We are self isolating at Ute lake. This evening the sunset looked like it would be nice so we walked down to the entrance of the State park.

The State park is closed and the lake is empty.  It is a bit eerie.

​As we got close to the end of the road, Shawna noticed several deer at the front of the park.  We counted seven doe eating along the road. They looked to be young. Mule deer are huge and these seemed small so they may be just a year old.  I am sure they will all be mom's next year.

The sunset was very nice.

We arrived at the trailer park and backed into our space.  It seems to get easier each time we back under the cover.  There is about 3 feet clearance on each side of the 5th wheel  between the covers supports.  Shawna and I work together really well.

There are some very pretty flowers in front of the Lake House.

New Mexico has closed the State Parks until next month because of the Chinese Coronavirus.  Even access to go fishing on the lake is closed.

We would like to make several trips out from here to see more of the western states but with all the closures and requirements that we stay "home" for now makes that impossible.

Muleshoe Texas has the world's largest Mule Shoe.

​They also have a really huge arrow.

The town has maintained a heritage village.  It includes several old buildings and a display of many of the registered brands used in Texas. It was closed. So we just looked around the different buildings.

The Ray and Donna West RV Park is FREE with power, water, and sewer.  Eight nice wide spaces.

In the morning, we head for Logan.

Our next two stops are FREE!  Yes, there are many towns in Texas that provide free RV camping.  Most include power and water with a dump site and a few have 50 amp power, water, and sewer connection.  They are usually in a city or county park.  We have stayed in several.

On this trip, the first was in Lamesa, Texas.  Their park is just a paved area with water and 30 and 50 amp electric connections.  The 6 sites are about 60 feet deep and 40 feet wide. The road in front is used to drive through the park.  We did have one person drive up and park at 2:30am last night. The car's muffler was modified to be as loud as possible.  He turned off the car and slept for 2 hours. We woke up again when he drove off.

Other than that not much to say, we might stay here again.  Maybe we will not get middle of the night wake up next time.

When we stayed at the Choke Canyon State Park, there were some very interesting birds that flew up and over to get water right outside our window.  The park is great with very large sites with plenty of room in between.  In the evening, we walked down to the lake and a short walk around the park. The next morning, we had several deer walk through our campsite. It was a beautiful to see. We want to stay here in the future.

Today, we get to visit the USS Lexington.  It has been many years since we have walked on the ship.  Both of us toured this aircraft carrier when we were in Scouts in our teen years.  We saw her leave Pensacola for the last time when she passed through the Pensacola pass.

The ship has been very well maintained.  Sadly the weather was almost completely overcast so our pictures outside the ship are pretty dark.

The ramp ends at the starboard elevator.  The elevator is still functional and is used when they need to bring aircraft off the flight deck when the area is threatened by a hurricane.

The stern of the main deck is fast food resturant and the bow end is a movie theater.  In between are many displays of aircraft and historical information on the Lex.

The tour starts below decks.  We have a lot of very steep steps to go up and down. 

There are several areas the tour gives access. The mess and dining room, 

and the berths or rack.  Interesting that the Lexington was the first navy ship to have women serving on board.

The barber, dentist, laundry, machine shop, mail room, and the head, ... 

I can only guess that the walls and curtains in the head were added much later.

The engine room was very interesting.  The engines are huge.  It must have been deafening​ when they were operating. I was able to see one of the propeller ​shafts.  Granddad told me that he was called into to weld a crack on one of the shafts.  The younger welders had said it was impossible and would have to take the ship to dry dock for the repair.  He insisted that he could do the repair in place and only needed someone to bring specific tanks and welding supplies to the place of the damage.  The ship was ready to continue its mission as soon as he finished.  Can you tell that I am proud of my Grandfather?

All over the ship are displays of the history of the ship and battles it fought.

​Last stop was the Flight Deck and the aft of the ship.  Almost every plane on the deck was loaned by the Pensacola Naval Museum.

It was an amazing tour.  We wish she was in Pensacola but both of us are happy she has been so well cared for in the last 30 years. The museum committee in Corpus Christi has done a superb job of changing this aircraft carrier into a museum. She is well taken care of and is the largest tourist attraction in the area.

We did something new.  The passage to the west from Bolivar Peninsula to Galveston, Texas is by ferry.

Yes, we took our RV on a ferry. The ferry was FREE, yes, free. The Texas DOT decided that providing a free ferry was cheaper that building a large bridge to span the Galveston Pass.

It is pretty large and regularly carries full size semi trucks.  The RV was not a problem for the boat.   We had to wait in line for about 90 minutes to load but the ride across was about 15 minutes.  

Our long wait was caused by dense fog earlier that morning and only 2 ferry boats were being used. We called ahead to make sure the ferries were running and were told that at 12:30pm there would be 4 ferries operating. So even though we waiting to leave from High Island RV park, we had to wait longer that planned to cross the pass by ferry.

Our next stop was along the Gulf at High Island, Texas to visit the beach.

Wow! The beaches here are nothing like Pensacola.  The sand is hard enough to drive an RV on and is dark.  The sand is brown and the shells are primarily oyster shells.  Basically it is ugly.  It did not help that we had a foggy day.

We drove for miles and stopped several times.  The beach was the same all along the bolivar peninsula. We are hoping that further down the coast the beaches are nicer.

We started west.  The plan is to travel along the Gulf coast to Corpus Christi then turn north.  As with all our plans, they are flexible.

On one of our stops, we found a nearby brewery.  They had very good beer and locals gathered to play cajun music. Many around us were speaking Cajun French. We had the Alien Autopsy Pizza and Shawna had the super dark and thick Cajun Breakfast Porter.

These people have a sense of humor.  Not only do they have some great names for the beers like Walking Dead Kolsch, Techeticles Triple IPA, Tart Side Ale, Big Fatty IPA, Cinco De Bayou, Cocodrie, Swamp Thing,...  but they have a youtube channel with parody sci fi videos where the voice overs are in a Cajun accent.  https://bayoutechebrewing.com/

Sunday, the final day of Pensacon 2020 and more importantly my sister Lisa's birthday.

​More great Cosplay.

Today there are a couple of Q&A's for Weird Al and later Alex Kingston who played River Song in Doctor Who.

It was a great weekend and a lot of fun getting together with Lisa, Julie, Jonathan, grandchildren, and friends.