Balmorhea State Park

Our plan was to travel to Van Horne, TX yesterday and boondock in the parking lot of Chuy’s where JB and Brenda stayed the other day.  Instead we ended up at Balmorhea State Park.  It is about 6 miles off I10 and what a find—an older park which has some trashy neighbors but the park itself is a wonder!

Built by the CCC in 1935 Balmorhea swimming pool is fed by an artesian spring that has a ONE MILLION GALLON per hour flow!!!!  The 1.75 acre pool (it’s a huge swimming pool) holds 3.5 million gallons of water and maintains a constant temperature of 72-76 degrees!  One of the work campers was waiting to lock the gates and told us that yesterday when the weather was sunny, the pool had lots of visitors.  There is motel style lodging with a Southwestern look and the campground that has water, electric and cable at each site.  There is a restored cienega (Spanish for marsh or wet meadow) that provides habitat for the Comanche Springs pupfish. 

The only drawback, it costs $31 a night to stay here!  Texas has a $7 per person entry fee at this park and I’m not so sure that it isn’t at every Texas state park.  The RV site is $17 per night. 

We are one of four rigs in the park tonight and it is quiet and dark—just the way we like it!

After a relaxing morning of coffee and blogs we started making tracks again.  We were in three states today having finally gotten out of Texas-- and pulled into our friends, Jim and Linda’s driveway in Tombstone just about 5:30.  We had stopped just outside Tombstone at one of the easy to get into RV parks and filled our propane tank. 

And, the best news of all—thanks to JB and Brenda’s tip—Michael was the proud recipient of a shingles vaccine today!!!  When I was talking to Linda today on the phone before we arrived at their place, she mentioned that another friend had gotten his shingles vaccine at the Safeway store in Benson.  Got out the IPod, Googled that Safeway store for the phone number and was told yes, he could get his vaccine there.  And, Gina and Rollie, the person on the phone must have thought I was crazy cause I asked three times, “are you SURE you have the vaccine in stock and are you SURE someone can give it to him TODAY.” 

Our motorhome reached a milestone today: We drove over 400 miles today and the motorhome purred all the way—we are really liking this RV!

We met Jim and Linda several years ago while participating in Cowboy Action Shooting.  They were full-timing RVer’s when we met but have sold their big RV (a toyhauler with a Harley in the back) and bought an older home in Tombstone.  Renovations have turned the home into a show place—I love the way Linda has decorated—it is a great place and in a very quiet neighborhood.  Jim likes living in Tombstone as it is very near to several shooting events every month.  Linda likes Tombstone’s proximity to Sierra Vista and all that shopping!  We will spend a couple days here with them before continuing on to Tucson. 

Just a great day!  Except poor Emmi has discovered what goat head grass stickers are—nasty things and now she won’t hardly get off the pavement to go potty!  We are trying really hard not to track those lethal things into the rig but I stepped on one just a while ago!  OUCH!