3/16 Elephant Butte SP

I have not posted for quite a while, so here is an update:

• I left Rockhound State Park, planning on stopping at the Chiricahua National Monument, but had a really sore shoulder, and ended up getting it checked out in a nearby small town emergency room.  Found a decent campground for the night.  I was disappointed I had missed this mountain national monument, but someday, I hope to go back there. 
• Next day, drove to Elephant Butte State Park near Deming, NM, where I had made reservations for six days.

I had heard wonderful things about this campground, so I was very disappointed that I did not like it at all.  It even had excellent reviews in the campground review source I use.  So, the question is why other people liked this place and I did not.  Hmmmm.

Over the past almost two years, I have found that people who camp have a large variety of what they like in a campground, so I guess I should have asked more questions before I committed myself to almost a week in this place.  For example, I like an open site, away from trees or anything that will interfere with my satellite TV signal.  Other people like the woodsy feel and want lots of shade.  I also want electric service, and possibly water, although that is not as important because I can live off my fresh water tanks.  Others insist on full hookups, but that pretty much limits you to commercial campgrounds, while I much prefer state and national parks because you get more space between RVs and a lot more privacy.

I also like something to look at--mountains, lake, scenery in general. I spend a lot of time inside my motorhome because I almost always have work to get done, so it is nice to have a view.  I also like to be in a place with birds and other animals, and also with interesting vegetation.  (See my last post photos of flowers.)  I like to have a pleasant place to walk where I can see flowers and take photos.

Anyway, this place turned out to be horribly dusty with the sites not well maintained, so even they were dusty.  The lake was a long way away, and in between were nothing but pseudo-asphalt roads that had crumbled into dirt, and to get all the way down to the lake, you would have had to walk most of the way on sandy dirt roads.  The worst was a dust storm for almost two days with strong winds that made even stepping out of the door unpleasant. 

So I took a couple of photos, did some cooking, and got a LOT of work done!  Here are a couple of not-too-good photos. The first is taken during one of the dust storm days, and the last was taken the day I left when it was sunny and clear.