Day 9 - Deming, New Mexico

California or Bust…

Day 9 – Deming, New Mexico

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Pulled out of the Carlsbad KOA at 9:45am on a beautiful, sunny morning… the temperature was a brisk 45 degrees.  We are planning to drive just under 200 miles today but it is going to be slow going through the Lincoln National Forest and over the Sacramento Mountains into Alamogordo.  My Brother James warned us that this route was very steep… more on that subject later.

Beautiful weather in Carlsbad.

Proceeding North on Hwy. 285, we drove by groves of pecan trees in the desertscape.  We turned West on Hwy 82 in Artesia and the landscape changed dramatically… wide open spaces of nothing… just rocks and sand.  We thought we were driving through “nothing” in Texas, but the nothing in Texas has nothing on the nothing of Southern New Mexico.  No wonder there are so many “top secret” areas for military testing and alien activity… we were just south of Roswell and Area 51.

After driving through 60 miles of desert, we got to the Lincoln National Forest and drove parallel to the Rio Penasco River, through beautiful cattle country and numerous large cattle ranches.   Still in the foothills of the Sacramento Mts., we stopped at Tom and Pam Runyan Ranches which had a fishing pond with rainbow trout and a petting zoo complete with llamas, a 6 month old camel, pot belly pigs,  goats and a baby deer.  They also had a fruit stand and gift shop… we purchased some cherry butter, cherry cider, dried fruit and a small blueberry tartlet.  Everything was tasty!

Look at that face...

She knew she was cute...

Nice Buuuuuuuuttt!

We continued our climb through several small towns and began to see snow on the pine and birch covered hillside.  At the crest of the Sacramento Mountains was a cute alpine ski town called Cloudcroft... elevation 8600 ft.  It was a busy Sunday morning at the churches, restaurants and there were lots of hunters geared up for opening of deer season.  The decent down was steep and winding with several truck “runaway” lanes.  After passing through a tunnel and pulling over at a scenic overlook, we noticed our front brakes were smoking.  James was right, it was a steep highway with a 6% grade.  We waited at the overlook for a good half hour to let them cool off.  In the distance, and still at 6750 ft., we could see White Sands National Monument.  It really looked like a lake, it was an optical illusion.  We cautiously continued our decent in to Alamogordo and stopped at the McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch and Arena Blanca Winery for a few samples.

Cool tunnel on a 6% grade......

Waiting for the brakes to cool.  White Sands N.M. in the distance.

Alamogordo Fact:  The first three completed atomic bombs known as the "Trinity Test" were successfully tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico on the 16^th of July, 1945.

From Alamogordo, we took Hwy 70 West past Holloman Air Force Base, White Sands National Monument, White Sands Missile Range and connected to I-25 in Las Cruces (now the 2^nd largest City in New Mexico and growing).  We picked up I-10 and traffic slowed to a crawl and was funneled through a Border Patrol check point with scanners and facial recognition cameras.  We rolled down our window and the officer asked how many people were in the RV and if we were US Citizens.  He asked if Riley and Brigit were US Citizens because they didn’t look like “Gringos”… just kidding!

Another 50 miles and we arrived at our next overnight stop… the St. Clair Winery, a Harvest Host Site, in Deming, New Mexico.  We learned about the Harvest Host Program from some friends in the Keys who travel the Country in their RV.  The program or club requires a $30 annual membership and provides a directory of wineries and farms across North America that will allow you to stay overnight for free.  Of course, their hope is that you learn about and purchase their product.  At the St. Clair Winery, we enjoyed tasting quite a few of their award winning wines and did not have to drive.  We met Phillipe, the winemaker, who came out to see who was camping in his parking lot.  He gave us some olives to taste.  For dinner we cooked inside and ate sautéed scallops served over a bed of steamed spinach paired with an Artesa Albarino.  Our first night staying in a winery… with more planned for this trip... the dogs could run through the grounds... it was quiet... very cool!

Great overnight stop!!!

Day 8 - Carlsbad, New Mexico

California or Bust…

Day 8 – Carlsbad, New Mexico

Saturday, October 29, 2011

I know you have all been waiting for our next KeyZRV post... but we have not been in touch with civilization.  Finally you can read Day 8...

Here we are in Balmorhea State Park, a refreshing Texas oasis… how could that be???  Balmorhea is located in the desert flatlands of West Texas and is popular for its San Solomon Springs.  For thousands of years, this spring provided water for Native Americans and later, for Spanish explorers and soldiers.  Today, the park’s deep pool over the spring attracts swimmers and divers.  The park was already busy with about ten divers preparing for certification.  We saw a cotton tail rabbit last night and a roadrunner this morning.

Sunrise on the Mesa from our bedroom window.

ROADRUNNER... "if he catches you, your'e thru"

We left the Park about 9:30am and headed North on Highway 17… nothing but oil wells, yucca trees and deserted sheet metal buildings.  Gassed up in Pecos, Texas (home of the first rodeo) along the Texas Pecos Trail and stopped at La Nortena for some world famous tamales which they sell by the dozen and a “tongue in cheek burrito” with pico de gallo and fresh avocado…. OMG… so good and just spicy enough!

Just had to stop!

Hand made tamales... spicy chicken or red beef

We’re driving North in Texas to the border of New Mexico… where there is a lot of nothing as far as you can see.  The sky is full of contrails in every direction.  Drew stopped and took some pictures of a ghost town, where the whole town of Orla had moved in 1931 to its new location off Hwy. 652.  Drew said it was full of really good junk… old mason jars, car jacks, kitchen sinks, etc.  He could have spent hours there!

Orla, Texas

Just crossed the border and we gained an hour… now on Mountain Standard Time.  A new crop of oil wells pumping away in New Mexico as we continued across the Chihuahuan Desert.  We drove about 30 miles North and then took a “shortcut” winding road through Black River Village over to the National Park Highway and White’s City… the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  White’s City was named after the young man that discovered the caverns in 1890 when he saw what he thought was smoke… but was actually thousands of bats.  White thought there must be an awful big cave to house all those bats… and that is how he found the caverns.  He spent years exploring and taking tourists to the depths of the caverns using lanterns and wooden ladders.  Today the caverns are managed by the US National Park system where there are miles of beautiful paved paths with handrails.  Upon entering the cavern, you walk down a mile and a quarter switchback path which takes you down 750 feet from the surface.  Words or pictures cannot describe the awesome beauty and eerie feeling of the caverns… some rooms are ¼ of a mile wide.  There are giant stalactites and stalagmites that have been formed one water droplet at a time over thousands of years.  I visited Carlsbad with my parents over 40 years ago and I pondered if any of the formations had actually changed… things that make you go hummmm. 

Acres of burnt Chihuahuan Desert

The decent into Carlsbad Caverns

switchbacks...

 

stalagmite...



Curtains and Stalactites



  

At the end of the two hour walk, there is an elevator that takes you back up the 750 ft.  Thank goodness we didn’t have to walk back out.  The caverns are well worth the effort to get there… amazing!!!

We drove another 35 miles, just past the town of Carlsbad, to the Carlsbad KOA around 5:00 pm… a total of 192 miles for the day.  The KOA was very nice, clean and we were greeted by a friendly staff and Don, who guided us to our space.  Brigit and Riley enjoyed running and playing at the grassy Kamp K9.   The KOA hosts suggested we keep a tight leash on the dogs because there are quite a few resident rabbits that you could get pretty close to.  Drew nicked named them… Francaise, Marsala, Picatta and Cheech and Chong… the two that will be fried with a little herb.  Okay… I guess we’ll have to wait until The Farmhouse Restaurant in Sonoma to eat Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit.

Our evening visitors.

Day 7 - Balmorhea State Park, Texas

California or Bust…

Day 7 – Balmorhea State Park, Texas (West Texas Flatlands)

Friday, October 28, 2011

It’s going to be a 400 mile drive today… we thawed out a large package of country style pork ribs last night in anticipation of making a crock pot dinner that can cook all day.  I’m not so sure it’s such a good idea… the aroma is going to make us hungry.  We prepped onions and garlic, added the braised ribs, emptied a can of apple pie filling, added cumin and other spices.  We’ll have a nice dinner ready at day’s end.

We drove South and West out of Austin and stopped at a Wal-Mart for a few supplies before getting on Highway 290 which would take us along the Texas Hill Country Trail. We could have dropped down to I-10 which may have been faster but not nearly as scenic.  We passed through Johnson City which was the birthplace and home of former President Lyndon B. Johnson… he was one tough Texan.  Stonewall was another cute town and famous for their peaches… we wished we had stopped for homemade peach ice cream.  The vista changed to mesas and cliffs of sandstone and limestone.  And to our surprise, we drove past at least a dozen beautiful functioning wineries… who knew?!?   We then entered Fredericksberg,, with  a population of just over 10,000, it was a bustling, artsy, historic town which we wished we could have spent more time and hope to come back to someday.  Fredericksberg was influenced by Prussian and German settlers and is also the birthplace of Admiral Nimitz, the Father of America’s modern navy.

It’s official… we turned the Atlas page from the Eastern Texas map to the Western Texas map.  If you look at the state, Interstate 10 runs across the widest part of Texas and we have been driving it for days.  Drew has Outlaw Country playing on Sirius radio which is a blend of old and new cowboy poet songs to set the mood.  The scenery changed as well… grander mesas, more cedar trees, less water.  Talk about wide open spaces… this is the Texas in cowboy movies… we expect to see some Apaches on horseback.  Then right around a bend in the road there was at least 100 windmills sitting on top of a mesa.

Windmills on the Mesa

By the way… did we mention that the country style apple pork ribs are smelling pretty good right about now.  It’s about 5:30 pm and the sun is still high in Western Texas, we exited I-10 and drove another six miles to the base of the Barrilla Mts.  We have a great view of the mesas, some as high as 6,300 ft. at the Balmorea State Park.  We like it here… just about to enjoy our crockpot dinner with fresh cauliflower… wish we could put it on a “Smell-i-vision” cell phone app so you could enjoy too.  What a GREAT vacation!



Quiet spot at Balmorhea State Park





View from our dinette window   :o)



Days 5 & 6 - Austin, Texas

California or Bust…

Day 5 & 6 – Austin, Texas

Wednesday, October 26^th, 2011

We left Beaumont, Texas around 9:30am and proceeded West on I-10 and then took Hwy 290 West just North of Houston, avoiding the crazy traffic, to head towards Austin about 230 miles.  We plan to stay a couple of nights so that we can take in the sites of Austin and also visit friends Kyle and Lanae.  The drive was easy taking us through East Central Texas over rolling cedar tree covered hills.  The quaint rural towns were sparsely populated but always had at least one mercantile store and several antique shops.  Unfortunately with the lack of rain, the farms and pastures were very brown… not much green for the cattle and horses to munch on.  It’s crazy to think that just before we left the Keys, we had 25” of rain in ten days and this area of Texas is down 25” for the entire year. 

There were a couple of RV park options in Austin, but I had not made a prior reservation and when we called to check availability for a space at the highest rated park, there was no vacancy… uh oh.  We, in general, have no problem with a reservation and most times the RV Parks tell us we don't need one.  The Oak Forest RV Park had one space they keep on hand for this kind of a situation and we had a place to stay.  Not as nice as the overnight pull through slabs, but good enough.  We settled in and waited for our friends Lanae & Kyle Hauser to come by for a visit and go out to dinner.  Kyle and Lanae lived in the Florida Keys and would stay at our house to dog, cat & Maye sit while we were out of town.  They moved to Austin a couple of years ago to pursue careers and Kyle to further his architectural design and education…  sounds like he is still trying to figure that out.  They suggested authentic Mexican food… no arguments from us… and we went to Chuy’s, an Austin favorite... Drew got the t-shirt.  We all had Texas-tinis… and enjoyed chicken enchiladas with cilantro cream sauce and my favorite, chili rellenos.  Silly Kyle and beautiful Lanae are a lot of FUN, we wished we could have spent more time with them.

Kyle & Lanae  :o)

Chuy's in Austin

Thursday, October 27^th, 2011 –

The weather forecast had a cold front moving in to the Austin area… with highly anticipated rain.  Lanae joked the night before that “it won’t rain”… it never rains.  The temperature dropped in the mid 60’s so with an umbrella and coats in hand (which we ultimately did not need and should have listened to Lanae), we took a taxi in to Austin.  Our first stop was to find Maria’s Taco Express off South Lamar Blvd. which we had seen on Diner’s, Drive-In’s and Dive’s… it was also recommened by our Marathon friend, Maria.  It was difficult to make a decision because there were so many options… and everything sounded good.  We asked a few of the locals what their favorites were and then placed our order… it was everything we had hoped for and more… what flavor!!!!

Maria's Taco Express

We love DDD!

Most excellent guac!

Chicken fajita burrito... everything was so good!

From the Taco Express, we walked several blocks towards the City Centre and decided to catch the Metro bus over Barton Springs Road and to the 4^th Street warehouse or music district.  We could only imagine the activity and craziness at night… block after block of nightclubs and bars.  It was interesting to see the contrast of the old buildings built at the turn of the century and the modern high rises… and no shortage of weird people wandering the streets.  One of the local slogans… “Keep Austin Weird”… it was evident!  We finished our Austin City Limit tour at the Capital building and grounds.  There was a statue and memorial commemorating the confederate states and the civil war… it listed all the dates of the major battles which was very interesting.

"moo-sic capital"

Rock'in big time!

funky!

old and new

Love the idea... "cars to go"... rent them on the spot!

Texas Capital

We took a taxi back to the KeyZRV… the dogs were happy to see us, Drew napped for a bit and I did a little office work and relaxed.  Due to the lack of rain across Texas, there is a “no burn” ordianance in effect which meant that we could not barbeque outside.  Of course, we came well prepared with plenty of food to cook inside, on the grill or in the crockpot.  So tonight we made a sausage, sundried tomato and onion pizza on a whole wheat Boboli pizza shell and paired it with a nice red wine… can’t complain about that!

Tomorrow we drive the West half of Texas… 

Day 4 - Beaumont, Texas via the Louisiana coastline

 After saying goodbye to Betty, we topped off our fuel tank in Abbeville and drove South on Highway 82 at about 9am.  From what we heard, there are not many conveniences like grocery stores, gas stations, etc. along the route we planned to travel today.  The geography soon changed and we were driving through thousands of acres of rice paddies and where the homes are built on cement block risers, burms and/or stilts.

 The area is also cattle country and not too far into our drive, the road was closed due to an accident.  A pick up truck had broad sided a tractor that was crossing the road… we sat there for two hours which gave us time to visit with the colorful locals including an interesting lady that liked our dogs and told us her life story.  At this point in her life, she ran a transport service for oil industry workers… and among the others waiting were duck hunters, fisherman and truckers with supplies for the oil rigs.  We walked the dogs and had some snacks to pass the time.

 Once the road was clear, we proceeded deeper into the Louisiana Outback along the Creole Nature Trail and scenic byway.  One of the first little towns we passed through is called Grand Chenier and the area is full of Spanish moss draped oak trees.  The word “chenier” is actually French for “oak tree” and the area is plentiful with these magnificent trees which defend against coastal erosion and also provide a stop for thousands of migratory birds.  However, we began to notice the devastation from Hurricanes Rita, Ike & Wilma which pretty much leveled many homes and businesses leaving only a cement slab where buildings once stood and areas of dead oak trees stripped of every bit of green.  We continued driving along the coastline until we had access to Rutherford Beach which overlooks the Gulf of Mexico.  This was a very isolated place, there was no development on this beach as far as we could see except offshore in the distance we counted 27 oil rigs and/or wells.  To our surprise, we met one other couple from England that are traveling the country in an RV similar to ours.  Brigit and Riley really enjoyed running on the beach… no authorities and no leash laws here! 

Miles of beach...



Overexposed picture at Rutherford Beach

Besides the oil and natural gas industry, there is a lot of crabbing and shrimping.  The local waters provide great snapper, redfish, speckled trout and black drum fishing.  Our next town would be Cameron where we stopped for some famous Louisiana Shrimp Po Boy sandwiches, one fried and one grilled at CiCi’s… a place that was highly recommended and is basically nothing more than a metal shack.  We ate our sandwiches in the RV while we waited at the dock to catch the Calcasieu Ship Channel Ferry which connects the Intracoastal Waterway to the Gulf.  The ferry was about a 10 minute ride and we continued our drive to Holly Beach and Johnson’s Bayou. 

Ci Ci's in Cameron

Fried or Grilled Shrimp Po Boy

Waiting for the ferry.

On the ferry...

The damage was still evident… an area once known as the Louisiana Riviera was still in the process of re-building.  The coastline between these small settlements looked like perfect turtle habitat with little development or lights to interfere with nesting… mile after mile of open road along the beach.  Just to the North of this beach road is the Peveto Woods Bird and Butterfly Sanctuary which makes sense because we had seen thousands of butterflies to this point.

You really need to look at a map to see where we are… you can’t imagine how remote this area is!!!!

As we drove closer to the Texas border there were huge modern pumping stations for the pipelines that come ashore from the oil and natural gas rigs.  We drove past several large helicopter companies with fleets of beautiful new helicopters that fly personnel on and off shore.  Nature lovers would be happy to see that even with all this industry, the natural beauty remains.



This photo is for you Cory...



Miles of beach...

Oil rigs on the horizon...

As our drive was coming to an end, we drove over an extremely tall bridge into Port Arthur, Texas and found ourselves back in the hustle and bustle of a big city and just in time for rush hour traffic.  After a short drive North to Beaumont, we found the Hidden Lake RV Park to stay, catch up on laundry and relax.  Only 170 miles traveled today but packed with adventure and the most interesting sites. 

Bridge to Port Arthur, Texas and Natural Gas storage

Texas Big!



Hidden Lake RV Park - Beaumont, Texas