It's been a little bit since the last entry, so this is going to be a long one. .. Sorry.
The next day we went back to the Whole Foods Market for lunch and ended up getting far too many sweets to bring with us. We debated on staying near downtown in an RV Park, but decided to just get on the road and drive for a while instead.
Outside of Austin a ways, we say an older couple hitchhiking. Joe decided to pick them up because he always complains about how no one will pick him up when he really needs a ride. David and Cynthia are heading to California also, so it actually works out pretty well.
That night we stayed at a Parking Area off of I-10. They're kind of annoying areas... There are garbage cans, and that's it. No bathroom. But we didn't know when the next rest area was, and Joe was tired. David and Cynthia have a tent that they stay in a little ways off when we've been parking.
The next day we decided to check out Balmorhea State Park (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/balmorhea/). The main focus there is a pool that is fed by a natural spring. In the pool are fish, turtles and ducks. The bottom was mostly rocky and was up to 25 feet deep. We had goggles, so it was really fun swimming in there.
I really wanted to see the Carlsbad Caverns, so we headed north and stayed at a campground in Guadalupe National Park which is just south of the caverns. The next morning we drove to the caverns. The "Big Room" is a self guided tour. If you take the Natural Entrance (instead of the elevator) you have to walk down 750 feet via ramps, but there was a lot of very interesting formations along the way. I did get some photos, so I'll get them up soon. It sounds like Cynthia's never really seen much outside of Mississippi, so she really enjoyed the caverns. It worked out really well that our annual park pass covers up to 4 people.
David and Joe noticed that the welding that holds on the back bumper was starting to rip, so Joe was hoping for a weld shop in El Paso. We found one where the guy came out, looked at it, said he could do it, we pulled up to his truck that has the welding equipment in it, he started on it right away and finished within 15 minutes. The bumper is now more solid than it was before we ever started the trip! It was cheap too. We then found a Mexican restaurant to have dinner (because you have to have some Mexican food when you're in El Paso ;) ) which was very good.
Also, remember the electric problem we had before? Well, the RV started clicking again (what it was doing when we drove down the mountain after the electric problem). Joe pulled over and finally found out that it was the transmission relay. So, the overdrive wasn't working anymore, but otherwise, the RV was just fine.
Unfortunately, the internet in New Mexico is horrible. So, we basically just drove for quite a while until we found one of the best rest stops I've been at. You can stay there for up to 24 hours and they even had little picnic shelters that you could park by farther off the interstate. We parked by one of them. Then Cynthia and David could tent behind it.
We left in the morning and headed for Tuscon. We got laundry done and Joe went to see about the transmission. One guy he talked to wanted to flush it then when joe talked about the overdrive problem, he basically said that it would cost $55 - $75/hr depending on how complicated it was. .. There was another transmission place nearby, so Joe went over there. The guy said that whatever you do, don't flush it. That would actually ruin the transmission. Joe told him about the overdrive problem, so the guy drove the RV around for about 10 minutes, and, of course, the overdrive worked without a problem... The guy didn't charge Joe a cent. So, that worked out really well.
We are now headed to Picacho State Park. We should have great internet so we'll finally be able to get some work done.
-Miranda
A tall stalagmite.
Soda straw formations.
A super neat formation named the Whale's Mouth.
A pool with a column in the middle. The pool was completely filled from cave drips.
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We drove into Austin this morning and headed straight for downtown. There is a huge Whole Foods Market downtown and we wanted to check it out. Let's just say it was really overwhelming. We spent at least 3 hours in there just looking around. They have a huge assortment of foods to get and eat there including the normal salad and hot bar, but also tacos, sandwiches, pizzas, sushi, gilatto, a juice bar, etc. There was an amazing bakery area and sweets area. The produce area was enormous also. Anyway, in the end we decided to just focus on bulk goods and avoided refrigerated things so we wouldn't have to turn on the fridge.
There was also an REI nearby, so we stopped in there looking for a new hat for Joe (since we left it at home) and instead ended up with two small, light chairs. We didn't bring ours with because we never used them. Of course, on this trip, there have already been numerous times we wish we had some. We found just little triangle stools. They're super small and light.
Tonight we are staying in McKinney Falls State Park, which is in the southern part of Austin.
-Miranda
Sunset over a river in the park.
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Before heading into Sabine National Forest, we stopped at the ranger station. On a large laminated map that pointed out some of the campgrounds and rec areas, some of them mentioned free camping by the water. Which surprised us, but we wanted to check one of those places out to see what was up. The woman there gave us a print out that showed all the hunting campgrounds in the forest. We went to one and that was the first campground we stayed at. We left there after the first night and decided to check out the next spot. That was where we were when I wrote the last entry.
It was a boat ramp. An old, abandoned boat ramp. We went for a bike ride, came back and picked up some of the garbage that was lying around. We piled it in one area since we didn't have room to take it with us.
At around 6:30, a pickup came down the road, pulled up behind us and put on his lights. Yep. It was a forestry service guy. Joe went out and chatted with him. Basically, the guy said we weren't allowed to camp there because we were within 300 feet of the water... There was a sign further up the road that said "no camping", but we were just parking there and the maps we had/saw said it was some place we could stay, so we planned on staying there unless there was much traffic down there.
In the end, Joe was completely honest with him, telling him we were thinking of just sleeping there. He stressed how we weren't hurting anything and were actually doing our best to help by cleaning up the garbage, etc. The guy wrote out a ticket of $75.. . . . So, needless to say, we were both fuming and left the forest to stay at a Walmart last night.
We checked out the next forest today, Angelina National Forest, but there were just too many hunters. So, we decided to just push for Austin. A girl that worked in a Bistro we stopped at a few days before had mentioned that she really liked Austin and it was where Whole Foods was started. We figured we might as well check it out. We are now in Rockdale staying at another Walmart. There's a state park in the southern part of Austin, so our hope is to be able to stay there for a bit and explore Austin. We'll see.
-Miranda
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We left the campground and headed for the next national forest, Kisatchie. I had looked online to see what campgrounds were in the forest in case we had issues finding a spot on our own. There was one that sounded neat on the Saline Bayou and it was supposedly free. So, we headed up there. There were only two other people there and it was free. The sites were quite nice and the area was very pretty. We went for a short walk, but the bugs were a bit annoying.
Our internet wasn't very good, so we left and headed for the next forest. On the way we stopped at a stand on the side of the road where a guy was selling satsumas. We bought a bag and tried them. They are incredibly juicy. Pretty good. We've already eaten quite a few. We ended up seeing another side of the road stand selling pecans, so we stopped and bought a bag of those as well. They are a bit of a pain to break into (easier than store ones though) but they are very good.
We found another campground in Sabine National Forest in Texas that was only $5 and not too busy. We ended up meeting another guy that's traveling around the country, but in a van towing a trailer. We had dinner with him and chatted a bunch. It sounds like we're on similar paths, so we may even run into him again down the road.
We are still in Sabine National Forest today. We found a spot where there is no one else, it's free and the internet is working great. Hopefully it lasts.
-Miranda
A tree Lucy climbed up then couldn't quite figure out how to get down from.
The super nice sites at the Clear Springs campground in Homochitto National Forest.
The Saline Bayou.
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We went to check out a St. Andrews State Park and found that the surf looked amazing. Joe really wanted to surf so we left the park and found a place that rents out boards. We each got a board and went surfing. Unfortunately, the gulf bottom was too irregular. It would dip down, then there would be a shallow sandbar, then it would get pretty deep again. This makes the waves not very favorable for surfing. I ended up wiping out pretty good which resulted in me hyper-extending my knee. Joe stayed in for a while longer, then we headed out. We stopped in Pensacola and stayed at another Walmart. We then decided to head inland since Ida was coming. At the time it was still considered a hurricane and we know our RV won't hold up to winds that strong.
We drove for quite a while yesterday and made it to Columbia, MS. We checked out DeSoto National Forest on the way without much luck. The area we looked at appeared to be often used for military training exercises.
Our sleep schedule has gradually gotten earlier, so we were up and on the road by about 6:15 this morning. We got to a very nice campground in Homochitto National Forest. The internet isn't very good, but no one else is here, so we decided we would stay the night.
There were some strong gusts of wind last night where we were, but that's it. We haven't even had to deal with much rain.
-Miranda
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