Winter 2009/2010 Trip Wrap Up

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OK, so I know I haven't posted to the blog for a bit. I got home on March 13th and have just been winding down and getting back to the old home routine. It was an awesome trip, at some times a bit tiring, but I haven't regretted one minute of it.

I put over 7000 miles on the truck. Considering over 2 1.2 months I spent 3 weeks in the Rio Grande Valley, 1 week at Big Bend National Park, 1 week in Alamogordo and 2 weeks on Mustang Island, that's a lot of time on the road. A quick breakdown shows I spent an average of $55.00 per day for fuel, campground fees, entertainment and other expenses that I normally wouldn't have, I consider that pretty good. Food is not included in this figure as no matter where I am I would have to eat.


I figure I actually saved money on food as I ate in most of the time where I normally eat out at home. I also saved money on utilities at home as I had the heat turned down to 50, used no water and little electric. I also suspended my Dish Network which saved. Those 2 1/2 months equaled about $400 in savings. This would bring my grand total of extra expenses to less then $50 per day. That's one hell of a vacation for a bit over $4000.00 total.

I created a map of my travels just in case you would like to see where I traveled to and what routes I took. You can find it here.

Now it's time to do a few updates and upgrades to my trailer. I bought a used solar system that I need to install, a new A/C converter for battery charging and I want to strip off some peeling strip decals and put on something new in their place. With that done I'll be ready for more adventures this summer. Stay tuned for info on the updates and things I am doing this summer.

Wind At My Back

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I got up early this morning to leave Alamogordo, NM and head to Corpus Christi, TX. A storm moved through last night and there was a chance of snow. When I looked out the window I seen nice blue skies and brown ground. Perfect! Snow was limited to elevations over 6,000 feet and Alamogordo is at 4,000 feet so we just got a bit of rain.

I got a couple of miles down the road and traffic was backed up. I looked down between the lanes and seen a helicopter in the road. There was an accident and they were evacuating someone. The delay was only about 10 minutes and I was on my way. The first part of the trip was south and once I hit El Paso I headed east.

The storm that passed through also brought with it strong winds out of the northwest. That means I finally had a good breeze to my back. While heading out west it seems I was always heading into the wind and I wondered if my 8.7 MPG average would change on the way back. My first tank heading east averaged 11.3 MPG, so having wind at your back is a good thing.

I ended up stopping at Balmorhea State Park for the night. This is a really nice Texas state park that has pull through sites, 50 amp electric, water, cable and WiFi. No sewer at each site but I don't need to empty my tanks for tonight so it's no biggie. The park is nice and clean and they have a desert wetland area and a large artesian spring pool. I didn't try out the pool, it's only 51 degrees out!

Tomorrow I'll head out again and stop someplace just west of San Antonio for the night.

See a couple more photos of Balmorhea State Park.

Next Stop Guadalupe River State Park

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I packed up and headed out of the Rio Grande Valley about 8:30am this morning. My destination is the Guadalupe River State Park which is about 20 miles north of San Antonio. This is in the middle of Texas Hill Country and the area has gotten rave reviews from everyone I have talked to.

One the way I stopped at Blue Beacon Truck Wash to give the 5th wheel and truck a bath. The cost was $58 and in my opinion is not worth it. Oh well, live and learn.

I took I-410 around San Antonio. The north side of town was the worse drive I have had my whole trip. There was construction all over the place and the drivers made the I-94 drive through Detroit look like a cake walk. Next time I'll drive 100 miles out of my way if I have to to avoid San Antonio.

I got into Guadaluple River State Park around 3:30pm. The campground is really nice. The RV sites are water and electric only with a paved pad to park on. A picnic table, fire ring and tent pad are on each. I really didn't have any time to explore the area once I got set up, just drove down by the river to walk Spud. The river is really cool! I didn't take my camera with me so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to have a look.

Right now I have the site for 2 nights. Not sure how long I am going to stay, just depends on how much there is to see. There are very few people staying in the park so additional days will be no problem. I'll post more once I have a chance to get out and about.

Texas Trails It Is

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I took a few hours today to go visit some of the other RV parks in the area that had openings. None of them have any real advantage over where I am at so I believe I will be staying here for a couple of weeks. The only real disadvantage here is no wireless but my Verizion tethering has been working pretty well. I figure if I get close to the 5 Gig bandwidth limit I can always go down and get an aircard for an additional 5 Gig. This will at least give me enough time to settle in, learn where things are and then figure out what to do from there. All I can say is the 61 degrees is sweet!

Day 5: RGV

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Today I reached the Rio Grande Valley. 62 degrees and a bit of drizzle greeted me. Since it is Sunday most parks have limited office hours. I ended up at Texas Trails RV Resort in Pharr, TX for the night. I doubt I'll stay here but I can take a few days to find a place that has more of what I'm looking for. There is no Internet or cable TV here. I can get about 10 channels with the antenna so that's not a big thing, but no Internet is a deal breaker. I understand that you can get wireless for an extra charge, we'll see what's up with that tomorrow.

What little I have seen the rest of the park doesn't seem bad. Space between lots is adequate and there is a fairly decent space behind the RV that makes it feel roomier. Lots of spaces available here and I just have this feeling it might because of the features for the price. I'll have a better grip on it tomorrow.

The remainder of my trip was uneventful. Traffic was light and the roads were good. Hit some drizzle the last 50 miles but that's about it. I'm just going to sit back and chill for the rest of the night.

Day 4: Schulenburg RV Park

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Today's stop is in Schulenburg, TX which is half way between San Antonio and Houston. I should have made it a bit further but I took an unintended scenic route. The morning started a bit frosty at 28 degrees. I didn't feel so bad after I took a look at the temps from my weather station back home. Packed stuff up while the coffee brewed and was on the road by 8:30am.

Things went a bit haywire when I pulled off the highway for gas. In my search for gas little did I notice that the exit I I needed to take was the one I got off of for gas. Once I filled up I headed back on the highway and it wasn't until 15 miles later I finally figured I was past my exit. OK, no big deal, we'll just take a couple of state highways to get back on I-35 and be good. I did eventually get back on track, but lost an hour of drive time. Not a big deal, I'm not on a schedule.

Had a caravan of 5 RVs for a while on US77. I'm sure that there were a few unhappy motorists as we were going 60 on a 2 lane road with a speed limit of 70. They do have a few passing areas and we slowed down on those to let them pass.

So I just drove until I decided it was time to stop. Punched up campgrounds on my GPS and this park was 4 miles away right on my route. It's a small park, only 49 spaces. The roads are a bit tight but I got in with no problems and have seen a couple of, I would guess, 35' 5th wheels pull in after I did. They have a pond with ducks that Spud found real interesting and a Dairy Queen right next door that gives you 10% off campground discount.... so me a Spud are gonna have Strawberry Sunday tonight. Now the bad part, their cable only has about 6 stations and no FOX network. That means I won't get to see the games tonight unless I can get the RV antenna to dial in a signal.

Did you look close at the picture? Notice that the door is open? Yep, that's right, it's in the upper 50's and warm as hell compared to that 15 degree I see back home. Sorry, just had to rub it in!

Day 3: Dallas KOA

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Another long day of driving. Original plan was to stop in Mt. Pleasant TX just west of Texarkana but it was early and I still felt pretty good. Figured the extra 1 1/2 hours drive to get to Dallas wouldn't be bad. The drive wasn't bad, I just was glad to get here. The whole day was great, blue skies with no clouds and it got up to 52. Roads were decent and traffic was light so I was able to make good time.

You'll notice the picture of the campground shows it is getting dark. I got here about 4:30 and decided to de-winterize the 5er. That involves hooking up the fresh water and flushing out all of the water lines. Since I've never done it before it took a bit to figure out the bypass valve to the water heater wasn't letting it fill up. Once I found it I let the water run until all the "pink stuff" (antifreeze) was flushed out of the lines. Then open the water heater relief valve to flush the water heater, fill the water tank to flush the water pump, then run each facet again just to make sure everything is clear.

Of course once this is all done the holding tank is 3/4 full so might as well dump that before it gets dark. It really wasn't that bad, only took about 45 minutes and I'm now ready for some real camping. The rest of the night will consist for a few brews while I watch the football game.

RVing According To Hank

• No matter where you want to go it will always be uphill and into the wind
• The curb you see in your mirror is closer then it appears.
  

Day 2: Memphis TN KOA

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Despite the best efforts of my alarm clock, I made it to Memphis today. OK, it's not REALLY Memphis but Marion AR which is just across the river from Memphis. I set my Blackberry alarm for 7am. It went off and I hit the snooze for 10 more minutes of sleep. I found out at 8:30am that the snooze didn't work. That means no time for biscuits and gravy, just a cup of coffee and a muffin then hit the road.

This reminds me, I have to start a new page that I'm going to title "RVing According To Hank". It'll be bits of wisdom, points to ponder and little known facts about RVing.... mostly just things you never figure will happen until they happen to you. Look for the link on side menu once I get it started... and it'll be updated as I have more.

I drove about 400 miles today. More then I really want to drive but I felt this need to get to someplace where there wasn't going to be any snow. This also means I had to fill up twice today. Just a bit of advice: Do everything you can to never purchase any of gasohol in that corn lovin' state of Indiana. Your gas mileage will be in the crapper! Speaking of MPG, I found out I can get 1.5 better MPG if I follow another RV. The last 10 miles before I stopped for the night I followed another 5th wheel that passed me. I had to speed up from 61 to 64 to keep up and my MPG when up from 8.5 to 10. Something to file away for the future.

I have gotten this love/hate relationship with KOA campgrounds. I'm not sure they are a place I would go to to stay for a weekend or more. The sites are packed pretty close together and aren't "campy" enough for my tastes. They also tend to have a bit of highway noise since most are located for easy access. But then this easy access does make them ideal for over night stops when traveling someplace else. Most camp sites are pull through sites for easy setup, most have WiFi, offer some type of breakfast in the morning, nice clean showers and are generally well kept up. Kind of like the Holiday Inn... no big surprises no matter what one you go to but not someplace you really get excited about.

OK, so I'm now about 650 miles into the 1500 or so total miles to get to RGV and nothing eventful has happened. Let's keep it that way!

Day 1: Terre Haute, IN KOA

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And it begins: Believe it or not, I was able to leave home at 7am. Even surprised myself as I didn't get to bed until 1am and didn't get to sleep until about 3am. The roads were nice a dry and not very much traffic. I made it to Terre Haute about 1pm and decided to stop at the KOA for the night. I could have driven a couple more hours but figured that it would be best to try and get a decent nights rest before the next leg.

The Terre Haute KOA is a bit expensive ($40) but it is one of the few campgrounds open this far north. Since it's 30 deg. outside not much is usable at the campground but it does look like it would be a nice place to stay in the summer. They have free WiFi and cable TV, Spud got a treat and they came around later to deliver a few home made cookies. In the morning they offer a free continental breakfast but looking at the menu I seen biscuits and gravy for $2.50... thinking I'll have to spring for that!

Check back tomorrow for an update.

Tomorrow's the Day

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I have 12/30/09 marked on my calendar. That is the day I am leaving on my first extended trip to warmer weather! Not sure I can now call myself a "snowbird", just that I want to get away from these damned cold Michigan winters. If all goes as planned I'll be gone about 2 months.

The 5er is packed, truck is full of gas and a rough outline of my trip is in hand. Looking to leave around 7am and make Terre Haute for my first night stay. I plan on taking lots of photos along the way and keeping track of expenses. Keep an eye out on this blog for full details of my trip.

Southbound Soon

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Looks like the weather is finally going to cooperate and give me a few days of good weather. Leave date for my adventure down south should be Tuesday 12/29. Not sure at this point what my final destination will be, I'll figure that out when I hit the Texas border. I am thinking maybe a dew weeks in southern TX in the Rio Grande Valley then head up to AZ for a few weeks. Just gonna wing it!

My Forrest River Flagstaff 28RLSS 5th Wheel

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OK, this is my final RV purchase for a while…. I hope. See more pictures in my Photo Album. The Forest River Flagstaff 28RLSS should fit my needs for quite some time. The super slide allows the couch and dining area to slide out giving me a lot of room and the queen bed in front will be real comfy. It has all the goodies that should get me by, large fridge, microwave, TV/stereo entertainment center, full bath with a roomy shower plus heat and A/C of course.

If you are wondering just what a 28RLSS is we can decode it a bit. The 28 means it is 28' long. OK, really it is 30' long but most manufacturers understate the length in the model number. The RL part means a Rear Living-room. The SS stands for Super Slide, or a long slide that, in this case, includes the couch and dining area. OK, maybe that's more then you wanted to know but it is interesting (at least to me) just what these model numbers mean.

As soon as I got I already was making plans to do some mods. The TV that is in it is an old 19″ analog TV. My choice was to buy a digital converter or a new TV. Guess which I chose? I hit the Black Friday sales and picked up a 32″ LCD TV. That also means I’ll have to make a custom mount to fit it to the entertainment center. But really, other then that there are no pressing changes that need to be done. I did get some landing gear stabilizers that need to be installed and the typical wheel chocks, hoses, extension cords, adaptors, etc. that you have to have.

So here I sit, waiting for the snow storm to pass, so I can get it home from the dealer and start getting it ready for my trip to warmer weather. I’m still not sure where I’m going to go. There is Florida, Texas or even New Mexico and Arizona to choose from. I’m tending more to the southwest and may just head out that way when the time comes and see where I end up.

The Winnebago Minnie-Winnie Experence

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RV number 2 is this cherry 1988 20′ Winnebago Minnie-Winnie. OK, really it is number 3 but I’m not including the pop-up I had for a couple of years back in 2000 or so. 5 cold and rainy weekends in the Teardrop convinced me I wanted something more comfortable and I came across this really nice Minnie at a local dealer. It was super clean inside, everything worked and needed very little work.

In the few months I owned it I got a lot of use out of it. I did a few camping trips to Cold Brook Park located about 25 miles from my house. I also used to tailgate at the Notre Dame / Michigan State football game and took a week long trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to see the fall colors (See pictures of my U.P. trip ). It really served me well and I enjoyed it, never would have done most of these trips without it.

But during my trip to the U.P. I did find one big drawback. If I wanted to just scout around a bit, I would have to break camp to drive there. The Minnie isn’t big enough to tow a vehicle so that was out. My new-found desire to head south for the winter for a couple of months each year also forced me to look for something that would better fit my long term needs. I really loved the Minnie, it was easy to drive, easy to park and had everything I needed for short trips. I just couldn’t see using it for longer trips.

So my search was on to find something that would be easy to drive and use for weekenders but be suitable longer trips too.

Camping in a Teardrop Trailer

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My first real RV that I started to use was a Little Guy Teardrop trailer purchased in the winter of 2008. It was perfect for towing behind my Honda Element and was different enough to draw attention. One of my hobbies is RC car racing and I run a web site, HobbyTalk, that is a discussion forum for RC, Die Cast, Models and Slot Cars. It was a perfect advertising venue for my web site and also served as a great pit trailer when racing.

I did a few modifications to the Teardrop by adding 3 stage battery charger, running 110 volt electric, adding an XM radio system and a separate 12v DC power supply so I could charge my RC car batteries off of the AC. It worked great as a pit vehicle but I found some faults when using it for camping. I have a few photos camping using the Teardrop in the Camping 2009 photo album.

Early summer of 2009 was marked by cold weather and a lot of rain on the weekends. 5 out of 6 weekends I wanted to camp it rained and was miserably cold. While I don’t mind being a bit uncomfortable once in a while when camping, 5 out of 6 weekends was just a it too much. Call me wimp if you want, but I wasn’t having fun and if I’m not having fun, then why do it? This weather and my desire to take some longer trips moved me to my next acquisition in Aug. of 2009.

A Bit of History: My Time in Yellowstone National Park

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Might be best to start with a bit of history to see what got me on this path to adventure.

In 2006 I lost the love of my life. After she passed away unexpectedly I was devastated, I was lost. To help heal and hopefully find my way I took a job with Xanterra working at Yellowstone National Park. My job was to be a carpet cleaner in the Mammoth Hot Springs area.

Of course things did not go as planned. 4 days after arriving I broke my foot playing volleyball. After a week they placed me in reservations…… I hated it. After 8 weeks in a cast, the doctor in Bozemen wanted operate on my foot to pin the broken 5th metatarsal bone. I decided to pass and headed back home to Michigan to get it taken care of.

But all was not lost. The 9 weeks spent in YNP started me on the path I am on today. I discovered the real wonders of the outdoors. The mountains, the rivers, the trees, the wildlife. The cast on my foot limited me to only scratching the surface of what was out there, but it had me hooked. I knew I had to experience more once I was healed and now I am in a time and place where I can do that.

I will, at some point, finish my quest to explore Yellowstone in deeper depth. But in the meantime I will take on some of the other wonderful sights that America has to offer. This blog will chronicle my adventures to explore the U.S. In the meantime you can view some of the photos I took during my time in Yellowstone National Park in my Photo Album.