Texas Hill Country to Quartzsite Arizona

From Potter's Creek at Canyon Lake , Texas, we decided to head west on some back country roads to meet up with Route 10 west.

As New Englanders, we often see public buildings and some private homes flying the US flag.  In other states like Tennessee, we often see the college and university banners and flags.  But in Texas--it is quite normal to see many private homes and businesses flying the US flag and the Texas state flag together.

This was at a typical driveway in the Hill Country.

The Texas Hill Country is miles and miles of rolling back roads. 

Occasionally, you will see beautiful, fancy entrances for local ranches.  Some of those ranches will have Texas Longhorn cattle, or beef cattle, or one that we saw with Pronghorns inside a very high fenced area.

Some farms have some very unusual homes.

What a porch on this house!

Eventually the backroads connect to Interstate Route 10.

And surprise, surprise--a sign for Cooper's BBQ--one of the famous Texas Barbeque restaurants.

Cooper's BBQ in Texas   Clicking on this link will take you to the main web site for Cooper's.  We had tried their BBQ in Llano with Jimmy and Adonia.

With a name like Cooper's, it has to be good!!!

The gentleman working the smoker--above in the first picture---brings in the brisket, chops, sausage, ribs, and chicken.  So hard to decide.   But, we did!!

Note the flags.



Very typical.

Easy now, Eustis!!     

Yes, that sign is a speed limit sign in West Texas on Interstate Route 10.

80 miles per hour----not kilometers.

We cruise along at 60 to 65, but there is not much traffic on this section of highway.

 The scenery is still rolling hills, but eventually is levels out.

The vegetation changes from hill country woods to desert dry.








So hard to get those sign to stand still as you drive by.

A sure sign we are entering New Mexico.  

Love the nickname  " Land of Enchantment"

These are long drives for us---300 plus miles each day.  I know that is small potatoes for some of you, but for us geezers, it's plenty of mileage.

At Deming, New Mexico, we look forward to arriving here at Rock Hound State park.

We missed Rock Hound last year, because it was full.   Plenty of room on this trip.

Some of you might remember that last year we purchased a one year pass for New Mexico state campgrounds.  That pass more than paid for itself last year and we camped for free for a few weeks.

So here we are again on the same pass--good until March14, 2014, and we stay for free for 2 days.

If we wanted water and electric hookups, we would pay $4 per night extra.  But, we are all set without hookups---so free it is!!


This is the view from our site back to Deming.

Does Lady Blue look a little lost against the hills in the back?

 

There are a number of cars that visit here just to hike the trails.  Some of them wander off the trails to hunt for rocks---geodes, crystals, and more.


NO, Bruce, you can't take that rock!!!!

 The view from the trail is very, very impressive.

 The view from Lady Blue reminds me of the stereo view discs we had of Arizona as kids.

AS Jan and I arrive at Quartzsite, Arizona, we are impressed by the number of RVs that we see camped out on the BLM(Bureau of Land Management.)  This is our group of Lazy Daze owners that are camped on the desert land.  There are may more LDs than last year and each day seems to have more arriving and some leaving.  Roger, our group organizer should be quite proud of the numbers.  Thanks and great work, Roger!!
 We sign in at the gatehouse for 2 weeks.  You can stay on BLM land for free, but many RVers sign in on LTVA (Long Term Visitors Area) land for $40 for 2 weeks -14 days--which allows you access to 
 free water and dump station.  It is also within walking distance to the big Quartzsite vendor tent and other displays.

As an added bonus,  we also get to see super sunsets like this one.  I missed taking a picture of another great sight.  There were about 20 plus people sitting outside Jimbo's Lazy Daze( see his blog to the right) watching Jim's huge TV screen for the Patriot-Denver football game and the 49er-Seahawk football game.  Lots of Denver and 49er and Seahawk fans!!  But Jan and I were not the only Patriot rooters.  What a sight--all these Lazy Daze boondockers watching a satellite feed on a huge screen, outdoors, on a beautiful night in the middle of the desert.  Thanks Jim!!  There might be some pictures on his blog or the Lazy
 Daze group site on Yahoo Groups.

Couldn't resist one more sunset.