Thursday, May 19, 2016

Rock Hound

I'm set up at Rockhound, which by now is very familiar territory.  This is the same spot I had in March: number 15, right up at the top of the park.

Yesterday was quite a day.  I left Valley of Fires, not knowing exactly where I'd wind up.   My first stop was a place called Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, managed by the BLM.  Here's a YouTube video about this site. I have a reasonable acquaintance with rock art from my river guide days up in Utah, so I was curious about this site.  The reviews I'd read mentioned that the site had some RV spots, including two with electric hookups, so i thought maybe I'd just spend the day there looking at petroglyphs.

Didn't.  The two RV sites were occupied; I hung out for a while to watch and have a snack, and I tend to think the occupants of those sites were workers engaged in building a new visitor center.  The rest of the area was essentially a parking lot with picnic tables.



The petroglyphs were, as they always are, fascinatingly obscure.  I wasn't fascinated enough, I guess, to spend a whole day there.  And the weather was beginning to close in, so I moved on. Here some snaps of what they're like:




I had my eyes on staying at a New Mexico state park in Las Cruces... but it turns out it doesn't support camping of any kind, let alone RV's.  I was considering just pushing on another hour or so and arriving a day early at Rock Hound, but just then the severe weather alert on my phone went off, and some ugly looking radar images suggested I hole up somewhere quick.  Walmart, where else?!

Just as I got settled there and checked with Customer Service, the heavens opened!




I watched the show and followed the progress of the storm system on the radar app, made some dinner, read, and crashed.  This morning (Thursday) I drove a little over an hour to Rockhound, and here I'll be until I leave for Tucson tomorrow.

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