After renewing our spirits and getting some much needed rest in San Antonio, we were ready to load up our vehicles and begin our journey west toward El Paso. Up to this point of our trip we really hadn't had to worry about anything other than fuel and a final destination for the day, since everyone had been sick. Each evening Jennifer and I would plan out a route that allowed for four to six hours of driving that would ultimately end at a hotel in which we would make reservations in advance for. This guaranteed a warm and safe place to rest and gave us the best chances to recover quickly from whatever it was that we all had.
Leaving San Antonio, now feeling renewed and rejuvenated, we were ready to become a little more cavalier in our travels again. We knew that we wanted to visit our friends in Tucson and that we had to be in NV in thirteen days, so we were pretty fluid from here on out. Trying to keep with the four to six hours of driving that we had been doing, we figured that would place us somewhere near Fort Stockton, Tx for the evening.
I have to say, I very much preferred traveling the western half of Texas, compared to the Easter half. I’m sure they both have their good and bad but it seemed like west of San Antonio the landscape started to dramatically change and we could tell by the terrain that we were finally entering into the southwestern region of the U.S. The humid marshlands and green landscapes of the east were beginning to give way to the arid and rugged brown terrain of the west. A change we welcomed.
Just before arriving in Fort Stockton, we scoured our maps looking for public land or national Forrest in which to stay on. Unfortunately, like most of our trip through Texas, there was nothing close by. Switching over to iOverlander, the only options we were presented with were hotels, street camping, a Walmart parking lot or the Hilltop RV Park. Not wanting to stay in a hotel again and definitely not wanting to deal with the Walmart parking lot, we chose to check out the RV Park. Pulling in and surveying the grounds, we instantly realized that this was not the place for us. The RV park being almost completely full, more than $40 a night with massive fifth wheel campers, golf carts and people all over the place, this was definitely not the environment we were looking for.
Retreating back toward interstate I-10 in defeat, Jennifer had noticed an old metal shop like building down the road that had a few sporadic campers throughout its lot. Pulling in to check it out, we noticed that there was a faded sign above on the front fascia that said Hillside RV. This looked more like an abandoned commercial lot than a campground. Could it really be? Confirming on Google maps, yep it was an actual RV park. As we were attempting to find any information what so ever about check in and fees another couple had approached us from their camper further down in the lot. This was their third or fourth time staying here and they said they much preferred the privacy and the quiet over the resort like atmosphere up the road from which we left. They said “Pay box is on the side of the decrepit building and the owner used to show up in the morning with donuts. He’s an older gentleman and we’re not sure if he makes it around too much anymore. There’s bathrooms, showers and laundry in the building, but we’re not sure if they still work… We usually just park our rig, place some money in the pay box and enjoy the evening.”
With the surrounding views of the area, almost no one there and the only noise being that of the passing traffic on I-10 in the distance, this sounded like music to our ears. “So how much is it to camp?” I asked. “We don’t really know.. It’s not posted anymore so we usually drop a $20 in the envelope and place it in the pay box.” They chuckled as they replied. As they turned to head back to their RV we thanked them for the information and we started to scan the lot for which site we wanted to occupy. Dropping our fee in the pay box I contacted the phone number that was listed on Google and left a brief voicemail stating who I was, which site we were staying at and for how long, just for good measure.
With the van all set up we took a walk down the road to stretch out our legs from the long day of driving. The sun began to hang low in the big Texas sky and the colors were absolutely mesmirizing. Off to the south we could see storm clouds and small flashes of lightening. The wind was starting to pick up, the air was starting to cool and all of it was headed in our general direction. Out of nowhere, we started getting hit with patches of heavy rain and wind gusts over 40mph. We quickly dropped the top, secured anything outside that could be turned into a projectile and took shelter inside of the van. Twenty minutes worth of excitement later we were able to crawl out of our hiding place and resume the evening. Jennifer whipped up a delicious dinner inside, we enjoyed the finally bits of that big Texas sunset and finally succumbing to the exhaustion we all felt, turned in for the evening to get some much needed rest.