Day 33: Dust Devils, Prairie Dogs and Bison: Santa Rosa, NM to Quitaque, TX

We pronounce it “Kitty Quay”. That’s the way the sign says to pronounce it.

Nice morning walk around the acceptable campground and out onto Route 66. It was a balmy -1C when I started but no real wind. At home, -2C and above is shorts weather until the mosquitos come out.

While I was on my walk I inadvertently stumbled upon the place where the dark web is hosted.

I think the hotel has the diver down sign as there is a world famous blue hole near Santa Rosa.

I had some work work to do this morning before we departed. Was nice to talk to some great colleagues. We departed at 0950 after an uneventful trip to the dump station and headed east towards Amarillo. It was a decent, uneventful drive through the plains as we dropped in elevation. Wind was brisk and mostly right on the beam. We made one stop at a highway picnic area for lunch and an Amy break.

We entered Texas for our third time and rejoined CDT (Central Daylight Time) so we are only an hour behind home. We lost an hour. The hour we gained about three weeks ago.

With my great navigation skills I had not really looked at where we were going. Once I had punched the destination into the GPS I saw we were 100 miles further than Amarillo. A bunch of that south and a bunch of that east.

We passed by Happy, TX. Another town with a movie. I imagine the movie “Happy, Texas” is fictitious too.

Driving down the secondary roads was nice even though it was a bit windy again. We probably counted a dozen significant dust devils on this drive. Big ones. Dust way up in the sky. We gassed up in town called Tulia, TX. Once I had gassed up (the van) I took the opportunity for a little bladder relief. As I was standing in the van bathroom we were hit by a dust devil (more like a trash devil as it wasn’t too dusty, but kind of trashy). Plenty of van shake. Wow, was it ever strong. Here is my review of Tulia, TX: Run away as fast as you can. End of review.

We are at Caprock Canyon State Park near Quitaque, TX. And, I know I am a broken record. This park is incredible. This was the welcoming crew.

We got settled in our very spacious campsite and started the relax time. This park is home to a bison herd. That means there is bison poop everywhere, including our campsite. We tethered Amy short enough so she can’t go rolling in the poo glory. It reminds me “Goose Poop Park” aka The Upper Canada Migratory Bird Sanctuary Campground. We used to go there a lot back when the kids were younger. The good news here is that it’s bison poop. What’s not to love about all things bison. The official words state we should stay 50 feet away from the bison but the park person told Mrs Milddogs 30 feet, but more if they are with their babies. What a cool sight to see! Reminds me of riding through the bison herd with Dendog on the Alaska Highway in Northern British Columbia.

Before dinner we walked around trying to see more bison but gave up and went to the Prairie Dog area. Plenty of lovely Prairie Dogs hanging out there. Unfortunately a loose and aggressive German Shepherd came running at Amy. A bunch of yelling and a few well placed feet convinced it to leave and then it took after the Prairie Dogs. “She’s not like that”, “We thought we had her under control”. Blah, blah, blah. Control your dog!

Supper was a shrimp and potato boil for Mrs Milddogs and I had left over ribs and salad. Costco baked goods for desert. Mmmm.

Post dinner we disconnected and drove around the park to check it out. This is a very large park and unlike Mr and Mrs Pleasureway we don’t have e-bikes! We ended up in the playground accidentally (honestly officer!) and saw this fellow. He did not try to use the slide.

We then came upon a few other groups. Leaving Amy in the van we went and had a look from afar. There were a few young babies in the group. Apparently the fresh ones are called “Cinnamons”.

We decided this park was a real winner and found a site nearby open Friday night. Mrs Milddogs picks another great park! So we booked it. Two nights in the same spot gives us a day off of driving before the final push. We are thinking once we leave we will stop near Oklahoma City, OK, then St Louis, MO, the Indianapolis, IN and then a few nights in Sarnia, ON before we head home.

The chairs we picked up at Costco are actually kites. It’s fun to watch them leave as the wind hits. Do not get up and leave your chair empty!

There are plenty of trails here. I have picked out the one I will try tomorrow. Well, I’ll probably miss a turn again and not get to the cool part. We are looking forward to a day of no travel.

We ran out of data and days on our Verizon JetPack. It was a win. But we will mostly be going through more populated areas for the rest of the trip and have plenty of data on our fine Telus Canada/US plan. Tethering for the rest of the trip.

Peace!

And here is that map!