Arrived at Palo Duro RV Park, another well worn, flat gravel and dirt parking lot style RV park, mighty close to the highway but comfortable size for our rig, the wind blowing fresh cattle aromas and bits of straw everywhere your nose turns.   The thought of me showering in that decrepit old bath house is unimaginable.

I suggested Wal-Mart but John wanted hook-ups and this has 50 amp full hook-ups with great WiFi and cable.  No room in the Palo Duro Canyon State Park so here we shall stay.  Guess I’ve got one more “make the best of it” left in me until we arrive back in The Woodlands.  Set up, conked out, didn’t wake until after 10am.

Ready to start another day, well rested but needing coffee immediately to jump start todays exploration.  Opened our top drawer to get the agave and there was a pile of John’s wipes shredded up.  Before my brain could comprehend the reason, out popped a mouse!  Laughed so hard I almost peed my pants.  Yep, that’s what was missing from our adventures, a mouse in our house.  Spent the day gathering and setting up mouse traps all over LilyPad.  KatieBug sat and stared at us if to say, “What?  I don’t eat mice, what do you expect me to do?”

Groceries purchased and mouse trap prepared, opened all the drawers to entice the critter to come out and eat the peanut butter.  Opened the second drawer and in the back curled up was a fuzzy body.  I screamed for John to come and do something, handing him my extension tongs, quite sure it was dead, but you never know.  Guess John slamming the drawers must have smacked it and caused it to join its ancestors in the big peanut butter buffet in the sky.  Trash can burial before our first cup-a-joe.

After paying to have the work done on the car for a third time, the idle is set so high it runs off by itself.  Major shift hesitation is still there at 40 and now at 20 as well.  Poor Ribbit will have to wait until we get home for correct repairs.

Armed with our annual Texas State Parks Pass we drove cautiously up the road to Palo Duro Canyon and enjoyed the view from the turnout.

Uncomfortable with Ribbit’s condition, we warily drove down into the canyon snaking through the switchbacks until we reached the bottom.  Too late for the musical “Texas” as it end in August, past 5:00 so nothing was open, not interested in a hike, we drove around the RV areas for future reference and returned carefully to the top stopping for Mule Deer on the road and watching Texas Longhorns watch us watch them.

Finally, a sunset worth a photo.

Back at the LilyPad, John began reading me the trifold about Palo Duro Canyon State Park…and the endangered Palo Duro Mouse…Oh oh…hope no one checks the trash can.

Slept peacefully through the night to wake again at 10am, still mouse free.  At John’s request we drove out to Cadillac Ranch.  Josh and John had stopped a dozen years prior on their way to Colorado on a backpacking trip and I wanted to see why TripAdvisor had rated it as an “experience”.  Cadillac’s partially buried, tail fins pointed skyward, covered with neon spray paint, partially filled cans dropped everywhere waiting for someone else to pick them up and show their artistic tagging talent. Interesting but we will forgo the “experience” and just observe.

Jack Sisemore has been selling RV’s, particularly Winnebago’s, since 1974.

He was the first Winnebago dealer in Texas and his RV museum includes the Flexible Bus (from the movie RV with Robin Williams),

the first Itasca motorhome ever build,

the oldest Fleetwood in existence, and other’s from the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s.  It is a delightful visit, strolling down memory lane, jam-packed with RV history.

A quick stop for groceries, back to the LilyPad and a nights rest before we wake and leave for Wichita Falls.  Arrived and spent the night at the Elks Lodge.

Early rise and on the road again.  Drove all day again and thought we would stop at the local Trucker Stop but it was completely full.  Drove to another, same packed parking lot.  Began to get a smidgen worried as the next Truck Stop was a no-way-am-I-staying-here-at-night run down dump.   Another 20 miles and we found an old KOA east of Dallas, past Rockwall.  OK place, expensive for what they offered but it looked safe and had electrical hook-ups.

Joined old bike friends Gail and Jim for a yummy late lunch and got the grand tour of their new addition, twice the size of their original house and a fascinating mineral/gem vault.  Awesome tour, sweet friendly pups, fun frisky goats escorted us to the pond for some fish feeding time and a visit to the barn to brush piggy’s and pet piggy tummies.  Time to talk before our final overnight and arriving home.

In no hurry to rise this morning, our last day on the road before we reach The Woodlands.  So nice to get back and relax for the Holidays.