Days 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28 - Tucson, AZ

We have been laying low at the Far Horizons RV Resort since arriving here on the 16th while slowly exploring the surrounding areas of Tucson.  After looking around some more we've decided to stay here until we fly home for the Holidays.

It's a nice park that's full of nice people, all be it they are all a little bit older then us.  Ha ha.  It's quite, nicely landscaped and there's a clubhouse with lots of activities going on in addition to a pretty nice swimming pool and hot tub.  Steph went to the crafts room this afternoon and started working on a Christmas gift for someone.

Otherwise, it's felt good to both of us to just know that we won't be moving on anytime too soon.  Unbeknown to me, Steph had been counting the number of times that we'd broken and set up camp along the way and I think it was starting to wear some on both of us.

Our focus these last few days has mostly been on exercise, being outdoors and discovering what the area has to offer in that regard.  We've been running the paths, cycling the roads, visiting the yoga studios and grocery shopping.  So far, we've found all of our favorites!  There's a great farmers market, a couple of Trader Joes, a couple of Whole Foods and a chain that calls themselves Sprouts.

Tomorrow, we plan do visit another Yoga studio in the morning and then we are going to hike a trail in the afternoon.

Day 23 - Tucson, AZ

We hit the road early this morning in anticipation of finally arriving in Tucson and we were there before we knew what hit us.  I think all in all it only took us about three hours including a couple of stops.

Along the way, Steph surfed the Internet to identify some potential RV Parks that we might be able to call home for the next month.  There are many in the area and the prices seem to vary widely as well.  

After we had a sense of what was available, we decided to check out the Prince of Tucson park which is located close to the interstate.  The park was very clean and the price seemed really good, but in the end, we decided it was a little too close to the interstate and decided to head towards the eastern side of the city.

This east side is the area where we spent the majority of our time when we had been hear with Great Harvest, so we kind of had an idea of what was around.  There's a park in this area called Far Horizons RV Resort, and even though it is advertised as being a 55+ community of RV folks we thought we'd give it a shot.  Location, location, location.

We pulled in at around 1:30 in the afternoon and quickly settled into on of their patio sites.  For an urban setting, this was a pretty sweet place to hang our hats for a while.  We decided to pay for a couple of nights, with the plan being to check out the other options over the course of that time to try to come up with a more permanent spot.

Day 21 - Big Bend National Park, TX

What a terrific day we had today!

The Rio Grande Village Campground is in very close proximity to a border crossing (legal) into Mexico.  The crossing takes you into Laquillas MX.  We paid $5 round trip to be rowed across the Rio Grande in a small john boat by a very nice Mexican from Laquillas. As we soon discovered, tourism from this border crossing is a primary source of income for this very small Mexican community.

During our trip, we were serenaded by another fellow from the edge of the Rio Grande who had a terrific voice.  It was really cool and the setting there is simply majestic.  Upon arrival, we were welcomed to this community by several gentlemen, one of which would be our guide for the day.  We jumped onto the backs of a couple of donkeys and were then lead to town by our guide.

This is a very simple community in the middle of nowhere that seems to survive by looking out for one another.  It is very primitive yet functional.  Our guide should us around town and we stopped a time or two to eat and purchase some items.  All together, we spent several hours in Laquillas before returning to the US to pack up our belongings.  This would be our last day in the park.  

We drove for a couple of hours and settled in for a good nights sleep back at the Wamart in Fort Stockton, TX which is where we had stayed before making our detour south.

We both agreed that our day trip into Laquillas is a must do for anyone that finds themselves in that area of the park, and we were very thankful to have spent these last several days at Big Bend.

Day 20 - Big Bend National Park, TX

Today, we drove to the Chisos basin and hiked one of the more popular trails in the park.  The lost mine trail is about a 3 hour hike round trip, that starts at around 5,000 ft above sea level and goes up from there.  It was a beautiful hike with patches of sunshine and blue skies along the way.  And the view at the end of the trail was simply amazing.

We've seen plenty of  tarantulas throughout the park and the pictured in the photo below was sunning itself on the trail that we hiked.

Day 22 - Fort Stockton, TX to Deming, NM

Today was a travel day.

Can't believe we finally made it out of Texas.  When they say everything is bigger in Texas they really mean it.

Thank you Walmart for the free overnight accomodations.

Tomorrow we will arrive in Tucson, AZ.

Day 19 - Big Bend National Park, TX

Today, we decided to move from the west side of the park to the east side.  We drove for about an hour and then pulled into the Rio Grande Village campground area.  This camp offered an area for RVs with full hook ups and another area with no services at all.  We chose to rough it and save $20 a night by opting for the basic campground w/o services.

The weather today was not so nice!  Cloudy and VERY WINDY for most of the day.  So, it was a good day to travel to the other side of the park.  Although it would have been nice to enjoy the scenery along the way.

After we got ourselves anchored down at our camp site, we decided to check out the hot spring located nearby.  It was extremely awesome!  This spring sets adjacent to the Rio Grande river.  So, you sit there enjoying the scenery of Mexico along the other side of the river, as well as the sounds of the river rushing by.  The air temp was around 50, but the temp of the water had to  have been near 100.

What a relaxing time.

Day 18 - Big Bend National Park, TX

Today we woke in cottonwood campground to partly cloudy skies which became completely sunny by 11.  The campground is about 8 miles from this huge canyon that was created by the Rio Grande, and campsite #2 is literally just a stone throw away from that very same river.  Can you say arriba arriba?

Since it was so beautiful out we decided to pull the bikes out and ride down to the canyon.  What a ride.  This contrast of the canyon, mountains and desert plant life is so amazing, not to mention the sunshine and warm weather.  And we were greeted by the most amazing canyon when we reached the end of the road.  Once we we there, we locked up the bikes and then hiked the Santa Elena Canyon trail.  A short trail round trip, this one takes you into the canyon to a point where the water rests along both walls.  Very cool.

We rode back to the campsite and afterwards felt like we had had a good workout and a bit of a sunburn as well.  Gotta love the desert.  Before dinner, we drove the opposite direction down the road to a scenic lookout that sits well above the canyon and the Rio Grande to enjoy the sunset.

Day 17 - Presidio to Big Bend National Park, TX

We boon docked it last night right next door to a US/MEXICO entry point in Presidio, TX.  We felt extremely safe there as everything was very well lite by flood lights that were located all around.

After breakfast we filled the tank and headed over to the other side of town which is where the visitors center to Big Bend Ranch State Park is located.  There's a stretch of rode (route 170) leading to the National park which runs through this largest state park in Texas.  It was about a 50 mile drive along the Rio Grande and it was even more beautiful then you can imagine.

The highlight of the trip was a movie set that was built at some point along the river which has hosted at least 6 major motion pictures.  Such a spot.  We stopped there and at several other places along the way to take it all in.  

It was sunny and warm as we pulled into the western entry point to Big Bend National Park and we were greeted by the nicest park ranger from East St. Louis who was thrilled to be talking to someone from the state that she grew up in.  We were expecting to pay an entry fee, but we're surprised to hear that entry to the park was free this weekend due to the fact that it was Veterans Day.  

We drove another 30 miles and then settled into our site at cottonwood campground for the rest of the night.  But not before we came across several cars that had stopped along the rode to observe one angry rattle snake that had obviously come into close contact with the tire of either a car or motorcycle.  Yikes, he was mad.

Day 16 - Fort Stockton to Presidio, TX

Woke up in the WalMart parking lot in Fort Stockton, TX and were planning to hit the road (I-10W) to El Paso, TX and then on to Tucson, AZ.  However, about ten miles into the day we were diverted by the exit sign to Marfa, TX.  About a week earlier, we met a guy that mentioned he and his wife enjoyed vacationing there.  He said that if we were ever in the area we should definetly check it out, so we decided to put our trip to Tucson on hold for a few more days.

Besides, I had been struggling with our decision to head straight to Tucson, without making a stop at Big Bend National Park first.  After all, we are on a journey, not simply heading towards a particular destination.  Right?  The hard part is we are so used to pointing ourselves to a destination.  So, relaxing and taking the journey in has been a little bit tough to adjust to.

We drove to Marfa and spent most of our day soaking up the sun while strolling around this very unique town.  There's a very beautiful old hotel in town thats on the list of National Historic Sites.  It's also an artist community with galleries located all throughout town which are occupied by some pretty well known artists.  But what do we know?  

After a good workout at the High School track, we hit the grocery store and then the rode on our way towards Presidio, TX were we would eventually stop for the night.

Marfa kind of reminded us of Dillon, MT.

Day 15 - Garner State Park to Fort Stockton, TX

Today was pretty much a travel day.

We woke up in Garner State Park which is located in the "Hill Country" of Texas to cloudy and cool temps and decided enough was enough of this weather.  We were headed to Tucson where surely the sun would be shining. 

So, after breakfast we took Roscoe on a hike, realizing he would pretty much be cooped up in the truck all day, and then packed it up and hit the road towards I-10W with our destination being Tucson, AZ and warmer weather.

We drove for about 5 hours in and out of rain and eventually called it quits in the Walmart parking lot located in Fort Stockton, TX.  

Days 8 & 9 - Pedernales State Park (West of Austin, TX)

We've been taking it easy these last couple of days here at the park.   The weather has been perfect, so we have mostly been outside exploring.  

Friday, we went for a good run in the park and saw the falls.  later that afternoon,we walked Roscoe to a swimming area inthe park located on the Pedernales river.  It was a beautiful spot for sure.

Yesterday, we decided to pull the bikes out of the truck and we rode them into town.  Johnson City, boyhood home to President LBJ, is nearby and we ended up doing about a 30 mile round trip ride.  Roscoe hung out at the campsite while we were away, but he enjoyed a long walk when we returned.