Trip Update TX-AZ March 2010 Part 1

Texas Bluebell
Don at Inks SP in TX
Cap Rock Canyon State Park
A Cap Rock at Palo Duro SP


We spent most of the month touring some of the state parks in Texas. We started in the Pinelands, north of Houston, moved west to the Hill Country near Austin, and then north- west into canyon country near Amarillo. I expected to like the Pinelands area best with its lakes and tall pine trees. I was not disappointed. Sometimes it felt like we were in South Carolina, not Texas. The Hill Country has the reputation of being the best area of Texas, but the rolling hills seemed a bit empty without the pines we saw east of Austin. Our biggest surprise was the Panhandle area and its canyons. We thought we were in Utah. Did you know the second deepest canyon in the U.S. is Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo?
For the most part we really enjoyed hiking and exploring these parks. We did manage to plan our visit to Caprock Canyon during Texas’ spring break week. There was an extensive hiker-biker trail near the Park, so one day we disconnected our power cord at the site and drove about 8 miles to the start of the trail. We planned to bike on the trail, but discovered the front tire on Pat’s bike would not hold air. So Pat rode my bike down the trail for five minutes, dropped the bike and started walking. I walked up to the bike and rode it until I caught up with Pat. Using this method we covered 9 miles in about 2 hours. When we returned to our campsite we found that someone decided they needed our power cord and door mat more than we did. We spent the next two cold nights at the campground. When we got to Amarillo we were able to replace our $80 RV power cord. More than likely the people that stole our cord thought it was a heavy duty extension cord, but it was probably useless to them once they examined it closely.
While in the Amarillo area near Palo Duro Canyon, we got ready for a blizzard. It turned out to be only 4-5 inches of snow, but the wind was fierce. After the storm passed we did have several excellent days of hiking in the canyons. As we moved further west the wind keep increasing in intensity. New Mexico was one long dust storm. Do you know what happens when it rains during a dust storm? It rains mud! It was very weird. We heard that I-40 was closed a few days later due to the dust storms.
We took a side trip through the Petrified Forest on our way to Sedona. We heard Sedona was not RV friendly, so we rented a car in Flagstaff. It turned out that RV parking was not banned in Sedona - it was just difficult to find a place to park a large vehicle. We had a timeshare in Sedona and were able to park our RV at the resort. Having a car to zip around Sedona and be able to park at trail heads made the rental worthwhile. We were joined during the week by Linda, a friend from my college years. We spent several days hiking some of the numerous trails in this beautiful Red Rock area. Before the week was over Pat and I took a hot air balloon ride. We have had this on our “Bucket List“ for a long time. We were disappointed that instead of floating over the dramatic canyons, we got a bird’s eye view of Sedona’s wastewater treatment plant and spray irrigation system. Had I still been working in this field, maybe I could have considered this a business expense! In ballooning, you go where the wind blows you. Despite that we had an excellent time in Sedona and extended our stay several more days.