Friday, Nov 7
Second day at Balmorrhea. The campground got a little crowded in the night—more than I preferred, anyway. Maybe one-third to one-half full. Some of the people practiced “dark sky” sensitivity but an equal number did not. Still, I was able to walk Molly with the light of the full moon and not have stupid people’s lights blasting me in the face everywhere I went. I managed to trip over one curb but just enough to scare me a little—I didn’t face plant!
From my journal:
This is such a great and not great place, I am conflicted. The pool is awesome. The sites are pretty spacious. And the landscaping pretty much immaculate. But it’s not a place I’d want to spend too many days at—not enough birds or wildlife, for one thing. And as before mentioned, nowhere good to walk the dog.
We went on a short side-trip over to Davis Mountains State Park. Visited the two bird blinds and saw Woodhouse’s Scrub Jay, House Finch, Desert Towhee, Chipping Sparrow, White-winged dove, Acorn Woodpecker, Ruby-Crowned Kinglet, and that’s about it. Back at camp I saw some Black Phoebe, a Pied-Billed Grebe, and some sort of Kingbird, Cassin’s or Western.
Posing for me:
At Davis Mountains, we drove up to the overlook in order to play with our new altimeter. At maximum height we were at about 200 feet above a mile, so, 5480. I’m sure we’ll see higher numbers before this trip is over, but I’m making no promises.
After we came back, we braved the wind and weather (high around 80) to go swimming in the huge, spring fed pool. It was full of fish, very clear, and had a very mossy bottom. I’m told there are turtles in there, too. Algae on the concrete steps made for a slippery entrance. I located the shallow end—3’, and was able to get in the water, all except for the top of my head. Ed located the diving board and jumped right in.
Once you were in there, it wasn’t bad at all. But the bit of a breeze made in murder to get out. You were better off staying under the water.
It would be great to go to this place again sometime when it’s just a little warmer outside. The previous day, when the high was 90 degrees, would have been perfect. But I expect the pool gets awfully crowded in the summer. Even though we’re way out here in the middle of nowhere, it’s a wonderful place and people will come.
After our very cold swim, we took showers. Ed in the motorhome and me in the bathhouse. Not that there was anything wrong with the motorhome, I was just yearning to try out the great big modern shower in the bathhouse. Which was squeaky clean and new and had lots and lots of hot water. Yum.
And then it was off to the Mexican restaurant I’d selected, El Cueva de Oso or something like that. Translated as The Bear’s Den. It was very close to our camp, very pretty inside, and had a wonderful waitress. But, sadly, not so good food. There wasn’t a single vegan dish on the menu. There were three catfish dishes, but they were all $18 or so and none of them looked interesting enough to be worth the price.
So I was left with ordering side dishes or choosing something that didn’t look too meaty. I ended up with a cheese enchilada plate. Not very good. And the beans tasted funny, “off”, so I skipped them just to be safe. Ed’s food was better, but also not great. But it was very much bearable and we didn’t have to wash dishes. (Yay!)
Then back to watching Netflix’s Wednesday. I couldn’t take Molly on the same long walk as on the day before, because the moon was procrastinating about coming up. The sky was dark but there were just enough nearby campers and lights in my face to make me not want to walk all the way back up to the road. So we just moseyed around the camping area.
Nice stars on display! It wasn’t super clear, but if I’d been so inclined—and not so freezing cold—I could have sat out and looked for planets.
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