Departing South Padre Island

1 05 2019

We’ve just spent 2 weeks on South Padre Island enjoying nearly all of our favorite eateries on the Island: Lobo del Mar (formerly Palm Street Pier), Tom & Jerry’s, Painted Marlin, Padre Island Brewing, and the Café on the Beach at The Palms Resort.  We also enjoyed two evenings at one of the newest establishments, Long Board Grill & Bar right across from Lobo del Mare on Palm Street.  This new venue is all about entertainment with an over-water stage providing the audience great views across the Laguna. Covered and uncovered decks with comfortable seating and a typical “island” menu of fish, tacos and burgers made this new place one of our favorites.

The new construction at Isla Blanca Park is progressing.  The new amphitheater looks nearly ready to open, the new north beach pavilion has working lights and landscaping and the new south pavilion was just getting it’s roof.  The new boardwalk area connecting the two pavilions is about half way complete.  New roadways and parking lots are under construction.  With Easter on the first weekend we arrived, these new parking lots and the beach was packed for the Semana Santa holiday.  The old bait & beer shop is still standing at the jetty, and the original bathhouse and boat launch is still in place, now right behind the new Cameron Country Event Center (and amphitheater).  Nearly all other shower houses in the RV park are closed for remodeling.

Across the Brownsville ship channel, work continues to progress on the new SpaceX facility.  Gleaming in the sunlight, quite visible from South Padre, is a test version of the Star Hopper – a short tethered rocket being used to test the Raptor engines.  We kept a close eye on the ‘hopper, hoping to view some sort of rocket test.  We even drove over to Boca Chica one afternoon to see the progress of the SpaceX facility.

Our sites this year were perhaps the best ever – #C400 and #C401.  These sites overlook the ship channel and the new events center & amphitheater.  They have lots of sandbur avoiding concrete, as well as a garden area providing privacy and wind break.  And, as it turns out, best view of the Starhopper across at Boca Chica!

 


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Categories : Spring Road Trip 2019

San Antonio KOA

13 04 2019

San Antonio KOA Holiday

After staying at Travelers World south of downtown San Antonio a few times, we opted for the KOA on the east side and were impressed.

With about 300 sites, this “Holiday” park was selected as the KOA Campground of the Year in 2015.  The wooded park-like setting alongside Salado Creek provides beautiful sites with many offering extra space, or grass/patio areas.  We’re parked at D-1, an end site with a large concrete patio complete with two Adirondack chairs, a fire pit, picnic table and large grassy area.

Prices at both Travelers World and the KOA are comparable with the upcoming “Fiesta” celebration set to kick-off next weekend.  The rate for our “patio” site was $78/night less our 10% “Value Kard” savings.  The park is about a 15 minute drive to the downtown River Walk area, or about a 30 minute ride on a city bus with a stop just outside the main gate.  There’s a made-to-order Hunts Brothers pizza onsite, as well as “Fred’s Fixins” breakfast cafe that’s open Wed-Sun.  And, unlike so many other KOAs the WiFi actually worked well here!

The River Walk has always been a favorite!  We enjoyed a boat tour on Sunday afternoon and a wonderful dinner at Rosario’s on Monday.  Tomorrow we’ll head south to the Rio Grande Valley, where we’ll spend a night or two and then cross the Isabella Causeway Bridge to South Padre Island.  More from Padre…

 


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‘By the River’ in Texas Hill Country

11 04 2019

By The River RV, Ingram, TX

From San Angelo we’ve made the relatively short trip to Ingram, TX – just west of Kerrville in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.  We’re back at By the River RV Park where we first stayed in the truck camper in 2010.  We visited this area last year when we enjoyed dinner with friends at the Wild Ass Hey Barn right next door.

We’re parked in site #31, a spacious “Premium” back-in site overlooking the Guadalupe River.  Facilities here are top-notch, with a club house, laundry room and shower facilities.  Across the river, there’s even an island of tent sites.  After experiencing several other campgrounds in the Kerrville area, By the River is our favorite.  And, with Wild Ass Hey Barn within walking distance, never a need to drive and park for a good burger a cold beer and some Hill Country music!


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Spring Creek Marina & RV, San Angelo

10 04 2019

After departing Amarillo around 10AM, we’re parked at the Spring Creek Marina just south of San Angelo, TX by about 4PM.  It was a long day but we’re now south and east of the windy cold front that is forecast across west Texas tomorrow.  We’ll spend 2 nights here before moving into the Texas Hill Country.  We last visited San Angelo in 2017 when we spent several nights at the State Park.

Spring Creek Marina & RV is a park like setting, on the shores of Lake Nasworthy, just south of San Angelo.  With about 80 gravel sites, many with long term residents, we’re assigned site #79. This is a large site with good views to the lake and a WiFi access point on site.  While the map shows two shower houses, both are locked and appear to be well beyond usability.  The marina store and check-in office offers a wide variety of fishing supplies, water toys and ice cream snacks.

On Wednesday, preceding the cold front, temperatures pushed into record-category triple digits forcing us from the trailer into the air conditioned comfort of Zero One Ale House and The Twisted Root Burger Company, two of the fun eateries near the Concho Riverwalk in old town San Angelo.  Tomorrow we’ll pack up and head east to the Texas Hill country.  More from there…

 


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South Texas, here we come!

8 04 2019

Oasis RV Resort, Amarillo, TX

Good Evening from Amarillo

After a late Monday afternoon departure from home, we’re parked at the Oasis RV Resort, just west of Amarillo.  We’re in a race against the weather – wind gusts are forecast to 60 MPH across west Texas starting on Wednesday.  Our goal is to get to San Angelo – nearly 600 miles from home.  We’ve accomplished about 275 miles to Amarillo, so tomorrow will be a slightly longer day down to San Angelo.

The Oasis RV Resort is just that – an inviting oasis far enough from I-40 to avoid traffic noise, but still plenty convenient.  This park boasts nearly 200 double cement pad sites, paved internal roads, a beautiful swimming pool/hot tub area (not yet open for the season) and rates around $50/night with Good Sam discount.


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Happy Anniversary!

20 02 2019

Super Snow Moon over Silver Mountain

Last Sunday was our 1 YEAR anniversary of living mostly full time in the RV!  We headed out on the 2018 Spring Road Trip last February 17th and returned to Colorado on April 27th.

Less than 30 days later we’d finalized inspection items, packed up the house, moved everything to storage and signed the mountains of paper work for the sale! Wow, how time flies!

Since last May and the end of the Spring Road Trip, we’ve spent 97 nights at Circle the Wagons in La Veta, 29 nights in various RV parks around northern Colorado and Cheyenne, WY; 8 nights in Rio Rancho, NM and about 170 nights on the property here at Navajo Ranch.  Since the New Year we’ve had two major weather events.  The first was very cold temperatures on New Year’s Day with a record of -4 degrees.  The second has been the wind.  On Super Bowl Sunday the wind forecast was for 30-40 MPH winds with gusts to 60 MPH.  A local weather station at the base of La Veta Pass recorded a 73 MPH gust.  We’re not sure how much wind we had, but there were several sections of our “skirt” that needed a bit of repair and reinforcing!

And, speaking of skirting.  We’re not exactly sure how much it’s helping, but undoubtedly it keeps the underbelly & floors warmer.  Prior to skirting, we’d experienced freezing of the galley drain valve when temps dropped to single digits.  Now, even with temps dropping below zero, we’ve never had an issue with that valve.  Our propane consumption hasn’t noticeably dropped, but we’re trying to use more furnace than before – it’s cheaper and gives us the knowledge that we’re keeping the pipes and tanks warm in the underbelly.  We originally purchased ShurTape Foil tape at about $17/roll to construct our skirt.  After a few weeks, this tape appears to be less effective due to the warm/cold changes in temperature.  For best adhesion on the insulation board, I’m now using standard Gorilla Tape – which seems to stick very well.  On the fiberglass and plastic of the RV I’m using a 3M Foil tape that is specific to cold weather.  It’s a bit thinner, but overall seems to be holding up better.

And, an update on items that needed “fixed” or investigated:

  • Just after the cold snap in January, we purchased and installed 3M Window Insulation film on a couple windows.  This has made a major difference in drafts and cold air infiltrating the windows.  For $12, this may be the most economical and easy cold air reducer.
  • You’ll remember we said the refrigerator, or more specifically the freezer wasn’t freezing.  After some amount of research, we decided we needed to warm or at least prevent lots of cold air from entering the exterior refrigerator “box”.  With two sets of vents behind the refrigerator, we’ve blocked most of the lower vents.  This seems to help in our most typical 40 degree days and 20 degrees nights.  However, when temps drop further, the freezer still hovers around 25 degrees, not capable of freezing ice cubes overnight. With lots of these cold nights, some type of heat source would be necessary – so far we haven’t gone beyond covering the vent.  However there are plenty of blog articles about added heaters, drop lights and light bulbs stuck in the back of the refrigerator.
  • Water – as of the New Year, we still didn’t have water *to* the RV pad.  It was available at an outside tap, but that was 5 hoses away!  When temperatures dropped, the crawlspace under the unheated house was cold enough to freeze the pipes and water turned off everywhere.  About 50 feet of pipe heat tape, 10 sections of pipe insulation, one very long extension cord, and a couple of hours’ worth of work in the dark crawlspace yielded water to the RV pad!  I’d already purchased the shark bite connector, and with a quick snip of the PEX plumbing, tied in the line to the RV pad and left the rest of the frozen house lines to thaw and drain.  With about 6’ of heated tape on the outside faucet and the 25’ of heated water hose, we’ve not had a single problem with frozen pipes or hose.  I’m sorry it took so long to “fix” this problem!

That’s it. Other than removing the TV antenna due to wind noise, we have done nothing else to modify the RV for living through a Southern Colorado winter.  We’ll keep the snow shovel handy, and the boots nearby just in case.  And, we’re hopeful that we’ll be moving into the house within the next 30 days!

More as Spring approaches…

 


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Categories : Winter 2018/2019

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

31 12 2018

It’s now been about 5 weeks since we left Circle the Wagons and moved to the property at Navajo Ranch.  We have all the modern conveniences, electric, septic, internet (at a blazing 5MB) and satellite TV.  But, we still need to get water to the RV port.  For now we’re stringing 5 hoses together and filling the fresh water tank every few days from the tap outside the house.  A real pain!  But, the parts and tools necessary to turn on the RV spigot have been purchased…  more on that subject later.

The weather moderated during the second half of November, with highs in the mid-50’s and lows in the 20’s. Our warmest day was 61 and the coldest night was 13. Most of December followed the same pattern until late in the month when we had a couple days that failed to get above freezing, a couple nights in the single digits and on the 29th we dropped all the way to zero!  Before leaving for Christmas we had a 100 gallon propane tank delivered – no more refilling propane bottles every week.  We expect at least 50 days, possibly closer to 100 days on this new tank.  And, with 10 sheets of 2” insulation panel, we’re now completely skirted in.  We hope these upgrades will help our energy consumption and allow more comfort during the coldest nights.  The New Year will arrive with snow and very cold temperatures in southern Colorado.  We’re expecting about 5 inches of the white stuff and teens and single digits for the next 3 days.  But, by Friday the forecast is back near 50 – so a nice end to the first week of January.

100 gal propane tank and fully skirted for winter!

 

The house continues to move along at a snail’s pace – mostly because of weather complications.  If it’s not snowing, it’s cold, or too windy or something.  Over Christmas the half-walls were added to the RV Port, completing the framing necessary for electrical rough-in.  We hope to get the electricians back later this week once the weather warms a bit.  Happy New Year everyone and here’s to a good 2019!


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Happy Thanksgiving!

10 12 2018

We’ve moved!  In anticipation of visiting friends in Montrose, CO – on November 21st we relocated the trailer to the “guest pad” on the new property at Navajo Ranch.  With electricity we’ll leave the trailer on it’s own during our long weekend trip to the western slope.  Thanks again to Becky and Blake, owners of Circle the Wagons.  We look forward to seeing you next year!

Sunrise on Mt Mestas and Mt Silver, Walsenburg, CO

After returning from Thanksgiving, we relocated again, this time to the Stagecoach RV Resort in Rio Rancho, NM – just north of Albuquerque.  Several months ago we were honored to be asked to the inaugural sailing of the new Celebrity Edge cruise ship in Ft. Lauderdale.  It seemed logical that we would have warmer weather in New Mexico, so we booked our flights out of Albuquerque.  Ha – we drove to the airport on December 2nd in a snowstorm!  So much for relocating to a warmer climate!  But, Ft. Lauderdale was a great escape, back to shorts and tee’s for their 80 degree days and evenings.  The new cruise ships is amazing and the inaugural ceremonies were memorable as Malala Yousafzai was named godmother.

Celebrity Edge

After Ft. Lauderdale and the inaugural cruise onboard the Celebrity Edge, we’re headed  back to Colorado.  More from there…


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Winter Camping in Colorado

13 11 2018

Mid-November snow, Circle the Wagons

Yes – we’re still in Southern Colorado!  Following our return from Cabo in late October, we decided to see what happened to the weather before heading to a southern (and hopefully warmer) location to spend part of the winter.  Other than a relatively heavy snow storm that dumped around 15” on us the 1st of November, temperatures have been fairly mild.  In fact, just before the big snow, we had a 72 degree day!  Lows have been running in the mid to low-20’s – nothing unmanageable with the right preparations and gear.  The average temperature for the last week of October was 46.

However, after that November 1st snow storm, winter seems to be slightly more entrenched.  The first week of November our maximum high was 53, our lowest low as 21 and our average was 10 degrees off the previous week at 36 degrees.  Headed into the second week of November our max is hanging in around 50 degrees, but with several chilly nights, one at 9 degrees and last night at 5 degrees, our weekly average is down nearly 10 degrees to 28.  The upcoming week looks much more “average” with highs in the 50’s and lows in the 20’s.

Circle the Wagons

 

So, what have we done to prepare for this crazy winter camping?  #1 was to purchase a heated hose and some heat tape.  We bought the 25’ Camco heated hose on Amazon for $100.  We also purchased a short heat tape and some insulation wrap for our water spigot.    So far, with lows of single digits and a few days that never managed to struggle above freezing, we’ve enjoyed freely flowing water.

Other items to consider, and some that need a bit more investigation:

  • Check propane every day – before this cold snap we ran a minimum of 14 days on a bottle of propane.  During the big chill, we ran a minimum of 3 days.  Still not terrible – but important to keep an eye on.
  • There’s a lot of condensation with these relatively thin walls and windows when there’s a temperature difference of 60 degrees or more.  Many of our windows are fogged up, especially in the mornings, and have water running down them. Window weep holes are working – outside there are small icicles from the condensation.  We just picked up a 3M window insulator kit.  Over the next few days we’re going to insulate some windows and see what difference it makes.  More on that project in later posts…
  • With an electric fireplace and another small space heater, we can easily keep our work area warm during the day.  However, if daytime temps are below freezing, make sure you’re getting some furnace heat in the mix – only the furnace will warm the basement and underbelly and protect your water lines and other equipment from freezing.
  • Speaking of freezing, our freezer isn’t freezing.  After explore some blog posts, it seems that the large vents to keep the refrigerator cool in summer may be working against us in this cold weather.  The vents allow so much cold air in, the refrigerator never has to cool.  Thus, the freezer just hangs around 30 degrees, not enough to freeze ice overnight and barely enough to keep things frozen. This problem needs more exploration…
  • The clothes in the closet are damp.  With a slide closet in the bedroom, we have absolutely the poorest insulated walls packed with our clothes.  Overnight (and possibly even during the day) humid air condenses on these cold walls and causes dampness.  We’re trying to keep the doors open during the day to see if things will dry out – and, on our next warm sunny day may move all of our cloths outside for some quick drying.

 


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Fall at Circle the Wagons

26 10 2018

Circle the Wagons, La Veta, CO

It’s been 6 weeks since we arrived back at Circle the Wagons in La Veta and this week was the official closing-for-winter.  Since returning we’ve watched the grove of cottonwood trees turn golden hues of fall before a early frost on October 14th brought all the brown leaves to the ground.  Today, with only 2 campers in the park, things are quiet and peaceful, and almost a bit lonely.  The crunch of leaves underfoot and the nearly constant visits by wandering deer tell us that summer is drawing to a close.  So far we’ve experienced mild temperatures – other than the bitter cold that moved through quickly last weekend, our highs are in the 60’s and lows are in the 40’s.  So far, so good for RVing in fall/winter.

During our time back to southern Colorado we took a short “sun/beach” break to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  We moved the camper out to the Navajo Ranch property on Friday the 5th, just before the La Veta Oktoberfest celebration kicked off.  Then we spent the weekend in Denver before flying to Cabo on Wednesday.  Facilities at the ME Cabo resort were nice, the hotel had good beachfront access and beautiful pools.  We also visited the Grand Solmar Land’s End property – we’d like to stay here if we come back to Cabo.  Returning to pick up the trailer on Monday the 15th, we were relieved to find all systems in good shape after the plunge in temperatures to what was apparently around 15 degrees.

Cabo San Lucas, MX

We’re awaiting final water hookups and septic repair (they nicked the sewer pipe drilling one of the RV port piers) before moving back to Navajo Ranch.  More from there…


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