Travels to Baja California Caravan 1-09

 

January 12^{th (Monday)} we left home and headed for our son's home.

January 13^th(Tuesday)  we headed out to begin our journey to the beginning of our caravan. We headed toward Henderson and Frenchman's Wilderness Campground. John and Judy arrived about an hour before we did. It is a nice campground except I would not want to be there if the mosquitoes were out. The host who parked us pointed out the damage from the hurricane. Tree tops were twisted in unusual ways and he said they had lost many trees. We had to have a meal at Robin's Restaurant – our favorite Cajun place. The four of us were the only ones in the restaurant although they did have some takeouts. We enjoyed the crawfish (etouffee and fried) and their homemade ice cream.

January 14^{th(Wednesday)} we traveled together to Vic and Lotus' home in Beaumont Texas. What a time we had. Vic met us and showed us how to get to their home. They fixed 'wingdoddles' for us for lunch. Vic's father had made up the name for BarBQue beef, onions and slaw in a hot dog bun. They sure were good. These were followed by a delicious lemon pound cake – made from their lemons. We visited and talked woodturning. A delicious supper ended with a lemon pie with a crisscross crust from more of the lemons, UM good! We realized that there was a problem with the motor home – a leak from the front which turned out to be the heater coil. After calls everywhere it was decided we would skip stopping at Houston and head for San Antonio to a repair facility that sounded helpful.

January 15^th(Thursday) we headed toward Houston to meet Bill and Judy for brunch as we passed through. Cracker Barrel was easy to get in and out so we had a nice visit and then were on our way to Freightliner. They took us in and then our frustrations began. They discovered the part was not in stock. Luckily my college roommate Diane lives there. She came and brought a much enjoyed dinner from Rudy's BarBQue. Sure was fun getting together! Awe were able to stay on the grounds of Freightliner.

January 16^th(Friday) started out with phone calls to a number of places trying to decide what to do about the part. Eventually they took the old heater coil out and took it to a radiator shop. In the meantime Diane came and picked us up to visit Mission San Juan, the Alamo, the River Walk and to Mimi's Café for supper. Then we visited her home - how nice! We had another "free" night compliments of Freightliner. After we saw the bill, that was the least they could do!

January 17^th(Saturday) and we are still in Texas – headed for Fort Stockton. John and Judy were ahead of us so they said they would check out a Passport America campground. After staying at Parkview, we would not recommend it. John walked around and found a number of nails and welding rods – a little scary.

January 18^th(Sunday) was the day we began scouting for our caravan in 2010. We drove to Carlsbad and found Carlsbad RV Park. It is probably the friendliest campground we have been in. They even gave a number of gifts. We drove about 25 miles south to the Caverns and went down to the Big Room. What an awesome place! We didn't think there was time but we headed to the farthest Northern part of Carlsbad to the Living Desert Zoo and State Park It seems like a nice facility and would be a good place to visit. We got the information we needed for scouting.

January 19^th(Monday) – before we left Carlsbad we wanted to visit the Chamber of Commerce or Visitor's Center. They were closed. We traveled on to Roswell NM and Bottomless Lakes State Park. What an awesome park! The park is 17 miles from town and down about a 7 mile bumpy road, but the park was really nice. The sites were large and the view was unbelievable.

January 20^th(Tuesday) we decided to move to either WalMart or the Elks Lodge. We bought groceries and then drove to the Elks Lodge to see about the possibility of using them for a meal and even as a campground. We drove downtown to the Visitor's Center and the UFO Museum. We moved to the Elks and went there for supper – a charity event – steak as large as the plate.

January 21^{st(Wednesday)} was another scouting day. We headed for Lincoln NM. The dogs had to go the bathroom as soon as we arrived. After that, it took us nearly an hour to get the stickers out of their hair. The Rangers were so nice, telling us they would do anything we wanted for the 2010 caravan. They then invited us to see the museums. What a spectacular place it is with lots of history. The three buildings we went in were well preserved. We had planned to stay at one rv park but thought we might catch Dick and Judy and the other 4 rvs if we moved on. We drove through Ruidoso. It reminded us of Steamboat Springs Colorado – a ski and recreation town. The hills were up and down. We drove on to near Alamagordo and a wonderful little Passport park – Byrington RV Park. The couple who own it and run it were so nice.

January 22^nd(Thursday) we thought we would catch up with the others. We decided to stop and see White Sands National Park since we had heard so much. I felt like we were at Destin and would find the Gulf of Mexico over one of the dunes.

We got as far as Willcox Arizona and stayed at Fort Willcox RV Park (a Passport). It was a nice park and we were tired from bring on the go.

January 23^rd(Friday) We traveled on to Yuma and the Elks Lodge where we dry camped for a $7 donation and attended their $8.95 seafood buffet. The others had gone on since you can not park at WalMart in Yuma.

January 24^th(Saturday) Yeah we made it to Chula Vista. Actually we had been in communication with the others and drove in as they were registering. This was a rough day of traveling between the fierce winds and the unbelievable terrain that we were passing through. It was very rocky and mountainous and dry with little vegetation. We were glad to be in such a beautiful park.