Our dry camping spot at the SKP park in Deming wasn’t anything to write home about. But an interesting point is it was next to a motel that I’d stayed at previously. I stayed at The Quality Inn right next door with my motorcycling buds when we traveled to New Mexico to ride at the Arroyo Seco race track.

I always love it when an interesting coach pulls into a park. The coach that parked into a site near us was definitely interesting. It was an older Foretravel – I’m guessing late ’90s, maybe 2000. Foretravel coaches are built in Texas on a proprietary monocoque chassis and are definitely in the upper class of motorhomes. This one had a cool custom paint job and matching stacker trailer.

Custom paint on a Foretravel coach and trailer

I spoke briefly to the owner. He told me it’s a 42-foot coach although it looks longer. I think the  illusion of length is due to the paint scheme and tag axle. I was curious but didn’t find out what was in the stacker trailer. The satellite dish and roof AC covers painted to match the trim along the roof was a nice touch.

Donna prepared pan-seared flank steak on the induction cooktop and served it with asparagus for dinner. The park had an unusual rule restricting generators after 7:30pm, so Donna prepared dinner early, then we switched to battery/inverter power.

Flank steak and asparagus

We watched the final episode of House of Cards, season three before heading to bed.

We lost an hour coming into New Mexico, so even though we felt like we were up early, it was after 8am by the time we got up and had breakfast and coffee. Since we were dry camped, we were able to get things ready for travel quickly and left the park around 8:45am.

Our first stop was only about an hour east on I-10. There’s a rest stop west of Las Cruces that I really like. It has an incredible view of the valley and old downtown Las Cruces and a cool sculpture to boot. The greater roadrunner is the state bird of New Mexico and this rest stop has a huge, beautiful roadrunner sculpture. I really wanted Donna to see the view and sculpture. Too bad it was a little hazy, the haze is more apparent in the photos than what we saw.

View as you approach the facility

Valley view of old Las Cruces

Greater roadrunner sculpture

I used to stop here when I traveled to Las Cruces and El Paso for business. Speaking of EL Paso, what a trial to drive through on I-10. There’s a bypass route but it’s mountainous and I heard there was construction that way. We ran the gauntlet and made our way through. At times, I thought we were were in Juarez, Mexico.

Once we cleared El Paso, it was a long drone along I-10. Some of the scenery was interesting, but to be honest, it was a boring drive. I kept myself alert by monitoring engine and transmission temperatures and engine oil pressure. Yeah, exciting stuff. I also kept track of the sparse traffic around me and flashed my headlights to let passing tractor-trailer rigs know when their trailer was clear of our motorhome to move over in front of me. I think this is a courtesy that we should extend as big rig drivers. Most truckers flash their running lights back at me when they move over to acknowledge the courtesy signal. We lost another hour as we entered the Central Time Zone along the way. The road surface was good for the most part until we were about 60 miles west of Fort Stockton. Then it had washboard sections that were ridiculous considering the 80mph speed limit (we kept our speed at 62mph in the right lane).

We finally made it to Fort Stockton. There’s a GPS map glitch that affects this area. We know from online posts that it’s not just our GPS – many are affected by this. It makes sense to me since there are only a few map suppliers for the GPS units. I think Navteq supplies most GPS sellers such as Garmin, Lowrance and others, so it stands to reason that a map error affects all users. I won’t condemn my GPS unit for a map error. I just have to find a reasonable way around it.

We worked around the glitch and found the park Donna scouted online with a Passport America rate of only $11 with full hook-ups. Once we drove there, we changed our minds. We wanted to conserve cash on this run, but we have certain standards. This park was all dirt with no amenities and a thunderstorm was a distinct possibility. We didn’t want to be parked in a mud hole.

We moved on and checked in at the Fort Stockton RV Park east of town. Of the parks in this area, I think this was the best option. With a Good Sam discount we secured a paved 72-foot pull-through, full hook-up site for $31.

Once we settled, in I phoned an old buddy, Dave Glynn. He had contacted me via Facebook the day before and told me to let him know if we would be in the area of Fort Stockton. He’s currently working in an oil field near Fort Stockton. Dave and I go way back – the last time I saw him was in the early 80s. We hung out and had many misadventures together in the 70s.

Dave came out to our site at the RV park and took Donna and me out to dinner. It was fun talking about the old days, reminiscing and catching up. Dave generously picked up the tab and invited – no, insisted – we stay at his vacation place at Buchanan Dam. The house has acreage on the lake and we can park the motorhome there. Thanks, Dave!

We have thunderstorms here and are likely to encounter more as we move through south central Texas to the gulf. Hopefully we’ll avoid hail storms or tornados! Texas weather scares me. We’ll head on to San Angelo for a night then hit Dave’s place at Buchanan Dam.