Good day, dear readers! Lady Wanderingwise is happy to say we have officially left the “west”. We parked our home in the lovely Pecan Valley RV Park in Junction, TX. We landed here after a planned long day of driving, at 6.5 hours, which is slightly more than we like. Too much “butt in chair” time for both of us. But this place looks like a lovely spot to recoup, and start to get used to humidity again. Its not bad, but we know the more east we head, the more we will feel it!
It has been a busy ten days, dear readers, and productive too. When we left Alamogordo, we knew we were in for a few days of kitsch. We started right off with a stop at Pistachio-land, Home of the largest Pistachio! An actual working pistachio farm, (where do they get the water in the middle of southern New Mexico?), it turned out to be an enjoyable and delicious quick stop. They had pistachio’s flavored every way you can think (we bought the standard salted and roasted), candy (we bought the brittle – wow!), flavored coffee (turns out this is very tasty!), and of course, pistachio ice cream – holy cow that was good! We skipped on any tshirts and stuffed pistachio pillows, but had to have the picture!
Then we drove to Ruidoso for what I thought would be a little winery stop. Perhaps we are the last to know, but this is a busy and quaint ski town, with a whole lot more going on than just a winery! We did do the tasting, and managed to stuff three more bottles of wine in the RV, including the kitschy Hatch Chili flavored white wine. When in New Mexico…… It is a bit eye opening when your sip of wine bites back a little, but we had to admit there is something about it that will pair well with food – hopefully Thanksgiving fare. Our family will be the guinea pigs! We stopped at one of the breweries in town for lunch, and a lovely view of the creek below, and enjoyed seeing some of the local elk just hanging out. It was quite an unexpected surprise stop and set us up perfectly for our arrival in Roswell, NM.
I was a HUGE fan of the X-Files in the 90s, so a stop in Roswell has been on my list for a VERY long time. We got into town with enough time to go through the UFO Museum, and the Miniatures and Curious Collections Museum. The UFO Museum was everything you’d expect it to be and I loved every kitschy moment of it! The other museum was very different. It was 80% full of doll houses! They depicted things like the old French court, British courts, Shakespeare era, Wild West era, and on and on. Turns out that these were donated by people from all across the country. Apparently, its a bit like quilting, once you’re hooked you just cant stop creating them. And then you pass on, and your heirs need to figure out what to do with these incredible works of art that you obviously put your heart and soul into……but they don’t have room for, or, frankly, want. But it sure makes for some great viewing! Well maybe more for me, than for Mr. Wanderingwise, but he is a more than willing to study the streets outside while he waits for me.
We planned a couple of nights in Roswell, so off to our RV Park we went. It was sad to see the aftermath of the intense flooding the area just went through. It was a 1 – in 500 year storm that dumped a years worth of precip in one day (sound familiar?). MANY streets and parking lots were still shoveling mud away. The next day we took a flood-induced one hour round about way to get to a state park for our daily hike, only to find it under water after about 200 yards. Boy did I feel bad about that! But we hightailed it back to the Welcome to Roswell sign for more kitsch, then to the lovely city park for a very civilized two mile walk before golfing nine holes for the afternoon. I tried like crazy (short of spending time in the research library) to find the location of the “crash”. Turns out it happened in the hills between Roswell and Ruidoso – and I could not figure out WHY Roswell got the honor of being the “home” of the alien experience. Back to our lovely little RV park for the night, and we were ready to move on.
Time to collect another National Park! We headed off to Carlsbad Caverns after dutifully paying our $1 timed entry fee. I think we were number 20 of the 300 passes available at the hour we chose. I have to say, visiting in November was a fabulous choice. We took the hike down into the caverns and walked the whole thing, maybe sharing the entire thing with forty other people. It was dark, hushed and as fabulous as I had hoped. Not sure if it was a time of year thing, or a staffing issue, but the underground cafe was closed! But there was no line for the elevator return trip, which we opted for since Dale’s knee is still healing. We had planned to stay in the area for two nights, one day in the caverns, and one day hiking on the surface. I had so many questions about how this cavern was found, I stayed for the movie and wandered the visitor center for info. It was fascinating to know that Jim White found it after observing a dark smoky plume at the top of a hill, which turned out to be bats! So, when I found out from the park rangers that A) the access road to the surface level hikes had been washed away in 2023 so there was no other hiking in the park (!) and B) they no longer could guarantee the bats would come out since it is migration season for them, we headed off to our RV park a little sad. But Dale had found us Camp Washington, an eight mile drive, and maybe 5 mile crow’s flight from the park. It’s a lovely event center that is rented for all kinds of events, from weddings, family reunions, kids camps, etc., a literal green oasis in the middle of the desert. From our camp spot, we could see the visitor center at the top of the hill. So at 4:45pm I sat and watched with binoculars for a smoky plume to emerge……nothing. The place was so lovely we stayed another night, taking full advantage of the hiking nearby, and again, sat with my binoculars hoping the night before was a fluke. It wasn’t, the bats had moved south. So it was time for us to do so too! Goodbye New Mexico!
Hello West Texas! Our first stop was Guadalupe National Park – this is the Texas owned portion of the mountain range that includes Carlsbad Caverns. We didn’t hike to the peak, but we did do the Devil’s Hall trail, still working Dale back into fighting form. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect – cool and bright. And another stamp in the Passport! We weren’t exactly sure the route we wanted to take to get to Big Bend National Park, so we wandered down I-10 and stopped at Fort Stockton. The RV park we chose was lovely, clean, easy to access and the weather was so lovely we thought we’d stay another night and golf in town the next day. Well, Mother Nature had another idea. A change in the weather was a brewing and the wind that night made it one of the roughest nights we’ve ever had in the RV. So it was really clear we were heading to a new location the next day.
Dale found us a spot at Davis Mountain State Park in Fort Davis, TX. What a gem he found! It was full hookups, windless, quiet, uncrowded, surrounded by hiking trails and in the dark sky district of the state. We were there for one night and enjoyed EVERY minute! We left the next morning and made a stop at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory. All I did was walk around the information center, and those hidden science geek genes of mine started to twitch. I was truly fascinated, and wanted everyone I know with children to encourage math and science classes! And then we finished our drive down to Terlingua, TX just outside the west entry to Big Bend National Park. We arrived just late enough for a trip to the laundromat and dinner.
We opted to visit Big Bend Ranch State Park, before the NP, because the drive along the Rio Grande is easier to get to. Plus I’d heard about a great hike called Closed Canyon that we wanted to enjoy. The hike was great, the river made me sad. It is so low, it doesn’t even look like a river. The lack of water in our Southwest is simply SCARY. By the time we drove back to our RV park, we both realized we were done with the desert. Winter weather may be the best in the U.S. but, man, it really all does look the same. Fortunately, our RV park had a local musical artist planned for the evening, so we took our chairs over, sat by the fire, listened to the local talent, and watched the stars come out overhead. It, with our cocktails, helped chase the blues away.
Our route East this morning was through Big Bend National Park. We left early enough to allow the option for a little hiking. We made it to the Park Headquarters in no time…..and found out that our RV was too long for the road up to Chisos Basin (blind hair-pin turns – yikes!) where the best hiking is, the Rio isn’t running any higher within the park boundaries, so hiking there would depress me again, and all the other hiking is in the middle of the desert (been there, done that). So other than another stamp in my passport, the trip to Big Bend was a bit of a bust for us. I’ve been curious about it forever, and now I know. Future hiking vacations for us will likely focus on more northern locals!
So dear readers, its been eleven days, and four more National Parks are checked off the list. 37/63 visited! More than halfway through the list, and not every one has been an awe inspiring event, but with each additional one we visit, I am more committed to the importance of preserving this resource for the U.S. Please don’t let your chance to visit one or more pass you by!
We miss you, dear friends and family, until next time, raise your glass to adventure and some new scenery!
Lady Wanderingwise
Weise's Wanderings 
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