a god nights sleep before we headed home Thursday. 

It was a busy day after we got home as I picked up groceries and got the RV out of storage to head out for a rally Friday morning.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable trip together and I am already looking forward to the next one,

Seeing the Sights in San Angelo TX

We left Palo Duro Canyon on Wednesday morning about 9:30AM. We made it up that long 10% grade road with no problems as we lucked out and didn't meet any RVs on their way in. I have to say that a couple of those convex mirrors you see in some blind spots would be very helpful on a couple of those blind curves. There is always some hotshot that thinks he has to see how fast he can get up or down the road without regard for who he might meet on a blind corner.

Anyway, we were headed south to San Angelo Texas. We lived there in the 70s when we returned from Japan. We have been back to visit but it's been a while.

We rolled into the Goodfellow AFB Famcamp about 5PM. The office was closed but the camphost saw our RV and came out to meet us in his little golf car. The trees have grown up quite nicely in this area since it was built. Unfortunately, that area was all full and we were put in a site in a new area that has all the hookups and nothing else. It definitely needs some landscaping to make it more attractive but we were happy to have a site with electric for the A/C because it was hot. The showers were great with lots of hot water. There is a Laundromat, boat rentals, etc. There is also a nice swimming pool. Since the office is closed Tuesday and Wednesday, we figured the pool would be open on Thursday.  No.....and no real explanation either. It was kind of sad to see that these nice sites were indeed occupied......by RVs but only a couple actually had people in them. People are allowed to reserve them for up to 90 days so they come out and park their RVs for the summer and maybe show up on the weekends. I guess the base gets it's money but it sure isn't very camper friendly.

Thursday morning we drove into town, just a couple of miles away. San Angelo has worked hard on their riverwalk. While completely different from the riverwalk in San Antonio, it is very nice. There is a path going along it for a number of miles and rocks and stone have been used to beautify the river edges.

San Angelo has grown since we lived there. We had a KMart back then which closed after we left but by then they had a small mall. They are working on making the downtown area close to the river a more tourist attracting area. Goodfellow AFB is a big anchor for the town. They don't have a runway there but the base is the site of a lot of different kinds of training missions. We visited the Visitor's Center near the river which is quite nice and staffed by very friendly and helpful people.

These lovely statures "Los Dos Angelos" are just below the Visitor's Center.

 

 

The grandkids really enjoyed seeing all the decorated sheep. This is definitely sheep country and you will find uniquely painted sheep all over town.



We drove through the base just to check it out. It's small but nice. Then we drove through the old neighborhood where we lived back in the 70s. It has definitely deteriorated. Then it was back to the Famcamp. The kids were disappointed that the pool wasn't open but there is a public beach across the road next to a small marina. They also had a nature center there which is supposed to be great for kids but we were out of time.

Lake Nasworthy has plenty of water in it.

The swimming was lots of fun although it was cooler than Steve expected. lol

Lots of fun was had by all.

Thursday morning we headed back to San Antonio and the adventure was over. Until next time!