Day 5 -- Part II

We rolled out of the Ole Towne Cotton Gin RV Park around 9:00 AM after talking with the park manager.  Seems the lady that built the park developed some kind of special cotton genetic breed that ended up getting her millions of dollars, so she bought this place and fixed it up, putting money into it and other items in town.  She gave some back to the place she was from.  Now her health is very bad and she requires round-the-clock medical assistance--such a shame for someone who did so much for her hometown community.

This was a pretty nice place--the little store was good and they have the main part of the old cotton gin building open for visitors to see the old cotton gin and some other antiques.  There is a nice back deck with chairs, etc., a swimming pool and clean restrooms and showers.  The grounds are also kept very neat.  If passing this way again on TX 287 I would recommend stopping here for the night or nights.

What a day this was!  Once we got on I-40 West in Amarillo, TX we had very strong headwinds all the way west to NM84 and the wind, plus the constant altitude increase pretty much kept the Grand Cherokee's transmission in 3rd gear or even down into 2nd gear on the steeper climbs.  Gas mileage plummeted to 7.2 mpg!  The old Hemi knew it was pulling a load.

Once we crossed over to I-25 North on NM84 the wind was mostly behind us and the pull got much easier and the gas mileage got much better.  We started seeing herd after herd of Pronghorn Antelope.  Jeri and I love seeing the antelope--such a reminder of freedom and the old West.  We even saw one pasture of American Bison (Buffalo).

While looking at her iPhone RV apps looking for a place to spend the night Jeri found the  NRA Whittington Center RV Park, so we ended up driving all those miles and hours in order to spend the night there.  This was a beautiful, roomy campground with full hookups and was not very crowded.  We were in the West park, noted for the wildlife viewing, but as a point of information it does not have its own restroom.  The east park does.

While checking in we were greeted by a former Colonel in the military and a current NRA trustee of the Whittington Center.  He just happened to be checking in at the same time as we were, although I believe he was staying in a cabin or other form of lodging, not the RV park.  Very friendly, courteous and helpful staff.  It's also easy to find your way around such a huge facility, but the maps they give you are a huge help.  :-)

Entrance to the NRA Whittington Center

NRA RV Park West

Campsite #122 our site is the bottom picnic table

Our campsite 

The campground was not at all crowded and was totally peaceful and quiet.

Mostly empty campground--Big Sky!!  The stars were awesome that night!!!

The road in and out of the Whittington Center--all the state flags!  Beautiful place!

 We highly recommend the NRA Whittington Center RV Park to all RV'ers, NRA members or not.  We decided that at this point in time this is the best campground we have been in.  Nearly empty.  Extremely friendly staff.  We heard a few gun shots coming from the rifle range in the morning, but we were far enough away and on the other side of a ridge so the shots were not very load or bothersome.  I would gladly make this a destination (and bring some guns to shoot on the range ;-) ) to spend a few days.

Total miles:      490
Travel time:      12 hours
Average mph:  41