Last Thursday, we left Texas after three glorious months. We loved our RV park, we loved the Austin area, we loved the friends that we made and the wonderful people we met. Sometimes I am in awe of how lucky we are, to be able to travel and explore new places. I loved San Marcos, and we will definitely be back!
On Thursday we drove into a tiny town in West Texas called Van Horn, about 100 miles east of El Paso, to stay overnight. Van Horn is basically a town full of RV parks, which makes me think that it must be a place where a lot of people stop overnight. It's kind of worn down, but when we got out of the car, all six of us turned our faces toward the sun and said,
"Aaaaah."
San Marcos was damp and cool all winter, although certainly not cold. But we had been struggling with keeping the humidity down in our RV for a while. As soon as we left the hill country area of Texas, the air dried out, the sky turned super blue, and the temperature went up about seven degrees. It felt GOOD.
San Marcos was damp and cool all winter, although certainly not cold. But we had been struggling with keeping the humidity down in our RV for a while. As soon as we left the hill country area of Texas, the air dried out, the sky turned super blue, and the temperature went up about seven degrees. It felt GOOD.
Friday, we got an early start and drove from Van Horn, across the lower corner of New Mexico. New Mexico is a fascinating state, and a part of me wishes that we had stayed for longer. It's hard to wrap my brain around the idea that if we want to stay and explore, we can. But we did have a reservation to keep.
We made it through NM, to a Costco in Tucson. Tucson is a gorgeous city, but nearly all of the RV parks are exclusive to the 55 and over set, and the ones that aren't are pretty expensive. So on Thursday, Jesse called the Costco and asked them if they would allow us to camp there overnight. The manager was awesome and said that while they don't normally let people do that, they'd make an exception for us. Maybe they looked at our spending record. Either way, we did some grocery shopping, had a delicious dinner of pizza, chicken bakes, and yogurt sundaes, and moved on before they opened the next morning.
Saturday was our longest drive, although only by about 20 miles. We drove northwest, over the Nevada border, through Las Vegas, and into the small town of Pahrump. The drive was stunningly beautiful. We saw saguaros and Joshua trees and the Hoover Dam and more blooming cacti than I can count. I could study the desert plant life for a decade and not be able to identify all the different species. The birds were fascinating too: weird vulture-y things that were obviously eating roadkill, but didn't have ugly vulture faces, tiny songbirds in every shade of brown, that disappeared into the brush as soon as you saw them, and other birds that looked suspiciously like parrots.
We chose to stay in Pahrump because seventeen years ago, Jesse and I drove through it on our way to Las Vegas to get married and thought it was an interesting town. It hasn't changed much; it's still on the dinky side, but the nature is fantastic. It rained yesterday, so everything smells like flowers today. Our RV park has a great view of the mountains, too, and unlike the "mountains" in Ohio or Tennessee, they are big and craggy and covered in snow. Beautiful!
Sometimes I cannot believe how lucky we are.
We made it through NM, to a Costco in Tucson. Tucson is a gorgeous city, but nearly all of the RV parks are exclusive to the 55 and over set, and the ones that aren't are pretty expensive. So on Thursday, Jesse called the Costco and asked them if they would allow us to camp there overnight. The manager was awesome and said that while they don't normally let people do that, they'd make an exception for us. Maybe they looked at our spending record. Either way, we did some grocery shopping, had a delicious dinner of pizza, chicken bakes, and yogurt sundaes, and moved on before they opened the next morning.
Saturday was our longest drive, although only by about 20 miles. We drove northwest, over the Nevada border, through Las Vegas, and into the small town of Pahrump. The drive was stunningly beautiful. We saw saguaros and Joshua trees and the Hoover Dam and more blooming cacti than I can count. I could study the desert plant life for a decade and not be able to identify all the different species. The birds were fascinating too: weird vulture-y things that were obviously eating roadkill, but didn't have ugly vulture faces, tiny songbirds in every shade of brown, that disappeared into the brush as soon as you saw them, and other birds that looked suspiciously like parrots.
We chose to stay in Pahrump because seventeen years ago, Jesse and I drove through it on our way to Las Vegas to get married and thought it was an interesting town. It hasn't changed much; it's still on the dinky side, but the nature is fantastic. It rained yesterday, so everything smells like flowers today. Our RV park has a great view of the mountains, too, and unlike the "mountains" in Ohio or Tennessee, they are big and craggy and covered in snow. Beautiful!
Sometimes I cannot believe how lucky we are.
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