2019 SouthWest: Hwy 60 to Scottsdale

We had a quick stop over at Roper Lake SP, to break up the drive to Scottsdale. Roper is a nice little park, with good facilities, some hiking trails, and apparently, good fishing. We  hiked one of the trails after set up, and it was a great way to shake off the white line fever.

Mountain snow...

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2019 SouthWest: the amazing White Sands

It was a nice drive along Hwy 70 from Roswell to Alamogordo. The road winds it’s way up the east side of the Sacramento Mountains, through the Hondo Valley, then descends into Tularosa. From there it is only a short distance to Oliver Lee Memorial Park.

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2019 SouthWest: Roswell and the little green men

We headed to Roswell. Why you ask, because of the UFO’s and aliens of course. Being on a tour through New Mexico and not going to Roswell would be akin to visiting Paris and not going to the Louvre. Well, perhaps that is a bit of an extreme comparison.

Dale, not fully understanding why Roswell, was a little taken aback by the UFO thing...I believe her words were “Are you for real?”

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Insulating Wall Liners

In extreme temps, we have found that the side walls and glass can transmit a fair amount of coolness, as the R value is minimal. There are ideas out there to combat this chill, products like Reflectex, that have been used as sun shields, but we were mostly hoping to improve the warmth inside.

We ended up finding a material at the Scout Store that is intended to reflect heat or cold waves. It came in the shape of a large sleeping bag, so this meant it needed to be taken apart. It is silver on one side, and a poly type material on the other. We used the side curtains as templates and fashioned up a set of reflective panels. These are velcroed in place, silver side out, and the interior curtains are then pulled over them as normal. For the back window, we used the same material, but sandwiched an extra layer of polyester mat insulation in between. We sleep with our heads by this rear window, so it warranted a little extra insulation.

a little extra insulation built into this one

We have tested the effectiveness, and quite frankly, it feels warmer. Less cool spots, and certainly less cold radiating from the side wall. We only made the panels for the back half of the Alto, thinking the sleeping area is what needed the extra comfort.

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2019 SouthWest: Hwy 285...not the usual scenery

I don’t really rely much on either Google or a GPS, preferring a paper map with some extra details filled in via Google. As it was a short drive, I forged ahead just based on Google’s recommended route.

We followed Hwy 17 north, through some pretty basic flat, one could say hardscrabble, landscape. In a town called Pecos, we turned onto Hwy 285.

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2019 SouthWest: Marfa Texas

The next day was a field trip to Marfa, a little town south of Fort Davis, deep in the Chihuahuan high desert, this town is steeped in the arts and culture. One quirky art installation we just had to see was the famed Prada shoe store, way out along a highway in the middle of nowhere.

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2019 SouthWest: Mesas & Buttes

On the I-10 route between San Antonio and the Park, we could see the trees becoming smaller, the cacti plants starting to appear, and the landscape becoming more arid and desert-like. Within 5 hours, it became very classic SouthWest landscape, desert with no trees, butte plateau hills, and the temperature had risen to to 27C.

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2019 SouthWest: The Riverwalk and Mexican Market

Our final day of our stay in San Antonio was to head downtown in the late morning and walk the Riverwalk loop around the canal system. We were blown away as to how beautiful, organic, creative and whimsical the Riverwalk is. That a city would go to that much effort and so much cost to create such a public space that is free for all their citizens to use and to attract tourists, is commendable.

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2019 SouthWest: Art & The Pearl

The San Antonio Museum of Art (SAMA) was originally the site of the Lone Star Brewery, dating back to 1884. In 1977, the Mayor christened the new museum by smashing a bottle of beer against the facade. We are discovering that breweries are playing a large part in present day neighbourhoods.

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2019 SouthWest: San Antonio - The Missions

We are staying at the Alamo KOA, partly due to wanting full services to de-winterize, and partly due to its convenient location to downtown. We were very fortunate to get in for 4 nights, considering we were arriving when the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo is town, one of the largest events in Texas.  Being such a popular show, the vast majority staying here are participants in the rodeo, all massive rigs, either motor coaches, or camper/horse trailer combos, which we have never seen the likes of before.

We purchased an all day transit pass (for a shockingly low amount of $2.75), a great way for visitors to check out the city. Today was a bit overcast, with that annoying spitting rain, so we decided it would best to make the circuit and see the Spanish Missions.  The San Antonio ‘Viva’ metro bus service offers a dedicated bus route that only stops at cultural destinations, including the Missions...what a fantastic idea.

We started at The Alamo, which is in the centre of the city, and then headed south on the bus to the other missions.

The Alamo

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2019 SouthWest: Gruene Hall

Seeing a write-up about Gruene TX in our local paper struck us that it would be our kind type of place to check out. We are attracted to smaller places, that are quirky and historical, and Gruene ticked all those boxes.  Plus, it seemed to be a place that would capture the essence of Texas.

‘Gruene’ (pronounced ‘Green’ by the locals) is a former 1800’s German settlement, which is now a historic district within the city of New Braunfels, just east of San Antonio. This area is now on the US National Register of Historic Places.

This link provides an overview of Gruene’s history and how the buidings were saved from demolition due to the initiative of an architectural student...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruene,_New_Braunfels,_Texas

Gruene’s central attraction is its 1878 circa, wood 6,000 sq.ft. dance hall, ‘Gruene Hall’ is the oldest dance hall in Texas. In the mid-1970’s it was revived back to be a popular music venue, drawing crowds from all over to hear country and blue-grass.
Here is their web site: http://gruenehall.com

After settling into our hotel, we headed over to Greune Hall to catch some live music and absorb the ambiance of this authentic historical place.

the benches get cleared away to make the huge dance floor

While having drinks and listening to the music, we had nice chats with a friendly Texan couple, Janelle and Oscar, and then another local man. We are discovering that Texans are friendly and love to chat...just like we do. They made our visit to the Hall extra special.

Also of interest to us was checking out the mid-1800’s wood homes and buildings, including it’s original water tower.  Most of Gruene’s buildings have been preserved and have been turned back into thriving businesses.

barrels are for more than just whiskey

the Gruene founder's mill office

Texas floor mat in the general store

the Gruene family home,  now an inn

the town's iconic water tower

Our visit to Gruene was a memorable way to start our visit in Texas and our journey into the SouthWest.

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2019 SouthWest: drive, eat, sleep,...repeat

This is our first retirement extended road trip with our camper, to explore the South West,..a longtime dream of ours. We spent months researching sites to see and things to do, and in the last couple of weeks, we poured over weather radar forecasts to try to predict the best driving weather window, hoping to avoid driving through snow storms or freezing rain.

WELL,..we hit the jackpot! With no snow, and only some freezing drizzle to deal with, we took the plunge on Feb. 4th, leaving behind the chilly -11C/12F temperatures. After crossing the border at the Thousand Island bridge into NY state, south on the I-81, the temperature had already risen to 13C/55F.  Further down into Pennsylvannia, it rose to 18C/64F, with full sun all the way. What a bonus, within hours of leaving, it was like an Ottawa April spring day. We immediately shucked off our winter layers and were pumping gas in rolled up T-shirts!

jackpot day!

Our goal is to make it from point A to B, taking multiple interstates to reach Texas, where we will start using our camper. Our first night was in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the city now made famous due to ‘The Office’ TV series, and we were thrilled to discover an all-night marathon of the show on our hotel TV...so apropos.

Based on our research on the average temperatures for the states we were planning on driving through, we did not expect to be able to start camping until Texas, but with the crazy unseasonably warm temperatures, we did an about change in plan and booked a few nights in campgrounds.

Starting at a campground outside of Chattanooga TN for one night, then we booked a couple more nights at Roosevelt State Park MS. To be able to get a head start sleeping and living out of our camper, instead of hotels, is such a treat! It sure felt great being back in the Alto that first night.

February???

getting rid of some serious road grime

Roosevelt State Park is a very impressive and beautifully maintained park, but being their shoulder season, there was only a couple of trailers other than ourselves. As we were setting up a lovely couple from Pennsylvannia popped by who were on their way home from Arizona and New Mexico, and they had lots of great tips on what to see there. They also gave rave reviews about Texas state parks.

certainly would have liked to stay here longer

When we arrived at this park it was in the high 21C/70F’s, but a cold front was sweeping low across Arizona and Texas, so the overnight temperature dropped down to 0C/32F, a tad too chilly for camping. We made another about turn and decided not to camp the second night, and instead, drove to Tyler Texas.

Then we headed to New Braunfels, even closer to our destination of San Antonio. After this cold front goes through the temperatures are slowly going to rise back to somewhat seasonal.

All in all, we consider ourselves very lucky to have been able to camp two nights that we had not planned on.

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