Junction, Texas

After spending the previous night at shitty Sumner Lake State Park near Fort Sumner, New Mexico, we hauled some 600-odd miles down New Mexico and across Texas.  Our original destination was a state park in Texas that promised to be similar in format to Sumner Lake - a state park built around a "lake" created by man and then passed off as a "natural" point of interest.  To be clear, there are NO LAKES in the desert.  All the "lakes" are misnomers for a dammed river/concrete jungle.

We reached the "lake" state park in early afternoon and decided to trek on to South Llano River State Park in Junction, Texas.  It was a beauty of a spot -- lots of land, hike & bike trails, free fishing (no license required - it's the Texas state park way), and two bird blinds.  I'm not exactly a bird watcher, but these bird blinds were incredible.  Apparently all it takes to see awesome birdie action is a fenced-in area and copious birdseed.  I got the low-down from a lady park ranger -- South Llano River S.P. has been feeding the birds religiously for over ten years.  That'll do it.

We had the walk-in tent campground to ourselves.

The campground host was a friendly "full time RVer."  He had quite the rig -- an enormous trailer, ample truck, and a golf cart for easy campground locomotion.  Only in America.

Despite what you may think about Texas, west Texas sure is nice.  The land is immense, the sky is huge, people are nice, and the speed limit on the interstate is 80 mph.  And you can buy Shiner beer.