Friday, October 27. Wind diminished somewhat, and we left around 7:30 for Guadalupe Mountain NP in Texas (#39/$4), about 225 miles--a 5 1/2 hour drive. The day was mostly overcast, until we arrived at our destination, where the sun shone. Passed the towns of Capitan (where one is greeted by a large sign: "Jesus is Lord over Capitan"; then Roswell, then south to Artesia and Carlsbad. Passed many miles of inhospitable-looking desert, some cotton fields. Along the way we noticed with some relief that gas prices had diminished somewhat to @$2.49. We got the only vacant spot in the limited parking-lot type Pine Springs campground, taking the place of someone who was just leaving. Forgot to mention topics of the week: Harriet Meiers backing out of the Supreme Court contest, and Scooter Libby being indicted.

Saturday, Oct. 28. Most of our neighbors have left and strangely enough, there are many sites open in our parking lot--on a Saturday. Many folks are parked here for hiking trails. Couldn't be a nicer day; we took advantage of it and walked the Smith Springs trail--several miles through this Chihauhauan desert passing a beautiful spring which is a real oasis, where we had lunch. And then down to a pool--Manzanita Springs--into which the upper spring water accumulates. Around us were a variety of trees and plants--yuccas, prickley pears, Chincopin oaks, Ponderosa pines, Alligator junipers, other junipers with reddish berries, Texas madronas, large-tooth maples, and much more. Birds we saw along the way were a Sage Thrasher, Canyon Towhee, Canyon Wren, Spotted Towhee, and various sparrows--Lincoln's, White-crowned, Black-throated, Chipping. On the park brochure it said to watch for violet-green sparrows….hmmm.

Sunday, Oct. 29. Early start, and even though the GPS balked for a while, we bopped down the pike toward Van Horn, then toward Ft. Davis and ultimately, nearby Davis Mountains St. Pk.( #44/$14). The desert looked quite green--so much moisture in this area this year. Time changed last night, (fall back) and I fiddled twice with the problem clock in the mh, only to find that soon after finally achieving a lesser hour, we passed a sign which indicated that we'd entered the Central Time zone! One road we took was so narrow that it reminded me of the road to Baja-virtually no shoulder, weeds encroaching.

Very few folks are at this special park (last time we were here-spring-it was jammed.) After the usual exasperating experience of dealing with TX parks and their uppity computers, we purchased an annual pass and were given a good site on a short dead-end road with no one else around. We have a huge old live oak shading the site. TV under this tree is a bit iffy, even after much maneuvering--some of it looks pretty impressionistic! There seem to be numerous birds flitting in trees nearby, and the "under-the-car birds" (Canyon Towhees) are indeed beneath the Honda. Went for a bike ride, visited the Interretation Center and bird blind, and later encountered three javalinas--and Charlie saw a gray fox. .

Monday, Oct. 30. Decided to extend one extra day, so dealt with the TX state park computers once again. Went into town to find a computer hot spot and found the library lady helpful. Met a couple volunteers from this park and chatted a while. Lunch in town at the Drug Store.

The temp has dived and is predicted to hit 29 tonight. Now we're almost wishing we were parked out in the sunshine--it's windy and cool out there!

Tuesday, Oct. 31. Woke up watching leaves lazily fall from the tree just outside. Very cold this AM--around 30. Went up to McDonald Observatory for a few hours--had an impressive tour guide give a comprehensive talk and show us two telescopes up the hill.

Wednesday, Nov. 1 to Friday, Nov. 4. Trip to Junction took over six hours, most of it east on I-10. Much of the day was windy, and as usual, the wind came in from the side which tends to blow us around quite a bit. Got our old site at South Llano River St Pk (#19/$14) but discovered that noisy roadwork was being done right next to us.

Before putting the motor home in storage, C insists on washing off all the road grime and seemingly inches of bug splats so it doesn't deteriorate the finish during the upcoming 4 months of storage. Before finishing the wash a ranger put a stop to the operation (washing is a no-no in a park), so we buttoned everything up and headed into town only to find the only wash bay in town big enough had been vandalized. Hmm… So back to the park. On the way, we found a pull off along the highway and managed to finish the job. Jeez…

Since we were on the move anyway, we decided to move over to #21, a better site and more peaceful--we hope. Met up with Rosita and visited in the main bird blind (Bill is sick.) Went into town to accomplish various errands. It's good to see favorite birds here again: Field and White-throated Sparrows, Rufous-crowned and Black-throated Sparrows, Spotted Towhees, Cardinals, Mockingbirds, Bewick's and Carolina Wrens, Inca Doves, and more. Saw a couple armadillos shuffling through the park but they wouldn't let us get near with the camera.

Saturday, November 5 A day of sorting out stuff and getting ready to head northwestward to Montana, some 1900 miles away. We are pretty well down south here in Junction; there isn't anything between here and the north pole except some barbed wire fences, so a spell of freezing weather is quite possible. Therefore, we still have to go through a rather elaborate winterizing process in the morning, draining all the water, then pumping RV antifreeze through the system. Then its off to KOA campground where we have made arrangements for 4 months of storage.

Sunday, November 6 It took about two hours to get the motor home winterized and jump through all the hoops to get it ready for storage. Then off we went to the north. Weather good today, mostly clear and what wind we had was from the south, a tail wind for a change. Doesn't look too good at home though--dreary and snowy for the next 10 days or so. Hmm.. Drove through a many miles of cotton fields--funny how cotton and other crops here are often planted in curved rows. People seem to write their graffiti on cotton bales--their names or phrases like "Jesus is Lord". Many miles of nodding oil rigs along the way, too. Ended the day in Dalhart at the Best Western. There was a huge flock of some kind of blackbirds in town--they flew in beautiful patterns but blocked the sun since there were so many! In the AM they were all over the roads gathering something.

Monday, November 7. Started out early, gained altitude, cut a corner off New Mexico and finally hit I-25 and Colorado, with snowy mountains in the distance. Many antelope along the way. Aimed for Casper for the night but the town was filled up with a religious convention and oil riggers, so we had to make it a twelve-hour day by roosting quite a ways further onward in Buffalo. The only time in the whole trip where we encountered anything in the way of a "close call" was as we were coming into Buffalo and a deer ran across the road just as we started to slow a bit to exit the interstate. It reinforces my uncomfortablness with night driving. Real bad weather forecast for the coming days, though the sky looks clear now.

Tuesday, November 9 From an initial temp of 52, we experienced over twenty degrees of drop through this day. We went from morning sun in Buffalo to looming clouds in a half hour, then showers, clearing, great wind, snow, slush, melting, then intense sun! We ended the day in Missoula, choosing to not to drive home in the dark. Finally found a motel coupon book which worked at Mountain Valley Motel. Visited the Good Food Store and felt great envy at Missoulians having such a great store in their community.

Wednesday, November 10 In the morning we loaded up and headed the final 140 miles up the road to home. And so ends our 2005 fall trip!

Back to home page)