Reviewing three FREE RV parks in North Texas.

Our next planned stop was in Texas. We wanted to take this opportunity to stay at three of the free city RV parks in the panhandle of Texas. Our first stop was at the Ray and Donna West Free RV Park in Muleshoe, TX. We have stayed at this park before so we knew what to expect.

Muleshoe is a small city with a population of around 5,000 people. The city is known for its agriculture, particularly in the production of potatoes, cotton, and cattle. The free city park is right in town and has eight RV spots with water, sewer and electricity (30 and 50 amp). A sewage dump station is available on site. You can stay free up to three nights and there is a donation box.

Nearby is Muleshoe National Wildlife Refuge which is worth a visit.. There is also a nice place to eat with a bar right across the  as well as other conveniently located businesses near the downtown area. Oh I must mention there is also some awesome Tex-Mex food to enjoy.

We took a day trip over to the refuge and found some short hikes and  a bit of birdwatching. We spotted quite a few horned larks which are a quite interesting little birds with its tufts of feathers on its head resembling horns. They are plentiful in the plains states which is why we haven’t often encountered them.

Our next free park stop was in Levelland,Texas located 30 miles west of Lubbock.and has a population of 12,600. It is the home of South Plains College and home to the Levelland City Campground. The campground is free, has seven sites, and provides electric (30 and 50 amp). and water hookups s well as a dump station.

The campground is located south of town on Highway 385, next to the Levelland Municipal Airport. It i really a nice wooded park which we had all to ourselves during our three day stay ( the park offers 3 nights max for free and then $20 per night up to seven afterwards). We stayed the entire three nights since it was close to Lubbock where we explored both the town and Texas Tech University.

The museum on campus is worth a visit.  We happily discovered lots of interesting sights including some huge dinosaur skeletons, Indian Art and some cool photographs like the one i took of a tree frog, super cool.

Our last free campsite stop was in Lamesa, Texas. The population is about 8,600 and is located about an hour south of Lubbock on the Llano Estacado. Founded in 1903. the town site had been part of the large Slaughter Ranch, famous for its “Lazy S” brand. The town was carved out of 160 acres of Frank Conner's Ranch

The Lamesa RV Park also called Rodeo RV Park is in a city park with eight back-in sites on asphalt with water and electric (only one site has 50 amp). The park is the least desirable of the three we visited. Campers can stay up to four nights free however, we only stayed one night as the town was a bit underwhelming.

The only highlight for us was the frisbee golf course within the park (in the above picture you can see our RV in the background)..  The course was a few steps from our front door continuing across the street and was a nice little course to play. Big Spring State Park is also nearby but we had visited it before. We panned to stay two nights but aa I mentioned the town left us feeling a bit depressed  so we moved on down the road…Its always nice to be back in Texas!

Cruising through West Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway…

We sure enjoyed our stay in Cincinnati but we must continue to push eastward to Raleigh for some pre-weeding festivities prior to our daughter’s wedding. We had a one night planned stay at the Sandy Springs Campground in Stout, Ohio. Man we should have made a better choice of routes as we ended up on a state road that was not only very narrow but there were also lots of low limbs forcing us center the road at times. Fortunately there wasn’t much traffic but it was still a bit disconcerting…

We pulled into the the campground  which was quite nice sitting on the banks of the Ohio River as we could look out our windshield and see Kentucky on the other side. The RV park is a nice little park and a Passport America park so it was a bargain for our one night stay. Hurry if you want to visit this park as it is up for sale. We drove around the area to sightsee a little, then simply relaxed at camp the rest of the day.

The next day was another travel day. We originally planned a one night stop in West Virginia but I just couldn’t find a park close enough to the toll road that would suit our desires. As a result we would go ahead and drive on through West Virginia. We had 289 miles to travel this day which is a very, very long day for us. Therefore we put together a crock pot (which we have had since we were first married – yes, it’s avocado green) for a dinner of Carne Guisada.  We stopped for lunch about midway at WV casino where with their free-play dollars we were able to leave with enough to cover the tolls and some of the diesel. After the stop we continued on down the road until we pulled in for a few nights stay at Fancy Gap Cabins and Campground located on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Fancy Gap, Virginia.

It’s been a while since we had been on the Blue Ridge Parkway so we drove quite a ways down it. We had never been on this part of the parkway but there was a place I wanted to see on it. We drove a short distance to the Blue Ridge Music Center. This cool little museum run by the National Park Service not only educated us about music and specifically the evolution of the banjo from its beginnings in Africa but there was also a daily jam going on between 1 and 4 pm.

Today’s music was a couple playing a mix of folk and light county and although we didn’t stay a long time to listen we really did enjoy this stop on the parkway. Afterward we drove along more of the parkway, took a short hike and also saw a nice black racer in the road along with a few deer. We then drove over to check out the town of Galax but were a bit disappointed in this small town which is also home to the Old Fiddlers Reunion. I guess I had higher hopes for Galax that what we found.

Back at the RV it was time to pack up for our last leg to the Raleigh North Carolina area…

NOTE: We are now in Raleigh NC at Jordan Lake Campgrounds to attend some pre-wedding parties for our daughter….

We had a Blast in Cincinnati… Who Would’ve Thought?

I was so excited when John told me we would be staying in Cincinnati as I love to explore cities. In fact one of my bucket list items is to immerse in city life by living downtown in a big city for a season or at least a month. Our friends John and Jane stopped RVing to live in Cedar Rapids  Iowa and visiting them gave me a taste of what life in the city is like. They live in a loft downtown and walk to EVERYTHING they need such as grocery shopping, doctor visits, hair appointments, restaurants and the gym. Seems like fun to me!

Anyway in researching Cincinnati I discovered a downtown trolley called the Bell Connector. The route was only a little over 3 miles long but went to many of the downtown sites I wanted to visit. I found that the fare is 2 dollars a person and could be purchased in a phone app. Next I grabbed the Downtown Cincinnati app which had several free self guided downtown tours, one of which followed the streetcar route and would point out the interesting architecture along our route. It also had tips for parking locations and I decided the easiest place to park from our RV site would be Findlay Market which is also a stop on the streetcar route.

The North Lot for Findlay Market was easy to find via our GPS and would be only 50 cents an hour with the first hour being FREE! After paying for parking we meandered around east and west Findlay Market which featured fresh produce and craft vendors along with many colorful buildings. Next we found our trolley stop and began our tour. John helped me look ahead at buildings of interest on the architecture app while I paid attention to our next stop which would be Washington Park.

Washington Park features a massive old circa 1800's building now serving as a music hall for the city. It was once a cathedral and is really stunning. The surrounding park has a waterfall and musical fountain which kids enjoy splashing in . It has a huge green space with many inviting chairs and benches beneath large shade trees as well as some civil war history which we also explored.

Back on the trolley our next stop would be Fountain Park which features a huge fountain and a stage for music as well as a huge big screen TV on a bank building which showed a REDS baseball game while we visited. There are many shops and restaurants so we walked the full two blocks all around the square and stopped to visit the Contemporary Art Center which was a free museum of 6 floors featuring interesting art.

 

Back on the trolley we went to the BANKS which houses the Reds baseball park and the Bengals Football Stadium which I definitely wanted to see. While there we also saw the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and Riverfront Park. The park is expansive and scenic as the impressive 1800's John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge dominates the landscape.

Walking along the river was a blast. We enjoyed the Queen City sign and took pictures of it not really knowing its significance at the time. Later we realized it is the nickname of Cincinnati because during the westward expansion it became the fastest growing city in the west. Thus it was dubbed the Queen of the West or Queen City. The highlight for me was the REDS ballpark! Its courtyard is open to the public, the vibe and the sculptures are fabulous! I loved it.

From the Banks we ventured over to Rock Bottom Brewery for a cold beer before catching the trolley to once more enjoy the murals, the buildings, the parks and the beauty of Cincinnati! What a great day!

NOTE: We are now in Raleigh NC where we will stay for a while as we attend some wedding related functions for our daughter’s upcoming wedding…

Barbara Bush, Friends and It’s a Wrap!

In wrapping up our blogs about our stay in the College Station area I thought I would mention a few other things we did while we were there for a month. One national newsworthy event was the death of former first lady Barbara Bush. A huge motorcade passed through the town taking Mrs Bush to her final resting place just behind the George Bush Library. Many citizens lined the streets illustrating the love College Station has for the Bush family.

After all the hoopla surrounding the event Sharon and I wanted to visit the library to pay our final respects to a woman who helped to make a lot of people better off than they were before. The grounds behind the George Bush Library were alive with spring flowers and sounds. Nestled within the plants I spotted spittle bugs. Sharon was unaware of these little insects who produce a spittle “sac” to protect them from predators. I stirred the spittle “sac” and showed her the insect hiding inside. Folklore had people referring to the spittle as snake spit but now you know the real story…

We also had some RV friends arrive in town when Jim and Nanc found us in College Station. We first met them at Betty’s RV Park and have crossed paths many times since. It still amazes me how many close friends we have accrued from visiting Betty's, yet another reason we so love going there.

While they were in town we took them on a tour of the Texas A&M campus. We started with one of the formal tours led by students but quickly realized that the campus tour’s target audience was really for prospective students. We followed the tour a short while before breaking off and I led them on a private tour offering my personal historical account of the University. We ended the day at the West End Elixir for a dinner of wood fired pizza and some adult beverages.Very fun!

Another day we had Jim and Nanc join us at our dear friends Anne and Gary to enjoy their cool little spot in Brazos County. There was a cookout where other friends and family joined us for a feast as well as games such a bean bags and horseshoes. We all had a great time and food was fabulous as always. We are so glad we were able to give Jim and Nanc a glimpse of life in our old home town. We have now said our goodbyes to College Station so we can begin our summer adventure... See you next year, College Station!

NOTE: We are now at Lockhart State Park to get our Texas BBQ fix until Friday then on to Canyon Lake…