Day 22: Caprock Canyons State Park, Quitaque, TX: A funny thing happened on the way to the park

In this episode, we will tell you all about our night and morning at Abilene State Park.  Then, we will tell you all about our journey to Caprock Canyon State Park.  If you stick around until the very end, we will let you in on a secret.  

Despite the forecasts, it did not rain last night nor this morning.  For the morning walk I did all of the trails in the park except the dam trail.  They have some nice trails.  I like this park.  We had about 4 hours of driving to do and weather forecast was better for where we were going versus where we were.  We did a slow pack up and hit the road at 1019.  I had noticed one of the window seals on the van was a little sketchy so I planned to stop at an Auto Zone or O’Reilly’s when we passed one.  Also needed to stop at a drug store so I could get more hair growing cream.  I’m sure you will all agree it is working wonders.

The drive was mostly secondary roads and it was not super windy.  It was a pleasant drive.  We drove through Anson, TX and we have been through Williams, AZ.  Oh happy days! 

Live wild animal sightings were limited to a deer and a roadrunner.  On the road kill side, add a wild boar.  

We were going to stop at a little burrito shack in a town, but it was closed.  Maybe that was a good thing.  We lunched at a picnic area.  Sadly, if we had stopped at the next picnic area, the view was much better.

We saw 3 of the large arrows on the drive.  One was in Spur, TX. 

We arrived at Caprock at about 1445.  I went to check in only to discover we did not have a reservation.  Hmmm.  Turns out we do have a reservation for the night, but not here.  We were supposed to be in Abilene for 2 nights.  Oops.  It was a nice park but Caprock is nicer and has a better forecast.  We were able to secure a spot in the equestrian area for the night.  There is no electricity in this part of the park, nor a washroom.  It’s basically boondocking.  Of the 8 campers here, only one has a horse.  There is water at the campsite but it was looking a little milky so we shall use the water stored in the van.

This part of the park has access to different trails and vistas.  Post dinner we headed out for a walk.  Plenty of bison poo.  And then we saw a single majestic bison behind some scrub.  We headed a bit further down the trail as the bison also inched closer to the trail.  We decided to turn around and head back to the van.  It was a nice walk and was cool to see a bison fairly close on day one.

I forgot to mention yesterday that I was surprised our awning was not auto-retracting in the wind.  I tested it.  It failed.  I replaced the batteries.  I tested it.  Test passed.  

The cell service here is a bit sketchy.  One bar, no bar.  It should be a bit better in the other part of the park.  Pictures may be hard to share.

We have also been reacquainted with the fine red soil you get in this part of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  We still have not removed all of it from the van from last year’s trip.  I dusted off Amy before letter her back in the van.

Sometimes mistakes are opportunities.