Welcome to the Land of Enchantment in New Mexico--and Mountain Time!

 After three days at Davis Mountains State Park, we were on the road again. We drove by more of those volcanic palisades that characterize the Davis Mountains, blessed with blue skies for our drive.

We stopped in Pecos, Texas, for fuel and groceries before we headed out into a pretty remote part of the country. North of Pecos, we drove through a section of desert that is teeming with oil field workers, and all the trucks and equipment needed for that industry. It was interesting to see temporary cities that had sprung up in the middle of this flat desolate land that must be dripping in black crude. In the middle of the desert, we saw rows and rows of RVs and manufactured homes that provide temporary housing for the workers. We had a traffic jam at a four-way stop in the middle of no where from all the oil field traffic.

It was a slow drive down a little highway that is getting worn from all that industrial truck traffic. We sat at construction stop lights several times, waiting to go through long sections of one-way work sites.

Then we saw the Guadalupe Mountains ahead of us, and we were suddenly in the Mountain Time Zone for the first time this year.

That also means that we were welcomed to the land of enchantment--New Mexico.

One of the enchanting parts of New Mexico is the Guadalupe Mountains. We  would drive right beside them as we turned north on Highway 62.

We were heading towards free camping on BLM land nearby. We had read about two different options in this area. After unhooking it from the motor home, Denisa drove the pickup down one of the gravel roads to check out Sunset Reef Campground.

This is the fanciest of the two free campgrounds, with individual shaded picnic tables and trash cans. No electricity or water here, but this is a first-class BLM free campground. That's probably why it was full.

So we ended up at the larger campground that is closer to the pavement. Chosa Campground is basically a flat gravel parking lot surrounded by a fence, and miles of desert. Campers can park anywhere they want. This isn't a secret parking spot, as we counted between 30 and 40 camping units parked here before nightfall.

We got a nice level spot on the edge of the campground, and parked the motor home facing the prevailing winds. The weather forecast is calling for high winds during our stay, but it's beautiful today.

Besides being free, this campground is strategically spaced between two national parks. We can drive 30 miles south to Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and 14 miles north to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We'll be making both of those trips while we are here, plus enjoying the sunsets and cool weather of the high desert in the spring.

We were glad to arrive in New Mexico, where we were on Mountain Time and enchanted with our surroundings.