Just our family, Fulton around!
Being at a KOA has it’s advantages. We had found out when we checked in that they have a breakfast counter which we were intent to patronize. So we sauntered over to Fred’s Fixins and found a menu with only a handful of options, but they do provide complimentary coffee 🙂
We pulled out of our site in time to get to Boerne Dodge in time for our scheduled appointment to hopefully have the steering angle sensor calibrated to turn the lights off on the dash that no longer concern me, which is now what concerns me 😉
The drive went great and we made it there a half hour early. Jen and the kids grabbed their homeschooling gear and headed into the lobby while I went to the service counter with Molly to get checked in. The service tech took a look at the van and asked what year it was. She then went back to talk to the service manager which wasn’t a good sign. They both came back and informed me that they don’t have the proper scanner to communicate with our van that is made by Mercedes but badged and sold as a Dodge Sprinter. They were super kind about it all and even went as far as calling to the Mercedes dealership across the highway to see if they could get me in right away. So I found Jen and the kids, gave them the news, and we loaded back into the van the same way we brought it. A 5 minute drive brought us the the MB dealership where they had a plethora of sprinters lined up along the frontage road. A good sign for sure. We pulled into the service area where we looked like iron pyrite surrounded by diamonds. The service guy did a double take, no doubt looking for the MB Star on our grill and confirming his suspicion when he asked what “Is this”? A quick conversation later and we were again tromping into the service waiting area while they were going to “see what they could do while we waited”. The kids had just enough time to pick out bars from the complimentary counter when a tech came back to let me know that they couldn’t “fix” it but did confirm my suspicions that the culprit is the steering angle sensor. So with that knowledge we packed up in the van for the third time this morning and discussed our options for the rest of the day. We had an appointment at Costco to have the tires rotated and balanced, but were close to a museum that is part of out ASTC passport program. So with less time than we’d usually allot for such a stop, we cruised to The Doseum for some fun.
After playing and learning at The Doseum, we got back in the van and drove over to Costco for our tire appointment. We called in an order for Pizza and took a seat on a grassy island in the parking lot while they worked on the van. The van and pizza were both ready at about the same time, so we ate pizza at our own table and discussed our options for where to park for the night.
With the tires rotated, balance, and our bellies full. We drove over to a Walmart which we didn’t think we’d utilize much on this trip, but for the right times, it’s been a blessing to be able to park at them overnight. It works out for them as well, as looking at Mint, Walmart is the merchant we’ve spent the most money at so far this year.
This walmart was more hospitable than others we’ve been at. While Jen did some grocery shopping and the kids rode their Razor scooters on the sidewalk in front of the van, I pulled the steering wheel off (cause who needs that?) to replace the clock spring to eliminate one of the lights on the dashboard and get a look at the steering angle sensor to see if there was an easily identifiable issue that could be fixed. The work did result in the airbag light going off, but no luck with the steering angle sensor issue. I got the steering wheel back in place, the kids in their beds, and we had a nice quiet night.
The drive out of Big Bend is as long as the drive in. It didn’t help that I missed the turn and added 15 minutes 😉
Eventually the park released us back into the rolling weaving drive until we came to a big long bridge over a big body of water that had an unassuming campground on the other side which we wanted to checkout and see if we’d call it home for the night.
It was right up our alley, quaint and empty! So we backed into a spot overlooking the Amistad Reservoir and settled in.
We did a little nature walk around the area and found a dock, so we had to go explore it. And when I’m on a dock, naturally I want to go swimming.
So swim I did, or rather jump in a couple times off the dock and swim back. It was quite windy, but the water felt nice.
After wrapping up our nature walk we ate dinner, cleaned up and settled in with a dramatic evening sky surrounding us.
We woke up and decided we were going to move to one of the other campgrounds. We packed up, but left the beds in their setup position with the thought that our new site would also have a picnic table we could eat at instead of tearing down our beds and putting them back up again. Here’s a photo showing off our growing sticker collection.
We ended up in spot 15 on loop 3 which was a good site for us, and again, there were only a few available so we were happy to get it.
After claiming our spot, we headed up the road to the visitor center to turn in the Jr. Ranger packets, get badges, and pay for our site. For such a big park, these are the smallest visitor centers we’ve been to so far. They were shut down for the lunch hour so we did likewise and went back into the van for some lunch while we waited. Several others walked by the back of the van where Henry notified them that it was closed, long pause, until 1, long pause, for lunch.
Eventually the clock struck 1 and we set upon our mission with success.
After that we went back to our site for some relaxation, schoolwork, and then a little hike.
We had to return Molly to the van as no dogs were allowed on this hike. We had a great tour guide in Amelia who pointed out pretty flowers as we walked.
And then the highlight of the hike, for me at least, taking a dip in the Rio Grande River. It was great not only because it was super refreshing, but also because we got to talk with the kids about how their great grandfather, swam across that same river beside his family in a boat when they came to The United States. We have the written story in the trailer back in Phoenix and will share it with them when we get back there.
On the way back we saw fish, a horseman with a co-rider cross the river heading south, and also this little guy.
We got back to our site, played some soccer, had some dinner and went to bed in Big Bend National Park, under the stars of the big sky in the big state of Texas.
The drive into Big Bend was uneventful. The road is 70MPH with almost every turn having a recommended speed sign ranging between 40-60. I learned to ignore the ones above 55 as they “usually” didn’t require slowing, but the 40 was almost always a warning for a sharper turn ahead. We had tried to do some research the night before regarding what we could expect at Big Bend, but we didn’t have any service, so couldn’t do research (or watch a show on Prime Video). As we were driving, Jen was able to check out some of the stats and facts of the park. We were happy to hear that this year, Texan’s spring break ended yesterday (the 24th) so I was pretty confident we’d get a spot at the campground inside the park. We aimed for Chosa Campground as it was the smallest and only one that didn’t allow generators, which sounded good to us. From the entrance gate to the campground was quite a drive in itself displaying not only the varieties of scenery, but also a glimpse at just how large this park was. Once at the campground, we grabbed a registration envelope and drove a loop around the grounds to find an open site. I was shocked to see how full it was, there were only a handful of empty sites, so we pulled into one that looks inviting and got out to stretch our legs. The envelope to pay for the site wanted cash, and all we had was laundry money:
I drove up to the ranger station that was less than a mile away to get the Jr. Ranger packets for the kids and see if they could exchange the coins for bills (coins weren’t allowed in the envelope) or if there was another solution. Sure enough, they accepted cards at the ranger station, so I paid for the site, got the packets, and bought our park sticker. Back at the site, we hid in the shade of a big tree, ate some ice cream cones and had dinner. Yes, in that order!
Jen then worked on the Jr. Ranger packets with the kids and I setup the beds earlier than usual as we had a picnic table which meant we didn’t need to eat inside the van at our table (which turns into our bed).
Amelia, Henry, and I all played soccer as the sun dipped behind the trees and the light dimmed. As we were starting to get ready for bed, the nice ranger lady walked by and asked us if we had seen the Javalinas. We hadn’t, but she pointed us towards them, so off we set about 100 yards. Sure enough, here they came. 5 javalina grazing through the campsite. They got pretty close to us, which normally I wouldn’t have been okay with, but these ones are clearly less “wild” than ones I’ve seen before.
After they grazed by us, we finished our night routines, and tucked in for bed, again without any service, which has the benefit of getting Jen and I more sleep than usual.
We woke up to blue skies at our corral site. Took care of morning duties and rolled back down the road towards the Guadalupe Mountain NP visitor center. We had never heard of this park and were excited to see what we’d find. Of course we had to take our family photo at the park sign.
We entered the visitor center, collected our Jr. Ranger packets, and got directions to the nearest “child friendly” hike. It happened to be right outside the visitor center and was called the campground trail, for good reason. It was a very short trail that led up to the campground that had no vacancy for us the day before. It was a nice hike and had both flora and fauna that had us feeling back at home in AZ.
After our hike, we went back to the van for some parking lot lunch and then back to the visitor center to complete the packets and exchange them for some badges. The visitor center wasn’t large but it did have a very large display that included lots of plants, animals, and geological data and samples from the area. We were all surprised to learn of the bird that kills it’s prey by dropping it onto cacti and/or barbed wire, very creative brutality. From this park, our next destination was the only other National Park in Texas, Big Bend National Park. But since it was too far of a drive for what we had left of the day, we found a unique place on the way and posted up there for the night. It was a beautiful area near Elephant Mountain and was setup for hunting parties. There were several spots with picnic tables and shade covers, complete with hooks for cleaning animals that may have been “collected”. We were happy to find ourselves alone for the night except for the deer that we had seen on our way in and the possible bears that we didn’t see but that are in the area.
It’s been so much fun spending time with our new friends. We are on similar adventures and therefore can empathise with each other in ways others may not understand. This morning was a chance for the kids to once again run around together, for us to reflect on the adventures we’ve shared and the ones we each hope to have in the future, and of course for some group photos, which in all our times together, we had yet not done.
We packed up our spot, hugs and high fives all around, and rolled back down the steep rocky road. They were heading to Albuquerque where their furnace had an appointment to be fixed for hopefully the last time and we were heading into Carlsbad for a chore day.
We dropped Jen off with all our Laundry at the Laundromat and I took the kids and Molly to a school we saw on our way in that had an open gate and an appealing playground.
They played, we had lunch, and I took a few minutes to design a plug with a loop out of the flexible filament on the 3d printer. We put carabeners in these loops and use the clips to hang various items such as wet towels/rags, swimsuits, etc. above the step inside our sliding door. These plugs pop into holes in the body that are there from the manufacturer.
We got a text from Jen that she was finished with the laundry and ready to be picked up. So we put away the soccer ball, scooters, and 3d printer and went back to pick up our queen. Our destination for the night was a new state, Texas and we were happy to hear the Google Maps voice welcome us to The Lone Star State. We pulled into the campground inside Guadalupe Mountain National Park but were bummed to learn that the first come first serve park had already reached it’s capacity for the night. A friendly volunteer ranger informed us of a less well known site a few miles back (still in the park) that we could camp at for the night. Same price, but we had the water, bathroom, and animal pens (this is at Frijole Corral, so if we also had a horse with us in the van, there’d be a proper pen for it). That was the end of the day for us, we did dinner, bedtime, and planned our next days adventures in the park that we had never heard about until we were driving to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.
We woke up in the gravel parking lot after a good night of sleep, ready for a day of adventure. The drive to Carlsbad Caverns was nice and short (~20 minutes) and we pulled over for our family park photo.
The drive up the hill to the visitor center was nice and twisty and when we pulled into the parking lot I was surprised to see how full it was. There was a truck backing out of a spot so we swept in and claimed it. we used the restrooms, stepped inside the visitor center to get the kid’s Jr. Ranger packets and some advice/info from the rangers. Noon was drawing near and with the walking ahead of us we fueled up on lunch in the van. Our friends had arrived and got a spot near ours where they too fixed up lunch and then we all set off together.
Walking through the visitor center we took in a ranger talk regarding the early pioneers to the caves and it’s transition into a national monument and then into a park. The kids played on an interactive display that allowed them to choose the mineral, location and type of water flow, and then showed them what type of formation that recipe would create. It was neat because it got them excited to go see the formations below.
Once the kids had expended their intrigue and were getting antsy, we set off on the trail towards the mouth of the cave. We could have taken the elevator down to the depth of the main room of the cave ~750 feet below the visitor center, but made the decision to save that for the ride back up to the surface (spoiler alert: this was a mistake, kind of). The aroma coming up out of the mouth of the cave smacked us all in the face as we approached. The temperature quickly drops to mid 50s as you enter the mouth and remains pretty constant throughout. The descent to the main area is a countless number of switchbacks through varying levels of darkness. Almost halfway down we bumped into a ranger going the opposite direction.
He was very kind, answering all our questions and explaining science’s consistency with Christianity. How some things we may just never fully comprehend and that it’s okay. He also pointed out the fact that we weren’t even halfway down and that if we didn’t hurry, we wouldn’t make it to the bottomless pit, which was a big draw for the kiddos who were already starting the murmur about the length of the walk.
All the way down there are beautiful formations and plaques designating their individual names as well as the type of formation. When we finally did make it to the bottom, the kids were already out of gas to continue. Though in their minds, the conundrum existed that they wanted to see the bottomless put, but didn’t want to walk any further, ugh! 🙂
We adjusted our aim for the “shortcut” loop (about .2miles) inside the big room which still takes us through the Hall of Giants and some other really neat formations. It was still a rough go as the kid’s good attitudes had vanished but we made it to the shortcut and back the other side of the loop to the revolving door which leads to the lobby for the elevators to the blue skies above. We made it into the second elevator car up and joked with the ranger who had presented the talk regarding the early pioneers in the visitor center earlier in the day.
The ride up 750 feet was quick and smooth and when we stepped out we only had an hour before the Visitor Center closed for the day. We used the restrooms and hustled out to the van to grab a snack and finish the Jr. Ranger packets. Coming back to the information counter inside the visitor center, we once again talked with Ranger Michael who had both given the talk and escorted us up the elevator. He talked with the kids about the caves (Henry admitted touching the rocks ONCE) and advised us on where we could camp for the night ahead instead of going back to the gravel driveway.
After receiving their badges we hustled to the theatre where we caught the last 15 minutes of the last video presentation for the day. We bought our park sticker in the shop and headed back out to Molly who was eager to get out of the park so she could do some more roaming around New Mexico.
We discussed the options Michael had presented with our friends, and picked out a first and second option. They loaned us one of their handheld radios and we set off down the hill and out of the park. On our way we were fortunate to see a couple groups of big horn sheep (probably about 25 all together). We headed north back towards the town of Carlsbad where we’d need to make a town run the next day before heading further south towards our next destination of Guadalupe Mountain National Park, in Texas.
The road to our first option was steep, rocky, but also enticing, so we went for it and were rewarded by panoramic views, a nice level site with room for both families, and the appearance of super heroes before bedtime.
Today was a travel day. We woke up beside Raptor Lake for the last time.
The kids got to do some playing after breakfast as we prepared all our gear for the road.
We did a final sweep of the area and bounced down the road towards Alamogordo NM. We had to make a stop in town to shower at the Rec Center, stock up on groceries, top off the fuel tank, water tanks, and dump some trash. Then we set off East with our friends right behind us. Our target was Carlsbad Caverns where we were going to do some exploring the next day. It was three and a half hour drive to our destination for the night Chosa Campground. It was pretty much a large dirt parking lot with a steel pipe fence all the way around. Nothing fancy, but the kids had room to run and play, we had cell phone service, and we were within 20 minutes of the National Park we were excited to explore the next morning.
While we were making the drive we found a town that is now “on the list” Cloudcroft and several that are not, including Hope…. 🙂
