SouthWest USA - The Windy Vacation Part 1 - Spring, 2022

 Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico 

This is part one of our first trip in our new RV motorhome.  We are traveling in the southwest United States in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.  We called this the windy vacation because the wind blew extremely hard almost the entire trip.

Friday - April 8, 2022                                Foss State Park

We were both up by 7:00 am excited to begin our trip.  I finished packing the RV by putting everything in the refrigerator.  I tried driving first, but couldn't back the RV up straight out of the RV port.  Mike took over the backing, but ran into the side of the RV port with the awning that covers the slide.  The awning was ripped, but the slide was undamaged.  He got the RV out and I climbed up and patched the awning with duct tape and leak proof tape.  This seemed to work pretty well.  During our trip we had many days and nights of high winds and the tape stayed attached.  After fixing the tear in the slide awning we got on the road.  We took I49 south to I 40 getting off at the exit to Clinton, Oklahoma.  This was the first of many windy driving days.  It was so windy that the 'loss of traction control' light came on and we couldn't use the cruise control.  We got to Foss State Park in Oklahoma around 4:30 pm.  We had campsite #5 in Cottonwood Campground.  This is a nice campground with full hookups.  After setting up camp we walked around the campgrounds.  So far the awning fix was working.

Entrance sign for the park

First campsite with our new RV

I cooked chicken alfredo with canned peas and cream of chicken soup for dinner.  I also steamed broccoli and squash in the microwave.  After a rough start this day ended okay.  

Saturday - April 9, 2022

After a fairly long driving day we were tired so slept in.  It got cool overnight so we used our electric heater.  The RV has a propane furnace, but we don't really like using it because it is loud and makes it too warm in the bedroom area.  I cooked spam, fried eggs, toast, and coffee for breakfast.  After breakfast we hiked 2 1/2 miles on a trail to Cedar Point campground on Foss Lake.  It was a pretty good hike with views of the lake.

View of Foss Lake from the trail

First hike of our trip

When we got back we had chicken salad for lunch.  It had gotten windy again.  We sat outside at the campsite then both took showers.  We had leftover chicken alfredo for dinner.  We sat in the RV reading before going to bed by 9:00 pm.  This had been a pretty good day.

Sunday - April 10, 2022                           Palo Dura Canyon State Park

We got up by 6:45 am, had breakfast and were on the road by 7:45 am.  We were trying to get to Palo Dura Canyon before it got too windy in the late afternoon.  It was still windy, but not as bad as it had been on Friday.  We traveled mainly on I40 to Amarillo where we turned south to go to Palo Dura Canyon.  We got to the park by 12:00 pm and there was a long line to get into the park.  A lot of people going there for Sunday afternoon.  It took us 20 minutes to get checked in.  We stayed in Mesquite Campground #84.  It was a nice campground and site.  We had electricity and water here, but no sewer hookup.  After lunch we hiked 1 1/2 miles on a section of the Lower Comanche Trail.  We saw a turkey hen by the road while hiking.  

Sign at entrance - can see line of cars ahead of us

View from the RV

Mike on the trail

Mary enjoying the hike

Campsite for the next 4 nights

We had leftovers for dinner again.  We watched a video on my computer, did a little reading, then went to bed.  It was warmer at Palo Dura Canyon than it had been in Oklahoma, but we expected that.  This was a good day.

Monday - April 11, 2022

It got very windy in the early morning from about 2:00 - 3:00.  It rocked the RV pretty badly and was kind of scary.  It finally quit and we were able to go back to sleep.  It was cooler when we got up so was a little nicer.  After breakfast we hiked 2 1/2 miles on the Lower Comanche Trail going up the side of the canyon.  This was a pretty trail with nice views, but a little challenging because of the elevation gain.  We hiked from 9:45 am - 12:45 pm a total of 3 hours.

Ready for our hike

Balancing rocks

View from top of trail

Mary on trail

Mike taking a rest

Another view from trail

Sunset

Another view of sunset

After lunch we sat at our campsite reading and just enjoying the scenery.  We like the views at Palo Dura Canyon.  This was the third time that we had been here.  We had leftovers for dinner one last time.  We sat out to see the sunset, but it was just okay.  Nothing special.  Overall this was a very nice day.

Tuesday - April 12, 2022

We slept in this morning.  I cooked spam, egg, cheese burritos for breakfast.  When we had finished breakfast we packed snacks and left for our hike at about 10:00 am.  We planned to hike the bottom section of the Lower Comanche Trail to the Juniper Riverside trail.  We got confused at the crosstrail because it wasn't marked very well and ended up on an unnamed trail.  At least the trail had markings to let us know we were on a trail.  The trail ended up taking us to the Sunflower Trail which eventually took us to the Juniper Campground.  While there we rested, ate a snack, used the restroom, and refilled our water bottles.  While at the campground we saw a Texas horned lizard and a wild turkey hen.

Stream on a section of the trail

Another view of the stream

Mike on the Sunflower Trail

A section of the Sunflower Trail

Texas horned lizard

Hen turkey in Juniper Campground

From the campground we were able to locate the Juniper Riverside Trail which we took back to our campsite.  On the way there we saw a hooded lizard and several other smaller lizards.  It was getting hot by the time we were at the end of our hike.  We got back to camp around 12:30 pm, tired and ready for lunch.  We had hiked over 4 1/2 miles.

Mary on the Juniper Riverside Trail

Hooded lizard

After lunch we both took showers in the bathhouse.  It was good to let the water run, but the showers were kind of yucky.  After showers we sat around outside until dinner time.  I cooked chili for dinner and it was really good.  It became very hot and windy outside so we ended up sitting inside the rest of the day.  While sitting by our large picture window, a gobbler and three hen turkeys walked around the campsite right by our RV.  It was really fun to watch.  

Picture of gobbler taken through RV window

Gobbler right outside the RV

We really enjoyed this day, even if we did take a wrong turn on the trail.

Wednesday - April 13, 2022

We got up around 8:00 am after having a better night sleeping since it was not windy.  While we were sitting at the table drinking coffee two gobblers and two hen turkeys came by the RV.  The gobblers were strutting and calling.  It was fun to watch.  We packed a lunch and left camp around 10:00 for our daily hike.  We hiked the Lower Comanche trail to Juniper Cliffside trail to Juniper Riverside trail to Lower Comanche trail back to camp, a total of 4 1/2 miles.  It was an interesting hike with lots of good views of the canyon.

View from Juniper Cliffside Trail

A large cave next to the trail

Mike on a section of Juniper Cliffside Trail

Nice sunset

We ate lunch at Juniper Campground before heading back to camp.  When we got back to our campsite we cleaned the RV getting ready for the next leg of our trip into New Mexico.   While I was cleaning out the cab of our RV I ran into the rear view mirror.  I cut my nose bad enough that I had to keep a bandaid on it for a couple of days.  I'm going to try and remember to fold the mirror in the rest of the time.  It got cool and windy out so we sat in the RV the rest of the evening.  We really enjoyed our time at Palo Dura Canyon, but were ready to move on to the next camping spot.

Thursday - April 14, 2022                                     Santa Rosa Lake State Park

It got so cold overnight that we both put our sweats on and turned the heater on.  We had a quick breakfast then left Palo Dura Canyon, stopping on the way out to dump our tanks.  The dump stations was not very good, but it did the job.   On the way out of the park we saw six turkeys one of which was a gobbler that was strutting.We also saw a deer on our way out.  We took Hwy 60W and 80N to Santa Rosa, New Mexico, so avoided I40.  We were glad to not be on the interstate because it got windy again in the afternoon. While driving we saw eight pronghorn. We stopped at a Dollar General in Santa Rosa for supplies and made it to our campsite by 1:30 pm.  The park office wasn't open, but luckily an employee came by and checked us in to our site.  Santa Rosa Lake was very low.  Our campsite was okay, but nothing special.  

View of Palo Dura Canyon as we head out

Campsite at Santa Rosa State Park

We walked around the campground stopping at the camp host to get hiking information.  While we were sitting at our campsite we saw several small lizards.  One male was doing pushups to impress the females.  

Friday - April 15, 2022

It got cool again overnight so we used our heater again.  I was going to cook breakfast, but we totally ran out of propane.  Apparently the woman in Prairie Grove who told us our tank was full didn't know what she was doing.  We decided to leave Santa Rosa a day early and stay two nights at Flagstaff so we could get the problem taken care of in case we had to get something fixed.  We hiked about 3 miles on the lake shoreline trail.  It was a good hike even though everything was dry and the lake was so low.  

Santa Rosa Lake from the trail

Tower by the dam

We got a lot of stickers on our shoes so had to spend time cleaning that up.  It was windy again, clear and warm, but not hot.  The start of our vacation has been good.  We are now ready for the Arizona leg of our trip.