Two Fast Moves to the West

As we left South Llano River State Park, we had an interesting moving day. The day was windy, and we didn't look forward to a 3-hour drive west along I-10 with a stiff side wind. So we checked out of our site at 2:00 at the state park, and headed into the nearby town of Junction. The city has a nice park along the river, where they invite RVers to spend the night for free. We just needed a spot for a couple hours until the winds subsided. After parking beside the river, we went to explore the park. The old pecan trees in the city park produced a bumper crop this year, and today's winds had blown more ripe nuts down to the ground. So we spent part of the afternoon picking up a nice bag of pecans.

We headed down the road around 5:00 when the winds were calmer. This is one of the few times we have seen the sunset through the windshield of the motor home, as we are usually parked hours before that time.

Our destination was the Walmart parking lot at Fort Stockton, Texas. Two years ago, we saw that more than twenty RVers parked here overnight in March. There was a smaller crowd in January, but there were still more than a dozen of us camped here by the next morning.

The reason we were spending the night in Fort Stockton was to make an early morning appointment with a company in town to repair the new chip in our windshield. Denisa took pictures of the process from the inside of the motor home as the apparatus was attached and the resin was inserted. This was all working out perfectly, until the technician announced that there was moisture in the chip, and continuing to apply the pressure would cause the crack to spread. So now we have a half-sealed chip that will probably still cause us problems. The good news is he gave us our money back since he didn't fix the problem. The bad news is because the chip has been partially sealed, that process won't work for us. Bummer!

So we headed down the road for our second destination just an hour west down the road. We started to see a change in the landscape to plateaus and a rim of rolling hills in the distance as we went down Interstate 10.

We pulled into our spot at Balmorhea State Park. Again, we had to learn the correct pronunciation from the ranger--Bal-more-ray. There was a welcoming committee at the park, which was a little shy at first. Can you see it?

By moving to a different angle, Denisa got a clearer picture of the roadrunner living in the brush beside our motor home.

The other part of the committee was a pair of bunnies. The sun was shining through his see-through ears, but we felt his earnest gaze wishing us welcome.

His friend seemed to be more interested in grooming his lucky rabbit's foot than posing for the camera. But with this welcome, we feel good about our two fast moves and now our stay here at Balmorhea State Park.