Leaving Van Horn, TX, it was finally time to make the last part of our trip over to Rockhound State Park in New Mexico.  We got up a good hour in the morning and since the trailer was left hitched overnight, figured we could get out at a good time, before the 11am checkout time.  After Kelly fixed yet another fine breakfast, we were eating outside at the picnic bench when her Omnipod (insulin pump) started acting up and died shortly afterward.  (This has been happening a lot on the last of the 3 days, so we were almost expecting it.)  Richard went to the office to tell them we would be another 15-30 minutes while Kelly went to replace the pump.  When Richard got to the office, he found a note saying it was closed on June 1 and would reopen on June 2.  Well, I guess that explains why the camp WiFi still hadn't been fixed!  Oh well, no big deal then.  We'll leave when we can!

We actually got on the road just before 11:30.

Making a stop in El Paso for (1) more kitty food, (2) more tonic water, gin, and limes (most important!), (3) lactose free creamer, and (4) chisels and a small sledge hammer for Kelly's rockhounding.  (While at the grocery store, Kelly found glutin-free waffles and picked up some blueberries.  Guess what's for breakfast at Rockhound Park!)  With all of those stops, you would think we would arrive at the park rather late, but this last leg of the trip there was actually a little short, so it was the perfect time to run some extra errands.

As we got close to the park, we saw what looked like small tornados or large dust devils far off to the north.  As as got closer, we encountered some rain and lots of wind!  Driving into the park, the wind was really high and we could see what looked like a possible dust storm headed our way.  We were following signs to our site when the camp host came driving along the road in the opposite direction and motioned for us to stop.  We told him our name and site reservation and after confirming it, he drove his golf cart ahead, leading us to the site.  All of the sites in this area of the park are on a hill, so we have a great view of the countryside.

We backed into the site, hooked up water & electricity, and put down the 3 stabilizer jacks we have.  Really, it wasn't enough.  The wind was rather strong and the trailer would rock every time a big gust came by.  Kelly suddenly had an idea, "There are lots of rocks around!  Why not put a stack where the last jack would be!"  "Sounds great!", replied Richard, and we both got busy looking for appropriate rocks.  Actually, we had some extra leveling pads, so we used them, then jacked up the trailer a little, stuffed a good solid rock under the trailer on top, then lowered the trailer down again.

It worked amazingly well!  The winds weren't blowing the trailer around anymore!  Having our sushi supper (which we picked up at one of the grocery stores earlier in the day), we went on our customary walk while Farid took a nap.

The campground has a 1 mile trailer going up into the neighboring hills and then circling back to the campground.  It starts right across the road from our site!  From higher in the hills, we could see the storm which had passed by.

While we were on the final part of our walk, we saw an amazing sunset and since we were up in the hills still, we had a great view!

Returning from the walk, we watched the news (gotta keep up with what's happening in the world, you know) and went to bed.  Around 4am, the wind picked up again and since we had the windows open, we had a wind storm blowing through the trailer, however the trailer stood firm!  The winds only lasted about 30 minutes and then everything once again settled down to absolute quiet.  (This is by far the most quiet campground where we've camped.  The sites are quite far apart and when we went to bed, there wasn't a sound anywhere!)