We made two more stops in Texas as we travelled upstate towards New Mexico. We spent a couple nights each at Davis Mountain State Park and Monahans State Park. Davis Mountains State Park was located just outside the town of Fort Davis in the Davis Mountains. The park had a really neat skyline drive that took you to the top of the mountains and lots of great hiking trails. We hiked a trail along the mountain in the evening hoping to see an aoudad (a horned sheep) that live in the mountains and are frequently spotted in the park but we didn’t have any luck. In the morning I managed to spot 5 javelinas roaming through the park at sunrise.
We had a very rainy drive to Monahans State Park and stopped in Monahans to catch up on laundry. We arrived at the park and rented snow saucers from the visitors center to try out their signature activity-sand sledding. It continued to rain throughout the afternoon but the rain was warm and it only made the sand more compact for sledding. We all had a lot of fun climbing through the sand dunes and riding the sleds down the steep dunes. Harper also discovered what happens when you run down a steep hill and gravity gets you going faster than your legs can go with a dramatic faceplant in the sand.
The next morning when we woke up, Trevor discovered that he did something to injure his back. It was so bad that he couldn’t get up and when he final did get up was in too much pain to stand up straight or walk. He spent a couple of hours without much success to get up and get moving. Concerned that he had done something serious to his back, we decided to drive into the town of Monahans to the hospital and get medical attention. The hospital in Monahans was only a 10 minute drive and they were able to see him right away. He was in and out in about a half hour and they did some tests to confirm that he had strained several muscles in his lower back that were causing sever muscle spasms and that heat, ice, anti-inflammatory medication and muscle relaxants and rest he would recover when his muscles healed. We were very happy to hear that there was no permanent damage and he started to feel better pretty quickly after the medication they gave him in the hospital. Any guesses what a half hour visit to an Emergency Room in Texas costs? $950 US for the hospital visit – I was shocked, I know I have heard how expensive it is and how people go bankrupt trying to afford medical attention in the US but I had no idea it would be this much. It really makes you realize how important health insurance coverage is when you travel. This was a fairly minor hospital visit. The travel insurance we bought through Destination Travel Group (underwritten by Manulife) turned out to be a great decision. We called them before going to the hospital and they started a claim right away. After our visit, we were able to fill out the documents online and upload photos of expenses incurred directly to their website. They were so helpful on the phone and walked us through how to get reimbursed through direct deposit (since we don’t have a mailing address to receive a cheque right now). The insurance was very reasonably priced and offered us a family rate when we purchased it and since our experience with their claims management I would recommend it to anyone looking for travel insurance. I am happy to report that after a few days of rest and following doctors orders, Trevor is back to pretty much normal.
We continued on to Brantley Lake State Park in New Mexico and found the campground had a fantastic playground where the girls spent the next couple of days playing with new friends at the park. We met a family from Switzerland who were also camping with two young children in the park. This family is currently on a 6 month Motorhome trip in the US and they brought their RV from home by ferry from Germany. It was really interesting to compare travel notes and hear about some of their experiences. They are also blogging their travels and it was interesting to read about their experiences and follow their travels.
We drove through the Sacremento mountains on our way to our next stop. The road through the mountains gets up to 8,600 feet elevation in a small town called Cloudcroft. We were shocked to find an operating ski resort and snow at the top. Five huge elk crossed the road in front of our RV. When we got to the base of the mountains we stopped at White Sand National Park. White sand dunes that look like snow go as far as you can see. The girls tried sand sledding one more time. We continued on to Cabello Lake State Park for the night where we found a large barrel cactus.
Our next stop was Elephant Butte State Park in New Mexico. We opted to go for primitive camping, which in this park means you can find a spot anywhere along the reservoir you want to camp. The scenery was incredible, with a backdrop of mountains. Harper caught a nice small mouth bass on her second cast, which we cooked up and ate with our dinner. The stars were incredible from our secluded spot and sometime in the night an unknown animal (Owl we think) caught a seagull and had him for dinner on the roof of the Motorhome. We didn’t hear a thing, but the bird murder scene was quite a flurry of feathers all over the Motorhome and campsite in the morning.
Our last stop in New Mexico was Bluewater Lake State Park. At a high elevation it was chilly in the park. We hiked down the canyon in the evening looking for the wild horses that are rumored to roam the park. We didn’t find any, but the hiking trail was really nice, with unimproved river crossings and we found some snow in the canyon. Thank goodness for space heaters.
The Travelling Herrons 