The Strange Road Home

We arrived at home on March 23rd after an overnight stay in a Walmart parking lot in Moncton, and several like it, in the days prior to that.

We hadn't left the RV for more than a few minutes since the last park in Mississippi. In the final 5 days of the trip home, I only left the coach to re-fuel, wearing disposable gloves and paying at the pump. We had plenty of food in the fridge/freezer for the journey. My greatest fear was the that the Unit might break down, and that would have been catastrophic. But it didn't. We rode it hard all the way and it never complained.

I talked to couple from Belleville, ON last week, at a campground in Louisiana.
They were on their way to Texas, having left Canada 10 days earlier. I was dumbfounded.
I asked them if they weren't worried about the impending disaster. He felt that the whole thing was blown out of proportion and all would be fine in a few weeks. My parting words to him were "when it hits the fan, remember someone telling you that you are making a huge mistake". Texas parks closed a few days later.

Some observations over the past week.

Most Americans are not taking COVID-19 seriously. That is why they will eclipse China's infection numbers within a few days although the US only has a fraction of China's population. Furthermore, at the current rate they will have over 1 million cases by April 3rd. I've done the math.

Driving the interstates became more eerie every day. Traffic lessening daily, many rest stops and welcome centers closed, RV parks closed by order. 

The Jonesville KOA was ordered closed by the Governor of PA. We stayed there on their last night open. Washrooms and showers were closed though. Check-in was outside, we were handed a check-in sheet and escorted to our site. They understood and they were well prepared. Well done KOA.

The Canadian border crossing was rather interesting. At St. Steven NB, we were the only ones there. The guy was infinitely more interested in trying to browbeat us into admitting we were bringing in more than our alcohol  allowance. We stuck to our story. I was pretty sure he really didn't want to come in and search. He didn't. 
His last words before he waved us through were, "any symptoms?" and "here's a brochure from the Government".

The Nova Scotia border closure was set up at a weigh scale just before Amherst. There were only a few cars there and we were the only RV.
We were through it in a few minutes.


So there it is. A dream vacation cut short but the outcome mostly good, so far.

I worry about what is coming down the pipe. Food supplies will become scarce if Canada closes the border completely, and this is inevitable if the US infection rate continues on its current path.

Keep safe. 
I hope we can have you all along for another adventure in the future.

I will try to post some pictures in the next few days.

Another change of plan

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the US has been doubling every few days. Doing the math, that would mean roughly 1 million cases, 3 or 4 weeks from now. Things are getting a bit crazy.

So instead of carrying on as per original plan, we are heading  home. We expect to be home before the end of March.

We went grocery shopping a few days ago in Lake Charles, LA. The store was packed! All the usual shelves were empty. We haven't really taken an inventory but I think we are stocked for 2 to 3 weeks, easily enough to get home.

And "get home" is becoming a priority. Things are changing too fast.

This was our spot in Roosevelt State Park near Jackson MS, March 17. It was very tempting to stay for another day or two, but we decided to carry on home. 

The washrooms and showers are locked up and the only way to communicate with park staff is by phone. No one is in the park office.
Tara really dislikes the RV when it's moving, it stresses her out. At the end of an 8 hour stretch she's completely worn out.

Tomorrow we plan to overnight in a state park near Chattanooga, TN. After that it will probably be Walmarts because the state parks are closing up at an alarming rate. Interesting times we live in.....

I smell something burning

After 4 great days in Austin we were on our way to Brazos Bend State Park just southwest of Houston.

About 30 miles from our destination Darlene said "I smell something burning". Me, who can't smell a thing... couldn't smell a thing. I checked the instruments, checked for smoke in the mirrors, checked the rear camera screen to see if the Honda was fishtailing with 4 flats, all the while trying to remember where we kept the fire extinguisher. Everything looked normal. We were on a small county road, so no shoulders and no where to pull off. I finally pulled into a right turnoff lane and stopped. I went around the back of the coach and saw a bit of smoke. Looked inside the engine compartment, a bit of a smell and a bit more smoke.....but no fire, yay!

As I was walking back to the front, I felt heat radiating from the left rear tire. I put my hand on the rim and .......... HOT!
With my trusty handheld laser thermometer in hand, I crawled under the back of the bus, pointed it at the brake drum. Hmmm,  550 degrees F. Definitely not normal. Checked the right drum, 126 degrees. I'm guessing, normal.
After some investigation I determined that the air brake on the left side wasn't disengaging. Time to introduce the second cool tool for hot brakes, my trusty Fiscars hatchet.

Pounding a few times on the brake canister push rod returned it to where it should have returned to in the first place.
We drove a few miles and stopped. The drum temp was down to 250 degrees so, looks like that worked.
Once at the park I checked again, 395 degrees so, looks like that didn't work.
There comes a time in every wannabe RV mechanic's life when it becomes more prudent to call in a pro, rather than shoulder the blame for the outcome of whatever you had planned to do next .
Enter Rick's Mobile Truck Mechanic Service. He fixed while I watched and learned....and then paid. Problem solved!

Here are the heroes of the day, sorry I didn't get a picture of the third hero, Rick the mechanic. Thank you Rick!

Brazos Bend State Park is known for 2 things, a great system of hiking trails and.....'gators. I counted 10 on a one hour bike ride. They lie right beside the trail, probably waiting for an unsuspecting shih-tzu or an overly curious hiker.

Or the guy with the camera that wants to get an "up close" shot.

Lots of turtles.

Diesel can be found for just over $2 per gallon now. That's a nice perk given the Canadian dollar is hovering just above 70 cents US. (and that's largely because oil prices tanked, which is why diesel is selling for $2 a gallon).


Coronavirus
We all knew it was coming and now it's here, but I think it has only just begun.
In the stores, you can tell where the toilet tissue and hand sanitizers used to be by the empty shelves.

We have decided to carry on as planned with our trip for now,  but we are keeping a close eye on what's happening here and in Canada. We are well stocked with food (and refreshments) and we can be home within a week if things start to go really wonky.

On the positive side, the RV is a pretty good way to isolate. It's largely self sufficient and the only necessary interactions with other people is when we are buying groceries or fuel. The State Parks are all starting to let you pre-register and print your pass so you don't even need to check in.

We had a bit of an eerie experience near Houston when travelling on the Sam Houston Tollway. We went into the cash lane and stopped, expecting the attendant to tell us what we owed. Nobody in the booth. A sign in the window said to continue on and the barrier was up so off we went. This happened several times in the 20 or so miles we traveled on that highway.

So, onward we go to the east, planning on a last stop near Myrtle Beach, around the end of April, before the sprint home.  At least, that's the current plan.

And then, once we're home, 14 days of self isolation to look forward to. 

Can someone please bring us lobster?!

The Chisos Mountains and the Chihuahuan Desert.

The Chisos Mountains were formed by ancient volcanic activity. They are arranged more or less in a circle, which created a basin in the center. There is a lodge and restaurant there which offers stunning views, and a great lunch!
It's a very steep road going into the basin. RV's over 24' not allowed. The vegetation here is pine, oak,  juniper and other trees. The lush green is a stark contrast to the desert scrub seen just minutes earlier at a lower altitude.


The Chisos Mountain Basin has what they call "The window" which looks out over the desert.
This is from the inside looking out....

....and this is from the outside looking in.

Here are some random pictures from in and around Big Bend.

If you spend any amount of time in this area, you're bound to run into one of these, a Border Patrol checkpoint. I guess we don't fit the profile because we usually need to answer just one question, "where y'all from", and we're on our way.

Roadrunner.....Beebeep!

Big sky country...

The Santa Elena Canyon wall rising 1500 ft above the desert.
With a little snow on the ground they might have used this as a location for filming The Game of Thrones.  Snow! haha!

Trail-side cactus, two of them.

Overlooking the Chihuahuan Desert. This desert is enormous, around 200,000 sq. miles. By comparison, Nova Scotia is 21,000 sq. miles.
Most of it lies in Mexico but it also extends into New Mexico, Arizona and, of course, Texas.

Next we're back in Alpine for a few days, then a park near Junction and after that, Austin.

Wow, that's 4 posts in 5 days. I think I may take a break for a while. 

Terlingua, one more time.

Terlingua is hard to describe. It's the people, the landscape, the buildings, the history, and the fact that it was a ghost town just a few decades ago.
I thought I should do a video, driving from one end of town to the other (less than 1 km)  so you can experience it too. You might want to turn your volume down as I did this holding the camera out the sunroof and there's quite a bit of wind noise. Check out the adobe "tiny home" at about  0:42 . Very Texas!
We are starting at the High Sierra Bar and Grill, near the highway, and ending at the General Store/Starlight Theater. 
BTW there is a resident dog at the High Sierra that will bring you progressively larger sticks, until you give him some food. I caved at a 5' long, 3" log.

There were a lot more vehicles in the General Store's parking lot than I ever remembered. It seems we happened to arrive just as the Sunday afternoon jam session was getting underway.

And just a bit more, to highlight some of the "characters" of Terlingua.

If you would like to learn a bit (or rather, a lot more) about this very unique West Texas town, check out this article. It's long, but it says it all, murder mystery included!

https://www.outsideonline.com/1922521/murder-terlingua-texas


Next, a day trip to the Chisos Mountain Basin.

Lajitas and the Lajitas Mesa

Guess where we're going today.....

Maverick Ranch is the RV park where we are staying. The Lajitas Mesa towers above it, about a mile to the north.

I've been wanting to go up there ever since I first saw it. Today I did, with the drone.
Lots of video today, hope you enjoy it.

I've had to use Youtube to upload these videos because Blogger has a 100MB limit per video. The first video was nearly 1GB. I'm glad the park has great wifi.

And away we go!

Flying toward the Lajitas Mesa and some views of the town.

At around 1300 ft above the launch point the drone told me it was at max altitude, just shy of being able to clear the rim. Some incredible scenery from up here.

More flying around the rim. The Mesa is about 3700 ft above sea level.

Towards the end of the return trip, and a fly over.

Hope you enjoyed watching these. It sure was fun making them.

The next post will cover Terlingua. There is so much to see and do here, the posts will be coming every day or two.

Big Bend National Park

This is what keeps us coming back to Big Bend on every trip. The scenery is amazing and never ending.

That's the Rio Grande river.


An excerpt from "The Ultimate Big Bend National Park Travel Guide"

Forget the physical address—Big Bend National Park is not in Texas. It’s in “far west Texas,” which is so isolated and so completely different from the rest of the region in both personality and terrain that it might as well be its own state. The whole scene has an edge-of-the-world quality to it, from the mountains that seem to rise out of nowhere, like some geographical mistake on the horizon, to the sandy terrain that shimmers in the midday sun. The juxtaposition of these vistas and the subtlety of life that thrives within it is fascinating, too.

You can see the guide here:

https://www.outsideonline.com/2409231/big-bend-national-park-travel-guide#close

This post will have a lot of pictures and video. I have not yet mastered the art of editing video, so kindly excuse the raw clips, under/over exposures etc. I often feel completely  overwhelmed by technology and it shows.

A morning bike ride to some serious elevation near the RV Park. The Lajitas Overlook Trail. I also found out (on the way back down) that even e-bikes are subject to "brake fade". It was close to 3 kms downhill and I had to stop several times to let the brakes cool.

A short drone flight to (almost) inside Mexico. 

A bit of hill climbing in the car.

A drone flight into a canyon over the Rio Grande. Mexico is on the left side heading out, on the right returning. It's a very long clip, just jump ahead when it gets boring.

The hiking/biking trails here are amazing. Hundreds of miles of trails across mountains, canyons and desert will get you really and truly "out in the middle of nowhere".

Dare to be different!

I had my second flat tire here. It was another thorn, in the front this time, but a slow leak so I was able to make it back. Terlingua has a bike shop so I took the tire there to be patched. The owner bestowed on me some biker wisdom...."if your bike has 4" wide tires you have twice the chance of getting a flat compared to someone riding on 2" wide tires". You can't argue with the logic, but I wouldn't trade the fat tires for anything.

Lots more to come. Check back soon.

The Road to Lajitas

After Del Rio we stayed 2 days in Alpine, TX. En route to Alpine we stopped in Sanderson, to visit what is probably the most eclectic store in Texas. Very artsy, much of it made in Mexico I think, and there are literally hundreds of thousands of items for sale.

Alpine is a small town best known for it's many food trucks (in season), outstanding kolaches from the Baker's Dozen Bakery, and the Holland Hotel. This is the lobby. Very, very, "Texas".

...and Harry's Tinaja, a roadside bar. Also very "Texas".

Harry's doesn't serve food, so being thirsty and a bit hungry we stopped at a nearby grocery store for a bag of nachos and guacamole which we enjoyed on Harry's patio, with a couple of "Dos XX's". A $10 lunch doesn't get any better.

I have been wanting to show some of the more extravagant RV's we have come across. Here is a short clip of a $2,000,000+ Marathon Coach leaving the park in Alpine. 

Driving from Alpine to Lajitas  is a real treat. The speed limit is 70 MPH on a winding and hilly two lane highway. About half way through the clip you can see a yellow sign suggesting you slow to 55 MPH for the next curve. 

The day we arrived in Lajitas it was 80 degrees, the next day 40 and rain.

Since we are staying in a private park and not a state or national park I hope to get the drone in the air for some aerial shots. Unfortunately, drones are prohibited in all state and national parks.

Texas, (deep in the heart of...)

We spent 4 days at Lake Corpus Christi State Park, about an hour's drive from Mustang Island.

I found out I could buy a Texas Park Pass and save $15 per day on park fees. The total cost of our stay here was; the pass and our park fees were paid for out of our deposit, plus we got a $2.50 refund. Sweet deal!

It was here that I managed to fall off the bike for the first time on one of the trails. It was very narrow and winding with thorny bushes on both sides. I came around a tight corner and was almost whacked in the face by one of the fore-mentioned bushes. I ducked and swerved right and ended up on my ass in another bunch of the same bushes on the opposite side of the trail. No real harm done, just a few scratches, and the bike was fine.....for a while. 
A few hundred yards from our campsite it became very hard to pedal and felt mushy. 
A flat rear tire. There are no bike shops in Mathis Texas, so once again, off to the auto parts store for a patch kit and valve core tool. The tire had a thorn in it which had punctured the tube. All fixed in an hour or so. If you want it done right (or at all), do it yourself!

From now on I'll be carrying the patch kit with me. And maybe a few band-aids....and a blanket and a granola bar....Oh! and maybe a beer or two! 

Darlene has been working hard at mastering the skill of riding her bike. She never learned to ride as a child (overprotective mother) and is braving the possible consequences now.

Javelinas are often seen here. These pig-like creatures (actually more closely related to the hippopotamus), are mostly harmless unless cornered. Although they are herbivores, they have wicked fangs for the sole purpose of self defense. They usually travel in groups of 10 or more. This group of about 6 were right behind our campsite, 

Another hour's drive got us to Choke Canyon State Park. The park's dubious distinction is; this is as far west as you are likely to find alligators. (after here, it's just snakes).
And here's a fun fact, Texas has 9 different kinds of rattlesnakes plus the Texas Coral snake, the Cottonmouth and the Copperhead.
This poster was in the park office.

Wildlife is abundant here. Cardinals are seen in the hundreds. If you ever wondered where they go in the winter, this must be the place.

And deer are everywhere. When I opened the door this morning, these two were there to greet me. They are not shy or afraid. Hunting or feeding them is strictly forbidden in the park, and that makes for a harmonious relationship.

Next we head to Del Rio TX, the Broke Mill RV Park. We have stopped in here every time we're out this way. It's a great place to fill the fridge and freezer before heading into the "outback" of Texas. And diesel is 60 cents per gallon cheaper here than any place west. We'll be filling up here.

Corpus Christi and Mustang Island State Park.

This was a bit of a disappointment weatherwise.
The day we arrived it was 75 and sunny.
The next day it really cooled off and the wind blew hard for the remainder of our stay.
Mustang Island had been closed for 18 months after hurricane Harvey. The washrooms/showers had to be torn down and rebuilt and the park office building is still boarded up.
The main beach parking lot was turned into a river by the receding flood waters. Here is an aerial view courtesy of google earth.

And a picture from the ground taken shortly after the storm.

All of this had to be filled in and re-paved. The electrical and water services in the campground had to be completely re-done.

But the beach survived. You can drive for miles on this beach and camp just about anywhere tent, trailer or motor-home.

So, for the past 2 months we have been traveling from the Atlantic, westward along the gulf, racking up the beach time whenever the weather allowed. And the weather has been great for the most part.

I had hoped to have the fuel filter changed in Corpus Christi. After calling at least a dozen "truck type" garages, not a single one was willing or able. So off I went to Napa for a filter and a hardware store for a filter wrench and bucket.
An hour and about $40 later, problem solved.

Now it's time to head inland and experience the other side of Texas, where everything either bites, scratches or stings.

Galveston

Every time we stop here we find a few more things Galveston has to offer. History, night life, all kinds of restaurants, 32 miles of beach and..... Kolaches. You can find kolaches at any donut shop, although most sell more kolaches than donuts. A kolache is a "piggy in a blanket" on steroids. A medium size weenie in a pastry that defies description. They come plain or with a pepper jack cheese stuffed jalapeno alongside the weenie, all kept cozy inside the pastry. Add a little dijon and you have breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Oil rigs are numerous here. These two are probably here for a re-fit. They are enormous!

Cruise ships are here just about every day.  Oddly I haven't noticed the usual hoards of cruise people in town. The historical downtown always seems civilized and is relatively quiet.

With 32 miles of mostly uninterrupted beach, I was able to do some serious biking. The pier is like an amusement park and also houses the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company restaurant.

I have put over 450 kms on the bike now. One thing that have really been wanting to upgrade is the saddle. I visited a bike shop here that is also a dealer for my bike, a Rad Rover. I picked up a really cool "Gel Padded" cruiser saddle made by Serfas. Their motto is "Protecting your junk since 1998". You've gotta love the "tell it like it is" motto, and I'm lovin' my new perch. Its the difference between a concrete slab and an armchair.

Here's a picture of the pier at night, lots of neon.

Next: Corpus Christi and Mustang Island.

Lake Charles, LA, Not just an overnight stop anymore

We first stopped in Lake Charles on our last trip in 2018. It is conveniently located between the New Orleans area and Galveston. We were only here for 1 or 2 nights then, so we never really got the feel of the place. So this time we spent 4 nights at a state park in Lake Charles.

We spent a couple of evenings having way too many drinks by the fire with our neighbour, Moe. He's from Louisiana and was there by himself. His wife had suggested he "go camping" for a few days, I didn't ask. At one point I asked him what "Moe" was short for. Perhaps he didn't understand my question, but he replied his middle name was "Lester". I cracked up but he didn't seem to see the humor.  Reminds me of a Monty Python skit, Mr. Smoketoomuch. Google it. I'm not making this stuff up!

Lake Charles has 2 distinct identities. On one hand it has an amazing number of refineries and chemical plants at the west end.
There are miles and miles of this along Interstate 10, all lit up like it's Christmas.

To the east and south a very quaint historical downtown district with bars, shops and restaurants, 

...and a casino district with casinos which rival Las Vegas in size but are fewer in number.

I'm not a gambler but if I can spend 2 hours at a nickel slot and leave only $5 in the red, I call that cheap entertainment. And as long as you are feeding the machine nickels, drinks are free! 
The burger I had at the Jack Daniels restaurant at L'Auberge Casino has to rank in the top ten burgers of all time, maybe even in the top five.

There's a song about Lake Charles by Lucinda Williams, called.....oddly enough, Lake Charles.
If you're into some Louisiana country/blues, click the link and have a listen.
She was born here and grew up here. I love her voice, she always sounds like she's had just a few too many.
Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dglHW7rOwk


The unit is telling me it's time for another fuel filter change, it's bucking on steep hills, so we'll have to deal with that soon.

Galveston is next.