Petrified Forest National Park in the Painted Desert

After running several errands in Holbrook the morning of May 13th, we drove southeast on Highway 180 to enter the Petrified Forest National Park at the Southwest entrance.  For those readers who may not be aware, the Petrified Forest is actually within the Painted Desert and visitors literally can drive through the area, parking their vehicles to get out and walk on trails as they wish.  Dogs are allowed on the paved trails and so Barley and Sydney were able to go with us, and they got some good exercise!

We spent over three hours driving slowly along the main 28 mile stretch, frequently stopping to get out of the Trek to walk on the paved trails and take in the beauty at the overlooks. We both loved it!  The petrified wood is so colorful and beautiful, and even the texture of the bark was preserved in the fossilization process.  

The colors and shapes of Painted Desert are breathtaking.  I cannot write anything here that would do it justice. 

Take a look at some of the photos we took. I highly recommend you add the Petrified Forest National Park to your "must visit" list whenever you find yourself in the area.  And be sure to drive the 3.5 mile loop road at Blue Mesa - the views from there are amazing!

This is a Test, Only a Test - Aghhhhhhh!

I think we are being harassed by space aliens - the New Mexico / Arizona deserts are the perfect place for such malignant activity.  Yes, slimy beasts from places unknown are sneaking over to our RV at night and letting the air out of our tires just to mess with us!

Let me explain: We get up this morning, well rested and all excited to be going to the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest... we read up on them last night and also looked up a couple places to find a replacement bolt for the scooter carrier.  We took the scooter off the carrier this morning and I had the anti-tilt plate and bent bolt in hand, ready to go forth and get a replacement on our way to the Painted Desert.  All was well in the Universe,or so it seemed. Sadly, the truth was that those pesky aliens were up to no good again.

Just before we started up the Trek to haul us and the dogs into Holbrook for hardware hunting (on the way to sight-seeing), I decided to check the tire pressure again.  You know, just to be safe.  Sure 'nuff Lucy, the passenger side outside rear tire was almost flat!

OK... that was it! I'd had enough of wheel simulators (covers) that pretty up your RV wheels but don't allow even a skinny hand like mine to get in there to check air pressure and/or attach an air hose to inflate.  Hence you're forced to install over-priced valve extenders that (as clearly proven by our numerous flat tires over the past several months) do more harm than good.  Off with their heads!  Or, more aptly put, off with that shiny, Magpie crap!

So, we asked around about tire repair shops and headed in to Holbrook.  First stop was the tire shop and those guys were amazing!  It was like pulling in to a race car pit stop.  Four or five of them swarmed out, listened to what I wanted and went to work.  In no more than 20 minutes from the time we pulled in, we were pulling back out.  The shameful valve extenders (all four of them) were tossed in a spare parts drawer inside the Trek and the offending wheel simulators for the rear wheels were stowed in a basement storage bay.  The guys double-checked the valve stems on all six tires and all were loose - amazing!  So, they tightened them all up and topped up the air in all the tires.  Charged us $25 and off we went!

I am willing to bet $100 that we won't have tire issues again, unless we get a "real" flat tire caused by some road hazard.  Sure enough, my wheels may be ugly but those tires are full of air!

Then we went to Walt's Hardware store and bought three replacement anti-tilt plate bolts (2 for spare). Our last errand was CarQuest for replacement indicator bulbs and then, finally, we headed off to visit the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest.

Heading to Arizona... and one bent bolt

The drive from Silver City to Holbrook, Arizona was mostly uneventful.  We went by secondary roads and, although the route did not offer up amazing views, it was a very relaxing and pleasant drive.  I really enjoyed the quiet time after dealing with the flat tire!  You can click here to see a few photos. 

We went by way of Show Low, Arizona so we could stop at the Super Wal-Mart and stock up on some groceries and other necessities.  Good or bad, right or wrong, Super Wal-Marts are a blessing for RV'ers because these stores have large parking lots and provide one-stop shopping - they sell everything from butter to sewer hoses (a necessary evil).  Yes indeed, we have learned to love Wal-Mart like you learn to love crutches after breaking a leg.  :-)

From Show Low, we headed towards Holbrook, with our destination actually being a small RV campground called Root 66 RV Park, located just east of Holbrook in the tiny community of Sun Valley.  We had chosen this RV park because of its proximity to the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.

Notice I said this drive was "mostly uneventful".  Well, in keeping with how our day started (flat tire), we ended with another, although fairly minor, happening.  We stopped to fill up the gas tank in Holbrook and then bottomed out the scooter carrier when pulling out of the gas station.  What an awful screeching, raking sound it made!  Yikes!

I immediately put the hazard lights on and pulled over to check things out. One of the three steel bolts holding the scooter carrier's anti-tilt plate was bent and mangled and the plate was not longer doing its job: the carrier (and scooter) were now able to bounce around in the hitch receiver.  Not a good thing since this puts a good deal of stress on the receiver and carrier tubing.  And we also noticed that the dual duty light bulb for the left rear flashing hazard light and left turn indicator was burned out.  Lord only knows how long it had been since no-one but us knew we were getting ready to turn left or pull out in traffic.  Perhaps that darn scooter carrier bottomed out for a reason?

Anyway, we decided to just grit out teeth and finish the drive to the campground - it was only another 10 miles or so, albeit on the interstate.  I took heart in the fact that I had actually added the anti-tilt plate to the carrier as an after-market improvement and so it was unlikely the world would explode or the scooter would get flung off during these few miles.  Sure enough, we made it with scooter intact, got settled in at Root 66, popped a cold adult beverage and decided to deal with bolt and bulb tomorrow.

What a day it has been!

Gila Cliff Dwellings - Not Meant to Be!

Well, some things just aren't meant to be.

When I checked the tire pressure this morning, as I always do before we drive off anywhere, I found the passenger side outside rear tire was completely flat. I'm not sure at what point it lost air - I hadn't noticed any change in handling when we drove into the KOA yesterday afternoon.

Anyway, long story short: we found a tire shop that sent a very nice man out to our campground site and he found nothing wrong with the tire. All six tires are new with less than 4000 miles on them. We agreed, he and I, that the #$%@ valve extender must have worked the valve stem loose so the air leaked out. So, a couple hours and $25 later (Coach-Net picked up the $35 on-site service call charge), the tire was remounted and inflated and the valve extender carefully tightened. We then had to drive the Trek to the tire shop itself so the tire man could tighten the lug nuts properly with a torque wrench.

While the cost was not terrible and, more importantly, we had not careened off the mountain at Cloudcroft, the tire issue caused a three hour delay and so we couldn't visit the Gila Cliff Dwellings without rushing around like crazy people to get to our next stop: Holbrook, Arizona to visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest.  Remember, we had already lost a day by having to hunker down in Carlsbad because of the desert winds.

So, with a new found go-with-the-flow attitude, we shrugged off the Gila Cliff Dwellings as something we were just not destined to see, ate a couple tasty home-made burritos I bought from a Mexican man at the tire place, and hit the road for Arizona.

Life throws you lemons? Eat burritos!

Drive to Silver City, New Mexico

We left the Carlsbad KOA pretty early today, hoping to get a good start before those blasted (no pun intended) desert winds roared up again.  We were heading to Silver City, New Mexico and instead of taking a more direct route through El Paso, Texas we opted for a more scenic drive through the Lincoln National Forest as shown below.  You can click on this map to pull up a bigger image.

As we drove out of the flat desert mesa surrounding the Carlsbad area and entered the mountainous Lincoln National Forest, the scenery become more and more beautiful.  Rolling hills and greenery!  Pine trees, creeks, and Swiss-styled architecture.  The climb up to Cloudcroft was lovely and the descent down to Alamogordo was also beautiful, even if I did have to drop a gear and keep our speed down: we did not want to gain any first-hand knowledge of using a runaway truck ramp! Click here for some photos.  By the way, the Cloudcroft area looked like a great place to camp  in the summer and/or visit in the winter for skiing, etc. 

Although we did not originally plan to visit White Sands National Monument, we decided to pop in for a quick visit - our route took us right past the entrance and it seemed silly not to go take a look.  Click here for some photos.  White Sands is impressive, although I'm not sure I would choose it as a picnic destination.  Just driving around the dunes for 20 minutes made my eyes sore even with sunglasses on... bright white!

Once we hit Las Cruces, the drive as far as Deming was much less pleasant - the wind was gusting with a vengeance and the scenery was once again scrubby desert.  The wind was so bad that we passed several truck pull-offs where tractor trailer rigs and RVs were hunkered down.  But, as I told Lynda, no point in stopping unless we're willing to sit until evening. So, we continued on at around 50MPH with me white-knuckling the steering wheel.  Thankfully, conditions were much improved after turning north at Deming for the final leg to Silver City.

So we are staying at the KOA in Silver City for the night and plan on visiting the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument in the morning. This is about an 90 minute drive from here but we could not find a campground any closer that can accommodate a motor home.

Carlsbad, New Mexico

Carlsbad, located in the Chihuahuan Desert, seems like a nice area and I got the sense of more going on there than other places we’ve driven through so far. We arrived mid morning on Friday, May 7th passing several small ranch-like farms and well-kept homes. There were horses everywhere. We made a stop in town at the Super Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries and adult beverages and then got back on highway 285.

We stayed at the KOA campground a few miles north of Carlsbad, just off highway 285. This is a very nice campground with modern, clean and well maintained facilities, including two good-sized fenced dog parks that are irrigated to sustain a nice carpet of grass.

There are apparently endless numbers of wild rabbits on the campground, which really got the attention of Sydney and Barley. One of our neighbors was a round tailed ground squirrel that located his burrow a couple sites away from ours -he also provided entertainment for us and aggravation for the dogs.

The only thing that could have been better at the campground was the WiFi service: it was up, it was down, it was up, it was down, and so on. Even when the service was up, the bandwidth was so restricted that we were unable to upload photos. Thankfully, however, we were able to send and receive email and post some entries to this blog. Despite the WiFi issues, I would stay at that KOA again.  Click here for some photos of the campground.

Unfortunately, the scooter was not much use to us at the KOA. The RV sites and roadways are all constructed with crushed concrete and riding the scooter on that type of surface is not pleasant. So, we hoofed it around the campground which was probably to our benefit anyway.

We scrapped our original plan to go to Carlsbad Caverns because the bats have not yet migrated back in full numbers and so the famous dusk bat flight out of the cave is not yet happening. As far as seeing the bat flight, the best time to visit Carlsbad Caverns is from the end May to end of September. Anyway, Lynda felt that viewing the Caverns themselves is not a big enough draw to go to the effort renting a car (the road up to the Carlsbad Caverns Visitors Center is too windy for the Trek) and kenneling the dogs. I was fine with this because I visited Carlsbad Caverns several years ago and was fortunate to view the bat flight, when millions of bats leave the cave at dusk to hunt for insects. It’s quite a sight to behold!

We relaxed on Saturday, catching up on email and blog articles, watching hilarious “Glee” episodes, and playing with the dogs in the dog park area. On Sunday, we disconnected the RV from the hookups and drove just a few miles towards Carlsbad to visit the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park, which we really enjoyed and highly recommend. While Sydney and Barley rested in the RV, we toured the facilities to learn more about desert flora and animals found in the Chihuahuan Desert.

As luck would have it, this was also the last day of the 24th annual Mescal Roast being hosted by the Living Desert Zoo. We witnessed the Mescal Pit Opening and then had a taste of the cooked agave heads. We both liked it - the flavor reminded me a little of boiled apple. According to the office press release, The Mescal Roast provides a better understanding of the Mescalero Apache people and the importance of protecting the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. The mescal plant, also known as agave, was a staple for the Apache who once lived in the Pecos River Valley and Guadalupe Mountains of Southeastern New Mexico. Nearly all parts of the mescal plant were used, including the leaves, flower stalks, blossoms and seeds. The leaves and stalks were traditionally roasted in large cooking pits and eaten or pounded into cakes and dried.

Click here for some photos of our visit to the Living Desert.

After our visit to the Living Desert Zoo, we ate lunch and drove to Sitting Bull Falls Recreation Area , which is in the Lincoln National Forest. Although less than a 40 mile drive, it took us about an hour to get there because of the narrow and winding road. On the way, we passed what appeared to be several ranches and a handful of oil donkey pumps. The smell of petroleum was unmistakable and seemed out of place in this otherwise rugged and wild area.

When we arrived at Sitting Bull Falls, we parked in the lower parking lot and hiked about .6 miles to the Visitor Center. The trail was very stony and steep in places and the wind kept whipping up in gusts. I had to chase my hat a couple times. After catching our breath, we took the dogs on the concrete path up to the Falls area. While we enjoyed our visit and recommend it to other visitors, Sitting Bull Falls was unexpectedly crowded when we went, perhaps because it was Mother’s Day. It was a bit of a challenge keeping Sydney and Barley out of people’s way and under control. Anyway, despite the number of people, Sydney did get to swim and her antics attracted several admirers. Barley was also a big hit, particularly with a group of young guys, one of whom declared, “that is one bad dog!”

Unfortunately, we managed to take only a few photos of Sitting Bull Falls because the camera battery ran out of juice. This was my fault for taking so many photos at the Living Desert Zoo and not recharging the battery afterward. Oh well…

Once we got back from our outings, we did laundry and made some preparations to leave this morning, Monday May 10th. The plan was to head to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument but this was not in the cards… some extremely windy weather rolled in overnight, with frequent gusts exceeding 40 MPH. Driving the Trek in “normal” breezy weather is a little like driving a billboard and so it did not take much consideration to decide to play it safe and stay here one more day. And so we are hunkered down in the Trek (which is swaying from the wind gusts) napping, reading, and generally being very lazy. From time to time we emerge to take the dogs for a potty break and then scuttle back inside, away from the wind and dust.

We hope to be able to make our way to the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument tomorrow… stay tuned!

From Big Bend National Park to Carlsbad, New Mexico

We left Big Bend National Park a half day early because it was too darn hot to do much of anything – 106 degrees of dry desert heat is not to be fooled with! Instead of sitting in the Trek with the air conditioning blasting, we decided it made more sense to pack up and head towards our next stop: Carlsbad, New Mexico.

Rather than leave the way we had come in, we took highway 118 out of the park toward Alpine, Texas. Although longer, this was a good route to take as we were able to see parts of Big Bend we had not viewed before, and then pass through Study Butte and on to Alpine. It was a hot but beautiful drive! Up to this point, Alpine has been the most “substantial” town we’ve driven through since entering the Southwest desert. The main campus of the Sul Ross State University is in Alpine and this small town provides a lot of services and support to Big Bend. Interestingly, our housesitter, Mary is from Alpine and so are the couple that bought the camper van from me in Tennessee just a few weeks ago. Considering the population of Alpine is less than 6,000, these are interesting coincidences!

We gassed up in Alpine and were somewhat relieved to see that the gas price was a little more reasonable than what we paid in Marathon a couple days before – “only” $3.05 a gallon versus $3.35! Gas prices in west Texas have been an unpleasant surprise. We’re used to paying less than $2.70 a gallon back home in Tennessee but, since leaving Houston, we’ve been paying over $3.00 a gallon. When you’re driving a gas-gulping RV with a large tank, gas prices become meaningful. Anyway, we agreed there is no point stressing out over gas prices because this is something over which we have no control.

We drove on until around 9 PM, when we reached Pecos, Texas. After Alpine, the desert flattened and the air temp finally started to cool as the sun dipped toward the western horizon. I actually enjoy driving during the evening, although this is when many animals become active and so we run the risk of hitting a deer or some other desert creature.

We went to the Wal-Mart near I-20’s exit 42, but this is a small store that closes at 10 PM. With no other RVs in the parking lot, we were uncomfortable spending the night there and so we went to a nearby Flying J truck stop.

This was the first time we overnighted at a truck stop and it wasn’t too bad, although it was noisy being right next to the Interstate. I guess my first choice for overnighting is a Super Wal-Mart but it’s good to know that truck stops are also an option.

The next morning, with less than 90 miles left to go, we finished our drive to Carlsbad, New Mexico in a just a couple hours.

Click here to see more photos and stay tuned for more about our travels!

Big Bend National Park, Texas

Driving west from Del Rio, we arrived at Marathon, Texas around 3:00 PM on Tuesday, May 4th. Because we would be “dry camping” (no hookups) in Big Bend, we planned on running the on-board generator and so we gassed up the Trek before turning onto highway 385 and heading south into the park. The generator runs off the same gas as the Trek engine.

I saw two gas stations in Marathon and they were both selling Regular Unleaded for $3.35 a gallon… yikes! Well, at least the man working at the gas station was nice. In fact, he was very friendly and helpful.

The 75-mile drive from Marathon to the Rio Grande Village campground in the Big Bend National Park took almost two hours, but it is certainly a gorgeous drive! The scenery is breath-taking and also a little intimidating: this is not an area you would want to find yourself in alone and without water. Big Bend is made up of almost 1 million acres of land that includes mountain, desert, and river environments. You could spend a week here and just scratch the surface. This area is also still very “wild”, offering a wide array of geological formations, many varieties of desert flora, and wild life ranging from mountain lions, to coyotes, to javalinas (peccaries), to rabbits, to snakes… well, you get the picture.

Although we had already pretty much decided to camp in the Rio Grande campground rather than the RV park a short distance away, we swung over there first to check it out. Sure enough, the Rio Grande RV Park in Big Bend is essentially an asphalt parking lot with hook ups. This is really not our thing and so we went on to the Rio Grande campground. The temperature was around 85 degrees when we arrived around 5:00 PM. Not too bad, we thought.

We found a site with some shade trees and spent that first evening relaxing after all the driving. The next morning, we got up pretty early and walked the dogs around. It was still quite chilly in the morning from the cool of the desert night. And this was when we saw our very first Roadrunner! Right there in the campground! We were so excited and I took several photos. It’s funny to think about that now because we have since seen innumerable Roadrunners and realize that they are about as common in this desert region as gray squirrels are in Tennessee!

We also spotted a turkey vulture sitting on a campsite grill with his wings half extended, closely watching two men who were eating breakfast. It was a funny scene and I wish I had the camera. I said something to one of the men and he said, “Oh, he’s our best buddy now that he knows how good we cook.” As we walked around, we saw lots of turkey vultures around the campground. I guess they are Big Bend’s equivalent of seagulls.

National and State parks do not allow pets on the trails and Big Bend is no exception. So we left Barley and Sydney in the RV while we walked around on some of the trails near the campground. It was late morning by the time we went over to the day area and then down to the Rio Grande River itself. The day area was under a couple feet of water – we think this was planned flooding for irrigation purposes, to help the cottonwood trees thrive to maintain some shade for visitors. We spotted lots of Vermilion Flycatchers and saw some humongous Ravens.

The Rio Grande River was surprisingly narrow: the water level is low this time of year and the river (at least where we stood) was only around 50 feet across. In the rainy season, July-August, the river expands and rages but the day we stood there in early May, only a narrow strip of brown, lazy water separated us from our neighbors in Mexico.

While we were exploring around, we came across some handmade articles left alongside a trail with a note listing prices and a jar in which to place your money. These items are left by Mexicans who come across the Rio Grande at night and leave them at different spots for tourists to buy on the honor system. Then they come back at night and get the money. The prices are good and the items are attractive but it’s illegal to purchase these items and the border patrol is very serious about enforcing the law. We did not buy anything.

By the time we returned to the campground, it was around noon and getting warmer. By mid afternoon it was close to 100 degrees and still climbing. We were very glad to have the air conditioning in the RV (understatement) and decided to lay low until an hour or so before sunset to take a scooter ride over to the Boquillas Canyon overlook - it would be cooler then and much more pleasant to ride around.

And so we did, and it was a lot of fun! The scenery at the Boquillas Canyon overlook was gorgeous and a kind lady there took our photo.  I refused to remove my helmet because of "helmet hair"  syndrome.  We saw more Mexican souvenirs and spotted a horse and man in the shade across the Rio Grande River. We were both hoping and fearing to see a mountain lion - it would have been perfect to have spotted one at a safe distance. Oh well, we didn’t see a mountain lion but we did see a coyote lounging along the side of the road about a mile from the campground. This guy was almost twice the size of the ones we have in Tennessee – he was about Barley’s size, looked very well fed, and had a fine coat. We were within 15 feet of him. He looked right at us, did not bother to adjust his speed, and just kept going. Apparently the exploding bunny population at Big Bend is resulting in some very happy coyotes!

The next morning (Thursday), we got up around 6:30 and left the campsite by 7:15 AM to ride up to Panther junction with stops along the way. As we rode, we were very glad to have on our fleece jackets – it was downright chilly in some spots and at least cool in the others. It was a beautiful ride, with the early morning light casting a different look on the countryside and the coolness a welcome relief from the heat.

I spoke with a ranger at the Panther Junction visitor's center and he said that, in his opinion, the best time to visit Big Bend in November. I agree with him when he said that visiting between mid April and end of September was not a good idea... too darn hot!

We were gone a total of two hours and had left the dogs loose in the RV.  We have crates for them, but hate to cage the dogs up for short periods of time.  We've left them loose before, but only for around an hour, so this was stretching it a bit.  Well... they were mostly good.  But someone (probably Barley) must have become bored and turned his attention to one of the sofa cushions.  Too bad, but stuff happens!  We'll put the cushions away next time and leave dog toys out for them. 

Yes, the heat at Big Bend this time of year is immobilizing - by early afternoon after our scooter ride,  it was again too hot to do anything outside. Instead of sitting in the Trek with the air conditioning blasting, we decided around 3:30 PM to leave half a day early and head towards our next stop: Carlsbad, New Mexico.  So that is exactly what we did!

I would definitely return to Big Bend again... I feel we barely scratched the surface of this magnificent park.  But my next visit will be in November, when the temperature is more bearable.

Click here to see our Big Bend photos, and stay tuned for more about our travels!

Heading to Big Bend National Park, Texas - My First Exposure to the Desert

After a pleasant evening last night at the great FamCamp on Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, we got on the road this morning at a reasonable time (they sound reveille at 0700 hours on base!)

We started heading west on Hwy 90 to make our way to Marathon, where we planned to gas up the Trek, fill the jerry can for the scooter, then turn left on Hwy 385 to head south into Big Bend. Hwy 90 runs just along the Texas/Mexico border and we saw plenty of Border Patrol Agents. In fact, Sydney and Barley successfully passed through their first immigration checkpoint when the inspector asked if it was just us four traveling in the RV.   Border Patrol trucks became a common site as we made our way toward Big Bend.

We drove through land that appeared very desolate and scrubby – certainly compared to what I'm accustomed to in East Tennessee! Consuelo has visited New Mexico, Arizona and Utah previously so she was prepared for the American Southwest, but I’ve never been in this part of the country and the experience is completely new to me.

I found myself fascinated by the desert... the ground is all broken rock with some areas at the bottoms of dry gullies resembling crushed concrete. It’s amazing to me that anything can grow here, yet it does. We’ve seen a few things we could identify: the tall showy flowers sprouting from the spiky yucca plants, the splashes of yellow with the clusters of wild asters, and of course, the stubborn prickly pear cacti.

But, we’re more in wonder at all the plants we’ve never seen before: Consuelo said to me at one point, “Look at that brave tree.”  Short and lush trees grow abundantly along the sides of the road. We’ve seen some wild and wondrous plants: one that is tall and fingery and reminds us of an aquatic plant reaching for the surface of the water. When we stopped at a rest area and looked at one up close, we discovered it is covered with the tiniest little leaves that hide a bristle of thorns. Later on in our drive we saw some more of these plants with bright orange flowers at the end of each branch.

As we’re whizzing through the desert at 60 mph (the posted speed limit is actually 75 mph!), I kept looking out and thinking about the things that must be out there but I can’t see: scorpions and rattlesnakes and coyotes and other creatures that manage to survive in this dry and dusty place. While driving, Consuelo saw a lizard-type critter start to dart into the road. She thinks it was an iguana and we discussed whether iguanas are jungle or desert creatures or are there different varieties that exist in both climates?

A short time later, a bird ran across the road in front of us. I got a good look at it as it ran into the vegetation at the side of the road… We agreed it looked like a small hen turkey… or did we see our first roadrunner? We’ll have to Google that one!

We saw very few signs of human habitation – occasional entrances to ranches with roads leading off into the desert; windmills here and there (only a few of them actually turning). Fencing ran along the side of the road, indicating a rancher containing his cattle… we only saw a few scattered cows and I saw one small herd of goats. The towns along Hwy 90 are few and far between, and very small by all appearances. When we drove through these small towns we wondered at how these people stay in business and how they survive – several had little restaurants, few-room motels, scrubby RV parks and shop-worn souvenir shops, certainly geared toward the tourists driving through on their way to Big Bend.

We also noticed, scattered along the way, the occasional old RV trailer (usually a Fifth wheel) sitting out in the desert under the baking sun with nothing around.  People are living in these trailers...hard to believe, but it's true.

Click here to view photos of our drive through Texas to Big Bend.

Houston - First Major Stop

We’ve been here in Houston for a several days now, having a very pleasant and relaxing time. Lynda has been able to spend some time with her aunt Janet and cousin Nicole and we’ve been staying with my sister Catherine and her family in the Cypress area, north west of Houston.

We arrived this past Friday after a harrowing drive through Houston on I-10 and I-610 North. If it’s not enough that Houston drivers are pretty aggressive, these major roadways are under construction with very narrow lanes and concrete barriers. It would be a stretch for me to say I was not stressed about driving the 28 foot Trek-with-scooter-on-the-back in that kind of traffic, although Lynda seemed quite comfortable. She has developed considerable confidence in my RV driving abilities – I hope to never let her down!

Anyway, we made it in one piece, dropped Sydney and Barley off at the Longwood Animal Hospital & Pet Resort and then coordinated with the manager of Safe Harbor Boat & RV Storage to arrange for a great storage spot for the Trek – a fully enclosed RV garage in a secured area only 5 minutes from Catherine’s house! And the price was right also: only $5 a day. What more could a girl ask for?

My family gathered at Catherine’s place on Saturday and then we all went over to Charles and Donna Davis’ (longtime friends from Barbados) for a wonderful West Indian curry roti dinner. Their son Brad was there also, as was Noreen and Ronald Branch… and so old friends and family got together and a good time was had by all.

On Wednesday, Catherine, Lynda, Donna, and myself spent a few hours in Old Town Spring.  If you enjoy shopping and/or browsing in a quaint setting, then you will enjoy this place.  It was nice for the four of us to just hang out together.

My oldest niece, Rachel will be celebrating her 13th birthday this coming Sunday, May 2nd. This is not only a milestone birthday for her, but is also the first birthday I will actually get to spend with her in person! It’s hard to believe Rachel is becoming so grown up… it seems just a couple years ago that she was a baby! Catherine and husband Roger, with some help from the rest of the family, have been shopping and planning and we’re all looking forward to Sunday. We will get together at our other sister’s (Pilar) house in Beach City for dinner on Saturday, spend the night, and then have Rachel’s birthday celebration the next day.

On Monday morning, we'll retrieve the Trek, and Sydney and Barley and depart the Houston area to head west towards Big Bend National Park. This is a 600 mile drive and so we’ll go about half way and spend the night at the FamCamp at Laughlin Air Force Base (Del Rio), finishing the drive to Big Bend on Tuesday.  I don't think we'll have Internet connectivity while at Big Bend... if not, we'll catch up later.

Stay tuned!

Heading to Houston!

It’s day two of our travel to Houston, and we’ve settled into a pretty good routine with Consuelo driving and me in the “co-pilot” seat… Consuelo is a very good and conscientious driver – I feel absolutely safe with her at the wheel – the only time her attention drifts is when she starts punching information into the GPS (we try to avoid her having to do that while we’re driving).  And she does wake me up if I’m napping when she starts to feel drowsy. We chit chat and talk about the other RVs we see on the road or the flowers we see growing on the sides of the highway.

Consuelo’s taken to talking to the other drivers… especially the people who don’t accelerate on the entrance ramps and dilly-dally merging onto the interstate. Today, she invited a truck driver to play a game of Scrabble because he was taking so long to pass us on the left.

The dogs have also settled in very well. Sydney spends most of her time lying on the “dog house” between the driver and passenger seats… sometimes with her chin propped up on the dashboard, but usually staring balefully up at Consuelo as if to say " Are we there yet?" Barley’s happy stretched out on the floor in the living area.

We boondocked last night at a Wal-Mart in Meridian, Mississippi. We were a little bit nervous because this particular Wal-Mart was quite a distance from the interstate and we were the only RV in the parking lot. I did a little shopping when we arrived; Consuelo did some cleaning inside the Trek; we ate a sandwich and settled in for the night. The dogs enjoyed a nice long walk around the mostly empty parking lot this morning before we got back on the road.

We made such good time yesterday and today, we decided to drive as far as the Lake Charles area in Louisiana and find a state park for the night instead of boondocking. This way, we can hook up to water, take some nice leisurely showers, walk the dogs somewhere besides a parking lot, and dump our tanks before we get to Houston. We located Sam Houston Jones State Park in Lake Charles and stopped at a Wal-Mart on the way to the park for gas and groceries… Consuelo ran in to pick up some fried chicken for dinner. She bought a bag that was labeled “fried chicken dinner” but when we got set up in our site and opened the bag we discovered a giant burnt turkey leg! I made some rice and Consuelo warmed up some vegetables and we sat down to enjoy our “fried chicken” dinner! We tried our hardest to make the best of the meal and realized the best thing we could do was laugh… As we peeled the skin off the turkey leg, we uncovered turkey meat that was an unnatural pink color - lesson learned today: unless you can stomach bright pink turkey, always check inside the bag – don’t believe the label that says fried chicken: 2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs”.

Click here to view some photos of our drive through Louisiana.

Townsend, Tennessee

Our stay in Townsend has been very nice - we've used these past few days to relax and catch our breath and verify that all systems are "go".  Chip and Carolyn visited this evening for an early dinner and to pick up my Mazda Tribute... from this point on, we do not have a car - just the Trek and the scooter.  From time to time during our Great RV Escape, we'll rent a car if needed.

Finally, Lynda rode on the back of the Tank and she did great!  We buzzed around Townsend and then scootered over to the Cades Cove riding stable (which is actually located in Townsend).  We took a horse back ride up to nearby waterfalls and enjoyed the beautiful countryside. 

We also took a drive along the scenic Foothills Parkway, and Barley and Sydney came with us.  Truly, East Tennessee is a beautiful area and she is at her absolute finest in the spring! 

We've been staying at the Mountaineer campground which is very nice... fairly small but with good amenities and very helpful owners. Highly recommended!

Except for a little trouble with the RV awning, which was easily sorted out, the Trek and her systems are working great and we are ready to hit the road tomorrow!  First major stop will be Houston, Texas to spend some time with family and friends. 

Click here to view more photos, and stay tuned for more about our travels!

Leaving Home

Well, we left home yesterday!  Our housesitter Mary arrived mid-afternoon on Friday and we spent a few hours going over house systems and some paperwork.  Later that evening we hosted a smallish spaghetti dinner gathering to introduce Mary to our good neighborhood friends (including Lynda's parents, Chip and Carolyn) and spend some time together before we left on our Great RV Escape.  I am SO pleased to have found Mary - I'm sure she will take wonderful care of the house and cats!

We drove Mary around the local area on Saturday, showing her some shopping areas and the general lay of the land.  Then, we loaded up the scooter and left town around 2:30 PM.  What a great feeling to have everything coming together after all our hard work and planning.  Very cool!

Our first stop is just an hour from home: the Smoky Mountains foothill town of Townsend.  This is a beautiful area! We will spend a total of 4 nights here to "burn in" the RV systems and see what, if anything, we forgot to pack. Carolyn, Chip, Judi and Gary are coming over later today to have an early dinner with us and just hang out for a while. 

The weather is cool but gorgeous and life is good!

RV'ing Cheetahs

Safari Treks were sold brand new with an option for painted artwork to be airbrushed on the rear panel. From what I've been able to gather, the proud new owner could chose from several themes and then a professional artist would paint the scene onto the RV.  I've seen photos of several Treks with various artwork and the scenes are very attractive!  I have no idea how much this option cost in 1998, but the original owner of our Safari Trek elected to save his/her money for something else and so our back panel was bare.

I started thinking about that blank panel - a big blank space just looking for someone to brighten it up - and I decided we needed to do something. But what? Lynda nor I am talented enough to even consider airbrushing a scene, and I was sure that commissioning an artist to do this would require too much time, coordination, and money.  However, Lynda is a graphic artist and so we decided to design a layout in PhotoShop™ and have a sign shop output the scene on high quality vinyl and apply to the panel.  And so we did.... and that's how we got our RV'ing Cheetahs!

We purchased the photograph from an online photo source and FastSigns of Knoxville did the vinyl and lettering work for us

While we were working on the back panel artwork, we decided to also put some info about this blog on the Trek in the hope that folks would visit our web site and offer up suggestions for our Great RV Escape.  We'll see how that works out, but I'm looking forward to meeting and talking to people in campgrounds, parks, and other places we visit... this will make our trip even more interesting and fun!

So keep an eye out for us as we make our way around the US - click here to see our general route (we start in the Knoxville area and we're heading clockwise). If you spot us, let me know!!

Check out these photos:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Oh, and did you notice our new curtains match our Cheetahs?  I love it when things start coming together!

Home Economics 101 – Made Our Own Curtains!

Our December trip to Houston taught us much about the Trek and the realities of living in it from day to day. One of the big things we discovered was the difficulty with the windshield privacy curtains…I think they were the original ones when the Trek was brand new. Anyway, they were made of a stiff material and tightly pleated so they “accordion’ed” into the tie-back areas on the driver and passenger side windows. They were also just a tad bit too long which made it very difficult to smoothly pull them across the windshield.

Every night when we closed these curtains and every morning when we opened them, it was a struggle that quickly became fairly irritating. Consuelo and I agreed that fighting with them for 5 or 6 months would make one of us go insane, so we decided to replace the curtains.

We started looking into our options and soon learned we had a couple choices: we could order some custom-made curtains through numerous on-line vendors that would cost us over $350, or we could buy ready-to-hang curtains off the shelf at Camping World for about $140. So we tried the latter but discovered there were very limited colors to choose from and the standard length of 36 inches was about 3 inches too short for what we needed. So, we returned those curtains and scratched that approach. We really did not want to spend over $350 on custom curtains in colors we could only view online and so we decided to just make our own. How hard could that be, really? 

So we made a bunch of measurements and examined the hardware and construction of the existing curtains. And we asked my mother – who used to be a sewing instructor – for some advice, and she offered assistance if needed. So the three of us (Mom, Consuelo and I) headed off to Joanne’s Fabric Store to find material for our new curtains. As luck would have it (and as is often the case at Joanne’s – I suspect), they were having a sale and we found something we liked for less than $8 a yard! The fabric we chose is a light upholstery material with an ivory/cream background and dark brown cheetah spots - a perfect pattern and color scheme for our Safari Trek!

From Joanne’s we bought more than enough fabric, pleating tape, and thread to make the curtains. We also needed a small collection of hardware to hang them on the existing I-beam track. We got the curtain carriers from Camping World and Wright’s ceiling pleater drapery hooks from Create For Less.

Once we washed the new fabric, we headed over to Mom’s house to begin our project. Although I have a sewing machine, I keep it stored in a closet (like a trophy)… but my mother sews a lot so her machine is always set up, ready to go and she has a nice sewing room with a big sewing table. Mom helped us figure out how much to turn over for hems and showed us how to pin it up. Then, she took the material and sat down at the sewing machine and started sewing.  It just could not have gone better than that!

As the project evolved, and after examining the pleating tape, drapery hooks, and looking at the track the curtains would be hanging on, we realized we did not have enough clearance between the top of the curtain and the track. But, no problem! We headed to Home Depot to see if we could find some tiny S hooks to add between the drapery hooks and the curtain carrier hardware. They didn’t have S hooks small enough so we bought some small “J link” chain and then used 3 links from the chain on each drapery hook to add the needed space between the top of the drapery hook and the curtain carrier doo-dad. Actually, Consuelo sat with a pair of needle nose pliers and did this… it was a little too tedious for me but she didn't seem to mind!

Click here to see photos of our new curtains

All totaled, with fabric, pleating tape, thread, drapery hooks, curtain carrier hardware, and chain our new curtains cost us $210 - a $140 savings! And we got a fabric that matches the décor inside the Trek plus we had enough material left over for Mom to make three throw pillows for the couch!

We send a big THANK YOU and hug to Mom for her help!

Update on Preparations - We've Been Busy!

The last couple months have been very busy!  Here are the highlights -

• cleaned out closets and drawers, and even the basement
• sold lots of stuff on eBay and Craigslist, and had a yard sale that went very well
• sold the camper van and the Mustang
• sold the canoe
• completed initial maintenance on the scooter and she's all ready to go!
• I got my motorcycle license
• went to Key West for a week
• completed maintenance on the Trek: caulked the roof, painted the side mirrors and steps, sealed all plumbing entry points underneath, serviced the levelling jacks system, cleaned and lubricated the awnings, etc.
• designed artwork and lettering for the Trek and had it applied
• had tinting applied to the Trek's windshield and upper panes of the driver and passenger cockpit windows
• with the help of Lynda's mother, Carolyn, we made new windshield curtains for the Trek (saved lots of $$ compared to buying custom curtains)
• purchased items to put together a spare parts kit for the Trek and for the Onan generator
• got the Trek serviced (oil change, etc)

We also bought and water-tested an inflatable Intex Challenger K1 Kayak and now have a second one on order - very portable and easy to set up!  We'll use these for floating around on calm lakes and rivers for wildlife spotting.

Whew - I am tired of chores!  We still need to finish getting the yard and gardens cleaned up, take Sydney and Barley to the vet for shots, etc., and pack up the Trek with clothes and groceries.  But we're almost ready to go and I have no doubt all our efforts will be more than worth it! 

Key West - Sun, Fun and More!

After weeks of dreary winter weather, Lynda, Barley and I headed down to Key West in early March to spend a week with good friends in a vacation rental house. We loaded up my little SUV and set off for the two day drive - we were so excited at the prospect of warm weather and no chores!

Day one went without incident - we got as far as Gainesville, Florida and looked forward to the next day’s drive down to the Keys. The weather was already warmer! We spent the night at La Quinta Inn – this hotel chain is very pet friendly and has no issue with big dogs.

Day two, however, was a different story. Around lunch time, we pulled off into a Florida Turnpike rest area and I bought each of us a Stromboli from an Italian fast food place. I was not that hungry and found my Stromboli to be very unappetizing... In fact, it was room temperature instead of warm and I threw it away after only two bites. Aside from being somewhat peeved about paying $6 for a mediocre Stromboli that I could not bring myself to eat, all was well and we set off once more. It was within moments of Lynda taking the wheel to drive that it hit me - I felt a knot in my stomach and then, seconds later, it seemed that my diaphragm was completely constricted and I could barely draw a breath. I did not want to panic Lynda while she was driving, and I managed to voice a fairly normal sounding request that she pull off at the very next rest stop. Thankfully, she did not question why we needed to stop again so soon and so we pulled into the Port St Lucie rest stop.

By this time, within a few short minutes of the initial attack, I could hardly breathe at all and I was trying not to panic. Once the car was parked, I told Lynda to call 911, which she did immediately when she realized I was serious. An ambulance arrived a few minutes later and carted me off to the St Lucie Hospital. En route, the EMTs administered an EKG and took my vitals – all seemed normal except my blood pressure, which was elevated. At the hospital, the medical staff administered another EKG, drew blood, and took several chest and abdominal X-rays but none of these tests showed show any abnormalities. The doctor said all indications were that I was in excellent health. So, we talked about that darn Stromboli and she said that it must be food poisoning! No nasty things that we normally associate with food poisoning were happing to me… except unbelievable abdominal cramps that left me gasping for breath.

After four hours of observation, I was released and took a taxi back to the rest stop where Lynda was waiting with Barley (I had asked her to stay there with him). We were very glad to see each other! Apparently, Barley had made numerous friends while I was at the hospital. We set off driving again for a while but I was still too sick to tackle the rest of the drive to Key West. So we pulled off and spent the night in West Palm Beach.

The next day, we set off for the final leg down to Key West and we were very happy to arrive and see our friends. With the help of Pepto-Bismol™, I recovered over the next four days. I have to admit, however, that the remnants of my food poisoning put a damper on my food and adult beverage consumption. But, maybe this was not a bad thing - Key West has other things to offer a visitor than just bars and partying!

Between us all, we had five dogs on vacation with us – they ranged from around 4 lbs to 70 lbs and we were quite a sight walking around town! We even took them up and down Duval Street, which is the very crowded main street for shops, restaurants and bars, and into the Jungle restaurant for dinner. We walked those dogs at least three miles every day and there were several days that we walked much further than that. They LOVED every moment of it!

Anyway, the highlights of our trip to Key West were hanging out with our friends, getting some good exercise walking around town, kayaking in the mangroves, riding the Conch train to learn more about the Conch Republic (Key West), visiting the Pirate Museum (which is moving to St Augustine in April), and exploring side streets and residential neighborhoods to view beautiful flowers and trees and see some beautiful old Key West houses. Did you know that the historic Old Town district of Key West contains the largest collection of wooden frame buildings in Florida? In fact, there are over 3,000 historic homes and historic sites in Key West, 300 of which are registered under the National Register of Historic Places.

Click here to view our Key West pictures..

Although many people think of Key West as a party destination, there is a much more to this community than bars and T-shirt shops!  Visit the Key West Attractions Association for more information.  For example, some attractions I did not see this trip but will be sure to visit next time include the Hemingway House, the Lighthouse and Keepers Quarters Museum, the Harry S. Truman Little White House, and the Heritage House. I also want to take a day trip out the Dry Tortugas on a catamaran... doesn't that sounds wonderful?

Yes, I definitely want to go to Key West again… but NO FAST FOOD STROMBOLI next time!

Nitty Gritty on Trip Planning

Consuelo and I have gotten down to the nitty gritty details of our trip-planning. We’ve spent the last 4 or 5 days with our heads together and both notebook computers burning up the internet.  And we really appreciate the suggestions readers have sent us... there is so much to see and do!

I sometimes make fun of Consuelo and her unfathomable (to me, at least) need to be organized, but after our Fall Foliage trip, I’m a true believer in her methods. She’s created a spreadsheet itinerary to outline our trip—from the day we leave home until we meet up with the Alaska Caravan Tour—then from when we finish with the tour, until the day we get home. Her spread sheet reflects where we’ll be spending each night, how many miles we’ll travel each day, how much it will cost us for campground fees, and if we’ve already made reservations. Of course, we’ve agreed that we will depart from this itinerary whenever we want to… we want to enjoy the freedom to change our minds and so the itinerary will provide us an “anchor” but not a ball and chain! And we’ll be giving a copy to friends and family so they will have an idea of our whereabouts.

For popular family vacation spots like the Grand Canyon, Yosemite and Yellowstone, we’re making our reservations now! We don’t want to be disappointed because we can’t get a site at a popular park. With the exception of one place, we can pretty much get our deposits back with only a couple days notice and so this approach is the best of both worlds – peace of mind and flexibility.

Whoever would have thought all this planning would be so much work? But we believe our efforts will pay off with a truly great RV escape—it certainly was worth all the work on our Fall Foliage trip. Planning the Fall Foliage trip was simple compared to this undertaking… 3000 miles in 3 weeks versus 15,000 miles in 23 weeks!

This trip planning effort has also allowed us time to look into ways to save money here and there, such as…

• Many military bases and facilities have small campgrounds, called FamCamps, with full hookups and, since they’re located on base, most offer many extra amenities such as laundry, grocery store, fuel station and other things we wouldn’t use (like golf courses, swimming pools, athletic gyms, etc). Since we’re both retired from the Air Force, there’s no problem in staying in these places; they’re usually far more affordable than most private campgrounds. Military FamCamps are typically available to Active Duty members, Guard and Reserve troops, Retired military, and DoD civilians.  Check out this web site for more information: http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/state-listing
• The Army Corps of Engineers operates many low-cost campgrounds with at least basic amenities. You can purchase Camping With the Corps of Engineers: The Complete Guide to Campgrounds Owned and Operated by the U.s. Army Corps of Engineers through Amazon.
• Boondocking is a not-to-be-overlooked option. See the Resource links posted on the right side of our Blog.

We also realize that traveling back and forth across the Canadian border with two large dogs could present some challenges – of course Alaskan Discovery RV Tours had already advised us about the necessary veterinary paperwork required for each dog. But Consuelo had received an email from a friend who works in the dog agility competition circuit and she warned that Canadian customs would seize any open bags of dog food. So, I started researching to find what I could about visiting Canada with dogs in tow. After looking at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s website, and not really finding answers to my questions, I submitted an inquiry and received a very polite email response within a couple of days. Here’s what it boils down to: We can only bring dog food that will be fed to the animal that accompanies us across the border; the food must be commercially prepared in the United States; it must be in its original package (they said nothing about it having to be sealed); and we are limited to 20kg, which is about 44lbs. That last bit may require some careful thought on our part, these 2 big dogs chow through their food pretty quickly! And I guess we won’t be dumping big bags of dog food into plastic containers to keep it fresh like we usually do…

Meanwhile, we’re continuing with our house cleaning efforts and getting ready for a trip to Key West. Yay… sunshine and warmth! We’ll be in Key West with some friends for about a week… not with the RV, however. Once we get back from Key West, we’ll have about 4 weeks until we leave on Our Great RV Escape!

We’re Making Progress…

Our spring cleaning efforts are still underway and we’ve been making some good progress sorting items out for donation and sale. We’ve sold a lot of items on Craig’s List and a few things on eBay. Craig’s List has become Consuelo’s new best friend! We continue to be astounded at how well things are selling. We listed a 9 year old Kyocera cell phone and got it sold in three days… OK, we only sold it for $5 but still it’s great to “place” these items rather than send them to the landfill.

Yesterday, Consuelo listed the big plastic cargo box we used as a camping tote on our Fall Foliage trip. Not 5 minutes after she had posted it, her phone rang and the man came by in less than an hour to pay her for it and take it away!

We’re still waiting for the weather to get warmer before we tackle the basement…. East Tennessee is experiencing a most unusually cold winter, making us all the more impatient to get this house cleaning behind us and depart on Our Great RV Escape! Consuelo keeps bursting into song, singing ‘”I want to be freeee!” – not sure what that’s all about :-)

Cleaning Out Closets and Drawers. Oh My!

So, we’ve started a MAJOR spring cleaning effort, with our impending trip as the reward for this tedious hard work.

Who would’ve thought two people could accumulate so much stuff? We’ve only been in this house for about six years. And we’re making incredible finds in the backs of closets and bottoms of drawers. Admittedly, I ‘m a bit of a pack rat, and a lot of the accumulated crap is my fault. I also have to admit that it feels good to get rid of a lot of this stuff that’s just been sitting around for years. We’re throwing away, sorting stuff for donation and turning sales on Craig’s List and eBay into a fulltime job... Consuelo, with her mysterious need for organization, is turning cleaning house into a lucrative pastime. We decided to burn all of the music CDs into iTunes so we can enjoy via the ipod during our RV travels. By backing up iTunes onto an external hard drive and two separate computers, we feel comfortable selling the entire CD collection. Consuelo spent about 8 days straight working on this project (we had about 375 CDs!).

Although all of this has been a stressful ordeal in terms of the quantity of stuff we need to sort through, in some ways it’s been fun – kind of a reminiscent trip down memory lane: like when we discovered our old ski pants, the ones we wore more than 20 years ago, when we were learning how to ski in Germany… and we realized how tiny and cute we used to be and we laughed when it dawned on us why all those guys used to love to go skiing with us!

We’ve got the closet in the dining room done, the hallway coat closet almost done, the buffet in the dining room cleared out and the cabinet in the laundry room empty. And we’ve made a big dent in the library by moving many of the CDs –so there’s progress…We’ve still got the upstairs to do—closets and dressers (all those clothes… dreading that) and the basement – which will be the biggest, dirtiest part of the job… but we’ve agreed to wait ‘til the weather warms up a little bit – way too cold right now, bad enough that there’s cobwebs and dead crickets down there, we don’t want to deal with that in 30 degree temperatures!

Consuelo is starting to get a crazed look in her eyes.  I think she’s tired of all this - she muttered something today about missing her job! Ha, ha...