Another country song 🙂

It feels great to be back on the road. Since there are going to be a bunch of stops this week, I thought I better try to blog as I go. We’ll see how long THAT keeps up.

I’ve been hovering around Texas for quite a while now, and finally had a chance to see my niece Ashely!

She’s a bit goofy, and if you knew everything going on in her world, you would understand, but she’s awesome! AND she bought dinner! What?! Too cool. She lives in an apartment in San Antonio, and never checked to see if I could park there for a night, so we took our chances. I did my best to fit into three spaces instead of my usual four by snuggling up close to her car in the front. There was plenty of parking spaces left, including three right behind my rig. Look what happened

Somebody parked one foot behind my camper! I don’t think they were too happy with me being there (you can see the other two spaces to the right of them), but HA! I escaped without scratching either car! This picture was taken at 3:30 AM – WAY before they could wake up and yell at me. I actually slept in the parking lot that night instead of on the couch (Ducky the crazy dog would have pestered me all night! He’s going through puberty and can’t control himself). I’m surprised I didn’t hear this person pull in – Thank goodness he didn’t pound on my door and scare the beejeezus out of me!

When I left, I decided to travel along the Mexican border. Why? Because I had never been that way, and this trip is all about seeing new (and old) things. Don’t worry. I don’t plan to pick up any hitchhikers. I did go through my first border patrol station. I think they were just looking for drugs because the dog circled my rig and then they let me pass. There is not much to see out there – it’s kinda ugly, but I’m starting to see a new side of Cliff.

I think Cliff is becoming a little over-protective. First, Shyla tells me that he won’t let her walk ONE more block (in NYC) to take a better train, and when I was in the middle of nowhere riding along the border, Cliff started taking an alternate route to avoid the only town within 100 miles. Maybe he was trying to be helpful, keep me safe and away from people, but didn’t he know I needed Starbucks?! C’mon! I actually just needed the wifi but nowadays you have to buy something. Elaine says we should drink more green tea, so I ordered some kind of green drink – YUCK! It tasted like dirty grass. Bleh!

My next campground was in Seminole Canyon State Park. (Hence, the song 🙂 I took two hikes that day. The first one to see the canyon.

Since I thought I was close to the Rio Grande (the trail was even called the Rio Grande Trail), I also took a quick afternoon 5 mile hike to see the infamous river.

It was an ugly hike, and NO WATER! Maybe there was something way off in the distance, but this was the ‘scenic overlook’ and I wasn’t about to hike out there to see a possible mud puddle. I guess the water I saw in the canyon may have been part of the river. Who knows?

I tried something new while I was there. As I mentioned, I will be making a bunch of stops on my way to Scottsdale, AZ and I really don’t want to stop and do laundry. Well, it’s hot, and yes I do sweat, so I may run out of clothes before I get there. I need at least one clean outfit to wear when I show up at my friend’s house. With no laundromat in this desert, I walked straight into the shower wearing the clothes I hiked in that day. Got them all soapy, stripped them off and rinsed them out. I think it worked pretty well in a pinch! Haha

As you can see, I am back to desert camping. It has it’s beauty – especially at night – the stars were fantastic!

This is the Campground (where I left my favorite chair!! I’m sad about that, but no going back. I bought a cheap replacement – sorry Tim) and sunset.

This is how I often spend my mornings. I’m an early riser, and the campgrounds are always so quiet when I get up. I like to take a cup of tea or coffee, play my morning ‘brain games’, and watch the day come to life.

One more thing, if you look on a map between Seminole Canyon State Park and Alpine, TX, you will see that there is nothing to see, except THIS in the middle of the desert with nothing else around it. I flew right past and had to do a U-turn!

WTH?! Read the sign. It’s funny and a ‘must see’. LOL

I’m on my way to Big Bend National Park. I’m looking forward to checking it out. Enjoy the day!

Tip of the day: If you ever find yourself playing beach volleyball in Ixtapa in the middle of a scorching hot day, WEAR SAND SOCKS!! I tried, I didn’t like them, so I thought I was being tough playing barefoot. Oh my goodness! I think I burned the bottom of my feet! They have been peeling for days! Just like my back did when I got fried as a kid. Yikes!