My last sunset at Rockhound State Park, probably until next year. I enjoyed my stay there much better now that I can Park in any campsite At Rockhound.

I left Rockhound late morning and, in 15 minutes, was pulling into a propane refill place at one of the RV parks on Main Street, and $17 later, I turned into the Walmart parking lot to spend the night. There were still three or four RVs there that looked like they had already spent the night, and that's always a good sign for us lethargic lot lizards.

I have a reservation [Good Grief, I hate that word] for a one-night stay at the City of Rocks State Park about 30 miles from here, so I know for sure where I'll be tomorrow, but I don't necessarily consider that a good thing.

 I would much prefer to spend a week there, but I don't see a way that could possibly happen. So after I leave there, I'll be somewhere, as opposed to nowhere, but wherever it is, it won't have a reservation connected with it.

City of Rocks State Park is one of those places out in the middle of nowhere where it's dark, very very dark, so it's easy to see stars and planets and things like that. They have a small observatory built there, and folks that like to spend time looking off into space, like to spend time at the City Of Rocks..... Looking off into space.

Some people take that activity very seriously, but I would be more interested in who's looking back at me. All the campsites there are named after planets or galaxies or something that sounds spacey. The campsite I'm staying in is named Corona Borealis, whatever the heck that is. All I know is I had to top up the fuel tank in my truck because it's about 14 million light-years away, and I'm not sure I'm going to get there and back with a one night stay.

Theboondork

I think it's kind of strange that I can Park in the tiniest campsites at Rockhound in the bronco, and yet both sites they put me in this time were big enough to easily park the Arctic Fox.

The town of Deming is very proud of this steam train and yet they put an 8 foot tall chain-link fence around the entire thing so it's impossible to get a decent picture. Most old museum trains like this just have a "keep off" sign.

I've always liked old windmills. This one has a normal antique pump but the fan blades are very high-tech looking even though I think their antiques also.

I wish I didn't have to leave here already, I'm going to miss this view.

Yeah, my hopscotching from campsite to campsite has finally come to an end here at Rockhound, and I'm going to have to move on. I wish I could've stayed longer, but there are too many people that want to be here, so in less, I'm willing to make reservations weeks ahead of time I'm stuck just taking the scraps of camping spots nobody else wanted, but now even those have finally run out.

I do have plans for the next two days, though. Tomorrow night I'll spend at the Walmart  parking lot here in Deming, and then I've got a one-night reservation at the City of Rocks State Park near Silver City. I've stayed there several times, but this will be the first time I've had to have a reservation and can only stay for one night.

While I'm at the City of Rocks, I'll check with the Rangers and see if they've had any cancellations that I could use to stay longer. Unfortunately, that information can't be checked on the Internet, and the Rangers don't even know until the last minute, but I don't mind. Living in the bronco, has simplified my life enough that I can either pack up and move to a different State Park, or pack up and move to a different campsite; it doesn't much matter to me.... Home is where the heart is, and since I don't have to lug a trailer everywhere I go, my heart and my home is wherever I happen to be.

Theboondork

Rockhound is a great place for sunsets, the view goes on forever.

A front came through yesterday and I don't think it ever got above 60°. The front brought winds, and the winds brought dust.

Like I said when I first got here, the sunrises are not all that great. The suns been up for half an hour before it ever gets over the top of the mountains, so it doesn't have all the colors a sunset has.

These folks sure love their kayaks, there's two more laying on the ground next to the water.

Being a Saturday the beach has been pretty busy today. I'm finding out that Marina Beach, where I'm boondocked, gets more visitors than the main really large beach. I'm not sure why. Marina Beach may have more unofficial boat launch sites than the main beach, or maybe there's less soft sand to disappear into at this beach, or possibly the fishing is better from the shore here, whatever it is Marina Beach seems to get more visitors than the other beaches.

There are no official walking trails here at the Marina Beach area like there is up on Ridge road where I normally stay. But who needs a walking trail when you've got lots of beach to walk on. Mostly there are dirt roads, and Jeep trails that twist and turn through this area that folks can walk on, and boondocker's can boondock on. You can also wend your way through the Tamarisk forest and up and down the sand dunes like I enjoy, or you can walk around the Marina, and watch the boats come and go.

With a tremendous amount of help from my daughter in Denver taking care of the legal aspect of my part of the home sale I've been dealing with lately, it looks like things are finally done and it's supposed to close today. But, since I'm not an actual party to the sale, and me or my representative is not required to be at the closing, I probably won't know how things go until I do, or don't, get a check in the mail.

Theboondork

It's not impossible to get stuck in the sand around here.

First one there, gets the Bass..... The last one gets the Carp.

I have been extremely fortunate to be the first to witness this "Giant Peruvian Condor Of Paradise" in North America.

these giant condors are a hybrid of the Giant Black Condor, and the Hawaiian Bird of Paradise. They get there incredible size from the Giant Black Condors, and their colors from the Bird of Paradise. There only found in the Sahara desert next to Peru because their normal diet is predominantly Peruvians, and the lack of Peruvians in the rest of the world prevent the Giant Condors of Paradise from spreading beyond there current habitat.

But this picture proves, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is a disturbance in the force that has allowed the Giant Peruvian Condors of Paradise to spread far and wide, well beyond where their diet of Peruvians would normally be found, as witnessed by the sight of this poor American hanging limply from the terrible talons of this brutal beast.

I hesitate to write this as I'm positive it will spread fear and panic across this great nation in a matter of hours, but there is no doubt in my military mind that this giant creature is capable of decimating the entire population of America in a  ....... wait a minute, let me get my reading glasses.......hmmmm, Never mind.