Arizona 2024: Day 5: Palo Duro Canyon State Park: Ooh, Baby, Ooh, said Ooh

Just a lovely night sleep at Lake El Reno RV Park. While we could hear traffic, it was off in the distance and was more like white noise. A light drizzle began I commenced this morning’s walk but I decided to ignore the light rain and keep going. I walked along the wonderful concrete sidewalks that run beside the lake and golf course. A quick ~4km.

We packed up relatively quickly and got ready to hit the road. Amy had decided to protest her breakfast so she got to complete the first leg of the drive hungry and still protesting. We did a bit of a drive around the lake as there were American Pelicans out in the middle of the lake and we wanted a better vantage point. We also saw a Bald Eagle in a tree as we drove to the pelican sighting location.

It was a windy morning drive with the gusts hitting us on the port beam. Made for some fun and excitement as we attempted to keep the van in its own lane. Good thing offspring #2 taught me the death grip because I was clenched onto that steering wheel like it mattered. Oh, it did matter.

Our first stop was at a former town called Texola on the Texas and (can you guess?) Oklahoma border. It’s a ghost town on old route 66. We were going to have lunch there but decided to move on after visiting the former district jail from 1910.

The headstone outside the jail lists all of the 1938 graduating class from the local high school. Not sure why it was there. Nobody famous was housed in the jail although apparently Bonnie and Clyde were near Texola once.

Since the gas stations in Texola were all dried up, we made a stop just down the highway, got some gas, parked in the back parking lot and had some lunch. There was a Taco Bell at the gas station, but none of us are willing to take that risk. We made sandwiches. Amy’s breakfast was appropriately augmented (chicken and swiss cheese) to her liking and she finally ate.

We stopped just before Palo Duro and filled up the gas tank and I got a 12 pack of beer. Bud Light for the win. I’m aware that my choice was provocative to some people on this side of the border. I paid and the cashier said she had just one more question. I looked around for the posse that was going to take me away, but the question was just whether I wanted to donate to the victims of the wildfires. Phew! We had not seen any evidence of the currently active fires. The bigger ones were north of the highway.

We arrived at Palo Duro and checked in. We stayed here for a few nights last year and loved it. Weather may impact us a bit more this year. We are scheduled to be in 3 different sites over 3 nights. We backed into our site and got as level as we reasonably could. The White Winged Doves greeted us with their beautiful song. We then wondered what to do next. We have not really “camped” yet on this trip. We got out a chair, I set up a hammock and we just relaxed. We even had a beer!

Time for a hike down one of the trails. Amy could not wait. She was pulling us the entire way. So many new smells to stop and take in. Amy did some smelling too! There are plenty of trails in this park, I think I will try one in the morning I have not tried in the past.

Post hike it was dinner time. On the menu tonight: chicken and grilled veggies. We brought out our new NomadiQ and put in the griddle option on one side. Mrs. Milddogs was not aware of the size of the griddle so she may have overshot the veggie portion. In the end it all cooked well and we enjoyed a fine meal. We have left over veggies too!

Why a NomadiQ? Well, we have tried a 17″ Blackstone. It was a great cooking experience but way too big and heavy to carry in our van. Blackstone now has some more portable griddles available. Shall call that bad timing! We then tried a flip open Coleman propane stove with an aftermarket griddle top. That was OK as you could use it as a stove or griddle. But we wanted a way to grill food. Like a good old grilled burger. So now we are trying the NomadiQ. Note that we have a propane stove in the van and also carry a portable induction stovetop.

As the sun set, this was the view from the bathroom of our van.