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We had originally planned to take it easy on the way back to Tucson, Arizona; we usually only travel about 200 miles at a time. But the miles just rolled on by; Sunday evening we were outside of Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Considering that we left Cave City, Kentucky (675 miles away) the night before, we made pretty good time. While I drove along I-30, Lance hopped on his iPhone and found us a state park just east of Dallas.

We had camped at several different state parks in Texas last winter and found them to be well equipped and moderately priced. Lance discovered Cooper Lake State Park and before dark we pulled in and set up camp. It really doesn’t take us too long to set everything up: about a half hour if all goes well. The park consists of several camping loops plus a loop with cabins and one with cottages. We only saw three other campers in our loop which suited us just fine after dealing with the crowds at Mammoth Cave National Park.

Cooper Lake State Park is a little over 3,000 acres and consists of two separate units, the Doctors Creek and the South Sulphur. Of the two, the South Sulphur unit is by far the largest at 2,650 acres. Both of the areas have lakefront property on Cooper Lake which was created by the damming of the South Sulphur River in 1991. Technically, the name of the lake was changed by Congress in 1998 to Jim Chapman Lake, in honor of a former Congressman from the area, but the state park still calls it Cooper Lake, as do many locals.

Speaking of locals there really weren’t that many, the population density in the area is quite low and yet there are not vast stretches of untamed land. All the land around the park has been worked or lived on at some time in recent history. The original draw to the area was ranching, farming and the purportedly therapeutic waters of the sulphur springs. By the mid-1800s the springs were developed for use by the public.

Unfortunately, as the area increased in popularity and more settlers moved in, the water table began to drop and the springs slowly disappeared. The name of the town of Sulphur Springs is the only thing left from those early mineral water days.

We were happy to be in the area, not only because it was near I-30 but because it was a new region of Texas for us, the Prairies and Lakes region. Texas is so immense that it is divided into seven distinct regions: Big Bend Country, Hill Country, The Gulf Coast, Piney Woods, Panhandle Plains, Prairies and Lakes, and South Texas Plains. From our time in Texas last winter we had already spent time in all but the last three regions on the list.

The first two days of our stay were wet, windy and cold. Overall, they were just plain miserable. By the third day the sun came out and by the fourth the wind died down. Once the wind quit the place got noisy, not from other campers—by then they had all left—but from wildlife. All the birds, rabbits, coyotes, and insects were making up for lost time, feeding and chattering away.

We were pleasantly surprised by a family of Black-bellied Whistling Ducks (it seemed a little late in the season for babies), we were mystified by a huge swarming population of Predaceous Diving Beetles, and we were disturbed by the number of scorpions around the bathhouse every night. The multitude of birds offered me a good chance to get out and try my new lens that we recently purchased. The lens is amazing, now I just need to learn how to use it!

Leaving Cooper Lake State Park was easy and convenient, soon we were back on I-30 on our way around Dallas-Fort Worth. From the big megalopolis we struck out on I-20, cutting southwestward across the state. Soon we entered the Panhandle Plains region and left the Prairies and Lakes behind. Since we made such good time through the Dallas area we decided to stop off for a few hours at Big Spring State Park in the town of the Big Spring.

We were misled by the name of the park—we expected to find a small pond or stream or even a trickle of life-sustaining water. We found none of those things. Though the town did earn its name from a good-sized spring that used to seep out from under Scenic Mountain (technically, a mesa) the spring has gone the way of the mineral springs near Sulphur Springs, it has long since dried up.

The spring was a well-known resource not only for the local wildlife but for the Comanche and Pawnee tribes that traveled through the area. Big Spring was the only water source for 60 miles in any direction. The next people to take advantage of the spring were the Spanish, and by the early 1800s cattle ranchers and settlers had discovered the area. In the 1920s, another valuable commodity was found in the limestone layers that the spring seeped out of, oil. Oil and cotton are the two main reasons Big Spring, Texas is still a spot on the map.

As we explored the hiking trails of the small park (only 381 acres) we were disappointed by the emptiness of the prairie dog town. The park at one time had a sizable community of Black-tailed Prairie Dogs and we were sad to see they were no longer living in the park. We still had plenty to look at since the mesquites and scrub oaks were full of birds and the view from the mesa top was expansive. I-20 looked so small from up there. To the east we could see the Big Spring petroleum refinery and a large windfarm while to the west stretched fields and ranches spider-webbed with roads.

After a peek at the map we opted for a different route on the way out (I hate going the same way twice) and we are glad we did. There, in an empty field near the entrance to the old Air Force base was a huge, thriving town of prairie dogs! It seemed like a silly place to live but the dogs seemed to be quite happy and healthy. We pulled off the road and spent at least a half hour watching their antics.

And lastly, I will leave you with what I think is Big Spring’s biggest claim to fame, Bubba Franks. In case you don’t know I am a huge Green Bay Packers fan and Bubba Franks, who grew up and played high school football in Big Spring, is the Packers’ star tight end. Bubba was drafted by the Packers in 2000 and he’s been a Cheesehead ever since. Go Packers!

Photos: View our photographs from Cooper Lake and Big Spring, Texas.

Notes: We stayed in Cooper Lake State Park, Texas from 10/21/07 to 10/26/07, and visited Big Spring on 10/27/07.