Texas Road Trip 2009

December 9th, Wednesday: Lordsburg, NM to Van Horn Texas - Into Texas we go! Must say that the welcome center was really nice, gave us a map and the woman explained how the circles on the road were rest stops without bathrooms, the ones with squares have bathrooms. Not that it makes a difference to us with our own self-contained unit, but bathrooms usually mean bigger facilities and more parking.

Picture	Explanation
	We got into El Paso right during rush hour. Sasha could not believe the traffic. I mean, we came from an area where there is always traffic, I guess he was just thinking that El Paso would not be so congested as it was, but it was 5:00 pm after all. This shot was of Mexico, as you can see. It is amazing to me that more people do not cross over the border, like all the time. There does not seem to be any way of stopping them, the Rio Grande is not very big, a mere dribble.
	The first rest stop in Texas that we stayed at was west of Van Horn. While the signs all said that there was free wifi, we could not get it. It was down or unavailable. The Verizon card worked though, so that was OK. We were impressed after all, as this is west Texas, an area that is not in the 3G network! So getting internet at all was pretty good.
	Our view of west Texas

December 10, Thursday: Van Horn, TX to Emerson, TX (228 miles) We woke up and decided to go south rather than east because, well, first, the weather is nicer and warmer, and second the scenery will be interesting. So we are going on Route 90 past on big National Park - but as it is still a ways out of our way, we will not go there, just taking the route towards it.

The mountains here are impressive. They may not be the Colorado Rockies, but they are nice to look at and it is interesting to see some of the plants that were in Joshua Tree here in Texas.

Picture	Explanation
	The road ahead, on Route 90.
	Picnic area in Texas. Notice what is NOT there: no signs saying Don't Litter; No Loitering, No dumping, No Camping, No Parking AND there is no garbage strewn about, and no graffiti. I think we like this new state of ours. If the roads, rest stops, and picnic areas are just an example of the way they run the state, then this is looking pretty good.
	We stopped off at a Winery just east of Marfa, Texas.
	We met a nice couple who were also full-timers out of South Dakota, they brought their toad (the car that is pulled behind a RV, is called a toad - because it is a towed car or truck) a Saturn! Very nice couple who took our picture. The winery was pretty good, Luz de Estrella Winery, although the wine was pricy. But I bought one bottle.
	There were three dogs at the winery, we were able to get one of them to pose for a picture. Reminds me of Chris and Lindsey's dogs or Todd's dogs I can't remember. Anyway, they greeted us, a yellow lab and two of these type dogs.
	Saw a bunch of these types of windmills, used for pumping the water up from great depths. The girl at the winery said that their water was not very far down, only 400 feet; while others had it harder, had to go down 1200 feet before they got water!
	The day was beautiful, got up to a high of 66 degrees F, and we started seeing these mountains in the distance. I believe this is Old Blue Mountains (DeLorme is only slightly good at telling us the mountain ranges, you really have to search for them.)
	Here they are a little closer up.
	We came into the town of Alpine, Texas, which has a big college, and cute stores, including this one. Galleries, antiques, a coffee shop or two, and several restaurants. I saw at least two RV parks and the couple who took our picture stated that they were staying the winter in Alpine.
	Don't know what building this was, but I thought it was neat. No flash, did not want to get spots in front of Sasha's eyes while driving.
	Granted this is backwards, but I can not take a picture from the back. I think it says Howdy and Welcome, but if you can read the blue sign without clicking on the picture, well, you've got good vision. Check it out, I thought it was nice.
	Back along the road and the road ahead looks long.
	This is why we do not have internet. Hills and mountains all around us, I will have to wait until we get into a larger town to upload the web pages and pictures.
	We found a very nice spot, another rest stop and Sasha was able to take a couple pictures of the sunset.
	We are approximately less than a half a mile west of Emerson, TX at a nice rest stop - no bathroom facilities, but great views!

December 11 Friday: Emerson, TX to Del Rio, TX - ~ 120 miles. We are going to a lovely reservoir, not too far from where we stopped last night. We will have pictures up on 12/12. We kept stopping, I was trying to call up a company and it was a little tough as there would be cell service for a bit, then it would go away. We finally found good service right next to a border patrol headquarters. Great cell coverage, lousy customer service. Oh well, but beautiful scenery. But because we have limited coverage here, I can not put up too many pictures as it will take FOREVER! Kinda like dial-up...I'm sure some people know what I mean.

December 12, Saturday

December 13, Sunday

December 14, Monday: Arrived at Escapees in Livingston, TX - we will probably be here for a few days, maybe even a week, as we get everything set up regarding becoming Texas residents, and having our domicile address. This will become our new address for registering the vehicles, driver's licenses, insurance, inspections, plus all the banking; Google, Yahoo, and Amazon click ads; and credit credit cards. Became Escapees first, then got a place to stay. 

December 15, Tuesday - Inspection done, could not do it Monday because it was raining, and they do not do inspections in the rain.

December 16, Wednesday - Got diesel, and filled up the truck tanks completely; first time that happened, Had to go to get Sasha's Social Security card

December 17, Thursday - Welcome tour, went all over the Escapees sites and really learned about Escapees and what they offer, then did laundry, and then went out to dinner (at Escapees!) very nice dinner of pork chop, with potatoes and veggies, and a salad. So nice, did not have to go anywhere, just enjoyed being at the campground. I think we are beginning to enjoy this place.

December 18th, Friday - registration of vehicles, found out about Sasha's motorcycle, Driver's Licenses - Now Texas residents!  Moto Inspected and plate bought to put on the license plate.

Got license plates put onto the vehicles.

December 19th, Saturday - Escapees' pancake breakfast, bonfire with marshmallows and good company  Ran out of propane the night before, even with the little tank, so had to get more propane today.

December 20th, Sunday - just hanging, oil changing, and applying for jobs

December 21st, Monday - Winter Solstice, Dad J's Birthday! and Dealing with the truck.

December 22nd Tuesday -

December 23rd Wednesday -

December 24th, Thursday - Happy Christmas Eve!

December 25th, Friday - Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope all had a happy and safe Christmas.

December 26th, Saturday

December 27, Sunday

December 28, Monday - got registration of Sasha motorcycle, worked on rig, getting Reflectix material into windows, we are having serious condensation with only single pane windows and lots of heat loss, so we put this in to not lose as much heat. We will see if it stays up properly while we are driving down the road.

We worked on getting everything done for leaving tomorrow. Including hitching up today. I drive the truck to hitch it, Sasha does the directing, letting me know if it is close or not. We are getting better at this, and with less arguing than we had with the truck camper. Maybe some day it will be old hat to us, but not quite yet.

December 29th, Tuesday - Went from Livingston to west of Roosevelt, 412 miles.  Leaving today to head back to Nevada. We got out of the Escapees campground at 12 noon exactly (well, we got to the office at that time), we needed to get there before 12:30 when they close for lunch, so we just slipped in. The price shown on the expenses page is for is for the 2 weeks at the campground, and a separate price for the electricity.

WOW, the electricity was cheap! Of course, when it was sunny, we used the solar panels to charge the batteries. And we were very conscientious about turning off the lights.  I wonder if children were told that part of their allowance would be paying for the electricity, would they turn off the lights? Would they ask for toys that we only battery operated with rechargeable batteries or no? Anyway, don't know about you, but having the solar is great in sunny areas.

December 30th, Wednesday - from Sonora (west of Roosevelt) to Anthony, TX, 420 miles. Forget to put on Tuesday, but I did about 3 hours of driving. Finally started to feel comfy about driving the rig, and boy did I! Went through San Antonio during rush hour (no traffic), night driving, rain, and a small town looking for a place to eat! The only thing I did not do was park it, that will have to wait for some other time.

December 31st, Thursday, last day of the month and of the YEAR - HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Where are they now? On The Road Again Back to Nevada now, through a couple of states to get to my winter volunteer gig, at Lake Mead National Recreational Area.