On Sunday night, we bid the Parental Units good bye, and on Tuesday Morning, we packed up and left Thousand Trails to go back to Livingston, and Rainbow’s End. This is the National Headquarters of Escapees, Inc., under whose auspices we get our mail, register to vote, and in general, make Texas our domicile.

We got in at around 11. By 11:30, we had disconnected the trailer, and gone to the Clubhouse for lunch. They had Meatball Hero for lunch, served with potato salad and chips. All that for $4.00.

We may be the youngest people here, except for the employees. The place is packed with activities each day. They serve several meals a week. They have something to do every day. The population here is a mix of transient members, owners of deeded lots, and lessees of leased lots. There are lots with trailers on them, lots with homes, both built and manufactured, and also the various spaces for traveling members.

Everybody here is a member of Escapees. We all have this commonality of purpose as either full-time travelers or former full-time travelers. Lots of conversation is about who we are, where we are from, how long we’ve been on the road, what sort of rig do we travel with, etc.

In order to fit in socially,  you have to believe, at least a bit, in the Escapees customs, practices and values. On the other hand, you can rent a site and go about your own business, and not talk to anybody. There are all kinds of people here.

There are about 20 Escapee parks around the country. Some are owned by the club (company) and others are co-ops owned by their occupants. We’re really glad to be members, and we feel at home here.

We’ve been here in Conroe, Texas, at the Conroe Condo, since last Friday, and after much preparation and work, had two Passover Seders. I did almost all the cooking, preparing, serving, and about half the cleanup, for our four person family, and I will tell you, I don’t know how my mom (and so many others that I know) did it.  I was beat. It should be remembered that many families go through a much more intricate and intense Passover preparation including a stem-to-stern cleaning, changing all dishes, covering countertops and shelves, and, in general, making almost everything in the house new again. We aren’t that religious, and didn’t do that, but even so, I was exhausted.

I made Matzoh Balls, Gefilte Fish, a turkey, a pot-roast, Charoses, Maror, Passover cake mixes, and all the trimmings and trappings of the holiday. I did all the shopping and planning as well. I also conducted one of the two Seders.  It was a labor of love and I’m very pleased with the result, but as I said, I was totally wiped out.

Yesterday, after all the hoopla was over, Roseann and I took all our carefully obtained and collected documents, and drove over to Livingston, Texas, county seat of Polk County. There we visited the office of Marion A “Bid” Smith, the assessor and tax collector for the county, where we registered the two vehicles, receiving license plates and stickers. We then went down to the driver’s license office at the state Department of Public Safety, and got our new Texas licenses and IDs. We have a booklet, How To Become A Real Texan to thank for being prepared, and being able to do this process in one try.

Once all this was accomplished, we drove down to Rainbow’s End, to get our mail. As I wrote above, this is the headquarters park for Escapees, and houses the mail service. Our address is here, one of many on Rainbow Drive. This is kind of symbolic. The name, Rainbow’s End, implies a destination, and we’ve been on the road heading here for the past month.  (To be fair, it was only nine days of driving. The rest of the days were stay-over days.) Nonetheless, it’s only a stop along the line, as we are not going to stay here for more than a few weeks to a month.

We’ll be here in Conroe till Monday, then over to Livingston to stay at Rainbow’s End for a week or so. Roseann has a medical visit scheduled. I have work to do, so we’ll dwell here for a bit and then move on.

Future plans are made, but as I always say, Man plans and G-d laughs, so we’ll hold these plans until we’re ready to execute on them.

(There are few photos, and I’ve been separated from my CF card reader, so we’ll catch up on those in a few days.)

Well, we know. We left Fort Stockton at 7 AM this morning, after breakfast at Burger King. I never eat breakfast at Burger King, but the McDonalds had two busloads waiting in a long line, and not wanting to wait, we visited the King. What a mistake. Rubbery eggs inside microwaved tortillas. Oh well.

We chose to shunpike today, and to take US 90. This is what we came up with in trip planning:

Click to embiggen

So we figured we’d stop at Del Rio (”B”) where there is a very welcoming Elks Lodge. Leaving at 7, we were able to make good time, and arrived at Del Rio at about 12:00.

On our way, we traveled via US Hwy 285 down to Sanderson, and then US 90 to the east. The lady at the Elks Lodge said, “it’s a pretty drive” and indeed it was. The road travels through the rolling hills of the Big Bend Country region of Texas. As we’d top the ridges, we’d see huge valley vistas spread out before us. Vegetation is sparse and suited to dry country. This area is a desert region. After passing Sanderson, there’s little civilization until Langtry, wher e the state has built a Travel Information Center around Judge Roy Bean’s Opera House. Here Judge Bean dealt out high and low justice, establishing himself, and his 1876 “Revised Statues of Texas” lawbook as “The Law West of the Pecos.” The area also boasts a fine cactus garden.  Shortly after leaving Langtry, we crossed the Pecos traveling from West to East.

As we grew closer to Del Rio, we also grew closer to the Rio Grande and the border. US 90 has an interesting feature. The Border Patrol has graded a path, about eight feet wide, along both sides of the highway, and they regularly drag old tires along the path to groom the sand, so that tracks will stand out. Border Crossers leave sign behind that the Patrolmen are adept in reading. I had bought a few books at the Border Patrol Museum in El Paso, (see earlier blog entry) and I was seeing what I had read in action. We passed inspection checkpoints in both directions, both east and west of Del Rio, complete with dogs.

As we approached Del Rio, we started seeing the Amistad National Recreation area, which culminated at the Amistad Reservoir. This is the largest body of water we’ve seen since some time before leaving Los Angeles. It’s not as big as the Pacific Ocean, but we saw nothing bigger all the way along I-10. There is a community of motels, restaurants, boat/RV storage yards, and now McMansions, growing up along US-90, all supporting water-sport recreation. Entering Del Rio, we saw all the usual trappings of civilization. Every kind of chain store you could want.

Del Rio brought us Bar-b-cue lunch, fuel, and the possibility of an overnight stop, but we chose to push on. Now we found ourselves entering the “Hill Country.” (There are some really good maps of the various Texas regions to be found here. ) I noticed that things were a bit greener, then a lot greener. I saw land in cultivation, a thing almost unheard of to the west of Del Rio. I saw larger herds of cattle, as the land became able to support more head per section. We stopped in Brackettville, parked the trailer in a (closed) high-school parking lot and took a short nap. We passed Uvalde, which was a pretty bustling community, then Hondo, which was another active place. On arriving at Castroville, we decided we’d had enough. This is a good jumping off point for day trips to San Antonio, and we are camped for three nights at a city-run RV park in the Regional Park. Very nice.

So, did we make San Antonio? Well, not 100%, but we covered over 300 miles today, our longest yet, and we’re close enough to S.A. to consider ourselves “there.”

We started out on I-10 after fueling at the Flying J, with our destination as either Van Horn (beep-beep) or Fort Stockton. As we traveled, we decided to hit a rest area for a few minutes walkabout, and encountered this really interesting rig traveling along I-10 with us.

Zainab and Domi, Traveling across the US in Herbie their Love Bug

These are Zainab and Dominik, from Austria, who are on a world tour, traveling with Herbie, their Love Bug and trailer. They tell me that they entered the US at Long Beach, and have been traveling east. Not sure where they are going or what their plans are, but I was pleased to meet up with them. Googling Zainab and Domi produced an article. It’s mostly in German, but there are more photos and a few paragraphs in English. The article tells us that it’s a 1963 Beetle, and a 1986 Qek Caravan, from the GDR — East Germany! The article is interesting, and pumped into Google Translate, reads very well. That night, at a Gas Station in Fort Stockton, I saw Domi and Zainab drive by. Not sure where they spent the night.

Domi and Zainab, if you read this, please leave us a comment and let us know how you are doing.

Sure is rural out here

I took this photo from the rest area as well. Trying to capture the sense of desolation. It’s not really that bad. Most of this land is in use. I’m told that ranchers can graze ten head of cattle on a section (one square mile) of land. Lots of times, we’d see signs of industry or agriculture in the distance, and of course, there were the ubiquitous railroad tracks and power lines. You never really felt alone — just out in a place where there’s more land than land-use.

We weren’t hungry in Van Horn, so we bought fuel and continued on to Fort Stockton. Arriving at about 3 PM, we hit McDonalds for lunch and decided we were done. We booked into the Comanche Lands RV Park, a field of white gravel and rocks carved into rows of RV sites with 30 or 50 Amp service, water, sewer and cable TV. This is our first Cable TV since we were on the road, and we’ve enjoyed some Syfy and other channels not seen on broadcast TV.

I took a ride into town for groceries, and happened upon a static display of a pair of Santa Fe cabooses (cabeese?) at the Depot, which is now the Chamber of Commerce office. Photos:

We passed a quiet night near the freeway, and will continue on tomorrow.

On our way back, we stopped at the U.S. Border Patrol Museum. Depending on your politics, you might have differing views of the Border Patrol, but it’s important to remember that lawmaking and law enforcement are two different things.  I decided to consider the Border Patrol as a valued part of the forces that protect ME.

The museum shows the history, both early and late, of the Border Patrol, through displays of confiscated items, enforcement equipment, photos and documents. We learned that the Border Patrol is 85 years old. It was originally part of the Department of Labor, later the Department of Justice, and now part of Homeland Security. Until 9/11, it was underfunded and under-respected.

Although most folks think of the Border Patrol as spending all their time sending Mexican border-crossers back where they came from, the main stated goal is the prevention of the entry of terrorists and their equipment and weapons.

I’ve also encountered the Border Patrol several times, as they run inspection stations along the freeway. In all cases, they asked me one question: “US Citizen?” When I replied, “yes”, I was waved through. The curator of the museum is the wife of a former Border Patrol agent, the man who developed their K-9 program. According to the curator, there are working dogs at the checkpoints who will alert to things that no human can detect. One never sees them, but they are there.

We really enjoyed the visit. Photos follow.

There’s a certain something to one’s first night spent in one’s new home state. We’ve stated that we are becoming Texas residents and on Monday we moved our trailer from Las Cruces to El Paso. We would have gotten our license plates, but Texas requires that you do that in your home county, so we’re unable, until we get to Polk County, where Livingston is located.

Although most of my time is taken up with work, I’ve been able to look around a bit. On Tuesday morning, I drive north on the “Caesar Chavez Border Highway” which is TXLoop  375. As I was driving west, the border fence could clearly be seen immediately adjacent to the freeway. Beyond is the Rio Grande and beyond that, the city of Juarez.  As I came into the downtown area, I passed under a large pedestrian/vehicle bridge that stretched from Juarez over the Rio Grande, over the highway, and into the US Border facility. It was about 8 AM, and the bridge was packed wall to wall with people, waiting their turn to enter the US.

We’re parked at the Mission Trail Mobile Home and RV Park, which islocated in the south end of town. The surroundings are noticeably Hispanic, which, for us, translates to good food. The park description made me a bit nervous, but it got good reviews, and when I got there, it proved to be a fine choice. Clean as a whistle. Nighttime security. about 15 RV sites, plus a bunch of single-wide mobile homes. I’d stay here again.

Yesterday, I had a knock on the door, and a man asked for my help. His front 5th wheel trailer jack was sinking into the mud, and he had no way to move it. I took my truck and towed him about a foot forward, provided a few blocks, told him how to level his rig, etc. His name is Eduardo, and I told him that two Eds were better than one. He needs a web site done, and he sells something I want, so we may find a more lasting relationship.

Also, yesterday, I drove up to the main post office at the airport, and, surprise, found my General Delivery mail waiting for me. So the second mailing took three days, while the first was still missing in action after ten.

Included in the package was a used Jawbone II headset. I was hoping it would satisfy me as much as my Jawbone 1, but it is disappointing. It won’t stay properly on the ear. A friend who works there suggests ordering their new earpiece, and I will. I also ordered a Blue Parrot headset. We’ll see how that does.

Today I got a call from the lady at the Las Cruces Post Office, and my missing-in-action package has arrived, so tomorrow we’ll be driving back to Las Cruces to get it. We’ll also try to eat at La Posta De Mesilla restaurant, as recommended by Angelle Le Marche in a previous comment.

We’ll be here till next Monday, then on to San Antonio. We have an alternate plan that, while out of the way, might be really cool. No comment until it’s decided or discarded.

The Space History museum was very good. One starts by taking the elevator to the fourth floor. Then one descends by ramps through three more floors of exhibits, ending back at the ground floor and gift shop.

We saw many models of spacecraft, artifacts of various kinds, including flags that went to the moon, flight suits, and the rather ubiquitous moon rock.

One outstanding feature is the “International Space Hall of Fame.” The inductees range from astronauts and scientists, both modern and ancient to NASA officials, whose names will be familiar to anyone who watched the various US space shots of the 60s and 70s. The earliest inductee, as near as I can tell, is Hipparchus, followed by Sir Isaac Newton. It was fun to identify folks I recognized and learn about those of whom I had never heard.

On our way back, we stopped at the White Sands National Monument. Though we didn’t leave the visitor center area, we got the sense of the place, and saw a bit of the crushed gypsum that makes up the white sands of the area. Since the sand is crushed gypsum, rather than quartz, it does not heat up in the sun, and it’s possible to sled on the dunes!

There is a museum and “Missile Park” associated with the White Sands Missile Range, but we were tired, and did not stop.

All in all, a great day.

The ride along I-10 for the past day or so has been pretty dreary. Lots of open space, very little development between towns. Occasionally there is a store for tourists, usually preceded by 20 miles of billboards. New Mexico allows the sale of fireworks, but so far, I’ve resisted.

We were expecting mail at General Delivery, but the package was not there yet. A necessary evil of traveling and relying on mail forwarding. We booked into the Elks Lodge for the night, and possibly the weekend. I need to do some work, so we were not planning on traveling at all until mid-next week. Whether we stayed in Las Cruces or El Paso was an open question. Until I visit the post office, it remains open.

After the post office debacle, and a good lunch (love those green chili peppers) we booked into the Elks Lodge and then hit the Las Cruces Railroad Museum. The museum, I’m sorry to say, is pretty basic. The highlight is the two HO layouts. I have some photos, which will be added to this posting in the next few days.

We’ve reached quite a milestone. When we get to El Paso, either tomorrow or next week, we will have come more than half the distance from Los Angeles to Livingston, Texas.

Here are some stats:

• We’ve been on the road for ten days.
• We’ve traveled for six of those days, and stayed put for four of them. A few travel days were very short.
• We have stayed in two commercial campgrounds and four Elks Lodges.
• Our average cost per night is $23.70, compared with our budge of $20/night.  We need eight nights at $15/night to get under our budgetary average.
• I don’t have fuel figures handy, but we seem to be averaging 12 mpg.

We plan to stay in either Las Cruces or El Paso until about Wednesday of next week.

We had breakfast about ten miles past the diverge from I-10, at Vicksburg, at the Kofa Cafe. We’re told that Kofa refers to the Kofa Mine, which in turn refers to King-Of-Arizona. The cafe served up a superior breakfast, and the environment was pure joy. There was a map on the wall with pins so you could mark your hometown. For the first time, I put a pin in Livingston TX. There were about ten pins there already.  There was a mural on the wall that taught us that we were in the McMullen Valley.

Sitting in the cafe, looking at the mural, we decided to continue on 60 to Wickenburg, then down to Phoenix that way. We did. We went through Salome. Then on past a few other wide spots in the road (with apologies to the fine people who live there) until we got to Wickenburg. This was a bustling town, but I couldn’t find anyplace to park the trailer and walk around, so we continued. From Surprise on to the junction with AZ-101, we encountered heavy construction traffic, but once we got through that, we were good to go all the way to Mesa.

We’re parked now for four nights, at the Orangewood Shadows RV Resort. This is a rather fancy place, with a mix of  mobile homes and RVers on long-term stays. We were lucky to get a spot, here, and probably lucky to get one in the Phoenix area at all. I was getting worried. Orangewood is a not-twisty little maze of roads, trailers and motor homes, all different, yet all alike. We are located at the very bottom of the image, in the middle of that bottom row.  This place has a bunch of amenities, which are listed on the page linked above. I probably won’t see any of them. At $38/night, this is way over my budget, but we want to be here, so we chose to pay.

Once we arrived and checked in, the park provided an employee to lead us to the site with his golf cart, and then direct me as I backed in. He did a barely adequate job. Roseann would have been a better backer.  It had been a stressful day, what with the traffic, and with the need to get lunch in an area where there was very difficult RV parking, and I was glad to get in and take a much needed nap.