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Sunday, April 12, 2015

Last Days in Texas

Leaving South Llano State Park, it was time to start making our way out of Texas. First stop: San Angelo State Park. We stayed in the South campground which used to overlook OC Fisher Reservoir, which is currently dry due to drought. The park is still pretty in its spring green and lots of flowers popping out all over the place.

There are 50 miles of multi-use trails in the park, which look like they'd be excellent for some easy mountain biking. There is a fancy bird blind and small herds of both bison and Texas Longhorns. We only spent two nights here and enjoyed a short hike at the North end of the park as well as some good BBQ at Bodacious BBQ in nearby San Angelo.

There are numerous camping areas throughout the park, many sites have water and electric hookups. Camp sites are well separated and we had excellent 4G Verizon signal.

Site 16, we camped in a field of flowers!

Walking the aptly named Shady Trail at the North end of the park.

We'd been warned to watch out for snakes...

...and were glad we took that advice seriously!

This was the fanciest bird blind we'd seen yet in TX.
The blinds at South Llano were fenced, this one was open and this javelina was a regular visitor!

Volunteers put bird seed on the logs and "Fred" would visit every day like clockwork.
Other viewers said they'd seen an additional peccary and a tom turkey having a feed!

We're going to miss all the lovely flowers we've enjoyed this spring in Texas as we head in to New Mexico.

The drive to our last stop in Texas, Monahans Sandhills State Park, was through oil country, not the prettiest part of the state. But the state park did not disappoint. The campsites are right next to the dunes and you could walk for miles through an otherworldly mix of dunes and hardy, low lying plants.

That's our site #12 right in front.

We had a fun happy hour with Dino and Pam, owners of this very cool Earth Roamer.
You can check out their travels at UltimateCampsite.com.

Sunset our first night.

Sunrise the next morning.
That's Hans on the dune enjoying the show.

It was neat being the first people walking the dunes in the morning. Lots of tracks in the freshly blown sand and shifting shadows as the sun peeked in and out of the clouds.






We though Rosie would love the sand...but she seems a little freaked out by it.
Hans carried her to the top of the dune and she RAN back to the RV.

Ears back...Get me home right now!

What a send off! This afternoon a thunder storm passed over us and put on quite a show!

Rain's coming! And lighting! Scary exciting!

We've had two fun months in Texas. Locals tell us this has been the best wildflower season they can remember...love serendipity!

New Mexico here we come!

29 comments:

  1. That Monahans Park looks fascinating! And that first picture of Hans and Rosie cracked me up - Hans looks like Rosie's dragging him through the sand! Safe travels west!

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  2. I love that first campsite #16 in the flowers. You look like you are all alone:) Very cool!

    With all those tall weeds it would be impossible to see the snake. Hope you heard it first! It looks like a rattler. Was it?

    The dune park looks beautiful but that sand comes inside!!!

    Hans looks great on top of that sunrise dune:) But the best photo is Hans trying to keep up with Rosie. Way too funny!!! Rosie is one unhappy girl!

    That storm looks nasty. I assume you made it our all right:)

    Safe travels to NM!!

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    1. The campsite shot was an illusion, there were folks around, but no one really close by at all!

      Yeah, it was a rattler. And it did not move at all! No noise, no movement, it was very lucky we saw it. Hans used a long stick to encourage it to move off the trail...that was when it finally rattled!

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    1. I thought so too. It was fun to see him so close up!

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  4. You are finding some pretty neat places to camp. But I would be freaked out by the snakes. Is that a rattler in your photo? It sure looks like one.

    Those photos of Rosie running back to your rig made me laugh. Monahans Sandhills? Looks like an interesting place to explore.

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    1. That's a rattler all right, that gets your adrenaline pumping!

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  5. I'll be stopping over at San Angelo SP, I have never seen a Javelina that should be fun. Not so fun is the rattle snake. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It seems as though you are pretty much guaranteed javelina sighting at the bird blind...enjoy!

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  6. Oh lucky you to have hit the wildflowers so perfectly. We would have been there to if only........... Love the campgrounds both of them. I had no idea there were dunes in Texas but then I didn't know they were in Colorado either. Love the pictures of Hans trying to keep up with Rosie. Wonder why she didn't love the big sandbox unless it was hot on her feet.

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    1. I tell you, it's nice to have a beautiful place to stop for a night or two after traversing the rather ugly portion of TX!

      The sand wasn't hot on her feet, she just seemed overwhelmed by the enormity of it! She did use it as a litterbox every time she came out though!

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  7. love those two parks for sneaking across an otherwise drab part of Texas...

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  8. Your field of flowers site definitely looks remote in that picture. While Fred looks cute in the pic, I'm much more intimidated by wild pigs than I am rattle snakes (glad you saw him first). The dunes look beautiful and we love watching storms come across the desert, plains or ocean - you had a great view of that one! I especially like the pic after the shadow pair - it's lovely. Great shots of Hans and Rosie - soooo funny :-)))

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    1. I'm more frightened of rattlesnakes...they can be very difficult to spot especially with lots of plant matter around.

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  9. What a dramatic and beautiful change in scenery...all in a day's drive! I love the pictures of the dunes! Especially the sunrise with Hans in the distance and the one with Rosie sitting in front of your home.

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  10. Beautiful photos of the sand dunes!

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  11. Love that first shot of your site among the wildflowers! I bet you'll see a lot of cactus blooms in NM too.

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    1. Arrived in NM and do have a fair amount of wildflowers at Brantley Lake.

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  12. San Angelo was actually a nice little town with a pretty 4 mile trail running right along the river. And we loved camping right at the sand dunes at Monahans. Maybe Rosie didn't know how to handle walking in that giant litter box!
    You are following our exact route. Brantley Lake next?

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    1. You guessed right! Brantley it is.

      We did a little shopping in San Angelo and driving through some of the neighborhoods were pleasantly surprised to see a lot of nice homes.

      Rosie did use the litterbox...but I think the mass of sand was just too much!

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  13. Rosie is too funny, running full tilt back to the RV. We have not seen snakes so far this season,and happy I am about that. We're at Mission Bay for a week where we are plagued by pigeons. Looking forward to New Mexico.

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    1. Rosie cracked us up at this stop...not the reaction we expected from her!

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  14. You certainly have stopped at the best part of TX and yes the wildflowers this time is just amazing. I just looked at the route you took from Monahan to NM, and glad you took 18. We took 285 and that was a horrible road and dusty and dirtiest part of TX.
    We visited Brantley Lake to do a short hike, but as you can see the area is arid but the wildflowers are still blooming.

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  15. San Angelo SP was a nice surprise for us, too -- we spent a couple of nights and took our bikes into town one day for a ride along the riverfront. It was beautiful -- cool mosaics and a world class water lily garden. That rattler is so scary! I don't like the thought of hiking in grass and having a rattler hiding in it. Sweet Rosie -- seeing her makes me miss our kitty.

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  16. Great campsite and great pictures of "Fred" - I love him.

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