We went camping. 2/11/17

[Vaquero]

Just a thread to share some pictures and experience.
Not often you get 92°f in February.

We left Lamesa, TX on Wednesday, around 3:00pm.
A NE wind was forecast. They were right.
We rode that thing to Pyote , TX till it played out.

[Vaquero]

We pulled into Davis Mountains State Park about 7:00pm.
Setup in the dark. After some fancy maneuvering. First time there.
One other camper left on the board. They pulled in around 8:30.
Made me feel decent about how quiet we tried to be. Heh.

Next morning, we slowly drug ourselves out and drove, not hiked, jogged or walked, to the summit of Skyline Drive.
Phone service! Meh.
Halfway up, looking on the park campsites.

[Vaquero]

Level campsites?
You bet!! Side to side.

[Vaquero]

Kidding. Kinda.
A couple of sites were that extreme.
That's a pic I took this trip.
Most every other site was level enough.
Honestly, we parked rearward farther than we wanted to.Much further forward towards the picnick table and "shelter" would have had us in a very similar situation.

[Vaquero]

Our rig.
I ain't sure what's level at this point.

[oldmanAZ]

Originally Posted by Vaquero

Level campsites?
You bet!! Side to side.

WOW! We had a site a bit like that once. When hitching to the truck, the lumber under the front jack started sliding and the tongue headed down and to the left every time the jack moved. I backed up the truck and we were able to let the coupler down onto the hitch head and shank. Then we re-positioned the wood under the front jack and tightened the chocks. Intense pucker for a few minutes!

Be sure your trailer chocks are wedged tight and don't slip. That's the mistake I made THAT ONE TIME!

[Vaquero]

Originally Posted by oldmanAZ

WOW! We had a site a bit like that once. When hitching to the truck, the lumber under the front jack started sliding and the tongue headed down and to the left every time the jack moved. I backed up the truck and we were able to let the coupler down onto the hitch head and shank. Then we re-positioned the wood under the front jack and tightened the chocks. Intense pucker for a few minutes!

Be sure your trailer chocks are wedged tight and don't slip. That's the mistake I made THAT ONE TIME!

I bought new chocks. On this trip.
Cheap insurance and I slept better.

More pics to download.
I'll pick back up tomorrow.

[Big1]

Awesome, thanks for sharing I just made reservation on my next stay this coming April for seven days, so excited to get back out camping I never know that camping can be so exciting.

[Vaquero]

Thursday was a road trip through Big Bend NP.
Entered at the station south of Marathon and exited at Study Butte/Terlingua.
Once we entered, it felt apocalyptic. We didn't see anyone or anything for at least 30 minutes.
Attached pictures reflect 90% of what we saw all the way through.

[Vaquero]

https://youtu.be/OCkGmgZVXEU

At the Rio Grande.

[Vaquero]

Thursday we just hung around the park and in town (Ft. Davis) .
We were pretty tired from all the traveling of the prior 2 days.
Saturday we broke camp and started back. Stopped by Balmorhea state park for a look around. Interesting place. Lots of scuba classes happening there. The spring fed pool is clear and 35' deep. It was near 90° at this time. The air temp, not the water.

[Vaquero]

A few final words.

Davis Mountains State Park has advertised water pressure of 90psi. Be sure you have a functional pressure regulator.

We intended to make Guadalupe Mountains NP a part of this trip. That was a bit more than we could muster. My apologies to Camper_bob. No report of facilities. If we get there before your trip, I'll sure give you a shout.

The Ram 1500 did great. 8 speed transmission and the 5.7 hemi makes for a really versatile truck.
Most towing was done in 6th. 63 mph @ 2000 rpm. Traversing Wild Rose Pass was a non issue.
Dropped it into 5th and drove the 55 mph speed limit rather easily. Downhill, the engine braking was better than I expected. We're ready for the TX hill country!

New tires. Cooper Discoverer HT.
Worth every last penny. A little stiffer ride than the factory Wranglers.
Much quieter and the higher load rating and sidewall firmness made the crosswind towing much more comfortable.

[Big1]

Awesome pics and thanks for sharing.

[TimHolt]

Far West Texas is beautiful and under appreciated as a travel destination IMHO.
Combine that trip with Guadalupe Mtns and Carlsbad Caverns and you have a pretty good 2 week stay..

Thanks for sharing

[lx22f/c]

Thanks for sharing. We did the west Texas trip two years ago. We stayed at Balmohrea and did day trips to everywhere else.
Did you do the McDonald observartory??



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[Vaquero]

Originally Posted by lx22f/c

Thanks for sharing. We did the west Texas trip two years ago. We stayed at Balmohrea and did day trips to everywhere else.
Did you do the McDonald observartory??



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We skipped the observatory.
As much as we liked the Davis Mountains State Park, we'll have more chances to get there though.

[Magnolia Tom]

The observatory is great, but once you've done it, the novelty wears off. I've been 3 times and it's not all that exciting anymore. I do love Davis mountains state park and the good water pressure [emoji3]


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