Bottomless Lakes State Park

We stayed at the Fort Stanton area for 5 days. The snow from the storm on Saturday, April 29 melted quickly. Here are two shots one day apart:

April 29

May 1

The snow on the distant mountains was beautiful.

On May 1, we were ready for our next move. We looked at many options, but opted to only move about 90 miles to Bottomless Lakes SP, just about 10 miles to the east of Roswell, NM. We had stayed at Bottomless in 2015. We were there in March and it was cold. It would be much different this time.

We made the drive into Roswell and stopped at the Walmart for groceries and then stopped to top off the fuel tank. Diesel is running around $2.47 per gallon in New Mexico at this point. It should drop a bit when we hit Texas.

We decided to stop in New Mexico for a few reasons. First, we like NM State Parks. They have a $14 rate for water and electric sites. They also have some non-reservation sites, so we were sure we could get in on a Monday and then stay as long as we wanted. Second, there were not any great options to stay for a few days anywhere to the east for a long ways. We were not disappointed. We arrived and hit the dump station first - we decided not to pay the $15 fee at Fort Stanton. Then got into one of the FCFS sites. We had excellent 4G signal, but did not have to use it much because the park WiFi was great! We also got all of the major networks on OTA TV. This park is a great stopping point for working full timers, not that I would know what that is.

It was close to 90 degrees, so we turned on the AC and relaxed. I took a walk to Lea Lake, which is right by the campground. These lakes are created by natural sink holes. They are about 90 feet deep and the water is crystal clear.

My feet in about a foot and a half of water. Very cool and clear. 

The park has a nice picnic and swimming area. I am sure it gets busy in the summer. I went for a walk the next morning and took this shot:

I walked on a hiking trail to the tent campground and checked out a few of the other small ponds.

I have been trying to maintain my exercise level and Bottomless Lakes SP made that easy. I either hiked or biked each day we were there.

I saw one of my neighbors changing a tire on their 5th Wheel, so I went over and checked to make sure they had everything they needed. Scott had it all and we had a great conversation. I also met his wife Debi. They are full timers out of Ohio. I invited them over to our rig after dinner. They came over and we had a blast getting to know each other. I noticed on their truck a license plate that read: "Step 2". I had to ask... They told me that when they decided to go full time they had a 5 step plan:

Step 1 - Get out of debt
Step 2 - Buy the truck, hence the plate
Step 3 - Buy the trailer
Step 4 - Sell the house
Step 5 - Put Cleveland in the rear view mirror

I loved it, and will remember it for a long time. Great plan!

We looked at the weather and decided to move on May 5. We headed east on Highway 380 into Texas. The weather was perfect for driving. We even had a decent tail wind. We were averaging around 12 MPG. We thought about the PA park in Post, TX, but it did not look great, so we kept going to Haskell, TX. That was a little over 250 miles. They have a city park here that is free for the first night with full hook ups and 50 amp. The second night is $16. I will write about our stay in this little West Texas town in my next entry.