Texas

Oh That Nasty, Nasty Wind!!

arizonalizards8 Comments

Friday, April 24th

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Front Office and Cafe Fort Stockton RV Park

Spent a nice day relaxing and doing laundry at the Fort Stockton RV Park. We decided to stay put due to the increased winds in west Texas. With wind gusts upwards of 45 – 50 miles an hour it is like driving a giant billboard down the highway. Ok maybe a slight exaggeration.

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We didn’t relax as much as this fellow

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Connie did manage to sit a spell

One of the few things we will miss about living in a sticks and bricks house (S&B) is our own washer and dryer. I (Lisa) seem to lose at least one thing every time I go to the laundry mat. Usually Connie’s socks. (You can tell when Connie adds to the narrative). This time it was Miss Pepper’s stylish sleep shirt. Yes, we do put a sleep shirt on her at night when it will be cold out. It is actually a Thunder Shirt, they are made to be snug around her little body calming her down during storms.

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We really enjoyed the Roadrunner Cafe at the park, liked it enough to eat 2 dinners and a breakfast there. They have a small menu and the food was excellent. One of the things we both enjoyed was the vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce included with dinner. It reminded us of our childhood. It is nice to find “Mom and Pop” cafes on the road.  Reminds us of our own local “Mom and Pop” restuarant the “Morning Star Cafe” owned by Brenda and Matthew Pratt in Palominas, Arizona.

Child's size - was just enough
Child’s size – was just enough

Saturday, April 25th

Left fairly early this morning, we thought a short trip to Van Horn (120 miles) could be done before the afternoon winds picked up. Once near Van Horn we made the unfortunate decision to continue on to Sierra Blanca, Texas – only another 33 miles up the interstate. What a mistake! According to our old version of “The Next Exit” there are two RV parks in Sierra Blanca; but both seemed to be closed. Actually the whole town looked closed!!! Dead!!! Nada!!!   So decided to keep on moving West to El Paso. It is only about another hour; however, we were caught in some very high winds which made the trip seem longer more difficult and our bodies down right weary. Thankfully, Connie was at the wheel and she handled the winds very well.

Connie at the helm
Connie at the helm

Lisa did a stint of driving earlier in the day. (Don’t worry we won’t bore you with to many driving pictures).

Lisa at the wheel
Lisa at the wheel

We made it into El Paso at about 4:00 PM and stayed at Mission RV Park.

Office area at Mission RV
Mission RV office area
The area we stayed in at Mission
We stayed in this parking area.

Sunday, April 26th

The weather for today between El Paso and Deming, New Mexico was again very windy.  Been there, done that. So we decided to get back on the road tomorrow (Monday). Slept in today, went out for breakfast, stocked up on groceries and replaced Peppers Thunder Shirt.

Pepper guarding the RV, waiting for Moms to come home
Pepper guarding the RV, waiting for Moms to come home

That is all for now.  Talk with you soon.

Arizona Bound

arizonalizards13 Comments

Sunday, April 19th

After a great time birding and meeting new friends in the Mission, Texas area it was time to head home. We felt rushed on the way to the hop and that is NOT the way we want to travel. Our bodies are much happier when we take our time and go slow. We decided not to rush in any way on the way back to Arizona. We have plenty of time to make it back by the 1st of May, so will go slow. We headed out late Sunday morning and spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot in Alice, Texas. We had stayed there on the way down, so figured it would be a known stop on the way back.

Monday, April 20th

It was on to the Escapees Park in Hondo. Fairly equitable day of sharing the driving. Connie drove further than I did but not by much. I made a mistake and forgot to put the gas cap back on the RV when we filled up with gas so had to go find a new one upon arrival in Hondo. Lucky for me, the local Napa had one in stock. We decided to spend two nights here and rest up a little. We really are not into driving hard every day and want to enjoy the journey. On Tuesday we took the CRV for a drive around the area and ended up in Castroville, TX.  Castroville was settled by folks from the Alsace region of France. We wanted to try Haby’s Bakery, and boy are we glad we drove there. What a place, if you are ever near Castroville you really need to give it a try.  On Wednesday we left the Escapees Park and travelled to Sonora, Texas. Another parking lot night. The drive from Hondo to Sonora was pretty windy and at times rainy; it was also very pretty with all the Texas wildflowers on the back roads.

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Foggy and rainy hill country road
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Yellow and Blue Wildflowers
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Purple Wildflowers

Thursday, April 23

Hard day of travel in the winds today. We had thought we would make it to Balmorhea State Park. Unfortunately, the winds that come roaring over the plains had other plans. Connie drove the first 75 miles and I was due to drive the next. The winds were to strong for me so Connie took over and got us the rest of the way to Ft. Stockton. Very difficult to control the RV when the wind is blowing hard enough to send it off the road. We settled in to an RV park on the outskirts of Fort Stockton and made arrangements to stay until Saturday morning. We are hoping that by staying we might miss some of the super strong winds between here and Van Horn. It is supposed to be blowing in excess of 40 mph on Friday and later Saturday afternoon. If we get out of here early enough Saturday we can beat the late afternoon winds to Van Horn. Pepper took all of the wind and hard driving in her usual “it is a riding day” style.

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