1. Nothing free is ever that good. There is always more minuses than pluses.
2. Bathroom showers in all rv parks are never that clean. I guess they’ve never heard of bleach or hand-held shower nozzles.
3. Everything is filled with both good and bad. There is an upside and a downside to everything.
4. There are too many smokers everywhere. We often have to tolerate them in RV parks because there is no such thing as a non-smoking rv park. The rv’s are parked so close together that smoke from a neighboring rv can be torture for people like us, but there is nothing we can do about it except close up the door and windows. Not easy to do on a warm day. We are forced to endure until we can move on to somewhere else and hope to get lucky. We usually request not to be near smokers but they can’t always accommodate us.
5. Bars and restaurants are often smoky. Even smoking areas can overlap into the non-smoking areas. One has to learn to tolerate.
6. Try to eat before going anywhere or you’ll end up eating in restaurants. That may be fine part of the time but most of the time you’ll want to eat your own food in your home—your rv. And eating out gets very expensive and can drain a bank account. Always allow time to eat before going to movies or other events or you’ll be starving and eat their expensive food.
7. The more outdoors type of camping you do, the more problems with insects. Hornets, bees, flies and red ants are always a problem. The greener and more forested the area is, the more bugs. We use a hornet’s trap and ant trap when we need to, and we hang fly strips if necessary. We also sprinkle salt around our patio area to deter ants, but we only do this if the patio area is gravel or dirt. We don’t do it if there is grass or plants.
8. If a picnic table is provided at our rv space (and they are only half the time), we always turn it upside down to sweep it and spray it with bug spray, to kill any spiders lurking about. We let it dry and air out and then wash it down and apply a tablecloth when it is dry.
9. RV people are the best people in the world. All so helpful, friendly and cooperative and yet, they understand boundaries. That’s important when living in such close quarters. We always try to behave likewise everywhere we go.
10. RV people divide up into groups. The 1st group, the largest, are the retired people who either live and travel on the road, or are out often or for extended periods of time. The 2nd group are the vacationers. These are people with or without families who still work and go camping or rv traveling when they get vacation time for a couple of weeks at the most. The 3rd group are the poor who hit upon hard times and found themselves without jobs, then went broke, lost their home and now all they can afford is to live in their run-down rv/camper/trailer and live in an rv park. Some of these have struck a deal with the parks they live in. Free or reduced rent in exchange for work. Of these poor, some are permanently disabled, mentally or physically, and cannot work and have to get by on social security or disability payments. And of these, many are veterans. So be respectful.
11. There are rich and poor rv’ers and they are easy to spot by the type of rv they drive. The big, new, executive ones pretty much tag someone as rich, while the others are pretty much the same and drive modest rv’s. There isn’t any snobbery though, which is nice to see.
12. I have rated rv parks on a 5 star rating, with 5 being the really beautiful, executive, exclusive and expensive parks. There aren’t that many of those and they are only for rich golfers in my opinion. A 1 star is a dismal, dirty, run-down park while 2 and 3 stars are sort of average. What makes me rate them high or low is the condition of the bathrooms. A 4 star is the best with newer facilities, lots of amenities, great bathrooms. We mostly stay in 2-3 star parks. Obviously, we try to get the best possible park at the lowest possible price.
13. Part of traveling is to experience new things and that means both food and activities. We ate things like Honey Crisp Apples (a variety we’d never heard of before), and elk jerky and marionberries. Activities could be something like zip-lining, bungie-jumping, a helicopter ride, a boat tour, trout fishing, going to the ballet or opera, or any number of things you’ve never done before.
14. We have 2 – seven gallon propane tanks. We use one up every 2 weeks and it costs about $25 to fill it. Propane is what we use for the hot water heater, the heating and the cooking. It costs about $50 per month for propane. We also have a 3 gallon propane tank that we use to cook on the little BBQ grill we have outside.
15. With our solar panel it costs about $20 per month for electricity. The electrical is what we use for lights, a/c, electronics (tv, computers) and the refrigerator. Our hot water heater has electric capability but we don’t usually use it. With our solar panel, we only use about $20 per month of electricity.
16. It costs us about $50 per month to do laundry in the RV park Laundromat which is usually cheaper than using the Laundromats in town.
17. We’ve learned that there are 2 types of rv parks—the camping experience of State & National Parks and lakes in wilderness areas, and the town rv parks which are privately owned. State and National Parks don’t always have full hook-ups but the town parks always have full hookups. The State and National Parks require reservations in advance, the town rv parks you can just arrive and get a spot if they have room.
18. Town rv parks are usually located in the ‘bad’ or ‘not so good’ areas of a town. The hotels get the prime real estate, the rv parks get the leftovers. At least, the affordable parks do. In Tempe, Arizona the park was next to the metro and there were shootings and police sirens all the time. In Morro Bay, Calif, our park was on the beach but next to the waste water treatment plant. In Tucson, the park was on the outskirts of the ugly side of town and was overcrowded and run down. That park catered to the poor, disabled, and vets. In Las Vegas, the rv park was very nice but located in the northern part of town next door to Nellis Air Force Base and the jets drove us crazy with their noise. In Corpus Christi, the park was across from a school and next door to a cemetery, and near the chemical plants which spew smoke all day long. Often we’ve stayed in parks that are right next to the freeway or next to an airport so the noise is constant. In a State or National Park, it tends to be quieter, except of course, for the party people on the weekends. In town rv parks you don’t see children too much. Mostly the travelers are our age or older. At lakes and in the National and State parks you see families with kids more.
19. RV’s have small living quarters no matter how big they are. People who have some sedentary hobbies and interests will do better than someone who is active all the time and claustrophobic in small areas. While it’s important to be active every day and get some exercise, there are times when you’ll be stuck indoors and you’ll need some quiet interests. TV and movies, reading, writing, puzzles, computers, games, practicing music on a portable instrument (guitar, flute, etc.), crafts and hand stitchery, even cooking and baking are all good ways to pass the time.
20. You have to enjoy or at least tolerate driving to do this lifestyle because there is a lot of driving involved. Having a good car stereo and radio is helpful, having conversation with your partner, and being able to tolerate quiet is important.
21. Cooking in the trailer is different than cooking at home with a lot more space and more gadgets. In the trailer I am having to learn how to cook very simply with fewer implements, less pots and pans and even less food. I use my crock pot a lot more—even making lasagna in it and didn’t even boil the pasta—just broke it to fit in the layers and let it cook several hours on low. It tasted fine, but was a little dry as I didn’t take into account that I should have thinner sauce and needed more liquid to cook the pasta. Next time I’ll know and adjust the recipe for it. As I said, a new learning experience. I also use the top of the stove more—more skillet cooking and sautéed food. Meals are very simple—only one or two items. We like burgers and meat so we grill as much as we can outdoors. But a burger meal is just a burger with no frills—no chips, no potato salad unless there is company, which is rare. So in some ways, we’re eating less. I have to buy small amounts of everything. No more buying large bottles of olive oil, we buy the smaller ones even if it cost more per ounce. We no longer buy the 2 for 1—we just don’t have space for extras. I buy grated cheese instead of grating my own—it’s easier. I’m not above using convenience foods when it is just easier. I have to think about making as little mess in my tiny trailer kitchen as possible. Plus, we just don’t want to be home too much. The reason for travel is to be out and about experiencing the area we are in. So we even eat out quite a bit. We don’t want to buy a lot of food and then end up throwing it out either. Hence, we only plan a couple of days of meals and they may actually end up lasting a whole week if we are eating out and on the go. We’re not above using some canned food, something we rarely did at home. I buy canned soups and canned meat like chicken or tuna for quick sandwiches, or on crackers when I don’t have bread, or on salad if I don’t have crackers. But I don’t buy up a lot of this either. No space for it. I do utilize my tiny freezer to freeze a small amount of leftovers if necessary but I can’t save much, so we have to cook small amounts—something else new I am having to learn to do. I buy only small containers of coffee, no room for the big cans. I can only have 1 bottle of salad dressing at a time. No room for several bottles. We use it up before we buy another. The same goes for paper towels, Kleenex, and condiments.
22. Technology, specifically a GPS—contrary to popular belief, it’s only 50% helpful. When ours is not taking us on a wild goose chase, or bypassing freeways to send us through side streets, or telling us the nearest donut shop is 100 miles away, when I just saw one the day before (but can’t remember the street it was on), or sending us to places that are closed for business…..then it can be helpful. But I still have to use paper maps, and my computer. Online, I can google the local directory to find the places I’m looking for, call the numbers listed to see if they are still in business, and then even google directions which are more accurate than my GPS. The only time the GPS is really helpful is if there is an actual address to feed in it. Then it will get us there, albeit by using streets but not freeways. So again, Map-Quest or Google directions are often better although they are not fool-proof either. We found that our GPS had old information and needed to be updated, so we paid the $25 to get updated maps, but it’s hardly any better. People try to tell us we should buy a better GPS or Onstar or any number of techno gadgets, but we’d go broke trying to have it all. We are trying to travel within our means—a trac-phone and an old GPS and paper maps. At least we do have a laptop and use the public internet whenever we can, even at the risk of being hacked.
23. Living on the road and just traveling without commitments and schedules or at the whim of others is very liberating and we value our freedom enormously. But with this comes a price. It also makes us feel disenfranchised from others who are working and living in one place and having roots. We are coming to terms with our loneliness, and some days are harder than others. There is good and bad in everything, even in traveling.
24. Television, which is such a big part of everyones’ life, is a very small part of our life. Of course, if one can afford it then it is possible to have satellite tv and better cable, but we can’t afford all that. So we’re at the mercy of whatever RV park we are in, and most of them, especially the cheap ones, have very few cable channels—and usually the ones they have are the worst. We channel surf to find the best of the worst—like QVC, or local political channels that air the latest city council meeting, or the 10 Spanish channels, or cartoons. Sometimes we’re lucky and run across an episode of Twilight Zone or a rerun of Seinfeld which is half over, but most of the time we are reduced to finding other pursuits or renting the occasional movie from a Blockbuster (which we still have a membership with), or actually going to a movie theater. This isn’t so bad. When I lived in our home I got very addicted to television because we had the best of the satellite channels and Netflix so I hardly ever had to leave my home and it was easy to spend the entire day watching programs, something I never used to do when we had so few cable channels in the years before. Living this lifestyle, we are forced to get out into the real world and mingle a little more and actually do things.
25. RV parks which have clubhouses or recreational rooms are often the most social and you’ll meet new friends. But some parks are just more social than others anyway.
26. No one wants to talk about poop but the reality of living in an RV is that it is something you have to manage. I’m talking of course, about the Black Tank, which every RV has. We quickly learned 3 lessons: #1: That you must use special fast-dissolving toilet paper that is made for RV’s, #2: You should use chemical agents made for the tank (it’s easy—you just pour a couple of ounces into the toilet and flush every time you drain the tank); #3 That you must install a sprayer on the side of the tank to rinse it out whenever you dump the tank. #4 Use a garden hose with special nozzle in the toilet to give further cleaning about every 2 or 3 times you dump the tank. This rinses the tank from the top down with a high pressure rinse and makes the difference between a stinky rv and a fresh smelling rv. Rinsing also keeps the sensors free of debris so you can read the monitor correctly. If you’re going to live and travel in an rv, it’s something you have to get used to without being squeamish.
27. There can be long stretches of road where there are no gas stations, so one must be very careful. If you stay on interstate highways there are always gas stations and services but if you want to drive a scenic route or pass through little towns in the outback, it is easy to get stuck without petrol. With the economy collapse a few years ago many little towns closed the gas stations, so don’t trust your GPS to always guide you to the nearest one. We get only 8 miles to the gallon when pulling our trailer so we have to be especially careful.
28. We learned we really don’t like to be anywhere the temperature falls below 40 degrees, especially if we are without hookups (because we can’t use the heater). We can manage temps of 30º but we really don’t like it. It means that we have to worry about our tanks and hoses freezing, and we have to use heat more, and we feel vulnerable to the elements.
29. We should have done a trial run of living in our RV before we actually left on this journey. Then I would have had a better idea of what to bring and what to leave. I brought so many non-essentials and left behind things I could have used.
30. Gasoline: In most RV’s including ours, paying for petrol takes a huge bite out of our budget. We get 8 miles to the gallon when pulling the trailer, so that averages out to $100 for every 200 miles we drive. We’ve learned a couple of tricks to help us make the most of what gas we use:
a) We try to keep our speed at 55 mph on the freeways and interstates. I forget exactly what the formula is, but that is a standard practice to maximize fuel efficiency in RV’s.
b) We drive shorter distances and stay longer at locations. We sometimes stay a month in an RV park just to conserve money to make it possible to continue the trip the following month with money in the bank (RV parks are cheaper by the month than by the day). We also have to do this when we anticipate expensive repairs to the truck or trailer. It takes a long time to travel and see the country but at least we’re doing it.
c) We check our tires regularly to make sure they are inflated to correct air pressure standards.
d) We try not to idle the engine. If we’re in line and it looks like it’s going to be a while, we turn off the engine. Idling burns a lot of fuel. We also try not to be on the freeways and interstates during rush hour traffic for the same reason.
e) We try to travel off-season when fuel prices are lower. We may encounter rain or sub-optimal weather at times but we make the most of it by enjoying the good weather in-between. If we’re stuck in the trailer on a rainy day, we play board games and catch up on reading or other favorite hobbies. I even use the time to clean the RV really well or bake something. As soon as the weather clears, we’re out and about. If we’re in a city we go out and about no matter what the weather.
f) We plan our trip ahead of time to find the shortest route to save on unwanted excess travel miles. If we’re on the road for extended periods, we plan ahead a day, a week or a month by checking out our plans online and using a GPS.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
November - December 2011 Arizona - New Mexico - Texas
10 days at $185.00.
What a beautiful state Arizona desert of Nevada
As we arrived in Phoenix we were debating on whether or not to continue down to Tucson Tempe , a suburb of Phoenix
Between gas for the truck and repairs from the chronic wear & tear on an old truck and trailer, it keeps us poor and we have to travel very slowly, literally from 1 paycheck to another. Did I mention that we get 8 miles to the gallon when we pull the trailer? That averages out to $100 per every 200 miles we drive.
So we stayed in Tempe
We liked Tempe and Mesa Tempe Phoenix
We ate out very little but did manage a nice evening at a sports bar & grill called the New Yorker. Dan enjoyed watching the golf game on the big screen tv. We ate breakfast one day at a café called Cracker & Company where I had the most incredible, fattening plate of French toast and Dan had blueberry blintzes. We had to take home a box of leftovers which Dan finished over a 2 day period.
We went to the Heard Museum one day in Phoenix
One thing we enjoyed very much was a movie theater we went to. It was very unique. We chose it because it was the only one playing the new Planet of the Apes movie, which happened to be as good as I hoped. The theater was one of those traditional 10 screen theaters, but it only cost $3 per person and it was decorated to the nines. One side of the lobby had a very large, ornate Christmas scene and the other side had the entire cast of the Pirates of the Caribbean—with life-size mannikins. All through the theater were these life-size Hollywood mannikins—Tom Hanks, the Rat Pack, Elvis, the 3 Stooges, etc. There was even a glass display case with metal lunchboxes—also with celebrity faces. I found out later the theater is privately owned so that explained its unique-ness.
Our RV park was managed by a very nice couple but the office and attached public bathrooms smelled terrible from their cigarette smoke. There are too many smokers out there! It’s one of the few chronic irritating things about travel. The bathrooms also had no dressing rooms and nowhere private to dress and undress. That to me is a deal-breaker. From now on, every RV park we enquire about is going to be asked about privacy. For the week we stayed here, we just used our own trailer shower even though it’s small and we have to unload all the storage from it every day. The shower/tub is where we store our laundry hamper, our bathroom bags of wash stuff and clothes and towels. It’s just easier to use the public showers. I’ve also found that all the showers from every park we’ve gone to just isn’t quite as clean as I’d like. Mostly my complaint is about the showers. There’s always mold in the grout, in the corners and discoloration. I don’t know why all rv parks don’t use a little spray bleach to whiten and kill the mold and bacteria. I also wonder why they don’t install hand-held shower heads. They’re cheap and make it easy for people to get a quick shower, plus it makes a shower stall easier to clean. They spend money on other non-essentials, you’d think they could afford such a useful thing as these.
11/20/11
$25 per day
10 day stay
Wow, this is what I get for not checking out the park before we arrived, as I called the park after seeing it listed among others online and this one looked to be in the town so we decided to come here. I’m going to get better about asking questions because the management never tells the whole truth.
When we arrive in a town it’s actually difficult to pull the trailer everywhere to check on parks so I’ve gotten to where I research online and pick one before we arrive. I call ahead to see if they have room and feel thankful when they do. Because the southwest is where all the winter Snowbirds vacation, it’s not that easy to get an RV spot. And some parks are out in the woods, far from town, making it expensive to drive around to explore the area.
For instance, here the bathrooms are private but are so rustic they border on absolute decay. The old walls and floors are crumbling, the old, exposed pipes are filthy and in one shower, the first day, there was a huge wad of hair in the corner. At first, horrified, I thought it was a dead rat. I also discovered that even though there are 2 bathrooms, only one shower can be used because the other one only runs cold water.
I solve the bathroom problem by taking a bottle of spray bleach with me and I spray the shower down beforehand.
For toileting we use our own trailer bathroom most of the time and Dan is good about keeping the tanks maintained.
This particular park gets very few travelers because most of the people live here. They cater to Vets and the Disabled so poverty is apparent. However, what a nice group of people here! All friendly, all helpful. The spots are very crowded though and there is little privacy unless you stay in your RV. Our spot is next to the bathrooms and laundry room on one side and next to a walkway on the other so people pass by within a foot or two all day long. Somehow, these things don’t bother me all that much, maybe because we won’t be here long. Living and traveling this way on a limited budget means that we can’t stay at 5 star parks and make demands. So it changes ones’ attitude.
Payday is on the day we leave here but we are thinking about staying a few additional days. That would allow us to do some more local exploring but we just aren’t certain yet. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving fell on this week and that means days we couldn’t go do things. Holidays always mess up our plans.
We’d like to take a couple of day trips without the trailer. We’d like to visit Biosphere 2, Tombstone
We’ve noticed that RV people divide up into 3 groups. One group, the largest, are the retired people who either live and travel on the road, or are out often or for extended periods of time. The second group are the vacationers. These are people with or without families who still work and go camping or rv traveling when they get vacation time. The 3rd group are the poor who hit upon hard times and found themselves without jobs, then went broke, lost their home and now all they can afford is to live in their run-down rv/camper/trailer and live in an rv park. Some of these have struck a deal with the parks they live in. Free or reduced rent in exchange for work. Of these poor, some are permanently disabled, mentally or physically, and cannot work and have to get by on social security or disability payments. And of these, many are veterans.
These poor are 1 step from being homeless. If it weren’t for having some sort of rv to live in, they would be on the streets.
At one park we saw a man up on top of his run-down trailer, placing tarps over the roof just before a rain-storm moved in. Another lived in a camper on blocks, and he must have had a wood-burning stove in there because we noticed smoke regularly coming from the pipe attached on the roof. Some have wood tacked up over missing windows.
I have to say that so far, not one thing has been stolen from us. That is something we worried about when staying where there are obvious poor people living.
It costs an average of $400-$500 a month to live in one of these 1 and 2 star rv parks. That is not bad considering it includes utilities. Sometimes, the electric bill is extra but most people don’t spend more than $50-$100 per month on electricity. And people like us with a solar panel use only about $20 per month.
December 1, 2001
So, Dan wants to keep moving on. He doesn’t really want to stay here any longer. We’ll have to catch Biosphere 2 another time. Today we head for Tombstone New Mexico
The 10 days here has flown by. A couple of days we just stayed in—me writing, reading, watching tv and cooking; Dan doing his thing—playing online fake poker and enjoying walks and tv and doing maintenance on the truck and trailer. He’s in charge of our money so he works on the budget and logs in the receipts for everything we spend money on. That way we can budget and see where the money is going. No matter what, it’s very hard to save while traveling. Everything costs so much. We often have to hunker down the last week before the pension or social security check comes, just to avoid spending money.
We certainly enjoyed ourselves here. We always enjoy ourselves wherever we go. Yesterday we went to high tea at Chantilly , a local tea house. That was nice. A bit of elegance from another time. Sometimes I need a touch of civilized life—to drink tea from a china cup and saucer, eat delicate scones and finger sandwiches. I’d like to go to a symphony concert soon too.
We took pictures, we drove around. Enjoyed what beauty there is. Tucson
The every day chores include filling our water filter and then bottling the water for drinking and cooking. We empty the ice trays and fill them back up again. We use a lot of ice in our drinks. There are always dishes to wash, bed to make, floor to sweep and mop everyday.
Our neighbor next door is from Georgia
Another old guy with plenty of wear on him and no teeth, stopped by to tell us someone put several boxes of yellow squash in the laundry room and to help ourselves to it. He chatted for a while, something we all love to do around here. He freely told us about his years in prison and parts of his life, laughing about the whole thing. He seemed very nice although I can see his status in life is very low. But, what an amiable guy!
While in Tucson
We enjoyed a visit to Trail Dust Town
The Chapel of San Pedro was one of my favorites—an old street that is now residential and houses about an acre with little paths to walk and at the end of it is this little Spanish chapel that has been restored and maintained. It was right in town and yet felt so far away. We were the only ones there and it was very quiet. I spied a cottontail bunny, who didn’t appreciate us invading his sanctuary.
We enjoyed a couple of nice restaurants but mostly ate at home. The Blue Willow provided a tasty breakfast. One of the bakery-coffee bars cheated me on a latte but it’s not worth it to complain about it here. And of course, our tea room, my favorite. We visited a Waffle House but were not impressed. It’s simply a diner, a step up from a fast food and we didn’t think the food was all that special although the waitress was very nice. We try to get a game of cribbage going whenever we’re out at a restaurant like that.
Dan, ever mindful of every cent we spend, enjoyed discovering that Costco’s food court has great fast food very cheap. They had a special going—a hotdog and soda for $1.50. He wanted to go there whenever we planned to eat out! We went there twice but that was enough! The food was good but still, it was Costco and didn’t reflect the culture of what Tucson
We spent one afternoon in Old Town Artisans—the art section of town where we enjoyed a visit to the Museum of Art and the historic County Courthouse Mexico
December 1-4, 2011
Wells Fargo RV Park, Tombstone , Arizona
3 day stay @ $ 102.00
I’m so glad we were able to get an RV park downtown, next to the 3 block square of Tombstone Virginia City , Nevada Arizona
We found a nice little Pizza restaurant, housed downstairs in a motel. Very plain décor but clean and good food. We bought some fudge at the chocolate shop. We visited the museum and a Magic Shop where spiritual and Wiccan things are sold. It smelled so good in there with all the incense. We got a kick out of all the men in Tombstone
The towns leading into Tombstone Tombstone Tombstone
There are a lot of tourist things to do too but we didn’t do any of them. The Queen Mine Tour, which was in its heyday, the most productive copper mines of the 20th century. The Tombstone Trolly takes you for a ride throughout the area and ends at the Boothill cemetery. The evening Ghost & Murder Tours. Bisbee, an old mining town, and the Kartchner Caverns State Park
December 6, 2011
The Hatch RV Park, Corpus Christi , Texas
1 month stay @ $350 + electric
We left Tombstone after a 3 day stay, on Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 and it was snowing as we left and very cold. We decided to head for Corpus Christi , Texas to escape the cold since the weather was no better in New Mexico Corpus Christi Arizona for a few weeks but it turned very cold in Tombstone San Antonio , Texas New Mexico , we didn't even stop except to get a few post cards, and then down to El Paso San Antonio Corpus Christi
The first thing we did when we arrived here was head to the Wal Mart and buy sweat suits, beanie caps and gloves!
We have decided to stay a month here in Corpus Christi
It’s nice to be here in a big city but also near the water. We’re looking forward to getting a first look at the Gulf of Mexico . We also hope it will be warmer here than up north, although it was 30 degrees the day we arrived, which did not reassure us much.
Some interesting facts—both Arizona and Texas Arizona and Texas is often 75 and in Texas
We briefly passed through New Mexico before heading south through El Paso into Texas New Mexico
The Freeways in Nevada , Arizona , New Mexico and Texas Arizona there is a lot of tile mosaics, in Texas Nevada
We saw a lot of trains coming and going in New Mexico New Mexico and Arizona
In Texas
We got a kick out of this sign in Texas
We drove 2 full days through what I would term the Texas Prairie, vast stretches of nothing except scrub and chaparral. We saw windmill turbines on some of the mountains, a lot of derelict buildings, oil wells and lots of tiny towns. Because of the economy, we have learned to gas up the truck every time we come to a town that has a working gas station, since many of the little towns have their stations closed down. Texas has these enormous cities in-between the little towns and vast stretches of highway—El Paso , San Antonio , Houston
In Texas
I hate to admit this but….we just might be rednecks (somebody call Jeff Foxworthy)! Here’s the definition of a Redneck Microwave: putting the box of leftovers from the restaurant on the floor of the truck and turning the heater on! Aaaagh!
The people here are very nice although when we first entered the border, it was dicey.
I've always heard about the famous good manners of Texans so I'm looking forward to someone calling me ma'm! The border officer was obviously sick and coughed in Dan's face. He asked if we were both US
Then the truck stop guy in Van Dorn had a harelip and was kind of mean to us. He looked like a serial killer. The McDonalds people got our order wrong and then tried to blame us. If they could speak English, they'd probably have gotten our order right.
Then the truck stop guy in Van Dorn had a harelip and was kind of mean to us. He looked like a serial killer. The McDonalds people got our order wrong and then tried to blame us. If they could speak English, they'd probably have gotten our order right.
But it got better the further we drove into Texas
This park with full utilities (called hook-ups) is only costing us $350. Where else can you get rent and utilities for that? Of course, by the day they charge $30-40 per night so staying a month is always the best deal. But most places we can't stay that long or we'd never get to see the country except at a slugs' pace, which we are already practically doing now.
We'll hopefully get a chance to really see Arizona (Flagstaff , the Grand Canyon), and N. Mexico next fall--we'll go earlier to beat winter and see the northern parts. Our going to Oregon for a month is what slowed us up this year, that and staying in Las Vegas
The park we are in is, as usual, in a sort of 'not so good' neighborhood, which is normal for rv parks. The hotels get the prime real estate, the rv parks get the leftovers. But no matter what, we never have any problems. Even when there are shootings around (Tempe), or if we are next door to a wastewater treatment plant (Morro Bay), or if we are in a run-down park on the outskirts of the “bad” side of town that mostly caters to the poor, disenfranchised, disabled, and vets (Tucson), we make the best of it all and we feel safe. The travelers band together and keep the peace. People look out for one another.
This particular park is across from a high school and next door to a cemetery. At least it ought to be quiet and the office woman assured me the dead next door have very nice, quiet ghosts. The Industrial section is fairly close by--that bothers me the most but we can't smell anything from the chemical plants which spew smoke all day long. We're not going to be here long enough to get poisoned, I'm fairly sure. We brought our Berkey with us--it filters all our water--so we won't get sick from that, at least.
We are mostly content, and we know this is the only way we can afford to travel and see our country.
Most criminals simply don't bother with rv parks. Too many people around keeping an eye out, plus most of the time the management is on-sight full-time. In many ways, they are little utopias in the middle of chaos. The only concern is the public internet network we use. We do worry about getting hacked or having our identity stolen.
So, the park we are in right now is quite nice, definitely a 2 ½ to 3 star (out of 5). We often make do with a 2 star and feel lucky when we can find a 3 star. The condition of the bathrooms is what I really judge a place on. We'll be just fine here, I am sure.
It's very social here. I met Elise, the social director at the clubhouse. There is something going on every day. She's very nice--from Quebec Nevada
Everywhere but in Texas Texas
In the beginning we had thought we’d like to stay in state and national parks more, but they require reservations and we don’t always want to commit because we are not always sure if we will arrive on time. They also often don’t have full hook-ups, making cooking and washing dishes difficult if there is no sewer hook-up. We didn’t have room to bring much of our outdoor camping equipment either. Many of the state and national parks are out in wilderness areas, miles from a town and that means spending a lot of money on gas driving back and forth. So far, we’ve needed towns to get work done on the truck quite often. Living and traveling with our trailer is just different than vacationing and city rv parks just make more sense. Although, I won’t rule out the chance to stay at some state and national parks now and again, and do the camping thing.
We also have to be careful not to get stuck in real snow because we don’t have our tire snow chains with us. We’ll pick up the chains and some of our stuff from storage when we go home next fall. We are thinking that we’ll head back across the US towards home in Calif
December 12, 2011
We’ve been here in Corpus Christi
We discovered we still have a leak over the bathtub after 2 attempts to repair it. Dan is going to talk to an RV place today and discuss how to fix it. I think the whole roof is going to need to be re-sealed but it can’t be done until the rain stops and everything dries out.
It’s of concern because we also need to have work done on the truck—tires and back brakes-- and wonder how long we’ll need to be here to afford to fix it all. Corpus Christi
Yesterday we went exploring a little bit. It’s hard to do without proper maps. Dan called the Triple A and they are supposed to mail us maps but we haven’t received them yet. We drove out to South Padre Island which was nice, and we had lunch at JB’s German Bakery and Café. It was good—we ordered the $5 lunch special—a cup of potato soup and Schweinebraten (roasted pork slice). And we shared a piece of pineapple cake which was delicious. We bought a little herb bread to bring home, which we had with our dinner chef salads. I have to admit that we also bought a little box of cookies too. Just couldn’t resist. Getting me past a bakery without buying the pastries is much like getting a dog past a fire hydrant.
So, my impression of Texas is that it is a state of meat-eaters, and here in Corpus Christi Texas
From what I have seen of Corpus Christi
In a way, the downed economy works for us. The RV parks always have room and they aren’t as expensive as they would be if more people were out traveling, competing for space. The roads have more room for us and we find parking easier. And that it’s off-season means fewer people too. Of course, the high class RV parks are probably full because the Winter Texans (people from up north) come here for the winter.
We went to the indoor flea market and I really enjoyed that although it didn’t look like they were doing much business there either. It was divided up into stalls or cubicles—some quite large-- and we bought a couple of dvd movies. I spied a doll exactly like the doll my neighbor had years ago when I was a young girl, a doll I had wanted so bad. I’ve never been able to find a replacement all these years because I didn’t know the brand name of the doll. The only difference with this doll is that it is a smaller version but I learned it was a Madame Alexander Puddin doll and when I went home I looked it up on the internet and there she was in the size I remember which was about 19-22 inches. Back then, a doll that looked and felt like a real baby was rare.
The doll in this shop was $40 but the proprietress offered to let me have it for $25. I declined because I don’t have space in my rv and I kind of think my days of collecting things are over. If my granddaughters were at all interested in playing dolls I would have bought it, but they really aren’t.
The indoor flea market reminded me of when I was 12 years old in 1971 and stayed a week with my cousin Bonnie one summer in the commune she was living in, in Santa Barbara
This town has a lot of restaurants and we even spied a large gym downtown, Planet Fitness. We are thinking of whether or not we ought to get a months’ membership. There is a little gym right here in our club house but they don’t have any hand weights. Still, in a pinch, it’s better than nothing. It’s just that it’s so cold in there. The clubhouse feels like the walls are made of cardboard and I don’t see any heating.
The restaurants are the usual chains but there are some that are new to us. The different Texas
With eating out yesterday ($25), gas for the truck ($85), and the few sundries we bought, the day came to over $100 so we have to be careful for the next 10 days until the social security check arrives. Even with that we need to be careful until we get the work done on the roof and on the truck. We may have to stay here an additional month.
Everywhere we go, the homeless, poor and panhandlers are asking us for money. We’re getting hardened to them. I feel it is hostile, manipulative and threatening for people to approach us this way, especially when I am sitting in my car by myself. I never know if they have a weapon or not, or if they are mentally ill or on drugs and won’t appreciate me telling them no. Dan and I are working on strategies for dealing with it. I wish I could help them but we’re broke too and nobody is helping us out.
December 13, 2011
The days pass so quickly, even when we’re a little bored and so little money to spend. I was up in the middle of the night again, but I’ve been writing and working on files. I did some chores. I emptied the Berkey water filter so we’d have clean water to drink, and filled the jug. Then I refilled the Berkey to filter again, water for reserve. I do this every day. I emptied the ice trays and refilled them. I cleaned the teapot and the coffee maker with vinegar. I washed dishes. I swept and mopped the floor. And I’ve already had 2 cups of coffee and 2 scones and it’s only 5:20 a.m. Yesterday I cleaned the bathroom and re-organized the bathroom shelves. I re-organized my kitchen cupboards. I have a small bundle of things to get rid of. Extra aprons, a plastic container, a couple pieces of dishes—a glass sugar bowl I won’t use. I have some extra bottles of booze. Dan and I just don’t drink much. I’ll put all this in the club house for any takers who want it. Today I need to strip the bed and wash the sheets. Dan wants to remove the mattress so he can repair the bed chest lid/platform. I guess the screws get loose from time to time. And I need to iron some clothes and mend a dress. I also need to grocery shop but maybe I can just send Dan to the market. I’ve been baking more lately, which isn’t necessarily a good thing, considering we eat what I bake, me eating far more sweets than Dan does. I’m trying to use up the baking supplies in the cupboard and all the nuts. We use the nuts in cereal and we eat them by the handful but I’m also trying to reduce their numbers by baking with them—scones, brownies, snack cakes, cookies. This is what happens when we are low on money and have to conserve every penny—I start baking. Except for going on a short walk around the park, I’m basically confined to the trailer, especially since it is raining almost nonstop. I read, write, watch tv/movies, talk on the phone to family & friends back home, I do chores, I cook and bake. Dan and I play board games—Cribbage, Scrabble and Yahtzee. All very confining and sedentary. I’d sort of like to work on self-improvement—go to a gym and go tanning but both costs money. I need a pedicure too, and have to budget to get my nails done every 2-3 weeks. All these things take a bite out of the wallet.
December 15, 2011
Enjoyed a day at the beach today. Finally some sunshine and warm days. We drove through the east side of Corpus Christi to cross on the ferry to Mustang Island Texas and Arizona
We love Port Aransas—such a cute little beach town. The bright colored buildings, nice people, the beach. The wide expanse of the Gulf of Mexico . All my life I would look at maps and see what I imagined these exotic places to be like—the Gulf being one of them. And now we are here. The beach stretches for miles across the island. It’s wide and flat mostly. Lots of little shells. And baby clams thriving underneath the sand. I saw these little air holes bubbling in the wet sad area, and dug one out with my flip-flop. I uncovered about 6 little clams, the size of my pinky nail. So that’s what it was! Back home, we no longer have shells, nor clams either.
The surf is small here but perhaps that is because it is winter. They do have a big surfing culture here but maybe it’s only for summertime. I enjoyed watching children play in it.
We saw that people were camping at the beach so we talked to a couple in a van. They are from England originally but now live in Canada
There are so many Canadians here. Half of our RV park are Canadians. What a lovely people too. Many of them have no accent either, and seem just like us. Most of the accents are those from the French provinces.
December 17, 2011
This whole travel thing is very interesting to me. I think doing it for a long period of time is best done in an RV because it allows you to live as a native wherever you go. After a week or so in a new place, you feel like a resident and over time you get used to the streets, the shops, the life and pulse of a city. When one flies to a destination and then stays in a resort, you don’t really get to feel what it is like to live somewhere and experience it like a local. Of course, flying in a plane to some exotic locale and staying in a fancy hotel—what’s to dislike about that? It’s great for a vacation. But to travel slowly and live as we are, well, this is why people own RV’s.
I’m not sure our little old trailer would be considered an RV even. It’s a 2001 Terry Fleetwood, 26 feet, with no pop-out, no whistles and bells! I like my little trailer but am thinking of doing some remodel on it when we go home. I’d like a new floor and a new cabinet added, and perhaps the walls either painted or new wallpaper.
December 20, 2011
Elise and Guy, French Canadians who live here 6 months per year, are the clubhouse directors. She works hard, preparing food and entertainment activities. They are very nice, very lively. They taught us to play basic backgammon and we’ve been playing it to keep it fresh in our minds. It’s so easy to learn a new game and then forget because you neglect to actually play it. I’d like to learn some of the variations of Backgammon, just to keep it challenging.
December 24, 2011
This RV park is the most social one we’ve been in. About half the people here are Canadians or northerners who live here 6 months per year to escape the cold, and they are very sociable. Tonight there was a feast of appetizers, cookies and finger foods at the clubhouse with games afterwards. It’s nice to party and get acquainted with the other travelers. Everyone is so nice. People are relaxed and on their best behavior when traveling or living this way.
When we came back to the trailer, my phone was ringing. Joe, my son was calling with the good news that they are pregnant again and due in July. He wants us to come home for it and babysit if Stacee goes back to work. They have lost 2 other pregnancies so it will be a wait and watch time to see if this one works out. However, this changes things for us. We had wanted to be on the road 1-3 years but I don’t want to be far from new babies so we’ll most likely head home for a while in July. We can finish the trip at a later date.
But what happy Christmas news!
December 25, 2011
Dinner at the clubhouse—potluck style. The RV park bought the ham and the rest of us brought dishes to share. I made a crockpot lasagna and steamed yellow and zucchini squash with just a light dusting of butter and seasoning over it. There was so much food. We sang carols, played games and generally had a nice time chatting with new people.
This is the first time away from home and away from our kids at Christmas. I miss all of them but it was nice to spend the holidays with a group instead of alone.
December 31, 2011
More partying—leftover ham sandwiches and salads at the clubhouse and games. We had a nice time re-learning to play Uno which is more fun with at least 4 people, and a new game called Skipbo.
January 1, 2012
New Years Day! A nice, quiet morning and then we took off to take photos of the town. We mainly stayed down by the harbor. We visited the Selena Memorial and walked on the harbor. It’s very pretty there. We stopped in at the Yacht Club to have a drink at the bar—I had my first Bay Breeze and we shared a bowl of chips and quacamole, and chatted with the waitress. Shopped at the Yacht store and bought a couple of pretty coffee mugs to commemorate Corpus Christi, and a funny fisherman’s tee-shirt for our family practice doctor back home. He likes funny tee-shirts. We got some great photos of the art district and the cathedral, all of which was deserted on this holiday, which felt kind of eerie.
Selena was a young up and coming Tejano singer and was born and raised in Corpus Christi. Seventeen years ago she was murdered here in Corpus Christi. The grieving town placed the beautiful memorial of her at the harbor and there is a museum uptown as well. The only real crowd of people we saw was at the memorial. Mostly Hispanic people and their children, coming to see, grieve, and pay their respects. It was quite moving, even after all these years, to know she is not forgotten.
We stopped in at Coffee Waves, a great little espresso bar near the harbor and next to the surf museum. We enjoyed a latté and a game of cribbage there and yakked with the clerks.
For some reason, today just seemed to resonate with me and I had a very good day. Just being near the water and harbor boats, the fresh sea air and sunshine, gives me a tremendous feeling of well-being.
There is so much water around Corpus Christi—the Nueces Bay, the inlets and waterways, and of course, the Gulf of Mexico, that fishing and boating are big activities here. People pull their vehicle over just about anywhere and start fishing.
January 5, 2012
Tomorrow marks 1 month that we have been here in Corpus Christi, Texas and it is time to leave. Dan is sick with a cold, and his colds often turn serious, requiring medical help, so we shall see if we actually leave or not. Today he says we’re leaving no matter how he feels.
We’ve had such a nice time. We didn’t expect to meet so many people and make friends. I’ve learned that RV Parks which have clubhouses or recreation rooms are often the most social parks where people meet and make friends. Yesterday was the first time someone invited us to their RV to visit. John and Maria are from Australia and are quite the world travelers. It was nice to see another RV and just talk about so many things. Their RV is a large, newer 5th Wheel and it’s like a small apartment with no clutter, as my trailer is. Her countertops are clutter free and the bedroom has real drawers and closets.
If I knew then what I know now, I would have packed for this trip differently. I brought so many non-essentials and left behind things I could have used. We should have done a trial run of living in our RV before we actually left on this journey. Then I would have had a better idea of what to bring and what to leave.
But every couple of weeks I get on a cleaning kick and purge more items which I just give away. As a result, our trailer is looking better and is less messy. Most RV parks have a place where you can dump your extra stuff for others to take. At this park it’s in the Laundromat. There is a table set up for just that purpose.
So we’ve had such a great time here. The people are nice and it was great to have some social time and a group of people to spend Christmas and the holidays with. While the town of Corpus Christi is quite run-down, there were still delights everywhere. I’m glad we came here and got to see the Gulf of Mexico.
I was surprised not to encounter a lot of cowboys wearing boots and hats and very few people talk with a drawl. Someone told me it’s because Corpus Christi is different than the northern areas where they still dress and talk like classic Texans.
We enjoyed a few firsts here. We ate burgers at our first Sonic Burger. We ate at a Whataburger, and at our first Cracker Barrel. We saw the Gulf of Mexico for the first time. We rode on a ferry for the first time. We saw our first Fox squirrels.
They have a Dollar Cinema here, just like in Tempe and we enjoyed seeing the film Moneyball there for a whopping price of $2! The dollar theaters are nice too, not dirty, run-down and smelly like back home.
We like shopping at Thrift Stores and it is nice to see they are the same everywhere, same merchandise. The only thing is, we don’t really buy much. There is no place to put any extras in the trailer. We usually just enjoy looking around. Sometimes I look for funny tee-shirts to buy and send to the boys back home, or I look for clothes for me, which is rare to find anything really good in my size. Still, it’s fun to look and browse.
Our next destination is to see an old friend in San Marcos which is located half way between San Antonio and Austin up north. We’ll go there for a few days and then head on to Louisiana.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)