White Sands plus an Important Poll - Las Cruces, New Mexico

Update on Frosty:

Ok everyone, before we go any further we need to get an all-important viewer verdict on Frosty the Snowball Bush - dead or alive???

Some of you may remember Frosty, who has been traveling everywhere with us since last fall. [See post from October 8, 2013] While we've mostly been in warm temps, we did have a few weeks in Alabama back in December where it was cold, so we kept him inside on the dashboard during that time. So you'd think he would have survived. He lost all his leaves and started looking kind of stubby but we thought well, maybe he thinks it's winter and has gone dormant. But if that were the case, wouldn't you think he would have noticed that it's spring now? Especially since we haven't been anywhere cold since the first of the year and he's been outside in the warm sunshine ever since. Obviously there is a divergent opinion between the Captain ("Frosty's fine...he just thinks it's still winter.") and the Queen ("He's not just mostly dead...he's completely dead!")

So please...render your thoughts and we will consider them carefully.

Las Cruces, NM:

We arrived in Las Cruces on Saturday afternoon, after bidding farewell to the Lone Star State. About 45 miles to the southeast along I-10 we came through El Paso, which is a much larger city than we had expected. There was a lot of traffic and it felt like it took forever to get through, especially since the wind really started picking up around that point. We got into Las Cruces and set up at the Coachlite RV Park and that wind continued to pick up. We disconnected the car and went out to run a few errands and by the time we returned home, there was a brown haze in the air throughout the area and the winds were around 50 mph. There is not much grass here, so a high wind will just kick up a cloud of dust and wow, was it kicking.

After dinner, seeing that it wasn't dying down, we made the decision to power down our satellite dish and to bring in our driver side slide outs since that was the side that was exposed to the wind. Our concern was that the dish could be torn off the roof - when we power it down it folds itself up and tucks away nice and almost flat in travel mode. As for the slides, we feared that the non-retractable awnings that cover each slide could sustain damage. We have never had to do this before, but the wind was just that bad. We can function with the slides in, but it definitely feels cramped even with just two of them pulled in. One slide actually covers the TV in our living area but without the dish we couldn't get reception anyway. I spent the evening catching up on old episodes of The Tudors on my laptop (downloaded through Amazon Prime) and Bill watched stuff we had on the DVR on the bedroom TV. It was definitely not a night to do anything outdoors. This morning the weather was beautiful - sunny, 70s and NO WIND.

Today we drove out about 50 miles northwest of town to the White Sands National Monument. It was a fascinating place - miles and miles of rolling sand hills and shifting dunes.







We did a bit of climbing.

The roads are regularly plowed to keep them passable since the dunes shift and the sand drifts in the wind. It looked like snow piled up on the side of the road.

It was kind of like a giant beach...only without the water! And actually we learned that water is only down from inches to at most a foot or two below the surface, although it looks like a desert. Also, these dunes are only between 7,000 and 10,000 years old (an instant in geological time) and scientists study the area because the plants and animals that have evolved here have done so much more quickly than in most places. Most of the animals and insects tend to be white or very light in color, an obvious adaptation. White Sands was an amazing place and we were so glad that we were able to experience it.

This was a short two day stop. Tomorrow we head for Tucson Arizona.

The Towering Mountains of...Texas??? - Big Bend National Park, Texas

Seriously. Towering mountains as in 7,000 plus elevations. Who knew?

To backtrack just a bit, we left Luling on Sunday morning and spent the night in Fort Stockton at the Parkview RV Park, just off I-10 and Highway 385. 

Since I always like to include a mishap or two (just for fun, you know?) we had the requisite one in that park. The first site we pulled into was very uneven and we decided to switch to another one. However, I had already turned off the accessory (towing) mode in the car and put it in park, although it was still hooked up to the moho. Well, we forgot this little fact and Bill pulled the moho out while I walked alongside since we were only moving a few spaces. I realized right away that the car was being dragged and the wheels were not turning, so I tried to get his attention by yelling, running alongside and waving my arms frantically. Of course, he couldn't hear me with the moho running so I raced to get in front of him still yelling “STOP, STOP!”. I bet the people in the office were well entertained as they watched us from the window. Luckily, the short distance didn't seem to damage anything in the car, but jeez – another cautionary lesson learned.

We headed south on 385 on Monday morning and arrived at Big Bend National Park early in the afternoon. The first visitor center is at the north entrance, and we stopped there only to find it closed. However, we were already getting the vibe of this very unusual park the minute we stepped outside. I have never heard a quiet quite like the stillness you experience here. There are no planes overhead, no road noise, nothing...just stillness, broken only by the sounds of birds and insects.

We continued on into the park and stopped at the Panther visitor center which was open. Upon checking in, we were advised that a national park pass would be $20 for a week...unless one of us was at least 62. Well, this was the day before Bill's birthday but the ranger was nice enough to slightly fudge the date and she sold us the senior pass - $10 as as a one time fee and it is good at ALL national parks for our entire lifetimes. What a deal!

The ranger directed us 20 miles down the road to the Rio Grande Village RV Park, where we had a camping reservation. We quickly got set up – the campground is nothing much, just a paved area with hookups - we actually were advised to angle into our site since the campground has been here since the days when there were no 42 foot RVs, and we could only fit by going in sideways. But oh, the surroundings...

You don't think of rugged towering mountains when you think Texas, but that's exactly what is here. Again, I wish I was a better photographer because there is just no way to capture the magnitude with my skills but here goes:

Since the day was getting on by the time we were ready to exploring, we decided to stick close by. We drove down to the Hot Springs Road and turned off the main drag onto one of the many gravel roads in the park. I loosely call this a road – it was a thin, potholed line of gravel that sort of hung off the side of the mountain, winding around and down into a small canyon.

Just a little bit terrifying...but we got to the end and there was a short walking trail down along the river to a hot springs pool that is a constant 105 degrees. Along the way, there are some old buildings with nothing indicating what they were, so I'm not sure if they were park buildings or if they pre-date the park.

On Tuesday we started the day with a bike ride. While there aren't specific bike trails, there is so little traffic in the park that you can just ride along any of the roads for miles without seeing a vehicle and there are lots of places to stop. We met other riders along the way and broke up our ride by some long chats, but meeting people from all over is one of our favorite things. We rode to the Boquillas border crossing, which was closed at the time. It was a bit comical, since I really don't think this gate keeps anyone out of the country, especially since the Rio Grande is only inches deep at this time and the locals go back and forth selling their trinkets all the time. 

We walked up a trail to an overlook and while we didn't continue all the way down, we met some folks who told us there was a “singing cowboy” a bit further down the trail with a tip jar. It was interesting to see that the artisans left their little crafts in stashes along the trail with an open jar for cash and a price list. Some of the things they make are really beautiful, like scorpions or cactus fashioned out of copper wire and beads. They must be very trusting souls to leave cash sitting out there but no one seems to disturb it. I like to think the kind of people that would steal from those in poverty don't come to places like this. I hope not, anyway.

As an unrelated but interesting side note, let me address cell and internet service in the park. Hoo, boy. We were told by the park staff members that the only place in the park where you can get a cell signal is a small paved pull out on the side of the road between the mountains, about 25 miles from our campground. We found this to be absolutely true. So a couple of times each day, we drove out there to check for messages and make any necessary phone calls. As far as internet, there was wifi in our campground office but you had to sit just outside the office to get it. So at any given time, you see campers with laptops or tablets sitting at the picnic tables in the office area taking care of business. Even our phones couldn't pick anything up – no 4G, no 3G, nothing anywhere in the park. It felt a little weird to be so out of touch but we adapted.

We finished the day with a nice birthday dinner at the Chisos Mountain Lodge.

Wednesday we again started out on our bikes but our ride was cut short when Bill lost a brake. He returned to the campground while I continued on for a few miles. We set out in the car later and drove out to the Chisos basin. This is a sort of valley completely surrounded by huge towering peaks all around. It was pretty spectacular. We hiked a few of the short trails and the views were pretty amazing. The weather didn't lend itself to anything too strenuous since the temps were in the high 90s. We left Chisos and headed out to Castillon, another area of the park. The distances are something to account for – we put well over 300 miles on the car just driving around the park from one area to another and we certainly didn't see everything. But Castillon was worth the drive – it sits above the Santa Elena Canyon which is actually in Mexico. The isolation everywhere in the park is remarkable, but in Castillon it was even more pronounced. There were two employees there, who live on site. There is no going to the bar after work for these folks – they have to drive 30 miles to get to a spot where they can make a phone call. I don't even know where they grocery shop since the little stores just carry convenience items. They must have gotten good at provisioning once in a while when they have the chance.

We've met a lot of people here, mostly from Texas since very few people travel to Big Bend from around the country, but interestingly enough we met several people from Germany. I'm not sure why this park isn't more well known – it's really spectacular and would be well work a trip from anywhere for those interested in seeing natural surroundings with very little development and very few people. 

This morning (Thursday) we are getting ready to head back up north to Fort Stockton, where we'll spend a day or so restocking and doing some needed shopping before we head into New Mexico.

Sweet Home Chicago and back again - Luling, TX

Warning: This is really not an RV post, but bear with me - we had such a lovely time in Chicago that I have to share it anyway.

After what felt like a quick hit and run trip back home for a little over a week, we arrived back in Luling, TX yesterday to reunite with the moho. We had flown out of San Antonio on April 8, back home to Chicago for our club's Party in Parrotdise. We promised when we left that we will NEVER miss this event and we have no intention of ever reneging on that. What a time it was!

Upon arriving at Midway and picking up a rental car we heading to Geneva to stay the first 3 days at the home of our old friends Chris and Roger. On our first day there we all headed out for a local bar crawl through some of Geneva's fine watering holes and eventually ended up at Sergio's Mexican Restaurant for dinner. Surprise of the night - unbeknownst to us  they had arranged for friends Dean and Terrie to be there also. The six of us had a lovely dinner and lots of laughs as we all caught up with one another.

The next day we headed out to Lincolnwood to visit with Chris and Roger's daughter Melissa and her family. Many, many years ago when I ran a home day care, Melissa and her sister were among my charges, so this tells you just how long we have all been friends. Dinner that night was at...drum roll please...Lou Malnati's Pizza! As faithful fans of the world's best pizza, which everyone knows can ONLY be found in Chicago, we had really been missing good pizza during our months on the road. When Chris was planning for our stay there she asked me if there was anything special that we wanted and I told her we just needed a pizza fix, so she arranged it. Way to go!

Thursday we drove into the city to spend the evening with our daughter Melissa and her guy AJ - we had a really nice dinner and drinks at Chief O'Neils, one of the Chicago's best Irish pubs.

On Friday afternoon we headed for our hometown Carol Stream to check into the Holiday Inn, where everyone involved with Party in Parrotdise was staying. We weren't even checked in yet when we started running into old friends. This is the biggest event that our Parrot Head club puts on in the whole year, so just about all of our club friends were there. After meeting up with the homies, we all made our way over to Flip Flops Bar and Grill - this is our old neighbor hangout, which happened to be hosting the kick-off party to start the weekend event.

The music that night was provided by Jay and Bobby of the Disorderlies, 

Jay and Bobby rocked it, especially when they started the party off by proclaiming that "the Tropps are back in town!". There isn't much room to dance at this little place, but we managed.

                                     

It was a late night, but we all managed to be up early on Saturday to get the venue set up and decorated for Saturday night's main event. After that it was back to the hotel for a pool party, with music by Flip Flop Dave. It was hard to drag ourselves out of the pool and hot tub, but we finally did in time to grab some dinner and then get over to the Legion Hall where the party was about to start. The first musician up for the evening was Jim Hoehn for the warm up, and then - our very own Mr Myers band!

Our friend Todd Donnelly and his Mr Myers band have been our local hometown band forever. They play amazing reggae music, along with covers of Jimmy Buffett, Bob Marley and lots of others. They also have some great original songs (Rum Punch for Breakfast, anyone?) Among other places, they've played in Florida at national events, and even opened for Jimmy Buffett in Key West one year. We love those guys! They did not disappoint that night, and they kept the party going on into the night. I did not sit out even one the whole night but it was such a great time that I didn't even notice until we were on the shuttle back to the hotel that I was hurting all over!

The theme of the evening was Pirates of New Orleans and a lot of people dressed up in awesome costumes, while some of us slackers just dressed comfortably. Next year for sure! In any case, it was just an amazing night - great times with some of my favorite people in world. Nothing like coming back after an absence to make you feel loved and missed!

Sunday morning another one of our local musicians (and good friend) Frank Whiting played at the "Sunday Moaning" brunch.

Bill and I then headed for the south suburbs and Anita's house, where we spent the next couple of days. This allowed me to have a girls night out with my oldest friends in the world, the ones I walked to school with when I was 6 years old. How's that for long friendships?

Our last two days were spent in Downers Grove with Don and Cheryl and then we all attended the club meeting on Wednesday night. There were just a couple of people there that had not been able to make the weekend event, so we were able to see them as well as one more time around with the whole group. Fond farewells were then said, but as my new mantra states, it's not a goodbye - it's a "till I see you again." We'll be returning to Chicago in the moho by the end of July and staying for about 6 weeks at that time, so it won't be long before these bad pennies come rolling back again.

A huge thank you to all these wonderful friends who opened their guest rooms to us, and the many more who offered.

After arriving back in Luling yesterday, we spent the day unpacking and doing laundry. Today was grocery shopping and catching up on a few small chores. We're taking one more day here before heading out on Sunday morning, bound for Big Bend National Park. Next post should be from there.

Westbound Way Stop – Luling TX

We left Tampa last Sunday, having been at Bay Bayou for 2 months. It was a pleasant stay but longer than we had really wanted to be there, so we were raring to go by that time.

We spent the first night on the road at Beaver Lake Campground in Quincy Florida.

For those who have asked how we find our overnight stops, I have a number of RV travel related aps on my phone. First I check Passport America, which is a discount membership that we have found to be indispensable. The membership is only around $40 per year and the card gets us 50% off on every affiliated campground. There are enough parks on the program that we rarely have to stay elsewhere while on the road, so that a typical $30 fee turns into $15, which adds up to a huge savings over time. We have paid as little as $12 for a site. There are restrictions which differ from park to park – some allow the discount for only up to 3 days, other disallow it on holiday weekends etc. But for traveling, it is by far the best discount program out there. If I can't find a Passport America affiliated park, I next check Good Sam – this is another membership that most RVers have since it also provides roadside assistance. Good Sam affiliated parks give us 10% off. I generally check the RV Park Reviews site to make sure there are no glaring issues before selecting a park, but as always when reading reviews you have to take them with a grain of salt. As a last resort I go to the KOA (Kampgrounds of America) site. The reason this is a last resort is that KOA parks are generally much more expensive and our discount is only 10%. While we don't mind paying more for value when we're going to be in a place long enough to use the amenities, it doesn't make sense to pay $40, $50 or more for an overnight stop. They generally do have shiny clean facilities which we don't use since we are totally self contained and even have our own on-board laundry – we just need a place to park and can almost always find it at a better price. Many parks are affiliated with more than one membership program so we can go with the one that gives us the best value, which invariably is Passport America. On the other hand KOA parks are just that – dedicated KOA parks with no other affiliations or discounts other than their own membership. In any case, it has never been a problem for us to easily find a stopover with easy access.

Gulfport, MS:

The second day of travel brought us to Gulport MS where we stayed at Campground of the South. This was a nice park and we decided to break up the trip by staying for a couple of extra days. We didn't exactly have a smooth landing there, since the first site we pulled in to had an unfortunately spaced tree that would have prevented us from opening our slide. Lesson learned – check the site FIRST, then pull in. There were plenty of other empty sites so we simply chose another one BUT...all the roads in the park are one way so we had to go all the way out in order to get into the site next to us. That's all good, except for the fact that we had to make a big circle onto a grassy field...and it had recently rained a lot...oops. The good news is that we didn't need to be towed out – whew! The bad news is that it will probably take years for the ruts we left to disappear. 

There is a lot to see and do in the Gulport/Biloxi area so it was a good place to stop for a while. On Tuesday morning we took our bikes out to ride the 15 mile Gulf Islands Live Oaks bike trail.

This route winds along the beach for a while and then through some neighborhoods with real old southern charm and we really enjoyed it. We stopped in downtown Ocean Shores for lunch and then hopped back on our bikes and proceeded to get hopelessly lost. The downside to this trail is that they must have run out of trail markers so that the only way to know which way to turn when you come to a crossing is to consult the map. Well, it's tough to ride with a map in your hand, right? But we didn't see any skeletons next to bikes along the way, so we figured we'd get back to our car eventually and we did, but only after much circling and stopping to check Google maps. It was a great ride – and incidentally we don't call getting lost a mistake. We like to refer to it as an Adventure. Ha! We have a lot of Adventures. 

On the way home we stopped at the Biloxi Margaritaville for a drink. We can't pass by a Margaritaville!

On Wednesday we took the ferry from Gulfport out to Ship Island where we spent the day. The hour long ferry ride over is one of the best parts of this particular excursion, especially on a sunny day such as we had. 

We started by touring the civil war era fort on the island and then spent the rest of the day on the beautiful beach. 

                                                                       Inside the fort

Oh, Bill.

There is no development other than a small snack bar and restroom facilities on the island. No one lives there, although a couple of rangers sometimes stay out there. The two guys who work at the snack bar traveled with us on the ferry. Since ours was the only boat there that day, the only people on the island were with our group. 

This is Minnesota Steve's "office" - Steve rents beach chairs and came over with us on the ferry.

The term that sticks in my mind is magnificent isolation. I would definitely recommend a trip out to Ship Island to anyone visiting the gulf coast.

Back on the road:

Thursday morning we got off to a late start due to an accident just outside our campground that closed the road to traffic. After the accident was cleared, of course the emphasis was on clearing the traffic backup rather than letting us out and onto the street. Can't blame anyone for that decision since we weren't trying to make it to work like those other drivers were. So we sat at the campground driveway for about 30 minutes but then got on our way. Our stop that night was Hidden Lake RV Park in Beaumont TX, another very nice little park. Friday we had a relatively short driving day since we arrived here in Luling in the early afternoon. The only issue we had was the hassle of getting around Houston – we usually take bypass routes rather than plowing through major cities but in this case it didn't help much since the traffic ended up being bad even on the bypass. And taking the tollway around the city cost us $14 in tolls for about 20 miles! Maybe we shouldn't complain about Illinois tollways quite so much...

We are now at Riverbend Campground here in Luling, just outside of San Antonio. It's a very small town, so yesterday we drove out to the neighboring town of Sequin to do a little shopping. Today we are doing laundry and catching up on some maintenance chores while getting ready for our planned trip to Chicago. We are leaving the moho here on our campsite and flying out of the San Antonio airport on Tuesday morning. We are looking forward to spending 9 days with friends and family and attending Party in Parrotdise, which is our Chicago Parrot Head Club's major charity fund raising event of the year and incidentally SO much fun. We'll be at the Holiday Inn in Carol Stream next weekend for the event, but the rest of the time we're staying with various friends. We had many kind offers of guest rooms and we're following the rule that states house guests and fish should not be kept more than 3 days, so we'll be moving around a bit. So get ready Chicago – we're on our way!