Tasting and Feasting

We love Davis Mountains State Park! It’s a state park with full hookups (50 amp and cable, too!) that will accommodate our 40-foot moose. Nestled in the mountains of West Texas, it’s very scenic. Sitting here at an altitude of 5,000 feet, it’s nice and cool. There are hiking trails just steps from our front door. There’s even a full-service restaurant on site that served us a mighty fine breakfast this morning. With our freshly purchased Texas Parks Annual Pass, we get all this for about $20 a night.

We may never leave.

We saw our new friends, and their welcome mat, off yesterday. Before they headed out toward Carlsbad, we enjoyed a tour of their rolling home over coffee and more laughter-filled conversation. We exchanged the names of “don’t miss” spots as well as places that can be easily passed up. Warren and Carol’s list of places to go in the next six months is long. With a goal to visit 49 states before they return home in September, they hope they’ll fill in their map. What they’re realizing is they are just scratching the surface.

“We have to remind ourselves that we’re just tasting the country on this trip,” Carol surmised. “We can’t be feasting on this go ‘round.”

Tasting and Feasting. What perfect words!

As “tasters”, these full-time travelers on a deadline have to make tough choices as they make their way. Though they are often tempted to linger in a spot they love, like this park, they know they must keep moving along. They are saving loads of great places to see later. And, although they’ve missed a lot in this first round, they have seen so much. They are, after all, on the journey of a lifetime. To spend a year on the road visiting 49 states is one of those things many folks dream about but only a few make real.

Now that we have these wonderful words, we see that our first year as fulltimers was definitely a “tasting” year. We saw a lot and didn’t linger long in any one spot. We weren’t on a deadline, per se. But, we weren’t sure how long we were going to pursue this nomadic lifestyle. We got a healthy, coast-to-coast and border-to-border taste of this wonderful country. And, it tasted great!

In our second year, especially the second half of Year Two, we are happily feasting. Our three-month stay in Kerrville provided us a chance to enjoy everything Texas Hill Country has to offer. We could imagine what it might be like to live there. In fact, we started to feel like we did! Just about a year ago, we scooted across West Texas in two days. This year we’re taking three weeks! By feasting in West Texas we were able to happily discover Davis Mountains State Park and add it to our very flexible itinerary. With plans to spend the next five months in basically two states, we think this is a great change of pace.

Right now, 2012 is shaping up to be another “tasting” year. With possible plans to go from the Gulf Coast to Alaska and down the West Coast, we won’t linger...much. Of course, all plans are subject to change. But, we love the idea of cycling between times of “tasting” and “feasting”.

We’re just hoping to avoid gaining any unwanted pounds in the process!

Welcome Mat

At last, we’ve beat the heat! We left our sizzling site in Lajitas at sunrise and made a beeline in two key directions: North and Up. Here we sit enjoying our high altitude perch at Davis Mountains State Park. It’s lots cooler. And, we’re very happy about that. We are so looking forward to spending the next five days exploring this beautiful area, and the next five nights admiring the stars. There are lots of them around here.

We had a very special delivery to make today. A couple of days ago, our neighbors in Lajitas, Warren and Carol, left a door mat at their campsite. They sent us an email as they were en route to Fort Davis asking us if the mat was still there, and if we would mind picking it up for them until we could meet again. As soon as we received the message we took a look. The mat was, indeed, still there. So, Paul ventured out in the scorching heat and stowed it away.

We weren’t sure when or where we would meet up with these good folks again. They are about six months into a one-year journey across the US with their teenage daughter. They’re on a deadline, so they’re moving pretty fast. But, it turns out they fell in love with this park and decided to stay an extra couple of days. So, this would be the place to deliver the mat.

Now, for the record, we have left more than one door mat at more than one campground. We’re not talking dozens. More like two. Maybe three. Each time we’ve left one somewhere we just chalk it up to experience and buy another. We were taken that our new friends were willing to wait for their door mat. To ordinary eyes, this plain rectangle of rubber with capital letters that spell out WELCOME isn’t much. But, it was obvious to us that to these folks it must be something special. We were happy to make the delivery.

In our effort to leave the Big Bend area as early as possible to escape the heat, we arrived at the park three hours before check-in. Turns out the two sites we had to choose from were still occupied. And, one of those was our new friends awaiting their mat. The park employee who checked us in got a chuckle from our story. We could almost hear her explaining to her family over dinner tonight: “These people came up from Big Bend to deliver a door mat.” It does sound a little crazy.

With nothing but time on our hands, we unhooked the Jeep, tossed in the mat and set out to make the delivery. The happy recipients offered us lunch, which we happily accepted. They had decided to spend an extra night but had to move to a water and electric site because the full hook-up area is full. We went to the office and made arrangements to take our friends' site and the park employee said we could keep our moose parked at the entry as long as wanted. That way, nobody was in a hurry.

We so enjoyed getting to know this very special family over lunch. The laughter and stories flowed. Over tasty barbeque sandwiches we learned the significance of the door mat. It has welcomed visitors to each of their homes for the last 30 years! They were so grateful to have it back. We were extra pleased to have made this very special delivery.

About mid-afternoon, we decided to begin the big motorhome shuffle. They made their move and so did we. After we were all settled, they came back to their old site and we visited some more. They are really wonderful people. We’re so glad to know them and look forward to seeing them down the road again.

Their daughter gave us an extra helpful hint about their old site. She explained that somehow, magically, in this wi-fi less park she had was able to snag a public wifi signal from the nearby camp lodge. Once we were settled, I fired up the laptop and saw the very signal. With no cell service or wifi, we were all set to rough it for the next five days. The surprise addition of wifi at our site was the sugar on top of a delightful day.

Tomorrow, our new friends will head north. We wish them wonderful adventures and safe and trouble-free miles. And, we’re finding ourselves smiling that they’ll continue welcoming guests into their rolling home with their trusty door mat.

You’re so welcome!

It's HOT!

We have a knack for visiting places during unseasonable, usually record-breaking, weather. And, Big Bend is no exception. It's flippin' hot!!! Down here on the banks of the Rio Grande it gets pretty darn toasty, of course. But, not usually this early. Our arrival apparently gave Mother Nature the all clear to heat up the place.

Alpine was a pleasant 64 degrees when we left mid-morning yesterday. As we made our descent on the two-hour drive the sun was blazing and the temperatures were on the rise. By the time we pulled into Maverick Ranch RV Park here in Lajitas the mercury had reached the mid-80s.

We pulled into our site with amazing views and started setting up. As soon as we had power I turned on the AC. For a few blissful minutes the polar air filled the moose. Then, in an instant, there was nothing. No AC. No power.

Ugh.

Our neighbors were in the same situation. Turns out many of the sites had lost juice. Park management assured us they were on the case and would keep us posted. When the temperature inside the moose hit 85 degrees (which didn't take long) we fired up the generator. And, our neighbors did the same. With the gennie runnin' and the AC hummin' we sat and waited. We put a pause on our setup in case we had to move. An hour or so later the park manager came by and gave us a big thumbs up. Power had been restored.

It was over 90 degrees outside when we were back on park power. We finished our setup and kept every shade drawn. Bullwinkle felt like a cave, except it was hot! With the moose's nose pointed south and our patio side on the west, there was no shade to be had, even with both of our awnings out. As much as we would have loved to get outside and explore, we cocooned in the moose and kept a watchful eye on our indoor/outdoor thermometer. At cocktail time the inside temperature was 81 degrees, and on our patio it was 105!

Nobody in our house was very happy.

We've never been so happy to see the sun go down! As soon as it dropped behind the mountains, we popped outside to enjoy the steadily cooling temperatures. When things got comfortable, Paul fired up the grill and we sat down to dinner about 10. Now, we like to eat late. But, not that late!

After dinner, cooler heads prevailed and we hatched a game plan. With brutally hot and sunny days in the forecast for the duration of our stay, we needed to turn our moose around. If we could point to the north, the IMAX windshield would avoid direct sun. And, if our patio faced east, we could make our own much-needed shade. During the cool mornings we could be free to get out early, explore and make it home by early-afternoon to check on the kitties who should be OK until then if the power fails again. We went to bed to the sound of the AC still humming and hopes for a better day today.

This morning, Paul went to the office and worked his magic. Just after noon, the park manager came by with our new site assignment. You've never seen two people ready an RV for travel so quickly! We had slides in, jacks up and engine running before we shut off the AC and unplugged from our soon-to-be-former site. Two minutes later the moose was one row and three sites over, pointing north. Just like we wanted! First things first, Paul plugged Bullwinkle into his new home and the AC was humming once again.

We spent the afternoon making plans for several upcoming early morning outings to the park while we watched the first "real" day of the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Of course, our AC has hummed continuously, and thankfully we've had no interruption in power. We have a few shades open and while it's still warm in here, it's much less cave-like and more comfortable. Our patio is well shaded and is looking like an inviting spot to sit and enjoy a cold one soon. I just checked the thermometer. It's only 92 degrees out there.

Good thing we have plenty of ice!

Do the Math

Now that we're a few days into Daylight Savings Time, here's a reminder. If you haven't changed your smoke detector batteries this week, do it now. We didn't do it on Sunday. And, guess what happened very early Monday morning?

Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

That's right. We got the "middle of the night" reminder! There's nothing like a groggy search for a 9V battery at 3:00 a.m.!

With fresh batteries installed, we'll be heading to Big Bend later this morning. And, yes, we're taking the moose. That's the answer to one of the most common questions around the park this week. It seems most folks here make Big Bend a big day trip. And, we're talking BIG day trip! Most do the 300-plus mile round trip just once during their stay. So, although it's a very full day, it hardly seems worth the trouble of packing up the RV. But, we're looking forward to doing some hiking and exploring. And, heck, we have the time. We're going to take it! So, we're going in the coach.

Paul was in the laundry yesterday when another camper asked if we had been to Big Bend. He explained that we were heading out today. And, yes, we were taking the motorhome. The fellow camper replied that he thought the parks down there were too expensive. So, he was planning to make three day trips from here.

To each his own!

As he put the laundry away, Paul started to do the math.

If you stay at this park a week, the nightly rate is $29. If you spend three nights at the closest RV park to Big Bend, it's $27 a night. So, that's a wash.

It's 84 miles between the two RV parks. We paid $3.79 (gasp!) for diesel the other day. And, our moose gets about 9 mpg. So, our 168-mile round-trip will cost us 19 gallons of fuel valued at $72.

Much more of this fancy math is going to depress me!

But, what about the day tripper? Make that 168-mile trip three times and that's another 504 miles on your odometer. Let's assume you're driving a toad that gets 25 mpg using gas, for which we paid $3.59 (gasp!) a gallon here in Alpine. What will those three long days of driving cost you? You guessed it: $72!

And that money just gets everybody to Big Bend National Park! How much time and money you can spend driving around that 1,250 square-mile expanse is anybody's guess.

So, in terms of cash, it's pretty much a wash. But, with your RV parked just outside of this big national park, the daytripper would save about four hours a day. Two extra days of driving means at least eight extra hours.

What will we do with our "extra" eight hours at Big Bend? Stay tuned!

Searching and Researching

First things first, we're pleased to report the missing book has been found. And, order is restored in our rolling home. We continue to be amazed at the the little hidey holes in this house.

We're having a great time hanging here in Alpine. We've decided to stop for a few days in nearby Fort Davis on our way back from Big Bend, so our sightseeing agenda here has been abbreviated. That's given us more time to do one of our favorite things and to try something new.

We love to go geocaching. But, it just never seems like we have time to go in search of caches. This year, we've set a goal: to find 250 geocaches this year. Before yesterday, we were up to - eh - five . (Really, we have no excuse!) We picked up the pace yesterday and found three caches around Alpine. This isn't exactly a cache-rich part of the world, but the three we went in search of and happily found gave us a 360-degree tour of the town and one steep and rocky climb. Going 3-for-3 and getting in a nice hike made it a very good day.

Today, we made our maiden voyage into a bit of genealogy research. We don't really have much interest in this pursuit, but it turns out that Paul had a great uncle who lived in Alpine for awhile in the 1930s. So, we were curious to know if we had any peeps here in town. We made quick stops at the public library and the tax assessor's office. The latter pointed us to the archives at Sul Ross State University. There we found a most helpful librarian who set us up for our search. She knows a couple of newbies when she sees 'em. And, she cautioned us that there was probably just a 50-50 shot that we'd find anything.

With our expectations in check, we started looking. Within minutes we'd made a discovery. Turns out the great uncle owned a couple of restaurants back in the day. In the days way before Starbucks, the ol' uncle had the hottest coffee spot in town. We got some dates and saw a helpful old photo or two. Even the librarian was excited about our finds. After that, the trail ran cold. But, we had learned something! That's where, we think, people get hooked on this whole genealogy gig. But, not us. We'd rather be out hiking hills in search of geocaches than sitting with our noses in old books in the library. But, it sure was fun.

We might try it again, someday. But, for now, we have 242 caches to find this year!

Rituals

Well, our first travel day of 2011 is in the books. Actually, it isn't literally in the book...yet. Somehow, we've misplaced Paul's travel journal. In this handy dandy missing book, he captures the essential info for each travel day. It's in here somewhere. We'll find it...eventually.

Our event-free day reminded us of a couple of things. First, after sitting in one place for three months we're really rusty at this "get up and go" thing. After we landed today, I was scratching my head trying to remember my set-up routine. When I find myself wondering how to push the button to start the satellite search, I know I'm rusty!

The other reminder du jour is how we've come to depend on our travel day rituals. What some may call a "rut" has become our very comfortable travel day routine.

Travel days actually start the night before. Neither of us tends to sleep very well on travel day eve. So, with precious little sleep (Three hours for me last night and a couple more for Paul.) we're up early. We always allow a nearly decent amount of time for leisurely coffee. Then, it's time for our traditional travel day breakfast: Jimmy Dean Sausage Biscuits. These things are loaded with calories and fat. But, they're quick, easy and don't dirty any dishes. They're very satisfying and keep us going well into the afternoon. Our travel day lunch is usually late but very simple. We'll stop at a rest stop or Walmart parking lot and split a sandwich. Today, we noticed that our lunch stops are considerably faster than our fuel stops. They're lots cheaper, too!

No matter how far we go on a travel day, we set a simple rule for ourselves: We cover at least half of the day's distance before noon. That pretty much keeps us to under 300 miles a day (Today was just a few miles more.) and gets us to our destination by 3:00 p.m. Once we're settled, we take a much needed stroll around the park and/or neighborhood. And, by 5:00 we're ready for happy hour. Just like our travel day breakfast, dinner is equally predictable. We have a favorite brand of frozen pasta in a bag. It takes just one skillet and 15 minutes to make a tasty hot meal. We pour a glass of wine, toss a salad if we feel like it and toast a successful day on the road.

After dinner we're usually running on fumes. (Lack of sleep and a couple hundred miles will do that.) So, it's generally early to bed for us. The last, and perhaps most precious, travel day ritual takes place the day after. As much as we can, we make the day after a "down" day. We don't schedule a thing, and just let our first day in our new locale unfold on its own.

Generally, we're pretty spontaneous people. But, with all the things that can go sideways on a travel day, it's so nice to have some familiar rituals to count on, no matter where we land.

Now, if we could just find that damn book!

(Not) Gone With The Wind

What was it we were just saying about paying close attention to the weather? Something about how weather advisories can change your plans?

Today's expected departure from Kerrville has been delayed by six words: High Wind Warning; Blowing Dust Advisory.

We made a pledge long ago to not travel during a high wind warning. Now, if it would be a tailwind we'd consider it. But, we'd be fighting 50 mph-plus gusts head on most of the way, and crosswise the last hour or so. Throw some blowing dust into the mix and only one thing is crystal clear. Today is not the day to drive into West Texas.

Wednesday's forecast calls for cooler temps and a 5 to 10 mph tailwind. Much better.

After all...tomorrow is another day.

Blogroll Maintenance

While we've been busy getting ready to roll, I decided to do a bit of blog maintenance and give some much-needed attention to our blogroll.

We had the great pleasure of meeting Mike and Peggy, who stopped here in Buckhorn for a couple of nights on their sojourn to points west. I read their blog periodically, but they weren't on our blogroll so I was far from a regular reader. On a walk around the park we spotted their Adventurer and toad with Maine plates and something looked familiar. Later, I fired up the laptop and spotted a new wifi network in the neighborhood: Maineiacs. I knew that word from the title of their blog and went looking. Much to our delight, we discovered Mike and Peggy were here!

Their time was limited, but we enjoyed a brief visit yesterday morning. We exchanged stories of the road and all things Winnebago. And, we look forward to meeting them on the road again one day. We had planned to see them off this morning. But, one of us was still sleeping when they hit the road. We wish them safe travels as they head far west before they head home.

This whole exchange got me thinking about our blogroll. Mike and Peggy have a blog, but I hadn't put them on the blogroll because I didn't know where to "put" them. So, I didn't put them anywhere and, as a result, nearly missed them. Determined to list their blog in a place I couldn't miss it, I went to work on reorganizing the list. I quickly got rid of the old "categories" and divided the list in two simple groups. Bottom line, we really don't care what anybody's "fulltiming status" is. And, who are we (of all people) to declare what that is anyway? What we do know is there are some folks out here in blogging land that we've met, and there are those that we have yet to meet but would sure like to one day. So, that's how they're listed. And, I don't know about you, but it makes a whole lot more sense to us.

Now we have the perfect place to list a bunch more blogs!

Not Counting

We're leaving here in a few days. But, who's counting?

Not us!

Of course, this time last year, we were counting down the days, hours and minutes until we were sprung from the RGV. But, this year is different. Way different! Our winter in Texas Hill Country has been, in a word, fantastic. In fact, tonight we declared this stint our Best Stop Ever.

For what started as a month-long stay easily extended to three. And, we've never spent two months in one spot, much less three! Our time here in this comfortable, friendly, spacious park has actually flown. We've stayed surprisingly busy.

We've had friends and family here for the duration of our stay, which has made things extra nice. And, we've met lots of great new folks, too. We've seen almost all of the sights here in Hill Country. And, even after three months, we've managed to save some things for next time.

We've made time to take care of a bunch of "to-dos", too. Bullwinkle and Rocky will leave here in great shape. It's been a real treat to have the time to get everything they needed done to make them ready for our Spring travels. We've made plenty of time for ourselves, too. We've read, rested, sewed, exercised, busted a few myths and just chilled - figuratively and quite literally.

Yep, Kerrville was a bit chilly for a bit. But, with easy peasy propane delivery every week, we almost didn't notice the cold. And, it passed quickly, anyway. At least that's how we'll remember it. And, it's easy to forget the winter chill when March starts with sunny days well into the 70s.

Now that things are warming up, the road beckons. We can't say that we have hitch itch, exactly. But, we are definitely looking forward to heading west. We're ready to spend the next three weeks exploring west Texas. And, we're already wondering if a month in Santa Fe will be enough. But, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For now, we'll spend the next couple of days getting ready to roll. Something tells us the "see you laters" will be the hardest part.

We're counting on it.