RVing With a Purpose

Bisti Badlands

May 14, 2026

After attending church with Mariel and Shannon in Aztec on Sunday May 3, 2026, we left the municipal parking lot and set our sites on Bisti Badlands Trailhead, still in New Mexico. The drive took about 1.5 hour but a good part of that was on a dusty and bumpy road. After getting parked in the boondocking area we did about a one hour hike just to see what the area was like and to know what to expect for our longer hike on Monday. Then we fixed dinner and enjoyed a gorgeous sunset. God’s creation is so amazing. Monday morning we were up early excited to hike to several features in the wilderness area. The wilderness area has no set trails. We used the AllTrails app to find our way to the features we had chosen and then make it back to BB. The area is considered high desert and is a great place to hike. It’s not the same beauty as something like Great Smokey Mountains but is beautiful in its own way.

The road to Bisti Badlands Trail parking

Looking out over the terrain from the parking area

There are hoodoos of all sizes in the Bisti Wilderness.

We came across this hole in the rock on our first hike.

The Chocolate Hoodoos were our destination for our Sunday hike.

Cracked Eggs are some of the most unusual features we saw.

We went out of our way to find Bisti Arch.

We make it back to BB at 12:00 noon and then headed back down that dusty, bumpy road, making our way towards Arizona.

Petroglyphs, Ruins and Good Friends

May 12, 2026

We stayed the night at the New Mexico welcome center after driving about 1 mile into Mexico on Thursday April 30. On May 1, after a good night of rest, we headed on down the road with places and people to see. A short time later we began to notice that the temperature outside was dropping quickly down to 37 degrees and then there was rain mixed with sleet hitting our windshield. This was not in our plans for the day. Fortunately, by the time we arrived in Albuquerque the weather was nice again. We stopped at the Petroglyph National Monument and walked several shorter trails and visited the visitors center so we could get our Passport stamped.

We still had miles to go and left Albuquerque in route to Aztec, NM and our NOMADS friends, Shannon and Mariel. They were also in a new home. Seems to be a pattern on this trip. Anne might be getting a little jealous. We arrived at Shannon and Mariel’s in time for a wonderful dinner and visit. We then overnighted in BB at the municipal park. It was only five minutes from their house, free of charge with water and dump station. Nice.

The City of Aztec is kind enough to provide free overnight parking for RVs, complete with a free dump station and water fill. And it’s right outside the police department.

On Saturday morning we met Shannon and Mariel at the Aztec Ruins National Monument. Like the museum in Lubbock, this site is still being excavated and reminds us of our trip several years ago to Mesa Verde and they aren’t very far away.

After touring the ruins we drove around the area and ended up parking by the river to get caught up on some writing.

Sunday morning, May 3, we enjoyed church services with Shannon and Mariel and then got back on the road. Still lots to see and miles to cover before we land on Mingus Mountain, AZ in a few more days.

Jack Sizemore RV Museum

Monday, May 11, 2026

On April 30th, after a peaceful night in the Amarillo Visitor Information Center parking lot and another quick trip to Buckee’s next door, we drove to our next recommended destination, the Jack Sizemore RV Museum. Thanks, Dave for the recommendation. This museum was amazing! It’s a relatively small museum but has some real jewels, especially if you are an RVer. Definitely worth the time and there was no charge, although they do appreciate donations.

This motorhome was featured in the Robin William’s movie RV

This was our favorite motorcycle in the museum.

After our visit to the museum we headed west to New Mexico with a quick stop at the famous Route 66 attraction “Cadillac Ranch”.

On the way out of Amarillo we stopped at Braum’s ice cream for the first time since we worked in Muskogee in 2023.

The ten cars at Cadillac ranch.

We wouldn’t want to stay parked here very long for fear of getting spray painted.

Palo Duro Canyon

Sunday, May 10, 2036

On April 29th after saying sad see you laters, we left Lubbock bound for Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Canyon, Texas. We had heard it is a great place for hiking and Dave and Carol had given us some pointers. We arrived and checked out the visitor center which has several displays illustrating the history and geology of the canyon. It is the second largest canyon in the US. From there we drove down into the canyon to hike the most popular trail in the park – Lighthouse Trail. It is named after Lighthouse Rock (the destination) which is a 310′ tall erosion resistant spire in the canyon. The trail is about 3 miles each way and classified as “moderate”.