El Paso Chihuahuas Baseball - Southwest University Park, El Paso TX

 

Southwest University Stadium - El Paso, TX

050526 - Cinco de Mayo! The Chihuahuas website suggests a parking garage, but I am about a foot to tall. Using Google Maps navigated to public parking out doors The entrance had a 8 foot max height. While navigating to another, I found street parking only 2 blocks from the stadium, I paid $10 for the rest of the day.

Chico

Southwest University Stadium is a downtown ballpark that holds a grass roots feeling and packed with Chihuahua fateful. The game against the Tacoma Rainers, the Seattle Mariners Triple A team. Both teams scored in the first inning, but the Chihuahuas broke it open and by the seventh inning they had a 9-4 lead.

Tacoma came out fighting in the eighth and tied it up. El Paso kept Tacoma off the board it in the ninth and tenth. Then with the automatic runner at second, Nate Mondou was call off the bench and came through with a pitch hit to right to walked it off 10-9. It was a very entertaining game and even better with a home team win.

Equipped with a T-shirt, ball cap and a bottle sticker, I returned to Vannie before 10pm. I got on the I-10 and drove 2 hours to a rest stop and stayed the night. In the morning I’ll have a short 3 hour drive to Caverns of Sonora Campground.  

Note: The El Paso Chihuahuas have two primary alternate identities: El Paso Matachines El Paso Bootmakers.

Score board

Off on another Adventure - Alabama and back 2026

After a short week at the Desert Habitat it is time for another adventure. I have split this trip into 2 parts. Part one I will venture southeast through Texas, attending triple A and double A baseball games, the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico, golfing and some quality time with my Texas friends. Continuing east through the bayou of Louisiana all the way to Florida, ending up with some driveway camping in Pell City Alabama. Part two includes U.S. Forest Service campgrounds in North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky. I hope to visit civil war battle grounds and exciting caverns and national monuments. This part ends up at the Rocky Mountain Star Stare (RMSS) in Colorado before returning to my desert habitat. 

I got underway on May 3rd, but instead of taking the I-10 spending six hours next to speeding 18 wheelers I took the much less traveled route through Globe/Miami and into New Mexico for an overnight at Ventran’s Park, Lordsburg NM. This is the second time that I had stayed here when starting a trip towards the east. The Park was established to commemorate those who served our country, alongside figures involved in policing, firefighting, and local copper mining. Free camping, little amenities, a perfect place for a quick overnight.  Unfortunately, the spot that I used, there was some trash left, sad that the people can’t pick up after themselves and use the dumpster provided. To my surprise, this time there was water and you can see improvement in progress. There were four other campers overnighting. It was nearly dark by the time I got settled. In the morning I took a walk around the area with my pickup stick and a plastic bag. That done, I filled up at the Circle K and  headed towards Texas.

050426 Franklin Mountains State Park Primitive Campground is primarily a day use area, but there is overnight camping. Most of the sites are for tents but I stayed in one of the 6 RV dry camping sites. Before settling up I hit the trail to find a letterbox cache near the park entrance. Nice that Texas State Parks allow geocaching. The temperature were in the 90s so I thought I would  test out my 12 volt AC running it on full with all the doors closed. Kept the van in the 70s while using minimal battery power. The solar input seemed to be enough to keep it running. I used my Starlink to get online so I could watch or listen to the Padres game and enjoy the evening. In the morning I took a nice little hike up to the top to see some of the views and then get ready to check out at noon.When I left I headed over to The Love's truckstop to dump my gray tank and take a shower before heading downtown El Paso to find a place to park during the game. I have tickets to the El Paso Chihuahuas vs the Tacoma Rainers, first pitch 1805. 

📹 Veteran's Park 

📹 Franklin Mountain 

Washoe Lake and Gemfield Road Nevada.

 

Washoe Lake 

042326 - 042426 The drive from Oregon,  through Shasta to Carson City took a little over 6 hours. I arrived at Washoe Lake State Park Campground with plenty of time to get settled  and take a walk before the sun went down. You could tell it had been raining and there were still some angry looking clouds over Mt. Rose to the west. Made for a  beautiful background for camping.  The air was crisp but the forecast said sunny 🌞, so after a nice walk and two geocaches, I decided that I would stay an extra night. 

 

Feral Horses in the camp

In the morning while I was making my breakfast a herd of horses visited the campground. They grazed their way right through my site. I was thinking that someone left the gate open, but no, turns out this is an open range and they are a wild Mustangs. A local I talked to on the beach said "they are more farel than wild." They don't mind being around you but they do not like to be approached,  

According to Gemini Ai, The Virginia Range: This 40-mile mountainous area stretches between Carson City and Reno. You can frequently spot them along the trails on the east side of Carson City, near Industrial Way, or occasionally wandering into historic spots like Virginia City.  Here is an interesting article about the BLM roundup program and local advocacy efforts to protect and preserve the wild herds.  

Gemfield Road Dispersed Camping

It was really nice to skip a day of driving and relax. Saturday I took off late morning and found a Krogers in Carson City then I headed south. Roughly 5 hours later I arrived at Gemfield Road Dispersed camping just north of Goldfield NV.  I drove in about 2 mile and found a empty site great view of the valley and surrounded by Joshua Trees. I even saw more wild mustangs.  Gemfield road continues on to Gemfield Nevada Chalcedony, renowned for harboring what is believed to be the largest deposit of gemstone-quality chalcedony in the continental US.  At almost 6000' elevation, this was a really nice boondocking spot, off the beaten path enough for privacy and not far from civilization.  Other than the wind rocking the van on occasion, I had a really nice stay and a good one to end my trip to Victoria and back.  The next day, I drove the whole 7 1/2 hours to my desert habitat.  Links to Washoe Lake and Gemfield Road shares albums.  Thanks for visiting

Raining - Fort Stevens Campground - Astoria and Oak Slope Campground - Emigrant Lake, Ashland Oregon.

 42126 - 42236  As I continued down the coast into Oregon the rain continued. I pulled into my reserved space at Fort Stevens the only break from the rain was being under the trees. No cell service.  I was really hoping to explore the area but I was not motivated to go hiking or biking in the rain.

FSSP

So instead of setting up I drove to the day used lot and connected startlink and looked at the forecast. I stayed there and made dinner and listened to the Padres game. After the game I went back to my space and hit the rack. I was out of there early and instead of continuing down the rainy coast I headed towards Salem and the I-5.

Oak Slope

Pulled into Oak Slope Campground about 1600 in the rain, but it was letting up. It got down to 38° at 2300 and the rain had stopped. Again, I headed out early because I wanted to make Carson City before sunset.

I need to stop for a couple days, but I just don't want to do it in the rain. Looking forward to Nevada and doing some geocaching.