Windrush  Alpaca Farm in Clovis was a 3 1/2 hour drive from Lakewood, and we’d been in contact with the host as they had experienced torrential rain and hail for a couple of weeks making the ground soggy and in some places flooded. Fortunately the day before and the day of travel the rain ended  so we proceeded on. We didn’t want to get stuck in mud, been there, done that in Joshua Tree  CA. and it was not fun.  We arrived at the ranch to stares from about 20 alpacas and llamas at the entrance, who get excited every time an RV pulls in as they know they bring treats, and with that, the owner Rosemary, another Brit, provided us with a bag of treats for the alpacas and some homemade cookies for us.

Really level and we didn’t need to deploy our leveling jacks

All waiting for dad to feed them. We were invited to feeding time, where we also got a lesson in alpaca husbandry. There are about 50 alpacas and are split into different pens, male, female and elderly and infirm. The youngest is 12 years old the eldest 26. And as they have no one to pass the farm on to they will just let them live out their lives there.

There were several chickens and Guinea fowl running around and a horse 

Feeding time

Rick and Rosemary were extremely gracious hosts . Rick worked full time as an engineer at the nearby air force base while Rosemary ran the farm. They had a small shop where I bought some alpaca dryer balls, just something to show our appreciation as is customary.
On to our second Harvest Host, Lone Mound Ranch and the next state, Texas.

On the way to Shamrock TX, our next stop, we passed the town of Hereford, named after the county in England where the breed is from. Hereford is known as the Beef Capital of the World where they feed 1 million beef cattle in the area. We found a restaurant on the map and ordered ahead, and we were able to pick up lunch on the drive through town.

We arrived at Lone Mound Ranch, a beef cattle farm of 460 acres.We checked in with the host, Lana, who had a lot to say and had freezer full of meat. We purchased ground beef, steaks and jerky at very reasonable prices.

We were able to park anywhere on the property and we were shown possibilities on a map. Well, as usual given so many options we had look at them all and find the perfect spot, as if we were purchasing a parcel of land. Well, during our search we hit mud and for a while I thought we were doomed, but skilled driving got us out of the situation.

Of course we ended up at the original spot an hour later

Our next stop in McLoud OK was again not without incident. We were looking for Triple L Farm and the GPS and Google maps gave us the same directions. But when we arrived at Horseshoe Lane we couldn’t find it. The second time around we stopped and asked someone mowing their lawn, who said he didn’t know of a farm and he’d been living there for 30 years. Turned out it was 3 homes down on the other side of the street with no signage, and the host, Terry, was a woodworker too. The gate to get on to the property was an inch wider than the coach, but my intrepid driver managed it without a problem.

Once inside we found a spot although the host had to walk ahead pruning trees ahead of us.

Well we’re certainly not in Arizona any more, it’s been so long since we saw green, and in every shade too. It’s just beautiful, smells good too, but we’re getting into humidity and lots of flies.

Next stop, an Army Corps of Engineers park in Ozark AR. but just as we leave, the dashboard air conditioner fan goes kaput. We knew this was going to happen at some point as it was so noisy, so we have a new one, just need to find someone to install it.