theboondork's RV blog

Elephant Butte state Park, New Mexico

11/20/2022

A few more pics to click today, my Internet speed has returned.

I'm boondocked near the water, I don't want to get too close to the water because that's where the normal people boondock.

I pulled out of Datil New Mexico this morning about 6:30 and 9° according to my truck thermometer. And in no time at all was pulling into Elephant Butte State Park, which is about 75 miles further South, and around 3000 feet less in altitude which meant it was long sleeve shirt weather, instead of coat weather.

I regret having to miss Pie Town, yet again, but it was in the wrong direction from where I needed to go so I had to settle for a factory built pie at Walmart instead of a real pie from Pie Town.

One benefit I got from staying in Datil for a week is it made me really appreciate having an Internet that will load things in seconds instead of an hour. In Datil it would take an hour or more to load one picture on my blog. And while the picture was loading I couldn't do anything else on the Internet or the picture would stop uploading, if I was really unlucky the picture would just disappear for no reason and I would have to start all over again. It kind of reminded me of the old "dial-up" days when speeds like that were considered normal.

But now I'm back near a propane refill place, so I don't have to worry about heating with propane. I'm near a Walmart so I can buy groceries anytime I feel like it. And I can stay here until it's time to head up to Gallup for the balloon rally.

theboondork

Country restaurant.

I just love old antique signs, don't know why, I just do.

Downtown Magdalena New Mexico, an old Cow-town back in the day.

8 Comments

OFM

11/20/2022 04:28:55 pm

An excellent move in my worthless opinion. It has been years since I camped at EButte but I still remember it being sort of special to me at that time. Have fun.

Tom

11/20/2022 05:07:59 pm

Elephant Butte is one of my favorite places to camp or boondock. Everything I need is close by, and easily available, there's plenty of room for everyone to spread out, so you can be as close or as far from people as you want.

One of the things that has, in my opinion, messed up the Elephant Butte camping system is they changed all of the utility hookup campsites to reservation only, instead of first come first serve or reservation. And they did this right after Covid, and at the behest of Reserve America, so Reserve America can make a bunch of money off everyone that camps here.

The system worked perfectly before because anyone could show up and get a first come first serve site or they could make a phone call to Elephant Butte and reserve a site so it would be waiting for them when they got here, it worked perfectly fine for as long as I can remember. But Reserve America weaseled their way in between Elephant Butte state Park, and the campers so they could make money, for in essence, doing absolutely nothing that the campground wasn't doing to start with.

Oh well that was my rant about Reserve America, everywhere they go discord and price increases follow.

Tom... Toooo happy to be back at Elephant Butte State Park.

Judith

11/20/2022 08:09:55 pm

Yay. Internetier and warmer. Both are good. And I was glad to see a photo of Magdalena. Oh I do love all those little towns in NM. NM is my favorite state, and I think it is the most livable of all my favorites (which include
Vermont and Wyoming, both of which are probably a bit chilly right now). Glad you are all settled in. Enjoy.

11/20/2022 08:33:28 pm

I also like little towns, especially little towns that are old and droopy. I like the rust, the faded paint, and the cracked wooden sidewalks. Towns like that have character, history, and the footprints of people that lived long ago. And I especially like their old faded signs

And yes it's great to be back living under semi normal conditions at elephant Butte state Park for a change, but it is pretty cold for this time of year, and I'm not sure why, I just wish it was over.

Tom

Larry S Worsham

11/21/2022 05:28:05 am

Good move on your part....having the ability to chase the weather is important in your life style. You can always pick up a pie in Pie Town on the way up to Gallup NM.

Has NM SP gone to Reserve America for all there improved sites. I use to enjoy the fact they had a combo of reserved and walk in sites.

This reservation thing is frustrating and requires months of planning ahead. Were planning a trip for February and I am already scouring sites to reserve.

Enjoy the convenience of Elephant Butte.

11/21/2022 07:46:38 am

I checked with the host when I got here yesterday morning and was informed that all of the hookup sites here at the main area where the main gate is are reserve only. When I was here last winter I talked to the host at one of the other Elephant Butte camping's areas that are a few miles north of the main area, and he said they had a few hookup sites that were first come first serve.

Yeah, I'm probably going back to Gallup the same way I just left so I should pass through Pie Town, and either spend one night, to see what its like, or at least stop and get a pie.

Yes indeed, being able to move with the weather is a big benefit in the way I live, especially in the dramatic difference there is between the summer temperatures in Denver, where it gets really hot, to an hour away in the mountains where it's always cool. And the exact opposite happens when I'm driving down I-17 from Flagstaff to Phoenix, there's a mountain range I have to go over just outside of Verde Valley where it's chilly on the Flagstaff side of the mountains, but as soon as I drop down to the Phoenix side it's always a lot warmer.

So when you hear me whining about the heat in the summer or the cold in the winter, it's my own fault because usually in less than an hour, thanks to the magic of an altitude change, I could be someplace where the weather is perfect.

Good luck with your scouring, there's places out there, I pass by them all the time. There just getting harder to find, cost more, and are more crowded when you get there.

Tom

Linda

11/21/2022 01:15:45 pm

An additional 75 miles to Gallup is not too big a price to pay for what you got by moving, right?

11/21/2022 02:22:09 pm

Yep that's right Linda. And actually the miles were only about third on my list of why I needed to move. Number two was the cold. It was Colorado cold at night, and in the daytime it was still so cold I needed a coat, and it just shouldn't be that way in the middle of New Mexico in November. But the number one reason I left, believe it or not, was the slow and unreliable Internet, and phone service at Datil Wells. If I had only stayed there two or three days it probably wouldn't have been so difficult for me to deal with. But after a week... I was done.

Like I've said before, I don't have a TV, nor do I want one, so my laptop is my only entertainment. And, when I went full-time I had to get rid of pretty much all of my hobbies, so I had nothing left but taking pictures. So the crawling slow Internet that I had to use for a week not only made it almost impossible to watch anything on the computer, it made uploading pictures on my blog so annoying I didn't want to do that either. And since I consider my blog, and providing pictures for it as entertainment, and since it was too cold to spend much time outside, I was left with practically nothing to do, so I felt I had no other option but to leave.

Tom

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Elephant Butte state Park, New Mexico

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