Western Texas can get boring while driving across the flat land. In the past we have blasted through Texas just trying to get through it to get somewhere else. This time, we had plenty of time and a Texas State Park pass and decided to make it worth the purchase. Balmorhea seemed a good place to stop since it was about the right number of miles that we like to travel. We had read on Pam Oh the Places They Go that highway 285 was in bad repair and not a good choice with all of the big trucks. We took highway 54 to I 10 and were thankful for that choice, very little traffic and a nice straight highway. This gave us plenty of time to imagine how life must have been for the Apaches living here years ago.
Balmorhea is a long ways from anywhere. We found a nice little Mexican restaurant with some good food as we drove though the town of 479 people. We sat and listened to the locals discussing the oil fields they work in and the pump capacity for water and oil. They sounded pretty knowledgeable discussing pressures etc.
The state park is not very big at 45 acres but has the San Solomon Spring with year round groundwater. In the 1930s the CCC made a swimming pool which blocked the water flow to the marshlands. This was causing harm to endangered animals and fish until the marsh flow was restored. Now it is home to several endangered animals.
The pool was natural with catfish and puffer fish in it. People would bring their snorkel equipment with them and snorkel in the pool.
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| Red eared slider |
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| Strange looking soft tailed turtle |
The pool was natural with catfish and puffer fish in it. People would bring their snorkel equipment with them and snorkel in the pool.
After the situations Mike has suffered with his accident and other things, I decided I needed to step up and learn the ins and outs of this rig of ours. I backed the trailer into the site just fine. It wasn't even angled which made me proud. I had to figure out a way to get the plug into the surge protector since it took a bit more strength but I got it together. I did let him bat the wasps away. Now I have done everything except the black tank tube but hopefully, that won't happen. If it does, I will figure it out.
Once again, we were in a very dark place at night. People were pulling out their huge telescopes. Then we sat back and looked at the Milky Way and satellites passing through the sky. There is so much to learn about. As the old saying goes, "The more I learn, the less I know." This is a strange but interesting life.
