August 8-9, 2022
Grants KOA, Grants, NM
122.65 miles/3 hrs
$50.90/evening
$101.80
FHU Pull through site #24
Elevation 6,460
Our travels along I-40 eastbound was quite varied today. We started out with flat, open ranges and some grazing horses and cows. Good area to be off the grid with towns few and far in between. Cargo railways are quite apparent in this area. Today, again, we notice rail freight shipping at least a mile-long. As we get closer to the New Mexico boarder the mountains return with beautiful rock formations. We also returned to central time. Approaching the boarder billboards advertise for local roadside Indian goods such as jewelry, pottery and blankets.
Grants is a large city in Cibola County. It’s known as the uranium capital of the US, part of historic Route 66 and has a population of approximately 9,000 people. Just south of the city you will find El Malpais Nation Monument, The Ice Cave, and the Wild Spirit Wolf Sanctuary. Also of interest is the Bandera Volcano that erupted 10,000 years ago leaving an 800-foot-deep crater in the earth. All of these are here to visit and view.
Grants KOA is nothing special regarding the campground itself, but the staff goes over and above to please their customers. Freshly baked cookies upon arrival and dinner prepared at the campground by the staff and delivered to your door! There’s also a continental breakfast available every morning. These owners and the staff absolutely go above and beyond. The campground store is quite large offering many necessities along with a large selection of souvenirs. We would stay here again.
And the saga of the car continues! The shaking steering wheel continues. We stopped at a local repair shop and had the tires rotated back to the way they were…nope, still shaking. So we went to an actual tire store (Delta Tire) where they balance the tires again, and success!
On Tuesday we got on to Highway 53 and took a pleasant 28 mile drive up the mountain to an elevation of 8,000 feet. Barry took the walking tour of The Ice Cave and Bandera Volcano. I stayed behind and watched an informational video that was great! The 70 steps down, and then back up again, was a deal-breaker for me! It explained how the Cave was of value as it was mined by Indians and settlers until that ended in 1946. The depth of the ice depends on how much summer’s rainfall adds to the cave. Then, it freezes over the winter adding additional layers to the floor of the cave.
Bandera Volcano erupted in two stages and left a crater of 1,400 feet wide across the top. The elevation at the top is 8,372.
The history of the property is extensive with eventual purchase of the property by the Candelaria’s. David and Reddy have since passed away and now the property is run by their daughter. You can visit the Cave and Volcano for $12/pp. There is a museum, with artifacts collected from the land from as far back as 800 years, within the very well-stocked souvenir store. It’s worth the trip!
Fuel
TA 50, Milan, NM
11 gallons; $3.79 gallon; $41.69
August 10-11, 2022
Blaze-in-Saddle RV Park
Tucumcari, NM
253.63 miles/4 hours
$35.11/evening
$70.22
FHU Pull through site 33
Elevation 4,091 feet
A four-hour drive across New Mexico was filled with a variety of changing scenery. Magnificent mountain ranges to rolling hills to flat brown and green shrubs. We also spotted a few wind turbines in the far distance.
Blaze-in-Saddle is directly off the highway with flat, gravel sites. Absolutely no frills going on here. It’s obviously a one-night stop over for many.
Tucumcari is a pretty large community with a population of about 5,000. Route 66 is loaded with motels…mostly closed or abandoned. Here, like so many other places we have visited has been devastated over the past couple of years. There’s one market, a couple of dollar stores, auto shops, a few restaurants and not much more. There is Watson’s BBQ located at the rear of Tucumcari Ranch Supply. Calling themselves a country store you can find anything from jewelry to clothing and dinnerware. Around town 33 murals beautify buildings giving the town the nickname “City of Murals.” 28 of these murals were created by artist Doug Quarles.
Thursday, we took a ride to Logan to visit Ute Lake State Park. The areas around the thirteen-mile lake are many and very nicely laid out. The sites along the lakefront are especially nice. Each has a cabana with a picnic table and grill. In some areas there are sandy areas where people were basking in the sun. The park areas were really very nice.
Back in Tucumcari we visited a very interesting dinosaur museum ($6/pp) created and run by the Mesalands Community College students…amazing what they have created! The museum houses a host of replicated and original fossils from tiny footprint casts to a 40-foot skeleton of Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was quite interesting
And impressive!
One last stop at the Tucumcari Historical Museum ($4/pp). OMG this place looks like it threw up old stuff! Three stories full, full, of stuff! There were outer buildings with even more stuff! Kitchen items, typewriters, sewing machines, glassware, dinnerware, baby items, clothing, books, stoves, and even a coffee bean roaster! It was unbelievable how much stuff they have crammed into these rooms. It took us 45 minutes to breeze through the main building. We passed on the outer buildings due to the heat…upper 90s today. And tomorrow we move on to Oklahoma!
August 12-13, 2022
Bobcat Creek RV Park
241.34 miles
$38/evening
$78.29
FHU Pull through site 25
Elevation 1,808
Diesel
Bobcat Creek C-Store
$4.49 gallon; 63.824 gallons; $287.14
Back on I-40 and here we go again! Flat, undeveloped land for miles and miles with trees and shrubbery as far as the eye can see. The remnants of the beautiful mountains are very far in the distance now. The roads were not so bad today, especially in Texas and Oklahoma. An hour into our drive…Central Time and we lost an hour! We passed through Amarillo and wow! It’s a very large city with everything and anything one could possibly want or need. After Amarillo we go back that drab scenery 🙄 then add in hundreds, yes hundreds, of wind turbines that went on for miles and miles and generating over 92 Terawatt-hours of electricity during a year. Texas leads in electricity production via wind turbines in the United States. It produces more in on year than the next three top states combined, and they are Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas.
There are not many rest areas along I-40, but we did pass a very unique area with covered picnic benches that was really nice and being enjoyed by quite a few takers. And, of course, Texas would not be Texas without cattle ranches. There are several of those. A couple stood out in particular. One was right alongside the highway, huge, and corralled over a thousand cattle…some standing and some lying down. The other was Branbar Cattle RESORT!!!! 😂😂😂
Bobcat Creek RV Park & C-Store is a gem 😃! Lorne and Cindy are awesome and very welcoming. The office is very conveniently located inside the gas station store. Getting fuel here was a pleasure because the bays are large with lots of swing room. And Cindy prepares dinner, if you are so inclined! Three options for $15 per serving, delivered to you RV by Lorne. The store is very-well stocked with many options. The park is not very large, sites are very close on flat gravel. Quite doable, especially when we are under a couple of trees in 100* weather 🙀! More of the same expected tomorrow 😞.
So we ventured out on this sunny, hot afternoon. We know there’s nothing in this sleepy, little town but a couple of markets, a bar, and two restaurants. We hopped on I-40 and took a 15-minute drive to Elk City. Elk City is a large community with pretty-much anything you would need. We took a chance at Boomtown Grill and grabbed seats at the bar. Not very many patrons on this Thursday evening. We enjoyed a cocktail and an appetizer…it was good. Huge platter of very unhealthy nachos were very yummy…a splurge, what can I say!
Saturday was very eventful! We started out to Elk City. In our travels we came upon Bazaar on 66…and it certainly was! If it’s crazy…it’s in this store. Everything from antiques to clothing to block signage…and a very eclectic store clerk. Thomas is a very quirky young man, but also very interesting. We had a great conversation with him, and he gave us some pointers on where to go when we are in his home state of Texas.
Lunch at Mazzio’s…meh! A cardboard crust pizza. I knew it was a bad decision to come here, but whatever! It satisfied our hunger. Then off to Split Decision bowling alley and entertainment center to work off what we should not have eaten for lunch. $5.50/game…ouch! Very welcoming owners! In addition to 10 alleys there is a game room, billiards table and axe throwing. Then, let’s head to Foss State Park and a very beautiful Foss Lake and Sunset Beach. Being Saturday it was packed! Many people were cooling off in the water while others were enjoying the shoreline under a thatched roof hut on the beach. Not a very large area, but beautiful nonetheless.
Route 66 National Museum ($3/pp) was pretty cool. Not very large, but fun! Antique cars galore with a bit of history thrown in. The outside courtyard with replicas of buildings of days gone by was so very pretty and meticulously decorated and maintained. We weren’t there for more than ½ hour, but definitely worth the trip down history lane!
Back at Bobcat Creek Barry fueled the car and I ordered dinner from Cindy. Catfish was our choice…delicious! ($15/pp + tax) Two large pieces of fish, onion rings, pea salad, hush puppies and pickled jalapeños! Should have ordered one! Sooo much scrumptious food. Thank you Lorne and Cindy for your hospitality 😃.
Fuel: C-Store, Sayre, OK
11.779 gallons; $3.49/gallon; $41.21
August 14-15, 2022
Whistle Stop RV Resort, Abilene, TX
247.74 miles/4 ½ hrs
$40/evening -$4 Good Sam
$77.00
FHU Pull in site #40
Elevation 1,719 feet
Freaking hot! 100*
We left 1-40 east about a half hour into today’s drive. Route 83/66 south was a rough ride. In fact, our final travels on Route 83/277 south was just as uncomfortable. This, in my opinion, was one of our worst days. Even the bird was unhappy, riding most of the time with her beak between the bars of her cage to tame the vibrations 😞. The scenery was extremely boring…Texas is so vast with lots of nothing in between a few towns. Apparently, they have not had much rain because the grass is dead in so many areas. We passed through one large town, but otherwise not much more.
Whistle Stop is a sizable park. Gravel sites are level with, unfortunately, what used to be grass between each site. Every site has a full hook up. The office/camp store is extremely well-stocked with necessities, souvenirs, and a really nice wine selection. Emily was very welcoming and informative. The park also has a pool! We may have to take a dip. It’s extremely hot.
Abilene is known as “Big Country” as it was the center of a 22-county area. It’s also called the “Official Storybook Capital of America” because of the largest collection of storybook characters in the state. There are 24 statues in the downtown area. The population as of 2022 is 126,806! It’s a large county with 106.7 square miles! Abilene is a shipping point for livestock and grain. The city offers just about anything one might desire.
We took a ride downtown to check out the statues. Downtown was dead! Everything was closed at 7 pm! But we did get to take a walk and get pictures of the statues. We were the only car driving around and it was a bit eerie.
Monday was another scorcher. We went to an entertainment center called Prime Time. What a place! Bowling, arcade, axe throwing, go carts, slides…etc! So many options for fun! We bowled and got a bit of exercise…much needed exercise. We have not been able to walk due to the blasting heat, so we are up for any kind of indoor movement. Tomorrow we move on to Corpus Christi.
August 16-17, 2022
Top of the Hill RV Resort, Bourne, TX (pronounced Bernie)
Pronounced Bernie
213 miles/5 hrs
$45/evening
$90
FHU Pull through site 59
Elevation 1,447 feet
Many roads traveled today. I-20 east, Route 322, I-84 south, Route 283 and then continuing on to I-87 south. Strange that I-87 is a southbound highway…but it is. Odd numbered highways usually run east and west. All of them horrible, in my opinion and I believe the bird concurred riding with her beak between her cage bars to tame the vibrations. To make matters a bit worse we were rerouted and that added an additional 30-minutes to our day.
We passed through several small towns, but about 37 miles north of our destination we drove through Fredericksburg. Very busy, very beautiful, with a German influence. And then, we came upon mountains! Never knew Texas has mountains…hence the name Top of the Hill RV Resort! This area is also called Hill Country. It’s beautiful! Elevation is 1,447 feet in this part of Hill Country.
The RV Resort is adorable and nicely maintained by a lovely couple. We were escorted to our site that has a beautiful view of the mountains. Both the sites and roads are gravel with grass in between. There is a small pool, lovely flower gardens and a pond with a resident frog! Hot! Still 96* at 6:00 pm! Oddly enough, the temperature rose to 102* at 7:00 pm.
After we unhooked, hooked up and set up we took a ride to downtown, Boerne.
It’s an eclectic downtown area where if it wasn’t so freaking hot it would be fun to walk around and browse the many stores and antique shops. It’s a small town with 19,326 people who reside there. It’s 11.98 miles of happiness.
Fritzie’s BBQ was our stop for dinner…brisket tacos were huge and very delicious.
Plenty to satisfy even a large appetite! A bit of a dive, but the cheap-eats diner ($9 for two very-stuffed tacos 🌮) was doing a great business, especially at their take-out drive-through window!
San Antonio! On our second day we drove ½ hour east to visit the River Walk. It was hot once again with a high temperature of 96*…thankfully the humidity was not too bad. Still, very hot in the sun. The ½ hour, 2-1/2 mile cruise around the River Walk ($10.50/pp) was enjoyable and informative. Our guide, Stew, was very knowledgeable about the River Walk and the history of the restaurants and hotels
that line the River. The Esquire Tavern, where we dined, is the oldest tavern on the River, was built in 1933 at the end of prohibition. It boasts a beer-soaked, wooden bar that is the longest of any other restaurant in San Antonio. We sat outside on the patio overlooking the River. Inside was dark and relaxing with booths and overstuffed seating, but not to many patrons. It’s too much fun out on the patio to be sitting inside!
On our return to the resort, we stopped at H-E-M. A huge marketplace with the usual components of a supermarket, but much more. Grills, pottery, plants, home goods and on and on…we got in a good walk cruising the isles, and we picked up a few needed items. It was a great experience.
August 18-20, 2022
Padre Balli Park, Padre Island, Corpus Christi, TX
201.82 miles/4-1/2 hrs
$50/evening
$100
FHU Pull through #22
Diesel fuel
No receipt available
62 gallons; $3.49 per gallon; $270
I-10 east to 37 south and some decent roadways. Seems like we are out of the drought area as the grass and trees alongside the highway is lush and green. We are also out of the hills! We are back to flat with wind turbines…not hundreds of them, but they are here along the roadways. The GPS then guided us onto 358 east, and our last leg of the day. The bird and I rode in the back of the bus…traffic was insane!!
Padre Balli Park is on the Gulfshore! We could walk from our site to the beach. The sites are spacious, concrete pads with a picnic table…too bad we can’t sit outside! Better yet, we bought a beach pass ($12/year) so we can drive the car onto the beach…and we will do that tomorrow. It’s very hot!
First we need to explore, so we hop in the car for a ride. We head to Mustang Island and Port Aransas. Fabulous tourist area, lots of restaurants, motels and absolutely beautiful condo communities all overlooking the gulf. We stopped in at Virginia’s on the Bay for a snack and a cocktail. Virginia’s is next to a marina loaded with big-ass fishing boats…they are certainly all about fishing in this area! What a wonderful place to vacation! Tomorrow…the beach!
Saturday is beach day, for us and many others. Head on down one of the many beach access roads, drive onto the beach, park the car and set up your site! The canopy chairs were not cutting it for Barry, so he took off in search of an umbrella. Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite good enough either. We watch as many were setting up pop up canopies of various styles. That’s the way to go.
Valero, Corpus Christi, TX
10.53 gallons; $3.09/gallon; $32.62
Harbor Freight has what we are looking for and for $65 it’s a done deal. The next couple of stops are beach towns and I’m hoping the canopy will make for a pleasurable time for Mr. Barry…he dislikes the beach about as much as I dislike traveling in the RV!
Next stop was a highly recommended Water Street Oyster Bar in downtown Corpus Christi. The food and service were excellent. It was slammed being Friday evening and happy hour also. Even the manager, who came twice to be sure our experience was good, was bussing tables. Delicious oysters and sushi!
August 20-22, 2022
Quintana Beach County Park, Quintana, TX
212 miles/4 hrs
$40/evening
$80
FHU Pull through #29
Back onto I-37 and very smooth sailing. I-77 north also had good roads. The scenery was flat, green, but no agriculture. Lots of non-highway roads traveled today. Texas 111, Route 35 north, and Texas 36. Another miles-long trains spotted along side the road.
Quintana was founded in 1532! Can you imagine? It’s a very small town where about 100 people permanently reside. Spanish survivors seeking Montezuma’s gold were adrift, thirsty and noticed a current of drinkable water flowing into the Gulf. They followed it to the mouth of the river and called it Los Brazos de Dios, the Arms of God. Evidently hundreds of years ago this was a very populated, thriving community. Not so much now. There is, however, one of the largest Liquid Natural Gas plants we have seen. It’s directly outside of the park, it’s massive and very well guarded! If you don’t have clearance…you are not getting in.
Another small town next to Quintana is Freeport. There is a pretty large marina along the Intracoastal Waterway, a large welding company, and a huge Dow refinery. There are a few other essential services, but not much more.
There really is nothing to do in either of these towns, other than go to the beach.
We decided to go explore! About 20 minutes east of here we came upon Surfside. It’s a cute beach town with stilted homes directly on the Gulf. A few choices for restaurants…and, again, not much else. We chose to get a cocktail at Beach Front Deck Bar and Grill. We should have looked at reviews first! Watered-down cocktails and the Moscow Mule wasn’t even recognizable! We also ordered calamari. Never have we been served calamari that looked like this…little crunchy balls 😂😂😂. We know where we won’t go again!
Sunday’s attempt at having a beach day was squashed within an hour as the black clouds rolled in. About an hour east is Galveston…so let’s go there 👍. Fabulous decision that we should have made earlier in the day. We visited the Rainforest ($30/pp) at Moody Gardens. Moody Gardens is a vacation destination with a hotel, restaurants, water park, an aquarium, and a visitor center. Unfortunately, we didn’t arrive until 3:30 because we did some sightseeing along Seawall Blvd in downtown Galveston. The drive on Seawall was very neat! It runs right along the Gulf, so lots of people watching, restaurants and hotels. Very nice drive. The Rainforest was amazing! Lots of different foliage, a variety of very vocal birds, monkeys, fish, turtles, snakes, insects and more. We loved it and were disappointed about missing out on the aquarium…it all closes down at 4:00 pm. Kinda crazy it closes so early.
Not ready to get back into the car we opted on a paddle boat tour ($9/pp). The Colonel toured around the bayside for 45-minutes…with a recorded narration that we could not hear😂. Oh, well!
Dinner at The Spot was reasonable and really good. Ahi tuna tacos…scrumptious!
Fuel
Buc-ee’s
Quintana,TX
$3.19 gallon; 9.47 gallons; $30.31
August 22-23, 2022
200 miles/3-1/2 hrs.
A+ Motel & RV Park, Sulphur, LA
$45/evening
$90
FHU Back in #39
We spent about an hour and a half on Texas 36, Texas 288 north and Sam Houston Tollway eastbound. Our last leg brought us back onto I-10 east. The construction was unbelievable! It’s wonderful that the roads are getting TLC but driving through it makes for a white-knuckle ride for me! I was happy to land!
The RV Park is beautiful. All of the sites have a concrete pad, picnic table and a charcoal grill. Our site is on the fishing lake…so too bad it’s a back-in site. A view of the lake out the front window would have been nice. They also offer two swimming pools, a hot tub spa and forty motel rooms for rent. The one-hundred three RV sites are almost all taken, with some of them being long-term rentals…plants and furniture adorn their sites. It’s quite warm…hot, humid and overcast skies.
We did a bit of research and realized that there is not much to do in Sulfur! Just a walking trail and that’s not an option in the heat. About fifteen miles east of here is Lake Charles, so we explore! Again, not much to do in Lake Charles as it is more of a working community. We got the filthy car washed. Misty showers en route to Sulfur made for a mess. A Sam’s Club run helped us get in a bit of a walk…not much of that happening lately with all the heat and humidity. The rest of our afternoon was spent getting laundry taken care of and relaxing.
Tuesday brought rain…not a beach day! We took a ride to Westlake and Sam Houston Jones State Park. Newly renovated…with a Magnolia tree-lined entrance to reestablish the trees that were destroyed by Hurricane Laura. It will be a magnificent thing to see once they are established and in bloom! It’s a really nice park with a fishing lake with tent rentals, cabins and very nice full hook up RV sites on cement pads. The Magnolia was designated the state flower in 1900. The park is also home to the Longleaf Pine, the longest-lived of southern pines. The deer were loving taking shelter in them as we drove on by.
Lake Charles, Sulfur and Westlake are rich in oil refineries. So many of them in each of these communities! And they are massive in size!
Onto, appropriately named, Petro Bowling 🎳. It’s a great entertainment center with alleys, arcade, bar and a small restaurant. Some indoor fun on a crappie afternoon!!
In between the rain drops we stopped by Rouses gourmet market, walked the isles (exercise) and picked up some things we needed. It’s a great store offering anything you can imagine. Italian dinner tonight!
