A Few Days in Sumner Lake State Park NM…

The time came to leave Muleshoe Texas and shortly thereafter we entered the beautiful state of New Mexico. We only had to drive a few hours and things were going pretty well until I noticed my “check engine” light flicker on and off. Concerned I watched it but never saw it happen again even after we pulled into Sumner Lake State Park near Fort Sumner New Mexico.

Hoping the light issue was a non event we settled into our beautiful surrounding and set up camp.We will only stay two nights and have no plans other than to veg out and enjoy this park. We have climbed a bit in elevation so temperatures are a bit cooler but the weather is somewhat unsettled and some severe storms popped up in our area.Although they missed us it was exciting for awhile as we kept a watchful eye in case we needed to flee.

Some nice overnight rains made the air a bit cooler and a little more humid the next day which made it great for exploring the area. We found a few small trails and followed them as they meandered along the edge of Lake Sumner. Lots of wildflowers were blooming but it was obvious they were in the later stages of their lives.

We did see one mule deer prancing off nearby trying to put some distance between it and us. A few lizards were spotted but the coolest one was this little guy near our campsite who was hunting and even though I didn’t think he/she got anything when it turned its head I could clearly see antennae sticking out of its mouth – too cool!

Also under our pueblo casita there was a Cliff Swallow nest and inside the nest were three babies. The birds seemed to care less that Sharon and I occasionally lifted weights under the awning as mama and papa bird kept flying in and out feeding their young despite us!

I also was able to enjoy some great sunrises and shortly after sunrise the Western Kingbirds and the Orioles would begin chattering and foraging for breakfast. Also just outside of the motorhome a woodpecker landed and although it appeared to be a Ladder Backed Woodpecker it more resembled a Nuttalls Woodpecker, well outside of its range.

I am still not really sure what woodpecker I saw was but it was super pretty so I was glad he stopped by to show me his spring plumage on my Road of Retirement…

NOTE: We left Muleshoe Texas and spent two nights at Sumner Lake State Park in New Mexico and are now in Albuquerque NM for a week…

Muleshoe Texas, Grulla National Wildlife Refuge and a Visit to Portales New Mexico…

Wow I am still reflecting about how breathtaking Caprock Canyons State Park was! We would certainly love to visit this park again hopefully when it is cooler so we can hike some of the longer loop trails. Next up for us is a weekend stop in Muleshoe, Texas. I found a city owned park which is first come first served so we are hoping to get a site there. You would think we shouldn’t be worried but this park has full hookups and is free for up to three nights. Yes, it is FREE!

Luckily when we arrived we found one last open site so we pulled into the pull though spot. Full hookups were nice since we had not had a sewer hookup since we left Blanco Texas. We will only stay two nights and then move on. There is a donation box for those who stay as the park says electricity is their largest expense.

We decided since we are staying for free we would stimulate the economy by going out for lunch. We stopped in at Taqueria Guadalajara which was pretty darned tasty and then further stimulated the economy by shopping for some groceries at the United Grocery store in town.

There isn’t a lot to do in this area but Sharon and I headed over to Grulla National Wildlife Refuge to hike on some of their hiking trails. Temperatures were much milder this day as the high was only expected to barely reach 90.

The refuge is part of High Plains right on the border of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. It consists of 3,236 acres and the feature here is a shallow saline lake known as Salt Lake where sandhill cranes and migratory waterfowl stop over on their migratory routes. There were a a record peak of 100,000 cranes documented in 2005. The refuge is also home to lesser prairie chickens which unfortunately we did not see.

We sure enjoyed the hike down to near Salt Lake. It was windy this day and the mostly dry The saline lake looked eerie as plumes of sand filled the sky hovering over the lake bed. Though it was not an overly scenic site we enjoyed the scenery as“other worldly” and we were glad we included in our day’s plan.

Our last stop was in downtown Portales, a sleepy university town. Located here is Eastern New Mexico State University, home of the Greyhounds. It is the third largest university in the state of New Mexico. While we checked out the campus our main reason to come to Portales was for happy hour at the Roosevelt Brewing Company where we enjoyed some above average craft beers at really nice prices.It was $3 per pint at happy hour and growler fills were only $10 so we had them fill our growler to take home with us.

It was another great day during our stay at a quiet little town in the panhandle of Texas. Before we left Muleshoe and the great state of Texas we just had to stop one more time at Taqueria Guadalajara this time for breakfast. Their huevos rancheros were an excellent send off as we leave Texas to enter into New Mexico and change over to Mountain Time.

NOTE: We left Muleshoe Texas and spent two nights at Sumner Lake State Park in New Mexico and are now in Albuquerque NM for a week…