weak internet, no pictures today
At the last minute this morning, I decided to head off in another direction and go to the New Mexico State Park near Santa Rosa, New Mexico. I haven't been there for a while and thought I might try something different. There are many benefits to being a boondocker, and one of those many benefits is having the freedom to change your mind about where you’re going while you're sitting in the truck, setting your destination on your GPS.
Sometimes a little kindness and a smidgen of patience pay off, and that happened to me this morning.
When I got to Santa Rosa State Park, which is located, appropriately enough, in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, which I've been to three or four times before. I followed the sign that pointed towards primitive camping, which is where I can boondock for free, and I was quickly met by a large locked gate. There was no one else around, so I drove about 1/4 mile down the road and came to the main Park entrance, which had, among other things, a map of where everything was, such as primitive camping, and lo and behold, it was exactly where I remembered it being, which was behind that locked gate.
I was studying the map at the main entrance to see if they had moved the primitive camping to somewhere else. Remember, New Mexico parks have just undergone a major change, and it looks like they haven’t moved anything. And just as I was wondering what I should do next, a pickup truck moseyed down the road with a government logo on the door, and I flagged him down before he could get away.
Now I could have been angry at who turned out to be a government employee who worked for Santa Rosa Lake State Park for my recent disappointment at finding a locked gate where I wanted to go, or I could have had a frown on my face and expressed my extreme disappointment and what a screwed up system New Mexico has fostered upon the camping public. But having worked for the government, I had an understanding of their situation, and walked up with a big smile on my face, thanking him for stopping.
He smiled back and explained to me that they were so shorthanded that there were only three people working at the entire Santa Rosa State Park, so they had closed the primitive camping area because it was too far away to be checked on by the limited number of employees they had. He pointed to an area right next to the lake, where there were shelters and picnic tables but no electrical or water, and told me to go over there and stay wherever I wanted to as long as it wasn't over two weeks.
This made me very happy, especially since the place I'm at next to the lake is a lot nicer than the primitive camping I had stayed at before, and he was such a nice guy, he made me feel welcome to Santa Rosa State Park instead of someone who was just in the way.
Theboondork