Magnus goes (with luck) to Oregon, Day 5

Friday, September 4

I thought it was my birthday for a while; I was happy to find out it was not.

It was a slow day. Ed was feeling like he couldn't get down liquids, so he ate practically nothing all day. But we did Molly's walk and then at about 9 o'clock went to the raptor observation center, about 10 minutes away. We only saw one raptor (Red-tailed Hawk) but we saw a coyote down the slope in the prairie dog town. I saw a Say's Phoebe and a weird sparrow that I couldn't quite get.

 

It was still pretty early when we returned so I took Molly for a jog. It quickly became very hot and there was almost no shade. But we made it one hour--barely. Saw a kestrel or some small falcon down by the water.

This park is memorable for the concrete—concrete parking spaces and long bike trails. Lots of both. The day use area is absurdly huge.

At about 4pm I took her for the usual long walk. Norm called before we were halfway through--much earlier than expected. We went south on the bike trail to the end, where it intersected with the prairie trail which went over a small bridge and  on for who knows how far?

On way back it was still hot and miserable but I saw a Black-capped Chickadee and Merlin confirmed my ID. It is bigger than our Carolina  Chickadee species and the song is more complete-- chicka chicka chicka dee dee.

Ed was still not eating at suppertime. He forced down a bit of cereal and quit trying. 

Magnus goes (with luck) to Oregon, Day 4

Thursday, September 3

Ed had output in his bag! I did a happy dance.

It was such a lovely place and we had such a miserable night. After three days of worry and anguish, I had finally decided to take him to the ER. But we called the doctor and she gave us a new laxative to try.

Ed was feeling a little nauseous for the first time that I was aware of.  (Nausea is one of the trouble signs for blockages.) But he was also having an allergy attack, had gotten very little sleep and took only a protein shake for breakfast. So we went on to the next campground.

Boyd Lake State Park in Northeast Colorado is highly rated and I guess that’s because it’s big, clean, and airy. The sites are spaced okay but there aren’t nearly enough treees and bushes for my taste. Some areas have more trees but we're in the full hookup loop and it’s wide open.

The lake was very low but very pretty where the water was. There was a small flock of turkeys in the shade by the bike trail. The trail had very little shade and it went on for miles and miles, in all directions. But it was nice, though. Down in the day use area there was a huge playground area with a beach (dry, now).

 There were nice cottonwoods along the lake. Molly and I walked down to the water but she didn’t want to go swimming. We walked along the trails for an hour but I was getting hot enough to be weak in the stomach.  So we came back at 4:10 or so and went to Walmart to get Ed’s new laxative. (Senna. Hope it works better than the Miralax, which we’re supposed to go on taking.)

Then talking with Norman and supper. After supper we went for a long walk at dusk along the trail to the playground. Came back at almost dark.

Nice afternoon but mainly because we didn't have to spend it in the ER.

BTW, this park has a prairie dog town by entrance station. Say's Phoebes. Black-capped chickadees.

Magnus goes (with luck) to Oregon, Day 3

Wednesday September 2

It was cool in the morning, 71 or so. Wow. Ed felt shitty.

There was a rabbit in the parking lot taunting Molly.  And with that, we happily said good-bye to Texas.

We started seeing the mountains at about 35 miles away from Raton. We passed by Capulin Volcano, a place we visited a few years ago. But it was funny that I could not tell which volcano was Capulin. Was that because we approached it from the south, when before we’d come at it from the north?

The stopping point for the night was Lathrop State Park in Colorado, near Walsenburg. It was a very nice little park, nearly empty, with nice big sites surrounded by small trees that obstructed our view but not so much that we felt closed-in.  Just lovely, state park camping that I enjoy the best.

Molly and went for a 35-minute jog at 2:30, down the road to the lake. It was a nice little lake but awfully barren of wildlife. 

The weather was hottish, about 82 degrees, and mostly sunny. So that, plus the altitude change, made a 35-minute jog plenty enough exercise for me. We were at 6300' and I felt slightly breathless.

Note for another time: sites 80 and 81 had great views. Or 90. Our site had a water fill that might be annoying in busy season. There were plenty of other water fills around the camping loop.

Later Molly and I took a walk on the trails. We didn’t make it to the Hogback Trail but it looked like a great trail. But we did make it up the approach trail, about .6 miles to the scenic overlook. There were lots of great big boulders to sit on up there. Some had water pockets in them, still holding water despite the drought. I could see the lake and past it,  the highway in the distance.

Magnus goes (With luck) to Oregon, Day 2

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Ed says he’s feeling better but I can’t see it. It’s scary as heck. That pizza from two nights ago is still stuck in there somewhere. Nothing is coming out.

We arrived at Corral RV Park in Dalhart at about 1:30. The sign on the door said closed until four but choose any site, but the descriptions of the sites and how to occupy them was confusing as heck. Just as I’d made up my mind which site to choose, a grumpy woman came out and checked me in.

It’s a nice enough place (for an RV park), and convenient, but management sucks. Why not just assign us a site before we arrived, based on our length? And what were we supposed to do if all of the sites had been full? Not likely, but if it happened then my so-called reservation would have been of no use.

At 8:16 a cool front started coming through. It may not rain but the wind shifted and became much less hot, and brought a strong aroma of feedlot. Lovely.

There was a nice little playground and a lot of big cottonwoods in the back, where the “dog walk” was. Other campers were friendly.  Other than Ms. Grumpy, I’d give this RV park a nice rating.  Later, I saw her again during our morning walk and she seemed pleasant enough.

There were lots of fellow overnighters. It went from almost empty (in the overnight spots) to almost full to almost empty again.

Magnus goes (With luck) to Oregon

Monday August 31, 2026

I don’t usually like to leave on a Monday. It’s adding one more option to Murphy’s pool of disaster. Nothing good happens on a Monday.

Ed woke up with gas but he took a Gas-X and it’s better now that he’s driving.
We just got off I-35 onto Highway 380 at Denton, which is a horrible mess. But after going south then southwest and then north, it’s nice to finally be going west again.

It's a very nice RV Park, this Ole Town Cotton Gin place. Dry and hot of course but they’re trying--with the tree plantings and the sprinklers and all. The dog park is small but better than nothing. No picnic tables at sites. Very nice people on the phone. Traffic noise and train in distance, otherwise very quiet and peaceful. Lots of green grass (for West Texas).

Review: Ole Town Cotton Gin RV Park    Site 18. About $41.

Very nice—dry and hot but they’re trying

Dry and hot of course but they’re trying to make it pleasant with the tree plantings and the sprinklers and all.

We had a nice pull-thru spot with full hookups. No problems with anything. The sites are close together, of course, but I’ve seen worse. It was easy to get in and out.

The manager was very, very nice. I made the reservation months early and by the time we were due to arrive all their sites had filled up. I think it’s from some construction nearby. But they honored my reservation; she called me a few days before my arrival to get the credit card number for charging.  Which was fine with me—I just wanted a space for the night.

They had a nice little dog park.