So, my January 2026 travels ended up being an adventure and learning experience. On December 27th I took off for warmer pastures. The plan was to make my way down to my sister Carol’s winter place in Las Cruces, New Mexico and be back in the Chicago area for a scheduled doctor’s appointment on January 20th. To spend more time in New Mexico, I ended up rescheduling my appointment for February 3rd. I should have stuck with my original plan because I ended up traveling through Texas during the winter storm that hit most of the country the weekend of January 23 – 25.
The southern states got hit with freezing rain followed by a couple of inches of snow, and then it stayed cold. While this would have been manageable in the upper Midwest, Texas does not have the equipment or resources to deal with this kind of weather. Nearly everything shut down except for gas stations for 2 to 3 days. There was not even a fast food restaurant open in northern Texas from Friday evening through Sunday. I left Carlsbad, New Mexico on Friday, January 23rd and somehow made it to a Corps of Engineers campground near Powderly, Texas on Sunday afternoon.
The campground was covered with a hard shell of frozen snow with ice below. My van went off the campground road and into a ditch. I had to call a towing company to winch me out. However, I didn’t make it very far, the van then couldn’t make it up an incline. My tires couldn’t get any traction of the slick, frozen surface no matter what I tried over the next couple of days. I was stuck on the side of the road for three nights before I could leave. I have to thank the campground volunteers, great people, for checking on me and Riley and helping me finally get moving. The good news is that I found out I can boondock in freezing weather for several days and keep the interior a nice 68 to 70 degrees.
I added Texas and Arkansas, to the list of states I stayed overnight, and visited three more national parks, White Sands, Guadalupe Mountains and Carlsbad Caverns. Other highlights for the month included camping at Palo Duro Canyon State Park in Texas, visiting the International UFO Museum in Roswell and going to the Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally in Las Cruces.
Check out my travels on the interactive map and see my videos and photos on January 2026 gallery page.
