Big Bend National Park

April 11 - April 14, 2013

We spent three nights camping at Big Bend National Park. This immense national park is named for the "big bend" that the Rio Grande river makes in Southwestern Texas. It's mostly desert and mountains...huge mountain-sized rocks and piles of sand. The place is really beautiful; the strange kind of beauty that you only find in the desert. The temperatures ranged from a low of 38 one night to a high of 101 on our first day

Rick and I really enjoyed this place. We took four different hikes of varying difficulty, to very different places. My favorite was this one to the Chisos basin.

 

We also enjoyed this hike to an abandoned resort. This is all that remains of the bath house where the spring produces 105 degree water.

We stayed at a NPS campground called Rio Grande Village. There were no "hookups" so we had to rely on our batteries, our propane, and our generator. We did quite well. Decent wifi was available at the camp store, but there was no cell phone reception anywhere in the park.

Being from the east, our knowledge of the immigration/illegal alien struggles that plague the western states was not first-hand. We were shocked to be stopped twice by border patrol agents. Each time they just asked us whether we were US citizens. I guess they were listening for hispanic accents, but I have to say I was really annoyed.

Our campground was on the Rio Grande river and so, was literally a stones throw from Mexico. Mexican nationals would sneak over during the night and leave walking sticks and other crafts that they had made along with a jar to put your money in. There were signs everywhere saying that it is illegal to purchase any of these items. Many American simply left "donations" in the jar without taking any of the merchandise.

 

A "tobacco tree"

Seminole Canyon State Park

April 9 - April 11, 2013

It's a long lonely drive from San Antonio to our next destination, Big Bend National Park, so we looked for a place to spend the night around the halfway point. We were fortunate to discover a wonderful little Texas State Park called Seminole Canyon.

The campground here is so nice that we decided to stay an extra night. The sites are huge and private with water and electric hookups. Reasonably good wifi was an added bonus that allowed me to post this update. We had plenty of room to spread out and admire the gorgeous desert vistas.

This morning we took a ranger-guided hike into Seminole Canyon to see the pictographs drawn by the Indians who inhabited this canyon about 4000 years ago. The hike was beautiful and the drawings were fun to see.

 

After lunch we took another hike around the canyon rim. The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular.

 

Remembering the Alamo

April 6 - April 9, 2013

We're in San Antonio for a couple of days. We're staying in an RV park called Blazing Star which is on the outskirts of town. And the outskirts are WAY out. San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the US and it covers a really big area. When one of the local TV stations gives weather forecasts it has to divide the city into four quadrants with different forecasts for each quadrant! And the traffic is horrible. But we've enjoyed ourselves anyway.

We spent a day touring the Alamo. My eastern-centric American History classes left me weak on Texas history. I'm determined to change that on this trip. Here's what I learned about the Alamo. Texas was a largely undeveloped part of Mexico. Spain, and later an independent Mexico, recruited settlers to come to Texas, luring them with low cost land grants and low taxes. Many people from the US, Ireland, and Mexico took them up on the offer and settled in Texas, intending to become citizens of Mexico.. After gaining their independence from Spain, Mexico had its own internal struggles over whether or not it would become a republic. When self-proclaimed dictator, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna suspended the constitution and the rights of the Texans (Texians), the Texians declared their independence from Mexico, creating the Republic of Texas. 

General Santa Anna was determined to quell this rebellion and brought his army to Texas. He conducted a siege on the Alamo, a former mission that had been taken in an earlier battle by a group of Texian and Tejano volunteers. The siege lasted 13 days before the greatly outnumbered freedom fighters (including Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie of hunting knife fame) were all massacred  when Santa Anna's troops stormed the walls and breached the barricaded mission. Having vowed that he would "take no quarter," every Texian and Tejano perished in the fight. But their sacrifice was used as a battle cry, "remember the Alamo," in subsequent battles for Texas independence.

This is about all that is left of the original Alamo, but the Daughters of the Republic of Texas have done a pretty good job of reconstructing the rest of it and presenting its history. It's a bit disconcerting, though, to discover that this monument to liberty is smack in the middle of downtown San Antonio, surrounded by wax museums and other tacky tourist attractions.

 Behind the Alamo is the wonderful San Antonio "Riverwalk." In an effort to prevent flooding from the San Antonio river, a series of canals were constructed through the center of the city. Restaurants, shops, and hotels line the lengthy, below street level waterway. It is lush and lovely. 

Texas Hill Country

March 30, 2013 - April 6, 2013

I absentmindedly deleted the original post under this title, so I'll try to re-create it.

We spent a week in Texas Hill Country. We arrived when we did in an effort to see the famous Texas wildflowers which are at their peak about this time of year. Unfortunately, drought has made this a mediocre year for wildflowers. But SiSi still enjoyed these Texas Bluebonnets.

We stayed in a campground in the quaint little town of Fredericksburg. Fredericksburg was settled by Germans and has maintained its German heritage through its architecture and restaurants. We enjoyed a delicious meal at a restaurant called Der Lindenbaum and shopped at Fredericksburg's many unique shops and galleries. We had to sit on our hands to keep from buying something from an artist named Carlos Moseley who makes amazing pictures using nothing but rocks. Here's a link to his web page: www.riverrustic.com

Texas Hill Country is also Texas wine country. Who knew that Texas had such a thriving wine industry. We did tastings at four different wineries and were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the wine.

We spent an enjoyable day hiking at a place called Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. It's a huge pink granite rock dating from the Proterozoic era, rising 425 feet above ground. There's much more underground that you can't see. It's "enchanted" because it heats up during the day and then cools at night causing a crackling noise that the Tonkawa Indians believed were ghost fires. While there we purchased an annual pass for the Texas State Parks, giving us free admission to most Texas State Parks as well as discounts on camping.

Enchanted Rock

LbJ

March 31 - April 1, 2013

                                 

Texas Hill Country is where President Lyndon Johnson grew up. And the Hill Country has gone all out to honor its native son. You can (and we did) visit his birthplace, the home in Johnson City where he grew up, and the LBJ ranch, aka "Texas White House." The LBJ library and museum is located in Austin at the University of Texas. We plan to visit the library when we make it to Austin later this month.

I have found that, in general, my visits to the various presidential sites and museums have left me with more admiration for each of the presidents. Learning more about their backgrounds and their personalities has generally helped me to go beyond the general impressions that I had of these men based on my perceptions and memories of their presidencies. But not so with Johnson. I came away with an intense dislike for him. He really was a jerk!

Completely putting aside the fact that he was the father of the modern welfare state and the architect of the senseless buildup of the Vietnam war, this man was just plain rude. He used to get up into people's faces when he was talking to them, standing way too close and even touching noses with them. And this wasn't because he was mad. He did it because he wanted to see how the other person reacted and use this to judge their character. He used to steal food off the plates of his dinner guests when they weren't looking. And he often invited people that he wanted something from to the ranch for a night or two. He would send a car or his plane to pick them up so that they were, literally, his prisoner. He would then wake them up at 3:00 am to discuss whatever it was that he wanted from them, and stall them and put them off when they tried to leave.

The ranch itself is quite lovely...everything you'd picture a Texas ranch to be. The Pedernales river runs right through the property. The park service still runs it as a working ranch, selling beef from a herd that is descended from Johnson's own stock. This goat kept trying to eat Rick's shoelaces.

His home was relatively modest.

But he spent at least 25% of his time in office at the "Texas White House", so it had to be modified, at taxpayer expense, to allow him to do the job. He had a short runway installed when he was vice-president, but it wasn't long enough to accommodate big planes. He used to fly home in this smaller plane which he joking called "Airforce 1/2."

Rainbow's End

March 27 - March 28, 2013

We crossed the border into Texas today and headed for the small town of Livingston. The Rainbow's End campground in Livingston is home to the national headquarters for the Escapees RV Club. The Escapees run several co-op campgrounds, mostly geared to full-time RVers. We wanted to avail ourselves of a program that they offer called SmartWeigh.

In January we traded in our previous RV, a 27 foot Coach House Platinum for a 35 foot Itasca Suncruiser. We loved our Platinum, but had found it increasingly difficult to travel in for extended periods. It was just too small for the two of us and SiSi. We also wanted the flexibility to be able to take our kids or grandkids along with us. We will miss the freedom that we had with the Platinum where we could fit into just about any campsite anywhere and we never had to worry about low bridges. But we're very happy and comfortable in our new RV which we have named the Liberty II.

The Liberty II

Since we are members of Escapees, a full-hookup campsite (water, 50 amp electric, and sewer) cost us $16 per night plus metered electric for a grand total of $17.20. We paid them an additional $45 for their Smart Weigh service and feel that it was money very well spent.

We had called ahead to make an appointment to be weighed. When our appointment time arrived we drove the Liberty onto a large scale that they have permanently installed in the campground. They proceeded to weigh us, giving us an overall weight as well as weights for each individual wheel and each axle. For a small extra fee they would have done the same thing for the Elantra that we tow, but it is so small and light that we didn't bother. Our total weight was 21,620 pounds including the two of us, a full 88 gallon fresh water tank, and a half a tank of propane.

We got a good report from Smart Weigh. We came in under our gross vehicle weight rating and our weight was pretty close to being balanced. They made some very good suggestions about how we could improve the balance. Had we been overweight they would have also suggested ways to lighten and balance our load. But one of the most helpful things they did was to direct us to the Michelin website where we were able to get exact tire pressure recommendations based on the actual weight that each axle was carrying.

We spent just one night at Rainbow's End, heading out the next day for a short trip to College Station, TX.

Cajun Country

March 26 - March 27, 2013

After we left New Orleans, we headed for Cajun country and Breaux Bridge, LA. We spent the night in an RV campground / fish camp called Poche's Landing. It was a quiet, simple, country setting with several large fishing ponds. It couldn't have been more different than the city "park" we had been in the night before. And this one only cost us $16 with our Passport America discount. SiSi enjoyed chasing the ducks.

We went out looking for an authentic Cajun dinner and had a nice meal at a place called Pont Breaux.We enjoyed the food although, truthfully, the gumbo had been much better at Emeril's the night before. This band was playing Cajun tunes.

New Orleans

March 24 -March 26, 2013

Usually we drive to a campground destination, park the RV, and drive the Hyundai Elantra that we are towing to our sightseeing destination. But sometimes we'll stop along the way and do our sightseeing, leaving SiSi in the RV. On our way to New Orleans we stopped at Bellingrath gardens in Alabama. This is our third visit to Bellingrath in a year. Bellingrath began as a fishing camp in 1917 for Walter Bellingrath. Walter was Mobile's first Coca-Cola bottler and he had been advised by his physician that he needed to relax. By 1927, Mrs. Bellingrath began to beautify the property with gardens, and later they built a lovely 15 room "country estate." While the home is quite beautiful, the gardens are extensive and spectacular. While we missed their peak by about a week, the azaleas were in bloom, and we enjoyed a walk in the gardens and lunch in the tea room.

I've had a lot of compliments about this photo. I stole it from the Bellingrath website!

We arrived in New Orleans on Sunday evening. During our many previous visits to NOLA, we have always stayed at a campground called Ponchartrain Landing. We have never had a problem getting a reservation and it has never been anywhere close to full. When we called for a reservation this time there was no room at the inn. We managed to score the very last campsite at an RV park near the French Quarter. Seems the women's basketball tournament was in town and everything was full. This meant that none of our usual discounts were available. We paid top dollar ($89 plus tax!) for a parking place that was behind walls topped with razor wire and that was, literally, under I-10. The traffic noise was crazy. We were so close that we could have given traffic reports.

The upside to the trip was that Abby and I met with her wedding planner, toured the venue where she wants to hold the reception, and ironed out some of the details for her wedding. And Abby and her fianace, Joe, joined us for dinner at one of Emeril's restaurants called Delmonico. The gumbo was heavenly.

We're off!

March 20 - March 23, 2013

Our first stop was an RV rally in Orlando, FL, about an hour's drive from home. We spent 3 nights at the rally which was being held at the State Fairgrounds. While we enjoyed our time there, we were anxious to get going, so we left the rally a day early and headed out for New Orleans.

The trip to New Orleans is too long to make in one day, so we had to find a place to stop along the way. Since our youngest daughter, Abby, lives in New Orleans, we have made this trip a number of times, and are familiar with many of the campgrounds around the halfway point. Instead of taking the time to set up camp at a campground, we elected to "camp" in the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel restaurant near Pensacola, FL.

There are a number of businesses that welcome RVers to stay overnight in their parking lots. It's win/win for everyone because the RVers get a free place to stay while the businesses get customers. Besides Cracker Barrel, some of the other places that welcome RVs are Walmart, Cabella's, and Flying J gas stations. We prefer Cracker Barrels because they tend to be quieter and because we can get a tasty inexpensive dinner there as well as breakfast the next morning. Beacuse we are "self-contained" we are able to heat and air condition our rig, take a hot shower, cook, watch TV, and have all the comforts of home right there in the restaurant parking lot. 

After a restful night and a tasty breakfast, we headed for New Orleans. Our sweet girl, SiSi thinks that when I climb into the passenger seat, her rightful place is in my lap. She is the biggest lap dog I have ever seen!

Getting Ready

Wednesday March 20 

Rick and I are back on the road. We're heading west with Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona as our primary destinations. I just re-read my last entry from the end of our last trip and realized how much our plans have changed. Because of family commitments and events, we don't expect to be away for more than 4 or 5 months tops and we'll be covering much less ground. Nonetheless, we're excited and ready to get on with it.

A lot of planning goes into a trip of this length. The house needs to be readied: storm shutters put up, pool and lawn service in place, neighbors help enlisted to "keep an eye out", etc. The mail has to be forwarded to our mail forwarding service, the newspaper cancelled, the house cleaned, water turned off, refrigerator and freezer emptied. 

Brevard County has many "snow birds" who come south for the winter where they stay at their second homes or condos before returning north when the weather warms. The local cable company, Brighthouse, has a wonderful program where folks who will be gone for more that 3 months can suspend their service during that time without having to return the equipment. For a onetime fee of $30 and $15 per month, we lose our cable, phone, and internet bills. That should pay for a few tanks of gas!

Florida summers are humid and hot, so the air conditioner needs to be left on to keep the mold at bay. Our energy provider suggests an ingenious program for our programmable thermostat. During the day the temperature is set for 88 degrees. But at midnight the program reduces the temperature to 70, raising the thermostat back to 88 at 4:00 am. This results in the air conditioner usually only running for 4 hours a day and then only during the 4 coolest hours of the day. We tried it last summer and it worked well.

We left home at around 1:00 pm. While preparing to leave I caught our mail lady putting mail that was supposed to be forwarded into our box. I reminded her about the forwarding order and she put a post-it note inside the box to remind the person who works on her off days that the mail was to be forwarded. After we drove the short distance to our first stop,  Orlando, I received a call from my good friend and neighbor, Betty. Betty wanted to know if we were missing a set of keys. Sure enough, I had dropped a set of keys in the driveway while loading the RV. Great security...leave keys to the house in the driveway and a note in the mailbox saying "we're out of town"!