Brantley Lake SP, NM - Feb 2008

Whew -- after three months of being planted in central Texas and somehow managing to keep way too busy, we've finally settled down and are getting back to our leisurely roaming mode.

Our first stop once we left Texas was at Brantley Lake State Park near Carlsbad, New Mexico. The campground is situated next to a large reservoir and is perched up on a small rise and as a result it has views for miles in all directions. Being a high desert, it's mostly sand, sagebrush and creosote bushes, but still pretty in its own way. The view of the blue water lake is a refreshing break in the endless brown landscape. The staff had planted pine and mesquite trees when the park first opened and has nurtured them with daily watering, so now, about 20 years later, there are a few green things growing and it looks like a little oasis in the desert. The sites are nicely maintained -- very neat and clean and lots of elbow room.

Our original plan was to head towards southern Utah, but after an expensive winter dealing with repairs, maintenance and remodeling on the RV, we decided to cut back on our travels this spring and save a few pennies in the process. New Mexico State Parks offer a tremendous deal on camping -- if you buy an annual camping pass for $225, you can stay overnight in any of their parks for a mere $4/night for an electric hookup site and it's free for a non-hookup site. The pass pays for itself after three weeks of use and is good for a full year. We plan to stay in New Mexico through the spring and will most likely return in the fall.

Camping in the desert has it's drawbacks, but two of the best things are by far the sunrises and sunsets. This is looking out our living room window at the colorful sunrise one morning. The "Love" message on the window is about the only decoration that I have in the RV. It's a product called "Gel Gems" and they are gooey, gelatin-like shapes that cling to the window. They are lightweight, colorful and allow me to enjoy a bit of whimsy without adding any weight to the RV. I have several themes and enjoy rotating them for the seasons. This one was celebrating Valentine's Day.

Just one of the colorful sunset scenes over Brantley Lake. That's our stunted pine tree on the right. The ranger said that when the trees were first planted, the native porcupines chewed the tops off of them and the trees have grown misshapen as a result. The park has a fair amount of wildlife. Lots of birds -- roadrunners, doves and chickadees roam about the campsites and hawks and vultures soar in the breeze. Last night we heard coyotes howling and yipping not too far from the campground. The ranger told us not to leave the dogs unattended outside since the coyotes come through camp occasionally.

When we got up most mornings, we could smell the noxious odor from the nearby oil rigs. Phew -- it smelled sulfurous. The ranger said it's worse in the mornings when the breeze dies down, but gets blown away as soon as the wind picks up. Speaking of oil rigs, while driving into the park on Monday, we saw a huge plume of smoke way off in the distance. Reading the news the next day, I saw that an oil rig in Big Spring, TX (about 50 miles from here) had an explosion, so I'm sure that's what we saw.

We had another "it's a small world" incident occur when we arrived at the park. As I was returning from the Visitor's Center, where I went to pay our rent, I saw a red truck camper pulling in right across from us. It had an advertising sign on the side and as I slowed down to read it, I saw that it said "Broken Arrow RV Park." Hmmm, that sounded familiar to me and just about that time a couple popped out of the truck and were waving their arms and smiling. I immediately recognized Larry & Geri Gustafson -- the owners of the park where we had stayed in Custer, South Dakota last summer. That was the place that had the nightly ice cream socials that we enjoyed so much. Anyway, they've been taking a break from the cold winter in South Dakota and making their way around New Mexico and Texas for a few weeks. They are on their way back, but made an overnight stop here to go to Carlsbad Caverns. They came over that night and we sat and caught up on all the news. Their RV park has taken off and is heavily booked with reservations for the summer. They are tickled pink that it's been a success and will be expanding it this spring to add more spaces. It's a clean, quiet park in a picturesque setting with great views and we highly recommend it.