We had discovered the Texas coast of the Gulf of Mexico could be damp and well, yucky, in January. Our plan of wandering around Texas would have to wait for another time. Still, our coastal experience brought a surprise. I belong to a private Facebook group called Truck Conversion Motorhomes. It is for people that own (or want to own) RVs similar to ours. The page has been a great resource. I was totally floored the other day when I logged in and saw the group’s new cover photo.
Hey, that’s the Blue Flame! I had posted a picture of our beach camping in the group, and the administrator decided to make it the new cover photo within Facebook. The Blue Flame is famous! Well, for a while anyway.
So, we left Janelle and Galveston and headed out. We found ourselves in College Station for a night. We knew this area fairly well, Janelle’s first year at Texas A&M was spent in College Station. Now where to stay? At one of the two RV parks we have tried out? How about another Harvest Host! Specifically, the Messina Hof Winery. What a great experience, we would definitely come back here again.
They had us park out of the way in the far corner of the parking lot. Notice that power pole we are parked next to. The winery had 50 amp, 30 amp, and 20 amp power for people to use. For FREE!!!! Free camping and free power…whatever will we spend our money on? Hah…no problem. Wine!Messina Hof grows all their own grapes. You can just see the Blue Flame poking up over the grape vines.We did a wine tasting and discovered their reds are good, and their Merlot, is to die for! Sitting on this little patio was also to die for.We took a leisurely stroll around the grounds. The winery hosts weddings and other events here.
Messina Hof is definitely a working winery!
We were fortunate enough to meet the owners/founders of the winery and thanked them profusely for the power connection (it was getting cold at night and electric heat is appreciated). All in all, this was a most excellent overnight stay.
But we had to press on…the desert awaited us. Next stop…Las Cruces, New Mexico.
We opted to stay off the interstate and took U.S. Highway 82 over the mountains. We were assured we could do it and checking a webcam in Cloudcroft confirmed the highways were free of snow. But there was snow off the roads! Make it go away.After cresting the top of the mountain range, White Sands National Park (formerly known as White Sands National Monument…it got a promotion recently), was laid out before us. Wow! Alas, we have been to White Sands already, so we pressed on.When we reached Las Cruces, we tried something new, we stayed at the Elks Lodge. You may recall, back in April Jim joined the Elks in anticipation of being able to use some of the RV facilities at their Lodges. This was our first experience parking at an Elks and it did not disappoint. Full hookups, concrete pad, and all for $25 a night!
Las Cruces, while in the desert, was not what we were searching for. So we drove westward some more.
Again, we avoided the Interstate. This is U.S. Highway 70 in New Mexico and Arizona. Jim loves this kind of stress free driving.
We found it!!! The wide open desert! Outside the town of Safford, Arizona, we found some BLM land to park on….and no one else around. Ahhhhhh.
Happy Hour was spent staring at Mt. Graham. You can’t beat this.Just us and the desert. No complaints here.Sunset. Enough said.
All is right with the world. We are back in the land of warm, dry weather. Let’s put our solar panels to work.
Indio has an Elks with RV parking. I was impressed that the Blue Flame is the covergirl for that RV group!
Good to know! That would probably be my first choice if we end up by you again. I’ll let you know if we do!
Nice sunset and — the Blue Flame is famous!!!!
Famous…or infamous? 😉
Breathtaking sunset. Incredibly peaceful. The patio is so inviting. The Blue Fame…we always knew she is something special!