The Ranch

One of the many perks of belonging to the Escapee's RV Club  is being able to stay in the various SKP parks sprinkled throughout the southern states.  There are no reservations accepted, you just pull in and they park you.  You provide the requirred information and check out whenever you decide to leave...no time limits.

All of the parks are very friendly and hugging is an Escapee tradition, but the welcome we had here at The Ranch exceeds any other we have had so far.

When you arrive to register they ring the bell and several people come out to greet you with hugs and handshakes.  It felt like going home.



We got the standard listing of rules for the park and the "other" warnings.  These were different and got my attention.

The Ranch is located in Lakewood NM and the entire town of Lakewood is comprised of the park and the post office at the end of the road, which largely serves ...well, us.

See-More in his newest location

The facility is set into an actual working ranch, henceforth the name. 

The perimeter is surrounded by electric wire which we were cautioned not to touch and you drive over a cattle grate to enter the park driveway. 
We are in a pasture, basically. 

The second warning was to be aware of cattle at night that may be standing in the road since many of them are dark and apparently none of them are wearing any kind of reflective gear.  Okay, got it.

The third warning really got my attention.  They have happy hour every night at 4:00 and we were encouraged to attend.  They often have Mah Jong or other games about 7:00.  Since it gets dark earlier now we were cautioned to always carry a flashlight when walking to and from the club house.  I couldn't quite understand why this was necessary, it wasn't very far away and I wasn't afraid of running into a bull or anything.

Oh.  It's for the rattlesnakes.  Being cold blooded they like to come out and lay on the blacktop at night to soak up some of the warmth retained from the sun.

Let me see if I got it all...don't touch the electric fence, don't hit the bulls with the car and don't step on the poisonous snakes.  Got it.  It's no wonder I had weird dreams that night.  That will be in tomorrow's blog.

Long Live the Queen of Forewarned