Ilanarama!

After our 2017 eclipse trip to Wyoming I knew I wanted to see the 2024 eclipse as well, but we didn't actually get to planning until late summer 2023. We had vague ideas of going camping somewhere in SW Texas, but it turned out that a) our preferred camping mode of remote places on public lands wouldn't work in Texas because they have a dearth of public lands, and b) Texas state parks - state parks are our second choice because they are usually in interesting places with nice campsites - opened for reservations exactly 6 months in advance...and were already sold out when the dates we wanted opened. Apparently canny people got 2-week reservations 6 months and 2 weeks in advance, and then later canceled parts of their reservations. We, not being canny, were forced to look farther north and east, where it was statistically less likely to have clear skies; Britt got a site for three nights at Cooper Lake State Park, northeast of Dallas. (As you may know, it turned out that the actual clear sky map was almost opposite what was expected. Hah, I guess we were the actually canny ones!)

Once that was settled, I let Britt figure the rest out, since he likes to pore over maps and make plans. I was just along for the ride - and what a ride it turned out to be. Literally as well as figuratively, since we decided to take our mountain bikes with us. He picked two state parks for our outbound trip, and two different state parks on a different route coming back home, for a total of five different state parks visited, two in New Mexico and three in Texas.

( Five parks, 13 photos )