Katie decided to get under the covers with me sometime during the night. She woke up very leary of what was going on in the RV. She watched our every move. After having breakfast she made a dash under the bed in case we were planning another travel day. We fooled her.
Allan and I drove to Guadalupe Mountain National Park which was about 65 miles away. It was a beautiful day and 58 degrees with clouds in the sky. The wind had died down from yesterdays 30-40 mile per hour gusts. We stopped at the Visitor Center to pick up some park information and an America the Beautiful Senior Pass for me. We took a short hike to the Pinery Butterfield Stage Station ruins. The stage ran from St. Louis to San Francisco in 1858-59 hauling passengers and mail. You will have to look closely at the picture to see the only standing wall left of the building.
Allan decided to hike the 5 mile trail at the McKittrick Canyon, but he turned around before making it to the ranch house due to the park closing at 4:30.
While I waited for Allan, I watched two deer with the binoculars. We ran into a couple from our RV park who were from the Keys. You can go horseback riding here but only for day rides and on special trails. We drove down to the campground to check out the RV sites. There are no hookups and the sites were on a paved parking lot set up. The length was limited, but the view was beautiful.
The wildlife in the park includes jackrabbits, coyotes, porcupines, grey foxes, mule deer, mountain lions, and elk. We only saw the mule deer. We saw prickly pear cacti, agaves, alligator junipers and Texas madrones to name a few.
The portion of the road between Van Horn and intersection of Hwy 180 ran for about 50 miles following the terrain. There were numerous dips in the road that were low and there were warning signs about flash flooding. We took a picture of one of the gauges measuring up to 5 feet.
As I mentioned earlier the road was about 50 miles long. On the way to Guadalupe Park we met two vehicles. Apparently due to rush hour traffic later that afternoon on our return back to Van Horn we met 4 vehicles. There were no traffic lights, just signs warning to watch out for livestock on the road. We counted 6 ranches. We only got a glimpse of a few of the ranch houses as they apparently were way off the road.
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