Texas 2023:
Day 6-7 - Davis Mountains State Park


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Texas 2023: [Day 1 - Tulsa] [Day 2 - Lawton] [Day 3-4 - Lubbock] [Day 5 - El Paso] [Day 6-7 - Davis Mountains SP] [Day 8 - Big Bend NP] [Day 9 - Seminole Canyon SP] [Day 10 - Falcon SP] [Day 11-14 - South Padre Island] [Day 15-16 - Goose Island SP] [Day 17 - Houston] [Day 18 - Stephen F. Austin SP] [Day 19-20 - McKinney Falls SP] [Day 21 - Arlington] [Day 22 - Cooper Lake SP] [Day 23 - Crater of Diamonds SP] [Day 24 - Nashville] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

Thursday, January 26, 2023: We awoke to a clear blue sky, which is always a treat.
We loaded up the van and were on the road by 9:30 AM, heading northwest with Mexico on our left, ...
... and the Franklin Mountains straight ahead.
At one point, we said that we were going to try to eat at every Taco Something or Something Taco, but that was before we came to El Paso. There's no way that we would be able to collect them all!
Oooh. Another new U-Haul for our collection; this one representing the Canadian province of Manitoba.
It has to take a while to vandalize something on this scale. We're guessing the part that noted that it was in the city of Juarez, Mexico, was original.
We took the last exit on US-54 south, while most of the other cars behind us headed into Mexico.
We drove along the scenic river with its concrete banks and shiny barbed wire, ...
... and saw the bridge over the US-Mexico border ...
... before arriving at our destination: Chamizal National Memorial. They had this very cool sign at the entrance, ...
... and then the official National Park Service sign shortly afterward.
We walked to the cultural center/visitor center, ...
... where the Mather plaque is located.
This plaque is the second casting from the 1991 Colorado National Monument series.
The national monument was created here to recognize the efforts of international diplomacy and cooperation required to establish a mutually agreed-upon border between Mexico and the United States.
The wall of the cultural center was an 18 foot tall and 120 foot long mural by artist Carlos Flores depicting the common heritage that brings the diverse community of El Paso together.
The mural wrapped around the end of the building and the walls facing the parking lot. Originally painted in 1992, it was restored in 2016 for the National Park Service centennial celebration.
As we left the national monument, we were very briefly on the El Camino Real Auto Tour Route. It was the first time we've ever been on that particular National Historic Trail.
We were headed to L&J Cafe, a local landmark, for second breakfast.
We arrived a little before they opened, and we were able to find parking on the street across from the cafe.
We were seated right away, and we were glad that we got there when we did. Over the next 30 minutes, the place filled up completely.
Our food arrived very quickly. Tom ordered machaca with chile con queso and Debbie ordered huevos rancheros with green sauce. Both came with hash browns, refried beans, and flour tortillas. Everything was absolutely delicious!
The tag line on the cafe is "the old place by the cemetery," and as we left, we got a good look at the huge cemetery that starts across the street. Parking was completely full when we left, and someone pulled up behind us and waited for us to leave so they could have a place to park. It was good to be early!
We got back on I-10 headed east. That huge red sculpture is on the Mexican side of the border.
Here's a closer look.
We stopped at the first rest area outside of El Paso, which was built with the restrooms open to the sky. They were beautiful, but obviously weren't built with current cold weather in mind! So cold!
We watched the mountains slide by as we headed east.
At a Customs and Border Control checkpoint, the officer took one look at us as we drove up, asked "US citizens?" and waved us right through. We barely had to slow down.
This Union Pacific locomotive was pulling a single car behind it with a big sign that read "Today's Data, Tomorrow's Technology" and another smaller one that read "Safety Inspection."
We stopped in Van Horn, Texas, to top off the gas tank and saw a U-Haul with a destination we'd be visiting later in the trip: Crater of Diamonds in Arkansas.
After getting gas, we drove around Van Horn just long enough to see the the Hotel El Capitan and to determine that it was the only town in the entire state of Texas that didn't have a Dairy Queen.
Instead, we went to McDonald's for a treat. We had hoped to get sundaes, but with their ice cream machine not working, we settled for chocolate milk shakes.
The rugged landscape in west Texas is stark but incredibly beautiful.
We stopped at Balmorhea State Park, which is a swimming hole built around a natural spring. The spring was originally named Mescalero Spring by the Mescalero Apache when they farmed this area, then named Head Spring by the soldiers stationed at Fort Davis, and finally given the current name, San Solomon Spring, by the first permanent settlers to the area.
We showed our Texas State Parks Pass, received our permit, and walked over to the swimming area.
It was just before 3 PM, and we had the place all to ourselves for a little while.
The swimming area has a large central area with two straight arms coming off of it. The area around the pool has a concrete walkway, with stairs every so often to allow access to the pool.
Fish! This is a swimming hole, not a community pool. There are fish living in the water, ...
... algae growing on the walls, and snails living off the algae.
Here's a closeup of a snail that lives on the stairs.
On one arm of the pool was a motorized lift chair for helping people who need assistance getting into and out of the water.
Catfish! This was a fairly shallow end of the pool, between three and five feet deep.
As we got to the center section of the pool, it fell off steeply to depths of 20 and 25 feet. There were signs for swimmers to watch out for scuba divers.
There was a semi-shaded area with seating on the far side of the center section. This must be filled with people when it is warmer.
We stood and stared at the bottom of the pool. It was hypnotic with the myriad of colors sparkling through the incredibly clear water.
On the right arm, the depth was a little less specific, ...
... because there was a shallow lip near the wall before the water dropped off to the full 25 foot depth.
There was a high dive at this end, ...
... and flood gates to control the outflow of water from the pool. We could hear water rushing through these gates ...
... and into a little stream that runs through the park.
This grasshopper didn't move or even twitch as we approached. We let her soak up the sun undisturbed as we passed by.
We left Balmorhea State Park and headed south through the Davis Mountains to ...
... Davis Mountains State Park. This year marked the 100th anniversary of Texas State Parks, so it was appropriate that we'd be visiting many of them on this trip.
We checked in and then drove to site 45, which was going to be our home for the next two nights.
We took advantage of the full sun and left off the rainfly so we could soak up the rays.
What's that up there?
This bighorn sheep was standing on a rock at the top of the ridge, looking around like it was taking a survey. At one point, it was staring straight at us, no doubt admiring our awesome tent.
Around 6 PM, the sun was starting to set, so we put the rainfly on. It was going to be in the mid-20s overnight, so we added a fabric groundcloth between the mesh at the top of the tent and the rainfly. The addition of the groundcloth immediately cut down the amount of cold air coming in under the rainfly.
Dinner was Al Pastor with cilantro lime rice, or as Debbie called it, "beans with rice and more beans." She rated it one star and opted for some peanut butter crackers instead.
Our new table and chairs were working out wonderfully, and we hit on an optimal configuration with the chairs at right angles to the table. It gave us plenty of room to move around and gave the tent a living room feeling. We passed the time playing pass-and-play Scrabble, with one game going on each of our phones, and handing them back and forth.
As the temperature fell below freezing, we took all of our water bottles and jugs out of the cooler and set them on the roof of the van. We were hoping that it would be cold enough overnight that they would freeze by morning.

Friday, January 27, 2023: We awoke again to blue skies, and all of the water bottles on top of the van had frozen solid just as we had hoped.
We refilled two more empty bottles and put them on top of the van to chill while we got breakfast ready.
The sun finally made it over the mountains just before 9 AM, ...
... right as breakfast was ready. Just ignore the word "lunch" on this cup because these noodles are fantastic at any time, especially breakfast.
The frost on the rainfly was melting when we took it off to let the sun come in.
It was such a beautiful day that we opened all of the windows and doors, ...
... and basked in the glorious sunshine. We made peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwiches for lunch, ...
... and sat in the tent working on the website and writing software all afternoon. When the sun started to go down, we put the freshly repaired neatsheet and the rainfly back on and buttoned everything up.
Dinner was Italian style pepper steak, which is always delicious.
Having thoroughly enjoyed our full day in Davis Mountains State Park, we relaxed and played Scrabble and relaxed some more before turning in for bed.

Day 8 >


Texas 2023: [Day 1 - Tulsa] [Day 2 - Lawton] [Day 3-4 - Lubbock] [Day 5 - El Paso] [Day 6-7 - Davis Mountains SP] [Day 8 - Big Bend NP] [Day 9 - Seminole Canyon SP] [Day 10 - Falcon SP] [Day 11-14 - South Padre Island] [Day 15-16 - Goose Island SP] [Day 17 - Houston] [Day 18 - Stephen F. Austin SP] [Day 19-20 - McKinney Falls SP] [Day 21 - Arlington] [Day 22 - Cooper Lake SP] [Day 23 - Crater of Diamonds SP] [Day 24 - Nashville] [Day 25 - Heading Home]

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