Casita Trip to Cloudcroft, NM

8/12/19 - Comanche, TX

Today we left home and headed for Cloudcroft, NM We made it as far as Comanche, Texas and stayed at Sowell Creek Park.

We stopped in Seminole, Texas today and stayed at the City Park. This park is free but you have to go by the city office to pick up a key to unlock the electricity hookup. On the way to Seminole we drove through Snyder and stopped to look at an old Sinclair Service Station. We ordered pizza for supper tonight.

8/14/19 - Cloudcroft, NM

We made it to Cloudcroft today. We got a campsite in the Lincoln National Forest at the Apache Campground, only two miles from the village of Cloudcroft. At an elevation of 9,300 feet it is nice and cool here - a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of Houston. After unhooking, we went to Cloudcroft Brewing. This is a very nice, large brewpub with an outdoor space for live music. We will be spending a lot of time here.

8/15/19 - Cloudcroft, NM

Today we walked around all of the campgrounds. We drove through them yesterday and thought the loop we are camping in was the best. We were correct. The first two loops have less room between sites and are more crowded. We saw a grave of a hummingbird at one of the sites. At the entrance is a huge gravel parking lot that is for overflow camping. That is where a few of the camp hosts stay and it is also where the pay showers are located. We drove to the Forest Service headquarters and then walked around the shops in town. We also drove to The Lodge, an historic Inn. It is rumored to be haunted by the ghost Rebecca. We walked the stairs up to the top of the tower. From here you can see White Sands National Monument in the distance. In the afternoon we went to the Western Bar & Cafe and had a beer. This is one of those bars where people stick dollar bills to the ceiling. Then we made a stop back at Cloudcroft Brewing. They had entertainment tonight.

8/16/19 - Cloudcroft, NM

We made coffee in our new drip coffee pot. We left the one we usually use at home. We have had it since our Alaska trip. Today we sat around camp and watched the people roll in and start to fill up the campground loops for the weekend. We hiked the nature trails around the three loops. We went back to Cloudcroft Brewing.

8/17/19 - Cloudcroft, NM

Henry and Debbie are due to arrive today and there are very few sites left. The camp host let us go ahead and pay for the site across from us for them. After they arrived and set up camp, we all went to Cloudcroft Brewing for pizza and entertainment. (From here until they leave “we" will refer to Henry, Debbie, Jim and me.)

8/18/19 - Cloudcroft, NM

Jim and I went to take pay showers today. In the afternoon we went to Cloudcroft Brewing and then sat around a fire at night. There is another Casita in the overflow camping and we found out it was our friends Sandy and Jim.