Friday, March 30, 2012

Ruidoso, New Mexico

Good Morning Everyone...
This is a simple post to update our location.

When we left San Angelo, Texas we turned West rather than traveling further North in Texas.  Although we were looking forward to seeing Palo Duro Canyon, we decided we wanted to stick with the route we had originally planned for traveling through New Mexico and Arizona.

We were looking forward to traveling routes we had not yet been.  So we took a new route into Carlsbad, where we stayed a week at Brantley Lake SP, in the same site we had been in February 2011.  The weather was scorching hot, mid 90's several days.


From Carlsbad, we took a route new to us to Ruidoso, NM. 

Ruidoso is a mountain town.  It's a ski town in Winter.  Yesterday we drove the Billy the Kid Trail route.  (and wished we were on our Harley(s) of course).  We had just watched Young Guns last week, so the story of Billy the Kid and the towns that they traveled to, were fresh in our minds.  So as to not have only the Hollywood version of the story in our minds, we read up on the facts on the internet.  It was a great day.  We spent hours walking through the town of Lincoln, which was full of historic buildings, all marked with their place in the story. 


From here, we will continue West, in order to reach Oregon by April 28th.
Our cell phone service has turned off our data plan because of all our roaming, so we do not have internet access unless we find wi-fi.  We will need to change providers so this is not a problem.  Until then, except for being unable to check email or do travel research, I have been thankful to not have the internet distraction. 


looking out from our campground
That's all for now.
Hope all of you are good... wherever you are.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

San Angelo State Park


Will we ever get out of this stuff??  We are here in Texas in that Severe Storm picture!  Hopefully it wont really happen... We already have the high winds, and we can handle some thunder and lightning... we just don't want one inch size Hail or a Tornado!

We arrived at San Angelo State Park, in San Angelo, Texas on Friday afternoon, after an uneventful 104 mile drive from South Llano SP.


As you can see from these pictures, our site is huge!  But besides the spacious sites and the quiet, there isn't alot exciting here at the park.  We put up our wind screens, and they do wonders... the wind has been howling but inside our shelter we are all cozy.

We are looking forward to visiting areas of San Angelo, but haven't yet.
Yesterday morning (our first morning here) we were startled by a loud knock at our door.
  Jeff looked out the window, and I heard him say "You're kidding me" then he opened the door. 
At the door, were Alan and Phyliss!

Some people just cant get away from each other!  Since meeting at Sugarite Canyon in New Mexico in June 2010, we have run into each other at San Antonio TX, Custer SD, Silver City NM, San Marcos TX, and now San Angelo TX! 


We enjoyed playing games in our wind shelter last night.  A variety... Mexican Train, Golf, Skip-bo, and LRC.

Al and Phyl left this morning, but we expect to see them up the road at Palo Duro SP near Amarillo.  We've also met another couple from Michigan.  They are leaving tomorrow for Caprock Canyons SP, and we plan to meet up with them there in a couple days.

That's all for now folks!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Still Enjoying South Llano SP!

We're enjoying it SO much... we extended our stay another week.

WHY do we like it here so much??

Take a look...








All that is just outside our window!


We've had a fire nearly every night. 



We have been at this full-time RV life for 2 years now, and in those 2 years...
Anytime we COULD have a fire, and we WANTED to have a fire, we DID have a fire.
AND... We have NEVER Paid for firewood.  We always go out and find it.  At the park here, like most campgrounds, they sell tiny bundles of firewood for $4. But with just a little effort, here is just a little of what we fetched down the road a few miles.

It's been great firewood... lights up easy, burns hot and doesn't smoke.


The 18 miles of Trails are helping us to get back to our daily walking and bicycling again.
and walks along Rivers are always a favorite.


No permit is needed for Fishing within Texas State Parks, but Jeff hasn't yet thrown a line out.


Do you see all FOUR Turtles?
Do you see why we like it here?


Saturday, March 3, 2012

South Llano River SP - Texas

So much for continuing my last post the next day, huh!  I will get back to that, but first...

We are now at South Llano River State Park in Junction, TX.  We're about 350 miles North and West from where we were, near Galveston;  and we are SO happy with our decision to get out of that area, and postpone traveling further East right now.  Here we can RELAX without the constant storm watches.  I don't know how people live in areas that experience those severe seasonal storm threats.  Maybe they are stuck there, but we thank God we aren't!  Our home is on wheels, so there is no reason for us to risk being there this time of year.

When I got up this morning, and opened the bedroom door, what I saw out all of the windows almost took my breath away.  I saw Stillness... I saw Peace.

This is what I saw out the back window, and this is all there was out the side windows, too.
I could finally breathe.  I saw nothing... I heard nothing, but the stillness of the trees and grass.   "Wow"  Thats all I could say... and Smile.

Our decision to turn back West was for reasons more than our poor timing with the threats of severe thunderstorms with baseball sized Hail and Tornadoes.  Our plan had been to visit the Southern States, then make our way up North, via the East Coast, zig-zagging back and forth to take in the more inland states like Tennessee.  But we need time to do that, and we thought we had it.  But there are too many uncertainties out there right now.  Fuel prices are rising, our country is very unsettled right now, and in our own little world, we own a house in Oregon that is currrently rented out, but some things have changed with our tenants that have made us not so comfortable with being across the country right now.  We can wait until things are a little more settled.

So instead... we have accepted a work camping job in Oregon, out of Portland, at Mt. Hood Village RV Resort.  We will be working 2 days a week from May 15 to Sept. 4.  We will have 5 days a week to play... and we will have both our Harley's with us!  After that, we may venture across the Northern States to the East Coast... but this time in better Seasons.  


As happy and comfortably "at home" as we are now that we are gone from there and settling into here... We did enjoy our stay near Galveston. 

We stayed at a park in Dickinson.  We were 45 miles from Houston, but never went.  Cities just arent our thing... we couldnt come up with a good reason to go.  We were only 6 miles from Kemah, where there is a boardwalk along the Galveston bay.  We visited there twice. The first time we just walked around.  The second time we stopped on our walk for Happy Hour at Joe's Crab Shack.  Seafood stuffed Jalepenos was one of our choices, but unlike the stuffed jalepenos at a place in Galveston, these were way too hot for me!  Jeff thoroughly enjoyed them.

 Galveston Island was about 18 miles, and we visited there several times.  As I had started telling about in the last post, we enjoyed the old historic buildings... and more.  On our first visit, we walked around the historical downtown, then found Happy Hour at Fishermans Wharf... where we met some chatty locals, and Jeff discovered another really great IPA, and I enjoyed a tall Pina Colada.

Then when we got back to our truck, we found that we got a parking ticket!!  $17!!  So much for HAPPY Hour!  We couldnt figure out what we had done wrong.  
We finally saw this sign up the block a ways.
Can you read it?
It says "NOTE SPACE NUMBER AT METER STATION"
We looked all around but couldnt see any sort of pay station, and we forgot to look, but we hadnt noticed any space numbers.  So even if we had seen that sign, we wouldnt have had a clue what to do.

Another day, we walked up and down Galvestons Sea Wall, and stopped for a refreshing beer at Captain Jacks Beach Bar, where I discovered Shock Top Belgian White... that was the best tasting beer I have ever had.  From the Sea Wall we drove to where the Ferrys board.  The ferrys provide a free ride to Port Bolivar.  We wanted to take the ferry ride, but I had no motion sickness pills, and without them I would be puking overboard.

Another day, we unexpectedly timed it just right and were able to watch 2 Cruise Ships board and depart.  I've never been on a Cruise, but I was thinking it may be time as I watched these enormous boats float by... how excited I thought those people aboard must be feeling, embarking on this trip at Sea in this beautiful resort on water.


  In the West Bay, between the mainland and Galveston Island, is Tiki Island.  I spotted it on the map, and had to check it out.  Here it is on the map.  See why I wanted to see it?  Every street is almost like an island of its own.
 Tiki Island

An Island Village of streets and Canals.  Everyone has a front door they can drive to and a back door they can row to... or motor to on a Jet Ski, Jet boat, Pontoon boat... whatever floats!  Amazing!  But not for me.  One house was for sale, so we looked at it... $445,000!!  I dont think so!

On our final visit to Galveston, we found the Municipal Court to talk about our parking ticket.  We were allowed an immediate "hearing" where we stated our ignorance.  Our ignorance case was understood, and the entire ticket was thrown out!  After she took the time to explain what we were suppose to do.  Now we understand... but when there, we will still continue to park in the parking lot where we can park for free by getting it validated at a visit to Fishermans Wharf.  That is what we did all the days after our ticket.  Live and Learn.
There you have the gist of our time near Galveston, Texas. We enjoyed our visit, but we are glad it was just a visit.  We are more in our comfort and enjoy zone where we are now. 
We will enjoy life here for another week or so.
Happy Trails to you...
and be careful out there!