Bye-Bye Florida! We Head West!

January 2, 2015

Today finds us getting the rig's oil changed in Boerne (Bernie), Texas just northwest of San Antonio. Our brief taste of luxury every 10,000 miles. Because our chassis is a Mercedes-Benz we need to spend a few hours at one of their dealerships. It has been interesting to see the classy surroundings. This one has a fire in the stone fireplace, a barrista, huge screened Apple computers, and in an alcove, three reclining seats for gaming!

The RV is barely visible in the back of this Texas-sized shop!

We are on our way west after spending Christmas in Naples with Greg's Dad and sister's family, and soaking up the moist warmth. After a detour back to Green Cove Springs to pick up some mail, we traveled to Tallahassee to stay overnight on Monday with Val, a professor at Florida State. We spent our teen years living around the corner from each other back in Maryland. The serendipity of Facebook connected us again, and she invited us to detour off I-10 on our way west. Val is doing super-cool research in AI (Artificial Intelligence) and using the computer for educational assessment and learning games. She recently published research that proved that playing the computer game Portal increases brain power better than Lumosity, marketed especially to us “older” folks to keep our brains active. She is vital and interesting herself, and we had a great visit catching up on 40+ years of living. She was full of questions about our lifestyle and enthusiastically toured our rig, including Greg's detailed description of dumping the waste tanks!

Sunset at Long Pine Key in Everglades National Park

Gator at Big Cypress National Preserve

Beautiful RV sites along Rock Creek in Naples, FL

Greg mastering the second grade level of Val's educational software!

Val and Kathleen

Back on the road Tuesday afternoon we drove until darkness forced us to stop at a Flying J in Gulfport, MS. When we pulled in we realized this one was a repeat for us from a journey eastbound sometime in the last two years. A noisy stop. Wednesday morning we wondered where we would spend New Year's Eve, and wound up in another Flying J west of Houston. We backed up to the entry ramp to I-10. Noisy night, but at midnight we had Texas legal fireworks to watch from all the windows of the RV. Greg got up early for a Denny's breakfast just across the parking lot, and we stretched our morning in the parking lot to allow the ice to clear on I-10 farther west. No more warm Florida temps. Winter storm passing through and we were sitting it out in above-freezing temps, but not much above.

Crossing the Mississippi

New Years Day saw us driving through dreary drizzly weather through San Antonio and into Boerne just northwest of there. We found the Cascade Caverns campground a few miles off the interstate and had a very quiet night among the Live Oak trees of the Texas Hill country. A three-mile ride brought us to the dealer this morning. So here we sit in the drizzle, (not inside), and 38 degree temps. West of us in New Mexico and Arizona they are having hard freeze warnings, but by Monday the temperatures should begin to rise. Yay! Ready for warm dry Southwestern weather, and the Quartzsite rally on the 17^th. Before then we may wander about a bit to some of our favorite places. Looking forward to boondocking in the desert, setting out our folding chairs and soaking up the sun, dryness, and the long distance views. Oh, and cactus! I am so ready for some cactus!

Update- After we left the dealership in Boerne, we decided to drive down to Route 90 that drapes across the southern third of Texas. That would allow us to avoid the ice storm across I-10. We drove through the rain and gloom, and by dark reached Del Rio and the Amistad Recreation Area. Pulling into Governor's Landing campground we found a spot along the reservoir that the US shares with Mexico. It was a cold, dark, windy night. No hook-ups there, but only $2 for a place to tuck away off the main road. In the morning we woke to blue skies and a beautiful lake spread out below us.

Amistad Campsite view

The morning drive took us to west Texas. We debated going down to Big Bend National Park, one of our favorite parks, but a check of the weather showed that it was still going to be very cold, and with no hook-ups there, not much fun trying to stay warm. We continued west into Sanderson, Texas and stopped for gas. That's when we began to discover the effects of the winter storm that came through the day and night before. The power was out in the whole town, and the next town Marathon, too. Luckily we drive off the top of the fuel tank and make a point of filling up when we are at half. Cars, trucks, and RV's who waited to fuel up were stuck there until the power came back on.

We drove the 54 miles to Marathon. No fuel or power there, too, and then drove the remaining 30 miles into Alpine. About 15 miles out we abruptly reached the ice line. The storm the night before put down so much ice that it looked like snow. All the vegetation was thickly coated in ice, and there were broken tree branches everywhere. We started to see the reason for the power outages. Poles were snapped and lines down from the ice. Thankfully it was just above freezing, the sun was out and the roads dry. In Alpine, all the gas pumps were parked up with people waiting to fill up and the handles were covered with bags, but the traffic lights were still on. We realized that the diesel pumps at one Alon station were working. We use diesel, so we filled up. Apparently, the heavy holiday traffic combined with the storm left the gas tanks at the stations empty. They were waiting for the tankers to roll in.

The ice snapped poles and downed wires for 15 miles

Ice-broken trees

Driving toward Alpine, Texas through the field of ice, not snow

We parked and found the Cow Dog food truck open. They were cooking with propane and we were able to buy some green chili cheese hot dogs. We sat outside in the sun and wind and ate them. Going inside the adjoining coffee shop, we discovered that the power had gone out again and they had sold their last brewed coffee. Apparently we fueled up at the pumps just in time before the power outage rendered them useless again!

The downside to Fritos on a Cowdog is that they blow away in the wind! Fortunately, the green chilis stayed put.

Time to keep rolling west. Marfa is 26 miles beyond Alpine. On the way we abruptly drove out of the ice zone. When we reached Marfa, we found the police and sheriff directing traffic outside the two gas stations in town. Both had long lines of cars waiting for the fuel tankers to arrive. If we hadn't been able to refuel in Alpine we would have checked in to an RV park to wait for diesel. We wouldn't have had enough fuel to make it back out to I-10 at Van Horn, 100 miles from Alpine. Southwest Texas has one road running east-west, US 90, and only a few widespread towns. Could have been quite the adventure! Big lesson learned? Keep driving off the top half of the fuel tank, and fill up whenever we get the chance in remote areas. Note from Greg - Aggravating the lack of fuel for west bound travelers, the 30 mph headwind and 3,500-foot climb from Amistad to Alpine increased our fuel consumption by over 30%.

Fence buried by tumbleweeds

Tumbleweed frolicking in the big crosswind/headwind.

Late afternoon we reached Van Horn and hopped back on the interstate. By nightfall we had reached the north side of El Paso, just below the New Mexico border. Another night at a Flying J, quiet except for the cat fight under the RV at 1 AM. The next morning we crossed back into New Mexico. A couple hours later we reached Deming and re-provisioned at Walmart. Greg found a car wash and rinsed some of the bad weather road dirt off the rig. Then we drove to The Patio to treat ourselves to the best green chili cheeseburgers in New Mexico. Nooooo!!!!!! They were closed. We drove to Blake's Lotabuger chain fast food restaurant and tried theirs instead. Not as good.

Taste-testing another Green Chili Cheeseburger with scientific precision

Back on I-10 we traveled almost to the Arizona border, exited and went southwest, cutting over to Arizona near the Mexican border. Tonight finds us in Douglas at the Douglas golf course. There is a small RV park here, so we will stay tonight and drive the 30 miles over to Bisbee tomorrow. Looking forward to artsy, funky Bisbee and their huge open pit Copper Queen mine. Hoping to stay in the RV park in town on the rim of the mine.

Note from Greg - we encountered another unpleasant surprise on the way into Douglas. Driving into the low afternoon sun, I used the windshield washers for the first time since we left the Mercedes shop. Apparently, they topped off the washer reservoir with a product that was either bad or not used correctly. The windshield was coated in a blinding white film that got worse with more washing and wiping. Eventually, we were able to pull off the road and hand clean the windshield. At camp in Douglas, I rinsed off the RV and flushed out the washer reservoir with a hose, producing a 50-foot plume of suds on the ground. I sent off an email to our service rep, warning her of the problem so they can address the issue for other customers, who might not be lucky enough to be on an empty road when blinded by the washer fluid.

The windshield cleaner that didn't.