Dinos, Skulls, Caves & Pagan Rocks? | Truck Camper Adventures | e110

Continuing on our journey west, we travel through Texas and New Mexico on our way to the 2023 Truck Camper Rally. The challenge is figuring out which places to visit since you never seem to have enough time to fully explore the area.

WHERE WE STAYED🛻⛺:

Dinosaur Valley State Park (Glen Rose, TX)

We thoroughly enjoyed the day we spent at this park. The stream going through the park was beautiful and the hike along the river was fantastic – there were times you had to scramble over several boulders which were fun!

Steam going through Dinosaur Valley State Park

When we went, only 1 set of footprints was visible (the others were submerged), but that honestly was pretty exciting for us! The large dinosaur statues were a fun addition (though Gary was sad about not getting ice cream at the shop, ha!).

The campground itself was well laid out. Each campsite had electric and water and seemed to have enough space and/or foliage around to make it feel more secluded. We stayed on site 17, which was backing up to the river and the trail was right behind our campsite.

Walmart Parking Lot (Big Spring, TX)

We greatly appreciate when we have an opportunity to get groceries, DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fluid), and have an overnight stay at a Walmart. Just make sure that 1) Walmart allows overnight parking and 2) check with the customer service desk (or call) to see if there are preferred parking locations. At nearly every Walmart we’ve been to, they had asked us to park at a certain spot (usually next to the employee parking). It’s always courteous to verify.

Close to Chosa Campground (Carlsbad, NM) – GPS:32.08100, -104.42500

We were looking for primitive camping near White Sands National Park, so originally were planning on staying at Sunset Reef Campground. When we drove by, it seemed like there were quite a few folks there. Next, we tried Chosa Campground and while it was less busy, we thought we’d try just a little further down the road. We found several pull-off sites that were easy to access and had small fire pits. The place we stayed was very clean (no garbage/debris) and even had rocks around a lot of the vegetation to make it more home-ey! We stayed in the small circle with a campfire area (again, surrounded by rocks), but the road did continue a little further and looked like there was another possible campsite.

Our first BLM-ish land (technically NM State Trust Land)

This was actually our first official BLM (Technically, NM State Trust Land) land and it was a perfect spot.

WHERE WE PLAYED:🐟🛶🚴‍♀️🥾

Frontier Texas! (Abilene, TX)

We originally stopped here since we saw they had the largest Buffalo Skull here (yeah, we do stop a those cheesy stops!) but ended up going through the museum, and we’re so glad we did!

The museum did a good job of trying to make history more interactive by using holographic “spirit guides” throughout the journey. You were able to select different topics with different characters based upon their side of the story. I remember vaguely learning about this in school back in the day, but this had a more meaningful feel to it (and I’m not a huge history buff).

There was a fun 3D theater where you sat on swivel chairs and watched a movie unfold in different sections of the room. Bottom line, if you like learning about history, put this one on a future stop list!

Stonehenge Replica (Odessa, TX)

Another fun, quirky stop was at The University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa, TX. They have a nearly full-size replica of Stonehenge. How could I resist!

WHERE WE ATE: 🍽️🥩🍹🍺🍽️

Sticking to home-cooked meals. Will need to eventually thaw out that freezer so widdling it down!