New Mexico and Texas Camping and a Roadrunner

On February 25th and 26th, we camped at a cool place called Rock Hound State Park, near Deming, New Mexico.  It is popular for rock and geode collectors. When we arrived, it was after 6pm, and all spots were taken with the exception of an overflow area.  We were squeezed in between two large campers that dwarfed our little teardrop!

View from the teardrop.

Sunset at Rock Hound.

Squeezed into our "campsite" at Rock Hound State Park, Deming, NM.

On the 27th, we headed back into Texas.  A friend, Ernest, had posted a photo of himself on Facebook recently, with mountains in the background.  I asked him where this was, and he told me it was the Franklin Mountains in El Paso, Texas. It was enticing, so we headed to this area.  Well, it is breathtaking and now one of our favorite spots to visit.

Here are views from the campsite of the Franklin Mountains:

What is nice about the loop we are in is there are only 5 spaces for RV campers.  And we are all in small rigs so it is very pleasant and quiet.  By our third day, we had the place to ourselves.

We are in the Chihuahuan Desert, with cacti, tumbleweeds, jack rabbits, and rattlesnakes.  This is west Texas, and the Chihuahuan Desert is better known as the Trans-Pecos of Texas.  There are over ten different habitats here.  This desert extends north into southern New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona, the major portion is located in Mexico!  In Texas, the desert covers 50,000 square miles, or 1/5 of Texas' landmass.  Overall, the desert covers 243,000 square miles.

Bird-wise, 505 species have been observed in this region, which is 81% of the species known to occur in Texas.  Upon awakening today, we heard only cactus wren.  Otherwise, it is very quiet at this campsite.  We saw cactus wren, and a Crissal thrasher.

View from within our "living room", our REI "In Camp" tent.  Solar panels to the left.  Water Bricks carry 3.5 gallons each and we carry 4 plus a Reliance brand water container.

On March 1st, we arrived after dark at Balmorhea State Park, as we headed further east.

Eating breakfast, March 2nd, a usually running roadrunner, always elusive, joined us for breakfast at Balmorhea.  Obviously he's been fed by people as he came right up to us!  One of the coolest bird experiences we've ever had:

Wild experience!

Scenery along interstate 10: