Day 16: Houston, TX

Stop 13: Houston, TX

A relatively uneventful day.  We drove about 165 miles with the Magellan trying to pull us over to a longer route the entire way.  We are still trying to work this out with Magellan.

Got to our campground in Houston and no sooner got unhitched and set up and they cut off the water.  Apparently, someone had run over the water pipe in their campsite and the water had to shut it down until it could be fixed.  The office had no idea that the water was off and the plumbers had no idea if it could even be fixed today (good communication).  We checked the far end of the park to confirm that they still had water and got our site changed.  In this heat and humidity (highest of the year the news says), packing back up and moving was not a welcome task.

Unfortunately, this new site is just a little too far from the wifi.  We had great internet at the waterless site but we have none here.  I'm writing this post using Notepad and will post it tomorrow when we have a connection again.

Here's our (second) campsite.  That field in the background is apparently the site of "Texas' biggest flea market" on Saturday and Sunday.  This is Friday night so the morning might be interesting.

-J-

Day 15: Austin, TX

Stop 12:  Austin, TX

A shorter drive today (about 77 miles).  Just to complicate things, the address for our destination was ambiguous enough that our GPS and most of the internet mapping programs thought that it was about 20 mile beyond where it is.  So you can add another 40 miles through Austin downtown traffic into the mix.  GPS led us to a topless sports bar in North Austin and said "You have arrived".  A real "What do we do now?" moment.

We called the RV park and the woman in the office was new to the area.  Not much help.  I finally remembered that our Good Sam book probably had written directions.  Sure enough, the books directions started with our taking exit 227 from the I-35.  GPS had taken us to exit 245.  You better believe that Magellan heard from me this afternoon.  We have the new RV version that has the Good Sam database installed.  Obviously, no one checked it.

We also mentioned it to the RV park since, in our experience, when GPS system have difficulty with the addresses, they usually include driving directions in their confirmation emails.

Enough of that.  Having already done our downtown sightseeing with the trailer in-tow, we decided to take it easy this afternoon.  Kristen did some laundry while I ran to Home Depot for some trailer maintenance supplies.

To digress a little, this morning, while we were on our way to the wrong address, we passed a Texas Roadhouse.  We commented then that that sounded good for dinner.  After driving our extra 20 mile out and 20 miles back, I discovered on my Home Depot run that the restaurant that we saw this morning was just across the road.  We had dinner there this evening and were surprised to learn that this Texas Roadhouse is owned by Willie Nelson (apparently, he just owns the one).  The inside was kind of the Willie Nelson version of a Hard Rock Café (lots of Willie memorabilia on the walls).

The menu at this Texas Roadhouse included fried pickles.  We had never heard of those so, with our two older Grandchildren's love of pickles in mind, we had to order them.  They were very good.  If the Texas Roadhouse in MA has them, they are definitely worth ordering

Finally, our site.  This park is owned by the same people who owned the park in San Antonio and it is almost as nice.

-J-

Day 14: San Antonio, TX

Stop 11:  San Antonio, TX

Another fairly long trip today (approximately 216 miles), buffeted by strong winds the entire way.  Ever since we entered Texas, we've noticed that the highways seem to be lined with wildflowers.  Kristen remembers that Ladybird Johnson had something to do with spreading wildflower seeds along the Texas highways.  They've certainly self propagated.  Here's a picture that Kristen took while we were eating lunch at a rest stop:

We thought that this was kind of an interesting name for a town:

Just as soon as we got the trailer detached and hooked up, we took off to see the Alamo and the River Walk.  Here we are in front of the Alamo:

We were surprised to see how beautiful the gardens on the Alamo grounds were.

This fountain was a monument to the heroes of the Alamo:

We also went through the museum inside the actual Alamo building (no photography allowed) and saw such things as Davey Crockett's rifle and Jim Bowie's knife.

Upon leaving the Alamo, it was just a short walk to River Walk (pretty amazing place in an urban setting):

I'd promised Kristen a steak dinner when we got to San Antonio so we found a place up above the River Walk.  Here's a couple of photos from the restaurant:

Finally, today's campsite (this is the nicest place that we've stayed at so far):

 

-J-

Day 13: San Angelo, TX

Stop 10:  San Angelo, TX

Today's 207 mile trip went through flat, farmland for the first half (up until about Big Spring).  The second half of the trip was through green, hilly country.  Sometime the green was small trees, and sometimes low scrub.  Throughout most of the trip, we were under dark, dark clouds with lightning flashing on all sides of us.  The truck's running lights are on all the time but, when it senses that it's dark out, all of the lights come on.  During a good part of this trip, it was so dark that all of the truck lights were on and the trailer was lit up like a Christmas tree.  Kristen took these pictures of the threatening skies:

 

San Angelo is very nice.  There are lakes everywhere and everything seems to be very green.  The temperature is much cooler (about 75°).  There have been a few drops but no rain has hit as of yet.  The weather report is talking about the possibility of intense thunder storms with large hail here tonight.  We'll see.  Not much that we can do about it.

 

 

We did find an RV supply store here in San Angelo so we were finally able to get that black water tank flushout device that we were in such need of a couple of days ago.

 

-J-

Day 12: Lubbock, TX

Stop 9 / State 5:  Lubbock, TX

Also a new time zone.  Today we entered Central Daylight Savings time.  Today's trip was about 205 miles, about 30 miles longer than Google Maps indicated that it should be.  From now on, we will be checking our Magellan against our expectations from Google.

Just before we crossed the Texas border, the clouds decided to announce the fact.

The actual crossing:

The trip down to Lubbock was through some of the flattest farmland that we've ever seen.  It was like being far at sea.  In all directions, it was smooth all the way to the horizon.

Our campsite:

We've been watching the news all afternoon because there's been a huge front of thunderstorms and baseball sized hail just to the east of Lubbock.  Looks like it's moving away from us.  One reason that we've been getting an early start every morning is that the wind/weather seems to hold off until the afternoon.  We may be in for a couple of more days of threatening weather in San Angelo and San Antonio,

-J-

Day 11: Tucumcari, NM

Stop 8: Tucumcari, NM

Tucumcari might be a nice town but that's not the impression that we're getting.  It's 100 degrees and the wind is blowing.  The sky is red with dust and huge red whirlwinds are everywhere.  Makes you feel gritty all over.  Makes staying in the trailer with the AC on look very appealing.

The day didn't start out well.  When we were packing up this morning, we discovered that the black water (toilet) tank was clogged and wouldn't drain.  This was particularly distressing because tonight's campground has no restrooms. 

I've seen backflushing devices all over but of course, now that I needed one, they were no where to be found.  We decided to travel with the tank full today in the hope that the clog would shake itself loose.  Worked like a charm.  We're back in business.  We will definitely get a backflusher next time we see one.

Finally, here's tonight's campsite:

-J-

Day 10: Santa Fe, NM (cont.)

Still in Santa Fe, NM

Not much to report today (no photos).  We had a very relaxing day.  Did a couple of chores in the morning and then headed down to the plaza.  Looked through a lot of shops, made a couple of purchases, had a great lunch and visited the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum.  We were back at the trailer by 2:00 PM and took it easy until dinner time.  Had some great New Mexican cuisine at a small place just down the road.

-J-

Day 9: Santa Fe, NM

Stop 7 / State 3 (again):  Santa Fe, NM

We headed South and had a little bit shorter trip today (about 148 miles).  We were sure that todays trip would be downhill but it was a steady, gradual climb until we reached the Taos plateau.

Kristen insisted on a picture of these purple flowers.  Someone must have thrown out seed.  They blanketed both sides of the road for about 20 miles through the plateau.

We got to Santa Fe and got the trailer leveled and hooked up (it's amazing how calm and efficient we've gotten about setting up and packing up).  After a run to Trader Joe's, we headed down to the plaza for an early dinner.  When we set out, we promised ourselves that we'd cook and eat in the trailer except when good restaurants are available.  Santa Fe is one of those places with good restaurants.

After dinner, we took a short walk around the plaza (we'll cover it more thoroughly tomorrow).  This is the plaza from one corner.

This church is just up the street from the plaza.

The plaza from a different corner.

Finally, our daily shot of the trailer in its site.

-J-

Day 8: Alamosa, CO

Stop 6:  Alamosa, CO

Todays trip was about 188 miles and involved crossing the Continental Divide through a 10,850' pass (Kristen had hoped to take a picture of the elevation and/or Continental Divide signs but we never saw either).  Our little Chevy Colorado really showed its stuff today.  I'm not saying that we never got into low gear but the little truck that could just chug-chug-chugged it's way over the pass.

Up until we reached the pass, everything was green and beautiful.  The other side got dryer and dryer and windier and windier.  Kristen keeps reminding me to talk about the beaver so I will.  At one point today, we had to slow while a beaver waddled its way across the road in front of us.

 I picked Alamosa because it's the closest town to Great Sand Dunes National Park.  I should have stopped to think about what it is that makes "great sand dunes".  Alamosa is a bit of a blowing dust bowl (I don't recommend it).  When the dust clears, we can see the Great Sand Dunes in the distance, piled up against the snowy mountains.  There is so much sand blowing over there that we made an executive decision to blow off Great Sand Dunes National Park and take care of some chores.

Kristen did some laundry while I ran over to Walmart to get some gages that will tell us how full our propane tanks are (Gallup, NM and Alamosa have the biggest Walmarts that I've ever seen).  I also rearranged things on the back of the Trailer.  Someone pulled into the RV Park after us today to tell us that they'd almost rear ended us when we slowed to turn in because they couldn't see our brake lights.  I've move the spare up to the truck bed and centered the bike rack.

Finally, a better picture of our site:

-J-

Day 7: Mancos, CO (cont.)

Still in Mancos, CO:

Today was our day to visit Mesa Verde National Park.  During our brief visit 2 years ago, we were able to get to most of the places that don't require a reservation.  Since, currently, they are only selling tickets in person on the day that you want to go, I got over to the new Visitor's Venter when they opened at 8am (Colorado's governor will officially open the new Visitor's Center tomorrow morning at which time they'll start taking advance and online reservations).

Our first reservation was for the 10:00AM tour of Cliff Palace (actually, we got there early and snuck onto the 9:30AM tour).  Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in the park.  To get to Cliff Palace, you climb down 100' on A LOT of very uneven steps.  Getting back up involves climbing some more steps and 4 8-10' ladders.

Kristen had packed a lunch so, after the Cliff House, we went over to the museum, gift shop, café part of the park.  From the museum, we took this shot of Spruce Tree House.  We visited Spruce Tree House on our last visit.  Spruce Tree House is about 100' down but, to get there, you have to climb down to the bottom of the canyon and then climb up the other side.  Not too bad but, as is the case with most of these places, it's the return trip that'll get you.

Our second reservation was for the 1:00PM Balcony House tour.  We found Balcony House to be a little bit less spectacular than the others but the tour is billed as the most adventurous of the cliff dwelling tours.  After the rangers explanation of what lay ahead, I was certain that Kristen would back down (she is very afraid of heights and it wouldn't be the first time that we had pulled back from doing something after buying tickets).  I'd already purchased the T-shirt, so she decided to dare it.  I'm proud of her.  She did much better than a lot of people on the tour.

To get to Balcony House, we took the steps way down and then had to climb a 32' ladder to get back up to the level of the cliff dwelling.  It's worth mentioning that, below the bottom of the ladder, was a 700' drop.  The poor girl in the following picture got about 2/3 of the way up the ladder and froze.  She eventually managed to get to the top and continue.

 

At the top of the ladder, you immediately have to turn left into a very narrow crevice that leads through to the first courtyard area.  They tell you that you can only touch the right side of the crevice because that is rock wall.  The left side is ancient construction which is not to be touched under any circumstances.

 

To get to the second court yard, you must climb up the rock in the center of the above picture and make your way through that tight cave at the top.  Passing through the cave also involves going down steps and climbing ladders in the dark.

Occasionally, there are very interesting looking areas that are inaccessible to the public.  It's kind of interesting to turn the flash on and take a picture, over a wall, through a window, etc. to see what's there.  Guess I found the first aid kit this time.

 

The least fun part about leaving Balcony House (for me anyway - Kristen didn't mind it) is this tunnel at the beginning of the ascent.  We were warned to wear jeans but a lot of people had to crawl across the rock on their bare knees.  It's 12' long and, in the middle, there's just enough headroom for you to climb around the large boulder that's in the way.  The far end is elevated, making it difficult to exit the tunnel (your legs are still behind you).  The guy that went through the tunnel after this guy had such a fat butt that we wondered if we'd need to grease him up.

Finally, there's a 60' climb (still over that 700' drop) up a series of ladders and footholds in the steep rock.  Kristen held on so tight that she's likely to be sore for days.

-J-