I took this picture yesterday morning when the weather was still cloudy and rainy.

The weather cleared up and is now back to normal, which means low 80s in the daytime mid-60s at night and humidity around 20%.... Perfectly comfortable for me without air conditioning.

Tomorrow, being the first day of May marks the beginning of the end of my winter travels. I want to get back to Denver around the third week of May and definitely be back before the crowds and problems of Memorial Day, the last day of May.

So with the end of my winter travels rapidly approaching, I have developed a rough schedule that should get me back when and where I need to be. So I figure I will boondock here at Elephant Butte for about two weeks, then go to Storrie Lake State Park, New Mexico, for more or less, a week, and then take a couple of days getting back to Denver.

Staying at Storrie Lake State Park is still kind of up in the air at the moment because I don't know what new rules, if any, they may have or what the boondocking situation will be. And as I've experienced from staying here at Elephant Butte State Park, I may not be able to find out what's actually going on until I get there. So to be safe, I will probably have to reserve a hookup spot

Sometimes I even prefer to have a hookup site at Storrie Lake because in late May, with the 6500-foot altitude in that area, it can still occasionally snow enough to be a problem.

                                                Theboondork

Rainy morning at the Marina. I didn't see anyone heading out in their boats to go fishing this morning, can't say I blame em.

The rain woke me up in the middle of the night, and when I got up this morning, it was still raining fairly hard. Usually, the rain in the desert is barely a rain at all; it's more of a cloudy sprinkle that often doesn't even hit the ground, let alone make a puddle. But it was raining hard since last night, so much so that when I looked out the window at Elephant Butte reservoir, I envisioned it full and possibly overflowing , but such was not the case.

I guess it takes a lot more than a few hours of hard rain to make a dent in a reservoir the size of Elephant Butte; it probably takes an entire season to make a difference.

The rain continued off and on till just before lunch, so needless to say, I didn't do much of anything. But it doesn't bother me to sit around most of the day and do nothing but consider how lucky I am to be boondocking again. I don't think I'm genuinely relaxed until I'm boondocked someplace where I don't have a checkout date hanging over my head.

                                               Theboondork

Early this rainy morning at the reservoir. I've seen that fifth wheel sitting there without a truck in sight for about four or five days now, and it makes me wonder what's going on. Is it stuck in the sand? Is it abandoned? Probably not, more than likely, they have an annual camping pass that allows them to boondock for free for up to two weeks. So perhaps they just leave the fifth wheel sitting there and only use it on weekends. If that's the case I should see some activity there in a couple of days.

I took this picture yesterday of all the clouds that were rolling in over the reservoir, I guess if I had checked the weather forecast I would've found out I was in for a rainy night.

Panorama of my boondocking view this morning. There's still a lot more of Elephant Butte reservoir than this picture shows. The Elephant Butte dam is a mile or more off to the right. And there's still miles of reservoir off to the left.

I finally got into a boondocking spot, not the best one in the area, but good enough.

I woke up just after Sun up, got dressed and drove about 1/2 a mile to the boondocking area where I was amazed to see an empty spot after all this time. So I had to rush back to the campground, pack up, hook up, and get back to the empty boondocking spot before somebody else did.

In all the times I've been to Elephant Butte, and that's almost every year, I've never had any trouble getting a boondocking spot except this year, and I hope this is not the way it's going to be in the future.

From what I can see, there are basically two reasons why I've had these problems this year. One is the honchos shutting down all the boondocking areas except the ones right here at the central part of the Elephant Butte State Park. That put many people where I am now, instead of allowing them to spread out all over the park.

Another big problem is the Parks Department made all hook-up campsites reserve only. Usually, the hook-up campsites are part reserved, and part, first come, first serve, and that works great. If you want to make sure there's a site available for you, call for reservations,  pay the extra fee, and you'll have a spot waiting for you when you get here, no problem.

And for people like me that don't like to make plans, I don't mind taking a chance that something may or may not be available. Now, if you're trying to camp in South Florida, you would probably be crazy to show up without a reservation..... Made the previous year.

But New Mexico is not like that. There are many state parks, the population is relatively low, and they're not inundated with tourists, much like Colorado. And I've always been able to find a spot to camp or boondock without too much difficulty. Although admittedly some places like Rockhound State Park, and City of Rocks State Park, are very popular and you're probably better off with a reservation.

Maybe once New Mexico state parks get back to normal, these problems will go away... Or will they? What about all those people still waiting for their new RVs that have been back-ordered for months. And how about all those locked down, socially distanced, Canadians eh? They haven't been able to leave the country for ages and are probably just itching to head South as soon as they can; what's gonna happen when they all show up?... Nobody knows, but my guess is it ain't gonna be pretty.

                                      Theboondork

Kind of a cloudy rainy morning for a move but I was so happy to get back to boondocking that it could have been snowing and I would've moved. I've mentioned a couple of times in my blog when talking about boondocking that "I had rather pay to boondock than stay in most RV parks for free "..... Well I think I just put my money where my mouth is. I still have two  nights left that I've already paid for to stay in my hookup site, but I had rather be boondocking, so here I am.

A picture I took of the full moon the other night. It was very orange.