Hot, Humid, and Buggy to Cool, Sunny, and Dry in Five Long Days!

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Tuesday morning January 7^th, we drove back out of Everglades National Park. Unfortunately, we were an hour late leaving. When Greg dumped the gray tank it came flooding out from under the rig. Thank God it wasn't the black tank! The change in temperatures caused by the cold front, from hot to 40's overnight, made the plastic connectors on the gray drain pipe shrink and in doing so the pipes came apart. We moved the rig away from the puddle, and sprayed away the veggie bits from the kitchen sink, Greg slid under the rig on his back and managed to put the pipe back in place and retighten all the connectors. Then he took a look at the black water pipes just to be sure they were tight. Okay, one disaster averted! We drove on with a sigh of relief.

We wanted to stop at Robert Is Here fruit stand, that we missed last year due to no parking spaces. It is situated between the park entrance and Florida City. Robert started it when he was a young boy. After no sales the first day, his mother printed signs saying, “Robert Is Here”. He sold out his cucumbers that second day, and the rest is history! He specializes in growing tropical fruit, and we had a great time exploring the aisles and making purchases. We stuffed the fridge, once again, with beautiful fruits and vegetables. Last night we finished the last of the big as your head, (if it is oblong!) papaya, while camped among the volcanic boulders of City of Rocks State Park in New Mexico. Well traveled papaya, I'd say!

The fanciest vegetable stand we have ever seen!

One of these papayas gave us huge desserts for 4 nights

Coconuts!

Peanuts and cold cat

Our purchases. Too much for our small fridge!

Roadside papaya stand

Traveling back to Naples, we had a quick overnight again at Rock Creek RV Park, did laundry, really enjoyed the hot showers after cold ones in the Everglades, and had dinner at Fernandez the Bull. Great Cuban food! The next day we had lunch with Greg's Dad and sister, re-supplied the rig and finally at 5 pm, drove north. By 9 pm we were settled in a Flying J truck stop north of Tampa. A quick dinner and to bed.
Thursday we began the long haul back to Quartzsite, Arizona. We've signed up to rally with other View/Navion owners in one of the Bureau of Land Management long term campgrounds. Arrival is to be this Friday the 17^th. (We are posting this blog from Quartzsite) Our plan was to stay on the interstate highways until we reached Texas. Thursday night found us in the Blackwater River State Park, close to I-10 on the western edge of the Florida Panhandle. Friday Greg drove like a bat out of h**l (with the cruise control set at 55 mph - Greg), to reach Texas. We made steady progress across the rest of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and crossed the border into Texas. Phew!, and with continuous rain, drizzle and fog after leaving Tampa.

Great Cuban food prepared by genuine Cubans!

Texas lets RV's overnight in their rest stops, because the state is immense, and as you drive west, amenities are far apart. We pulled into the welcome station on the bank of the Sabine River, only a few hundred yards into Texas, with the truckers, had dinner, streamed a movie, and slept. Staying in rest stops and truck stops, there is nothing to hang around for, so we are up early. (Yes, me too. Although, my breakfast gets eaten in the passenger seat.) The only time I get to sleep in a little at a truck stop is when they have a Denny's and Greg can't resist a Grand Slam breakfast skillet.

Saturday morning the sun was shining as we left the Welcome Center. After the Texas border we left the interstate, and made a more direct route for ourselves than on I-10 that droops down as it crosses the state and then back up again far west. We found a nice Army Corps of Engineers campground to spend the night, at Lake Belton near Killeen, Texas and Fort Hood (the geographic center of Texas). It was almost deserted. The host told us a few days ago it was 19 degrees and dropped down to 11 degrees at night. I think our timing was good. It was a comfortable night.

Army aviators from Ft. Hood gave us a mini air show over the lake in their propeller driven trainers

Sunday started a long haul across central Texas. We traveled through lots of small towns on the back roads, as we left the fertile green east and drove into the arid part of Texas. We skirted the Texas Hill Country and thought we had time to make it to Monahans Sandhills State Park west of Midland and Odessa. We tried to get in their last March. We didn't know it was spring break and we got skunked and spent the night in the Walmart lot in Midland. Afterward, relatives and friends suggested that we find Bush's ranch and boondock there. Too late...

Driving into the sunset on I-20 in Midland

  The 25 mph south wind had been pushing us sideways all day and we decided that even if we made it before dark, it could be a rough night in sand dunes in the wind. So, we opted for another Texas rest area west of Odessa, brand new with RV spaces along the curb so we could be away from the trucks. Same routine, dinner, streaming a show (Downton Abbey, yay!!), and sleep.

Fine new rest stop near Pyote, TX had a little museum for the Rattlesnake Bomber Base, where B-29 crews were trained in WWII. This was "our" picnic table next to our rig.

Passenger from a large, fancy RV walking his baby Vietnamese Pot-bellied Pig

 Monday started extra early. Running through two time zones and preparing to go into a third throws off our sleep schedule. Today was our run across the last of Texas on I-20, then I-10, and into the Land of Enchantment, New Mexico. With our yearly pass for the state parks still good, we decided to head for City of Rocks State Park. Checking the weather forecast, we decided it could be a cold night, probably into the low 20's. There are only a few electric hookups and we figured they would be filled. It was worth it to check out some cool geology. Greg needed a geology fix after a month in flat, featureless Florida.

Arriving mid-afternoon after the half hour drive north from Deming, we found out that we could have a non-hookup site. The wind was blowing pretty stiffly across the desert, so we picked a site sheltered by large volcanic bedrock pinnacles (hoodoos erodoed out of 39 million-year old ryolite tuff, welded ash). All the non-hookup sites are on a loop surrounding the huge boulders and each one is nestled among them. The hookup sites are in a small windswept section clustered together, so we really do like our secluded site better.

Campsite 10 among the ryolite pinnacles

The pinnacle behind our rig

Erosion channels opening onto our camp

Last night it only got to 42 degrees. Greg speculated that the surrounding rocks hold in the heat from the sun during the day, and release it at night. We used the generator to run the heater before we went to bed and after we got up. Quiet hours are 10 pm to 7 am, so we couldn't have a blast of heat during the night. Now we are back under the down comforter and blankets after trying to stay cool in the Everglades only a week ago! What a strange life we lead!

Native pictograph next to our picnic table

Looking east to Table Mountain

Looking down on City of Rocks  from Table Mountain

That's us in the rocks right center.

 We are staying here one more night. After five straight days of non-stop driving we needed a break. Greg took a good hike this morning to check out the rocks. Tomorrow we'll drive north to Silver City and then west into Arizona. We'll have two more days to make it to Quartzsite on the Arizona/California border. Hundreds of thousands of RVer's will be converging on the desert for the annual antics. Kind of a Burning Man for the senior set! Hope to tell some interesting stories from there. Definitely some interesting photos to post!