Written 8 months’ after the
fact. Sparse, but complete. ;-)
Trip Theme: Art
Tour
Total Miles:
7,546
Number of Nights Camping: 41 (plus one night staying in a real house) = 42
Average mpg: 14.87 (oooh;
lead foot!)
Average camping fee: $22.12 (great!)
Number of states: 8 (no new ones for
the Navion)
Number of public parks: 15 (3 county
parks, 9 state parks, 3 federal parks)
Favorite New Parks: We revisited so many favorites this trip, but we added a few new
faves—Datil Wells, Low-Key Hideaway, Cattail Cove, North
Toledo Bend State Park, Service COE Park.
RV Maintenance: None. At all. Man, we’re getting good.
Roadfood: Pie-O-Neer; Owl Bar; Food Shark; Sulak’s
Czech Bakery in Clifton, TX; Frank’s Tamales in Zwolle, LA; Café des Amis; Old
Country Store in Lorman, MS; Lasyone's meat pies in Natchitoches, LA. And we actually lost a few pounds on this trip....
Worst Road Sign: “Caution:
Poison Gas May Be Present” in West Texas, next to a roadside picnic area.
Best Road Sign: Belly Acres
Ranch
First
night: A Country
RV Park, Bakersfield, CA
Left so
late in the day, after very frustrating, multi-hour wait at the lawyer’s.
Inauspicious start to the trip, but Bago remembered where the dog run was….
Night 2: Davis Camp,
Bullhead City, AZ
New
stop—right on the Colorado River, with casino lights. Bago got to swim in the
river.
Night 3: Lake
Pleasant, Peoria, AZ
2nd
time here. Nice for people—great views of saguaros and water—but not so hot for
pups.
Night 4: Fool Hollow
Lake, Show Low, AZ
2nd
time here, too. Always lovely. Great dog park in town.
Night 5: Datil Wells
Campground, Datil, NM
Favorite
$10 boondocking site. Had several fabulous 2-mile hikes. Tiny new “ranger
station” with wifi. Close to Pie Town, where we started this trip’s “art tour”
by buying a gorgeous NM sunset photo on canvas.
Nights 6
& 7: Elephant
Butte Lake State Park, Elephant Butte, NM
2nd
time visiting TorC. Stopped at the Owl Bar to compare its green chile
cheeseburger to Buckhorn. Owl wins, at least on friendliness and service. Also
got to see the Bosque at the beginning of the Sandhill crane migration—gorgeous!
Nights 8 & 9: Tumble In RV Park, Marfa, TX
Funky RV park
in a fabulous town. Art Tour really took off here with the Chinati Foundation
tour and purchase of the Marfa photography book and RV glass photo montage.
Enjoyed the Food Shark and 4-star dining at Cochineal, plus restocked the
pantry at one of the best organic markets I’ve ever shopped in, the GetGo.
Really loved visiting Fort Davis—must go back to stay there and visit the
observatory.
Nights 10
& 11: Miller's
Creek RV, Johnson City, TX
Hill
Country state parks were all full—hunting season!—so we found refuge at a
commercial park. Turned out to be a great location. We camped next to a crew of
newbie RVers—gay guys from Houston. We were able to give them so rather
valuable tips about dumping (!)…. Art tour really amped up here with visit to
Benini Sculpture Ranch, where we purchased a piece we just adore
and wished we could buy for our yard:
Night 12: Lake
Somerville State Park, TX
Awakened by
guns—yup. Hunting season.
Night 13: Cassels-Boynton
County Park, Zavalla, TX
Got in
after dark (after the wild goose chase for another RV park) and the caretaker
old guy knocked on our door to collect the fee. Good thing we had Bago and not
Nick. For the old guy, that is…
End of Week
2: North
Toledo Bend State Park, Zwolle, LA
Gorgeous
place where we stocked up on boudin and enjoyed Natchitoches (for the first
time on this trip).
Night 15: Natchez
State Park, Natchez, MS
AND a
repeat visit to Mr. D and the Old Country Store. Got there at 11:00 AM, before
the chicken was even served, so the pieces we got were SOOO fresh that they
were even better than the first time. AND Mr. D sang to me this time. Missed a
turn taking the back roads and BOY HOWDY did we take back roads. First time on
this trip that we were in serious nowheresville on a really bad road…
Night 16: Service
(COE) Park, Silas, AL
Continued taking US 84 across the South—very
beautiful trees in the autumn. And this park was a stunner. Memorable stop
right outside this park at a store to buy some, um, wine. Clerk had to call
owner to find out what she should charge because “nobody ever buys this.” $10
and we were off…
Nights 17
& 18: Grayton
Beach State Park, FL
Love this
place!
Nights
19-21: Low Key
Hideway, Cedar Key, FL
Awesome,
awesome place. We took several walking tours of town, bought and prepared fish
cheeks for the first time (delish!), and enjoyed adult beverages at 5 o’clock
in an open air tiki bar right next to our RV. Most folks stay here after their
family visits in Florida; we were unusual stopping before ours….
Nights
22-26: Pacetti RV
(now Trout River Marina), St. Augustine, FL
Fabulous
new-to-us place to stay near my folks’ retirement place. We got a space because
(a) it was soon closing for renovations and (b) all of the fulltimers had moved
down to Stagecoach, where we normally stay and that was then full. Bago enjoyed
chewing through his leash and chasing squirrels, and we enjoyed celebrating my
dad’s 90th birthday.
Night 27: Grayton
Beach State Park, FL
Repeat
stay. Still loved it.
Night 28: Davis Bayou
Campground @ National Seashore, Ocean Springs, MS
2nd
time visiting here, too, but we still love it. Had a fabulous time in Ocean
Springs as the Art Tour continued at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art (with a
little history thrown in with a tour of Jefferson Davis’s home).
Nights
29-32: Fish Camp,
Stephensville, LA, outside of Morgan City
Celebrated
Thanksgiving with Lisa’s gathered clan by boondocking at the Fish Camp. Boy,
did Bago love running around this property. He sure wanted to go swimming in
the bayou, but we were too worried about gators…. Best part of trip was driving
Lisa’s mom and sister up to Breaux Bridge in the RV (note to self: don’t ride
in the dinette. Urp.) for the famous Zydeco breakfast at Café des Amis. Long
line. Worth every minute of the wait. Even got to purchase a long-sought-after
metal fleur-de-lis sculpture as we walked through the very cute town.
Night 33: Nakatosh
Campground, Natchitoches, LA
Revisited
Natchitoches and got to see the famous Christmas displays that we could see
going up a few weeks’ prior. Plus we took the River Road plantation tour--just gorgeous scenery.
Night 34: North
Toledo Bend State Park, Zwolle, LA
Repeat
visit here because this state park offered free laundry (and great wifi and
beautiful sites). Leaving town we decided to take a new route. Oops. Misread
the map and the road, as such, turned into a boat ramp.
Night 35: Fort Parker
State Park, TX
Interesting
historical walk around old graveyards and ruins.
Night 36: Abilene KOA
Hideous
RV park, but great town. Who knew the art tour would continue here with an
entire boulevard of public sculptures AND The National Center for Children’s
Illustrated Literature AND possibly the coolest interior design store we’ve
been to, where we picked up an antler candelabra and some handpainted, orange
cowboy boots. Horrible drive through the booming oil fields of West Texas….
Night 37: Pecos River
RV Park, Carlsbad, NM
Great
little RV park (we were lucky to find a spot—the oil boom is going in this part
of NM, too) on the river, near a dog park AND near the attraction we came for:
Christmas on the Pecos. Very festive and fun.
Night 38: Percha Dam
State Park, NM
2nd
visit to this nice state park where we met a camphost who adored Bago and
brought him a gator stuffed toy, which Bago loved. This was the third crazy
road of the trip; ended up on a dirt washboard road next to the irrigation
canal, but we found a way into the state park.
Night 39: Nancy's
Driveway, ABQ
Got to stay
in a real bed, take a real shower, and have Bago behave like a real gentleman,
as we enjoyed the most fabulous NM dinner of tamales, some kind of stew I’m
blanking on that was wonderful, and bizcochitos—delicioius cinnamon cookies.
Great catching up with her.
Night 40: Meteor
Crater RV Park, Winslow, AZ
40 days and
40 nights—of course, we’re in the desert….
Repeat
visit here; still a fun place to stop. Must get back to Winslow and have a meal
at the Turquoise Room at La Posada Hotel.
Night 41: Cattail
Cove State Park, Parker, AZ
New
find—great place! Not only did we find the dog park (and river swimming hole)
in Lake Havasu proper, but we found a state park with an official dog beach.
Bago was in heaven.
Night 42: A Country
RV Park, Bakersfield, CA
Gotta figure out how many times we’ve stayed
here, but it’s our favorite. Great grass for the dog, place to dump, nice
facilities, and only 4 hours to home (and closest nice place when exiting the
horrible desert).
Day 43: HOME!
