April 16, 2016
SKP Ranch Campground
Carlsbad, NM

We got an early start today as we were out the door, hooked up, and movin' down the road by 8am. The winds have been bad for the past few days (25-30 mph) so we wanted to travel before the afternoon winds kicked up. We drove down to Fort Stockton on I-10 and then took U S 285 north through Pecos and on to Carlsbad. Total distance of 161 miles.

The roads were very nice in TX but so far, not so good in NM. Since we're not on the interstate there are no rest stops so we decided to stop at truck stops for bathroom breaks... funny, when you're young you drive as far as the gas tank will get you. When you get older you drive as far as your bladder will get you. We passed into the Mountain Time Zone and gained an hour, so we arrived around 10:15 am. The SKP Ranch is actually 18 miles north of Carlsbad in Lakewood, NM.

The Ranch is located inside an active cattle ranch so the RV Park is bordered with an electric fence and cattle grates in the roads. Everything has a "ranch" feel. Here is the Rec Hall...

And this is the office. Notice the metal painted cowboy and girl cutouts....

This park is an Escapee CoOp park. You have to be a member to stay here and you can buy into the CoOp and own the rights to a site. Escapees is a very friendly organization. When we pulled in the lady at the office came outside and rang a big cowbell to let everyone know that new guests had arrived. Several people came over to welcome us and gave Marilyn and I hugs and handshakes.

SKP members can also rent a site at any park for $14/day plus electric, which is really great. I think this 5 day stay alone will recoup our cost for the $40 annual membership, and we plan to stay at a few more SKP parks this year. Our site is #86 and it is a double wide back in with lots of room....

Here is a shot up and down the road from our site.

The roads are paved and all the sites are back in. Each site is individually "owned" so they are all unique in how they have been landscaped. Ours has a concrete pad but many are gravel.

The park is very close to Brantley State Park which appears to be a nice sized lake, however the water level currently looks pretty low...

We will be heading over to the caverns on Monday. Even though the elevator to the main cavern is broken, I'm hoping there are other things to see there....if nothing else we'll buy our standard fridge magnet so show we've been there ;>)