5.6.15 - 5.15.14 Texas & New Mexico

East Texas settlers had a sense of humor or else were lost.  We came across this little town driving around the area. We weren't sure where we were and this town confirmed it.

Dedication to a belief - maybe

Ray Roberts Lake State Park is North of Dallas, TX 40 miles or so.  The park lies on both the North & South side of the park and has campgrounds on both sides as well.  Reservations were made in advance a couple months ago so we showed up at the Southside campground to discover the reservation was for the North side.  Twenty five miles later we arrive and find our spot with a lake view from the rear window; only the lake at this end has no water and looks like it’s been gone for quite a long time due to the shrubs and tall grasses growing where water once stood.  One day we drove 25 miles North to Gainesville, TX to do laundry and lunch, and the next day we stayed in as it stormed and rained all day.  Weather in Dallas was not so kind. They had the high winds and flooding; we were lucky again to escape the bad stuff.

Our departure routine is pretty well practiced, so after getting everything ready the last thing I do is to hook up the truck and trailer.  The front of the trailer is raised and lowered with hydraulics by pushing a switch mounted on the front of the trailer.  I pushed the switch to raise and nothing happened.  I pushed to lower and it worked, but I needed to raise in order to attach the truck. The switch worked to lower, not raise, so reason tells me it’s a bad switch.  I go inside to ponder a while and decided to try reversing the switch wires which I did and, it worked. Now the lowering switch raises and I was able to get hooked up and off we go to our next destination.

 

 

Copper Breaks State Park, Quanah, TX.  -  Today our drive to Quanah took us through Nocona, TX when I spotted a really old building with a BBQ sign across the side.  This old bldg. that once was a gas station, had two of the really old glass top gas pumps outside and inside the bldg. were a dozen or so tables filled with people chowing down on some pretty good BBQ.  We ordered and while waiting, another customer told us the man behind the bar cutting meat was the town mayor and owner, Bob Fenoglio.  One of his specialties was listed on the menu as a “Bowl of Crap” …Homemade beans, onions, and jalepeno peppers with beef brisket on top.  Or, you can order the “Ultimate Bowl of Crap that also has hamburg and sausage.  We had BBQ sandwiches with fries and onion rings. Their fries and onions are hand cut and never frozen; really good stuff.

Fenoglio's BBQ in Nocona, TX

 

 

Arriving at Copper Breaks State Park our procedure is pretty much the opposite of preparing to leave.  It really is pretty quick, so when I’m ready to unhook the truck, I push the button to raise the trailer off the hitch and … DOH! nothing happens. I reverse the switch like I did earlier and,,, nothing.. I can feel that the plastic connection, a tab that pushes internally the copper contacts, has broken. So, we do everything else, plug into power, water, the satellite DISH for TV.  While doing this, I’m thinking what to do, so I remove the switch, take it apart to see how the contacts are made internally, then, draw myself a schematic.  I go outside and with some small pieces of wire am able to concoct jumpers that when touched to the correct three of six wires, I can actuate the hydraulics up or down, depending upon which three wires are connected.  I’ve now got it figured out and marked, so I disconnect the truck and we’re home.  We’ll be near Amarillo, TX soon, so I’ll be able to get a new switch.

By the way, Copper Breaks gets its’ name from Copper deposits in the area, and the hilly, cliffy terrain that creates a ‘break’ in the flat surrounding lands.  Someone in the 1800’s got investors to put up $12 million dollars for copper mining operations.  It failed when they discovered it took large amounts of water to separate the copper from the clay in the area. There was very little water to accomplish this so they all lost their investment.  It did allow the Park museum to dedicate a wall to tell this story.

 

Palo Duro Canyon, Canyon, Texas:  June and I were Camp Hosts here last year for the month of May and had to stop back for a couple days.  We're about 30 miles South of Amarillo, so we drove there and I found a replacement switch at Grainger's for 1/3 the price they wanted at the RV parts store. 

Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

99 degrees the day we arrived; 57 degrees the day we left - go figure.

 

Santa Rosa Lake State Park, Santa Rosa, NM:  As we drove through the town of Santa Rosa, then to the State Park and the long entry road, there were some things that started to look familiar.  June said that a restaurant in town looked familiar and when we pulled into the campground it came back; we realized we were here for one day in April, 2011 on our way to Alaska. After getting set up we drove back to town and the post office to pick up a package of mail we had sent via general delivery. It was there waiting for us as planned. We stayed here two nights, and on day two we looked up a local landmark called the Blue Hole.  A natural spring fed pond of water, 81 feet deep and crystal clear with fish swimming as in a fish tank.  Also running through town is the historic route 66. We had lunch in a local diner – a pretty good burger and taco salad.