Day 9 Friday Dec10 Big Bend National Park

 Greetings from Van Horn Texas!  PLEASE REPLY so we know your looking😀🌵We are 1 mile from the mountain time zone it was light till 6:30 tonight.

Where to begin, let’s start with the refrigerator issue, after playing around with it we got it to work perfect for 2 days then last night it put out a flashing light with an error code and that was that it completely died so calls were made to Winnebago, Norcold, and a few rv dealers and we were told everything from even if we could get the parts there is no opening for at least 2 weeks, advise from a Winnebago forum etc we managed to find a new one (1600+ labor) like the one we have and it will be installed on Monday Dec 13, next week! We are so relieved and tired of babysitting the fridge. Can I have an Amen.

If any of you ever get the chance to go to Big Bend National Park it is worth every minute of the drive. This park is very isolated with some unique features like you get to hear donkeys braying at all hours of the night, kind of cute at first. Second there in an actual crossing to Mexico across the Rio Grande from the campground either by boat or you can swim/ walk if the water is low enough on specific days and times very structured, we did not bring passports so we did not go this time, the town on the Mexican side is called Boquillas Del Carmen a very poor town far removed from any thing there are 3 bars/restaurants and a little store but that’s it for work so to help earn money is to make little trinkets and walking sticks and when you go walking on the trails there you find them on the side of the road for sale.

$6-10 each handmade

Big Bend is so big and so vast you don’t know where to look first. We were happy to see 2 boondocking friends we met 3 years ago in NH Alan and Lorraine from MA staying at Big Bend so we visited each other’s campers ( all triple vaccinated) and plan to meet up in Arizona. I find it hard to describe so I will let the following pictures speak for themselves. The weather there was in the 70s & 80s during the day and   40s at night. Today was so windy we had to slow down to stay safe but we had a shorted distance to go so it worked out. Once we got here so did laundry,  made beds, put away clothes, ordered takeout dinner from the cafe here and took showers and that was our last couple of days and this is our last night in Texas, we will make our way up to Albuquerque for our appt staying in a KOA on Rte 66...that’s all for now.

Picnic spot on the border

Days 7&8 Dec 6&7 Garner State Park Concan Texas

 Dec 7 &8 

The weather has been mixed with daytime temps in the 70s and night time lows in the 30s and 40s. We went for a short walk yesterday and John got a short hike in on a trail to Old Baldy an 1800’ hill but very steep. At night we hear coyotes sometimes in the distance and sometimes rite behind out camper at 3:00am! An in nerving sound. The campground we have been in the last 2 nights had zone cell srvice or internet, as does the next one we are headed to Big Bend National Park and will report more in a couple of days. Our fridge is still not working well 47-50F is not enough and is causing us to shop often and babysit the fridge, new ones cost $1000-$1500 ish and we are not excited about that but may not have a choice.More to come.

 

Garner State Park Concan Texas

Day 6 Sunday Dec 5

Stephen F Austin State Park, San Felipe Texas. Today we had a long travel day, 425/2221 total miles.last night the temps were in the 60s. Today they reached 84(I apologize not trying to rub it in to family and friends up north just the facts. We were not impressed last night with the very large group all yahooing till the wee hours, alcohol may have been a factor luckily they were not in the next campsite to us but that has happened many times. We crossed the Louisiana state line and it was sooooo foggy we could not see the Mississippi River while crossing it! For the record there are no rest areas in either Mississippi or Louisiana at least where we were. Mileage today was 17.4, gas in Texas is the cheapest yet at about $2.88/gal for regular, diesel is about $3.60/gal and bulk propane is $4.09 ish which we have to buy as we have an onboard propane tank that holds 55lbs and to make it even less convenient you can’t fill your own tank and we have found there is usually “ a guy” who is trained to fill it and usually only working part time, so tomorrow we will keep looking for propane we need it for the refrigerator and cooking.

We got to drive thru Houston today my husband is a great driver so he was driving, I am usually the copilot and that seems to work

Mississippi River

Louisiana

Houston

Our campsite is a pull thru with full hookups and very big and spacious, we were sitting outstanding de at the picnic table and heard an owl very close that stopped hooting after we came in I think we were too close.

More tomorrow from Garner State Park...

Day 5 Friday Dec 3 Natchez State Park Mississippi

 Day 5 Friday Dec 3 Natchez State Park - Natchez Mississippi 250/1769.5 total miles.  This morning it was 52, 78 for a highToday we got to sleep in we are headed 90 miles North to Indianola MS, the birthplace of the late great Riley B King or BB King as we all know him., and to the BB King Museum and it was incredible! we literally had a private tour and were the only visitors there. After a warm greeting and orientation we were on our way to explore the life of this legend. You could feel his energy, we were in the room where it all began and he is also buried there so the circle of life is complete. We barely have internet here so I will upload photos on another day. 

After leaving the museum we went to Walmart and bought 2 foam coolers, 2 bags of ice and food for a couple of days. It is pretty clear that our Norcold refrigerator will only work on propane we think we will know for sure tomorrow but either way we HAVE to have a refrigerator, coolers will only work in a pinch.  We arrived at out site just before dark, had a quick one pan meal and called Willow we didn’t have enough service for FaceTime just a regular call. 

We are looking forward to having tomorrow off from the road and plan on a little hiking.  All work and no play well you know the rest..

BB King Museum, Indianola MS

 A sampling

We spent today doing laundry, taking showers, cleaning and relaxing and we even took a short hike. 

Day 4 Thursday Dec 2 Canton MS

 Day 4 Thursday Dec 2 332 /1519.5 total miles Boondockers Welcome site in Canton MS, other boondockers let you set up on their personal property for 1-5 nights for free. It was a warm day up  to 72 and a low of 52 much warmer than we are used to finally. we drove on the Natchez Trace Parkway for 290 miles, a quiet beautiful ride with historic stops along the way at Bynum Mounds that “ they say” have allot of spiritual energy for 100s of years they have existed but nobody knows for sure. We saw lots of turkeys flying up to the trees. 

Turkeys

Natchez Trace Parkway

 

Alabama - Mississippi State line

After we got to our camp site we discovered the refrigerator had not been working of battery while driving, it’s a 3 way fridge so either AC/ propane or battery are the choices so hopefully will get it working. We had a quiet evening, chatted with Willow on FaceTime, she is not at all impressed that we are gone but we call every day that we can. 

Day 3 Montgomery Bell State Park Dickson TN

 Wednesday Dec 1 - 375.5/1187.5 total miles. Last night in Virginia we learned that the heat pump only works blowing heat down to 36 degrees, so we switched to propane for the furnace as it got down to 25 degrees outside and 47 degrees inside at that point we turned the heat on!!! It is 2:56 pm ( central time) and its 67 degrees very pleasant compared to the last 2 days. We had a good travel day Knoxville and Nashville got a little  congested but not bad timing is everything. We have all the windows open and we are sitting out side.  Ok so now we are getting a light rain and sitting inside. The showers we would give a B old but clean, bright lights, plenty of room but low water pressure. We have full hookups for $44/night not the cheapest state park but it is in the rite location. Tomorrow we will be on the Natchez Trace Pkwy in Mississippi.

Thanks Jeannette,Chuck, Zackery and Skyler 

For the early Christmas gifts! 

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