Fri, jan 31: 

Bottomless Lakes State Park to Brantley Lake SP, NM

Travel time was about 2 hours. No rush to leave this a.m. Leaving due to no showers working in womens bathroom. In a last minute decision we decided to go back to Roswell to hit up Home Depot for a project and thus Walmart got added as well and Harbor Freight. We arrive in Brantley Lake SP around 3pm. The ride from Bottomless Lakes to Brantley Lake was not scenic...industrial and trash littered roads/generously. This is a nice park and its fairly small with about 10 walk in sides...which currently are not full by any means. FCFS sites are kind of risky especially if you don't have plan b. Generally we don't use them but we may try it as long as there is a plan b. Walking. David went to check out the showers...they are warm!

OH, OH, someone David was chatting to informed us that the dump station here is not working. The park had it redone and somehow the hole got filled in.... SO, since this is out in the middle of nowhere we will have to drive 35ish minutes to Carlsbad (not sure where yet) to dump inbetween our two reservations (in two different sites). NM state parks I am not impressed. Your facilities need to be working if you are going to charge folks. But I AM glad the showers are functional.

Thurs, Jan 30: 

Bottomless Lakes State Park, NM

Walking. David ran to walmart and pick up amazon at a UPS store. He also caught ranger and super to let them know about how the showers here are sucky and that we are bugging out early due to it. They've known about showers for 2 weeks....

Weds, Jan 29:

 bottomless Lakes State Park, NM

We are going to be here 10 days...Probably more than I would like but at least its a bit warmer. Watch out what you ask for....there is an 80 degree day in the lot.

WELL, went to take a shower. I sent David first to take one for the team. He had enough water but not much warmth. NOT GOOD. I decided that mine would be better. NOT/NOPE. Three womens showers: 1 locked, 1 barely a trickle so I couldn't even get under it as it was 2 inches from the wall. 1 handicapped and just a trickle no matter what I did. I cannot talk to warmth because none of them were real showers. NOT GOOD BOTTOMLESS lakes...fix your showers and don't charge $35 for no showers. We have decided to cancel the second reservation we had here and move onward....costing us more money but I want a real shower.

David went an talked to hostie. WHO HAS BEEN HERE FOR 6 YEARS STRAIGHT....just wow. She's on her way out. She informed manager immediately. Still leaving. Cannot believe no one else said something!

Ranger said 2 weeks with the water like this waiting for parts

Tues, Jan 28: 

 Lake State Park to Bottomless Lakes State Park, NM

We were rolling by 8:15am....dump...although the gray valve was frozen so we couldn't dump that. First stop gas but I think the next stop I had planned for cheap gas may be bogus...so we still need more gas and jeep gas. Walmart pick up the larders are bare. We stoppd at Valvoline to have a drive in oil change done....easy peasy with this class C versus finding a truck place for the former class A. WE arrive approximately 2pm at Bottomless Lakes State park. Our site was LONG pull through...could have easily fit two campers in it. Right across from Lake Lea. More rvs here because we are further south and that is where everyone want s to be...warmer.

Mon, Jan 27: 

Sumner Lake State Park, NM

Sun, Jan 26: 

Sumner Lake State Park, NM

Really like this park. Oh, went into showers yesterday and it was HOT...meaning too hot to keep my body under and too hot to rinse hair too long. I've never stayed anywhere where hot water was too hot and not adjustable.

Sat, Jan 25: 

Sumner Lake State Park, NM

Seeing some snow in the forecast here, we checked out our next location (bottomless Lakes State Park) and decided to shorten our stay here and go south a bit to that location. Tuesday we will leave. Explore day today. Had a nice chat with park Superintendent. We are in Pecos loop; 13 spots but only us and a van and hostie. The bathroom: one shower/handicapped for this time of year that is okay but summer? Super said they are heavily a summer park which includes boondocking down by the lake and other campgrounds around the grounds.

We took a jeep ride around the park...its a bit spread out.

Just one other camper here plus hostie.

Fri, Jan 24

Oasis State Park, NM to Sumner Lake State Park, NM

Today was leave day and we were rolling by 7:30am. First stop was a Walmart pick up which this time, no one screwed up...probably because I called fraud department at Walmart last time. We tried to find an oil change but there was a line up and not really any place for us to wait. Oil change will come enroute to next stop. Laundry was longer than it needed to take but we got it done. The washer didn't really get the clothing wrung out enough for my liking...so dryer took about 1.5 hours. It was a big load but.... A windy day to drive but not that bad and we only had 1.5 hours to get to our next.

Thurs, Jan 23: 

Oasis State Park, NM

Walking for stamina. A quiet location.

Weds, Jan 22: 

Oasis State Park, NM

A bright sunny morning greeted us. Walking. Trip to walmart.

Tues, Jan 21

 Oasis State Park, NM

5 degrees last night and rv/winterized went thru it fine. The windows were icy in bedroom but opening the antiMalidog curtain heated it up and windows melted for wiping. A gorgeous sunny day and Mali walks. Wind was biting on our first walk...need it a bit warmer for my liking. This park is situation on high prairie our site has nice views out our windows of dancing grasslands.

Mon, January 20:

Palo Duro Canyon State Park, TX to Oasis state park, NM

Today was move day with stops in Canyon, TX for walmart pick up, Amarillo for prescription pick up. We REALLY tried to get an oil change: one place wouldn't fit us heightwise, another said they didn't have filters for this class c, another said two weeks, and another said 2 hours/not waiting! Soon....we will call around again.

Oasis state park is a nice park on the prairie and its small. The sites are spacious. Bathhouse look clean. We will be here for 4 nights.

Sun, January 19: 

Palo Duro Canyon state park

Today is our last night here. 12 degrees at wake up this morning and a dusting on the ground. Three small electric fans running...two in the house part and we are toasty. We were toasty but windows were a bit frozen/frosted...pointing heater in bed area defrosted and helped so I could wipe windows.

Just found out that effective 2025 New Mexico state park pass went from $250 to $600 and prices at campgrounds were jacked up. Guess what...no new mexico state parks next year. Disappointing. We will do some boondocking in warmer areas, some forests, some blm, occasional paid campground.

Sat, January 18: 

Palo Duro Canyon

29 Degrees this morning at Palo Duro Canyon...going down to 12? tonight. AND there is one group in a tent in our loop....with FOUR dogs....that is a lot of doggy body heat. Lets see if they go home today. So far most people are not from Texas...kentucky, minnesota, Iowa...thinking they would get warmer temps...NOT in this cold spell. We winterized today.

Friday, Jan 17: Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Doing some organizing in rv to get things out of the shower. To date we have not used it! Showered at daughters or now in campgrounds. David likes to anal-ize things; I like to see things (flat surface disease he calls it...but if I can't see it, it isn't there!) Temps reached 60 degrees this afternoon but the next three nights are going to be 12, 13, 6, with daytime temps below freezing. We dumped our black and grey tanks (black needed it) and emptied our water tank. For the coming few days we will use campground facilities or use antifreeze as toilet water. Dishes I can do in the womens bathroom (heated and nice hot water)...roughing it. With three electric heaters and heat-on-the-wall as last resort (their dime) we will be nice and warm.

Walking: aiming for 2 miles per day or at least one for now.

I see why they closed the trails. The dirt here is VERY sticky...meaning if its not totally dried out (still not) people, bikes, horses on them at this stage would make them a mess and not remotely flat. We had to step in a few spots that looked dry but were not and I had cement shoes. Mali dog had balls stuck between her pads that I had to remove. Sticks to everything. There would be deep foot prints, animal prints, hoof prints and bike tracks and the only way to keep that from happening is to keep everyone off. They have gates indicating that.

Prior to our arrival, there were camping visitors who could not leave the park for a day (despite what their reservations were) while they cleaned up the roads. The roads are subject to flooding and muddying. The drive in is down, down, down and slick roads and that do not mix.

A windy day today....35ish with 50mph gusts...so glad it is not a move day....not a good day to be driving in an rv. 20 is bad enough and gusts make it time to move off the road. David went to home depot and it was more windy up there. The canyon more mild

Thursday, Jan 16: 

Palo Duro Canyon State Park

Aiming to walk at least a mile each day...preferably two. Trading post for a look see and wifi. Goods were over priced so didn't buy any tshirts. More folks coming in now to camp....6 campers including us and no campgost for this loop.

Saw a few road runners in our walks...bleep, bleep. Mali was VERY interested.

Weds, Jan 15:

 Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Texas

The shower room is a warm 72 degrees and water is hot. They are clean...probably because not many people here and especially messy children.

Because there was snow/rain before our arrival, trails are closed until probably after our departure on Monday.

Being in the canyon and on the far end of central time zone...first light was at 7:30...late!

Each morning I have to wipe the three windows in bedroom and put the towel outside to dry....they get drippy with our hot air and cannot have mold in here....works well. We brought 3 small electric heaters and closed off the cab of our class C to limit what we had to heat. One goes in the back big storage area and two in the “house” part of rv. We have heat-on-the-wall set around 50 but the electric heaters at night are on low...low enough to preferably not have the heat on wall go on. We carry a 20 lb. Propane tank because we can get that filled anywhere...onboard not quite as easy and I don't want to be hunting for propane. Besides we can then use the park's electric. We were going to bring the two burner electric “stove” but decided it was just one more thing to store. The positioning of the smoke alarm makes it go off every time I cook something AND freaks Mali dog out. I usually take it down to avoid that.

Today walking and exploring and grabbing internet at the trading post which is a 5 minute drive up the road.

A jeep drive revealed there are 6 campers in the park in three campgrounds with two camphosts. So we pretty much have the park all to ourselves...nice...just two others in our campground. WE are content with the campground we picked.

Tuesday, Jan 14: 

CB in Gainesville, TX to Palo Duro Canyon State park, TX

Street noise/trucks and trains here and there but I still slept well. Route 82 to 287 in texas and then some smaller roads to Palo Duro Canyon State park. A pleasant drive...some trucks but not ridiculous like route 81 in VA. Stops for gas, walmart. Note to self...farm roads in Texas so far have been paved and good. Other states (Michigan....gravel). We arrived around the usual 4pm and it took longer than it should have...hit some wind right at us about ¾ of the way. The area around and most of what we have seen in Texas has been flat....then there is the ditch/canyon that is Palo Duro. It was somewhat steep going down, down, down into the canyon to our campsite. There is only one other camper in this campground...Hackberry. Not really surprised...it is not the weekend and it IS going to be COLD...single digits at night. Not ideal “camping” weather. The site we had selected #11 was a bit more unlevel than we wanted so David drove jeep up to Ranger Station to sweet talk girl to into switching sites to a bigger and more level one...especially since it was really empty. She pushed a few buttons and we got the site we wanted.

Dinner: frozen pizza cooked by David in our convection/nuker oven that I have yet to figure out. My first attempt at cookies were mush. That machine is tricky because it does multifunctions in one cooking operation...can be nuker, then convection, then grill....so what exactly am I cooking in/on...not metal due to nuker, maybe not paper due to grill or convection.....argh.

Monday, Jan 13:

 CB West Monroe LA to CB in Gainesville, TX

This was not the quietest sleep I've had at a CB but fine...lots of road noise. There were five rvs total. We were on the road by 8am...after a quick rv breakfast of granola and fruit. A pleasant drive today....really no traffic to speak of even in populated areas for the most part. We tried to get Mali dog a heated mat for her bed but to no avail...no one had any. Sunday night temps in texas (palo duro canyon) are going down to 8 degrees. We will winterize and flush with antifreeze for a couple of nights. We arrived at Cracker Barrel at 4pm...google maps time is not our time. Stop for gas twice...not great miler per today. Two stops to try and find a heated dog bed mat. Glad to settle in for the night but again...a busy road. Sound machine will be on!

Sunday, Jan 12:

 Fort pickens campground to Cracker Barrel Monroe Louisiana.

On the road this morning at 8am. Bucees for gas. Went through Mobile Alabama and was glad it was a sunday morning....so empty roads. The drive from Mobile to Hattiesburg was great...hardly anyone on the road. Stopped in Hattiesburg Mississippi at walmart...they also had an Aldi's and any store your heart could wish for....bustling with activity. Nonexistent towns getting to Hattiesburg. Made it to Cracker Barrel in West Monroe, Louisiana around 4pm. Preordered dinner for pick up at CB.

Friday, Jan 10: Relaxing and walking

Saturday, Jan 11: Relaxing and walking

Thursday, Jan 9:

No evacuation for Fort Pickens which was rather surprising given the gale warnings, high surf, wind warnings. Glad we were not as we would have had to fill in a bit too many days.

A quiet day...rained all day. Made NASTY keto packaged cookies with big aftertaste that lingered for hours.

David made a packaged gluten free stroganoff for dinner all by himself!!!!!! so I could have a night off cooking. It was Aldi's and I wouldn't make it again but we didn't drain the grease/broth off...

Weds, Jan 8:

We took a walk to the beach and it was BEAUTIFUL. Found a nice shell. Mali dog would have loved chasing the birds...too bad. Laundry was listed at this National Park...nice perk but we couldn't find it. Asked hostie and we did get laundry done...GREAT! $6.75 because I am pretty sure we got a dryer that was malfunctioning and took two go rounds at total of 80 minutes!!! to dry our laundry.

Campfire day because we need to use the wood up that we have been carrying since October? Of last year in jeep. I vacuumed the jeep to clean it up as well. We went around and selected ideal sites should we want to come back. When we talked to the hosties (who they used to not require to leave when access road might be compromised and now they do) they told us having been here 7 years volunteering, its been no more than twice per season. So we just hit an evacuation spot. He stated that he has been here 7 years. They do not clean bathrooms. From what I can see, they are a presence here and clean the sites.

Dinner tonight is pasta and zucchini.

Tuesday, January 7^th: Today we moved back to Fort Pickens. We cancelled the two days we didn't use and changed our site to one that is more roomy for Mali dog. I am thinking we really didn't need to evacuate...not that much rain. More rain coming on Thursday...will we get booted again? If so we are done and not going back...heading west. Apparently Fort Pickens campground was open yesterday and nothing on website (recreation.gov or NPS). A nice campfire while david added an outlet in the rv. Mali dog had a freak out when smoke alarm went off while I was cooking (not burning) and putting her outside just freaked her more because she doesn't like campfires...even though it was far enough away. David took her for a sniffy walk to calm her and then dinner for her...happy dog.

Mon, Jan 6: Happy Birthday David. A quiet night and we did use the AC last night because it was just warm in rv. 60 degrees perfect until I was cold...then 66. Making Gluten free brownies this morning...breakfast brownies. There seems to be some folks here in Big Lagoon State Park that bugged out from Fort Pickens because it was the closest to Fort Pickens...we were lucky to get a site. We should have made a reservation after the knock on the door...wiser now. We have the only 50 amp site...just one. We didn't need 50 amp but there wasn't much choice.

This is the first time baking in the convection/microwave rv contraption. David is taking the lead in seettings because hey, I shouldn't have to read directions to run and oven! Thru research/youtube found out there is a “cake” selection that I should have used. The manual I printed online is very basic.

Sun, Jan 5: Got a knock on the door last night around 9pm...we had both just fallen alseep and david, of course, didn't hear a thing. He got up and ranger said we were on mandatory evacuation because access road floods in storm surge...rain began around 7:30am. We knew we needed to be at the dump station ASAP or we were going to wait, wait, wait. We quickly packed up electric wire, hoses, and 2 chairs...we never have a lot of stuff outside. We did have 7 more nights on our reservation. My original plan was to go to a cracker barrel in the evening that was about 40 minutes away. But I also searched for state parks nearby and found one that had an opening...Big Lagoon State Park/florida. That is where we ended up and about 40 minutes away. We cancelled two days on our reservation at Fort Pickens and booked into Big Lagoon. Then we selected a bigger site at Fort Pickens and booked in starting tuesday to complete our reservation time there. Mali dog will have some room to run with her ball...yippee! We went to Ace hardware to get propane fill in our 20 lber...so much easier to get filled than onboard. Got settled in at Big Lagoon and walked a bit. This park has two trails that are dog friendly.

Sat, Jan 4: Woke to a nice sunny day. David is installed a REAL fan in our bathroom and remove the old toy fan that it came with. Also a maxi cover so we can use it in the rain. His project for this trip. I cannot reach the knob to turn on or off (WHY do they do that...our old jayco c was a height I could reach). This new one will have a remote on the wall...yay! So today is clean up rv day and dog walking. I just did dishes for the first time in my ROUND sink...that may be changed out later...we will see. A campfire for dinner. Decided to try out their showers. The best I could do was a slightly warm shower....would not go hot or remotely close. David tried another bath house and found hot water...too hot in some cases and a drip you had to dance under.

Friday, Jan 3: CB prattsville AL to Fort Pickens campground....It took us wayyy longer than estimated. We stopped at an Aldis for some gluten free things and more. We went to Gulf Shores ALABAMA to pick up walmart order except for the fact that I had correctly placed it at Gulf BREEZE Florida enroute to Fort Pickens Campground....DUH, DUH, DUH. David kept telling me that Fort Pickens was in Alabama and although I was pretty sure it wasn't I didn't check. So we righted ourselves and arrived around 4pm at Fort Pickens. NICE white sandy beaches! Except the 65 degrees of today will not be repeated. Cold spell coming.

Thurs, Jan 2: CB Abingdon VA to CB prattville AL – This was not the most quiet CB and I would not stay again.

Weds, Jan 1: Junes to CB Abingdon, VA