Lake Meredith NRA – Sanford Yake

This was our one stop in the state of Texas. We took lesser highways the whole day and it turned out to be one of the nicer drives. Always great to avoid 40 where possible. We stopped in Tucumcari with every intention of seeing the Route 66 Museum. Sadly, it was closed due to storm damage, but I did get a Dory shot in front of the Route 66 Monument.

There were plenty of places along the way to get gas, so that has not been a worry so far. We spent most of the drive regrouping on expectations for the next leg of the trip. It was definitely hard for Richard to balance work and traveling, which is always a challenge on the summer trips.

Arriving at the Lake, we found our site was an easy pull through with electric and water right there. There are only a handful of reservable sites at this campground; all the rest are first come first serve, and do not have hookups. The reservable ones have a pretty view of the sunset over the water.

It is a very nice lake, with interesting red rock walls. We were able to watch a storm roll through across on the other side. There was lightning, but it was too far away to hear thunder. I started getting nervous about the next few days of travel because it looks like serious weather might be in our path. We’ve been super lucky so far on the weather front, so I’m crossing fingers our luck holds. Southern weather is far more scary than California weather.

Richard got in a quick ride out from the campground, and says it was a nice loop into Fritch, but notes you should take “Eagle” rather than 136. Do not take that. Everyone has been super nice. Drivers gave Richard a wide berth and someone even cheered him on. Folks have been friendly and helpful every step of the way.

We have spotted lots and lots of beautiful wildflowers, a couple of Road Runners, and some kind of antelope running beside us along the road. That one was scary because he was running fast, and kept making attempts to jump the barbed wire fence. He would abandon at the last second, and keep running. I was worried I might witness him miss the jump and get tangled up in the fence. Don’t know how I would go about saving him, but it didn’t come to that fortunately. 

For our Elvis movie fest, we watched “Flaming Star.” That was actually not bad. There was almost no singing or dancing, and maybe that played a part. It was all about the old west and Elvis was playing the son of a white man and a native Kiowa woman. That became quite the coincidence the next day because we saw a whole lot of Kiowa references on historical markers. The movie it set in Texas, so it all just kind of fit nicely.

Hoping for tame weather as we make our way through Tornado Alley this week!

Total miles from Santa Rosa Lake: 227.1, 18.1 mpg, 6 hours 19 min. Site 2 electric & water hookups. Good dump with potable water. Great cell service for both.