Solo life on 30 amps - Living full time in an RV: March 7th through March 14th, 2022 - Week Ten

Destination number: 88/168/26

Remi and I are making our way back to California so that I will be back in compliance with the States Teleworking Policy. We made a one night stop on our way from Houston to Fort Stockton Texas in San Antonio. I've been to San Antonio before and I need to be back to California by April 1st, so I couldn't really stop in San Antonio for a week. None the less, the one night here was good. I even got to meet a friend who I've made on Facebook that is a Workcamper here at the RV park. That was a first, and it was nice to meet someone new "Face to face"! :-)

The RV park wasn't bad, though you gotta watch the slope, a couple times I almost tumbled into the neighbors site. They have been working on some of the infrastructure around here. The work out room and the pool are both in good shape! :-)

Destination number: 89/169/27

On Tuesday, the 8th of March we made our way from San Antonio to Fort Stockton Texas. The RV park calls itself a resort and RV park. I think the concept of it being a resort is a stretch, except that there are a LOT of RV Spaces that are covered, which would help to keep your RV cool in the summer time, so that the sun isn't beating directly down on the rig. Otherwise, the location is a parking lot with full hookups. however, this is the first time I've stayed somewhere that the water pressure and volume were so low. :-( But, hey, it's quiet and easy to navigate around the spots, so it was a good place to hang out for the week. No Over the air TV, so I had to hook up to the cable. Though they didn't have a dog park, they did have a drainage basin that I was able to take Remi off leach to and throw the ball for her a couple times every day. That made her happy! :-)

By the way... a dear friend of mine asked about a comment I made in my last weeks post about some RV parks only allowing RV's that are 10 years or newer into their parks. The reason is, some parks want to appeal to those who are more well-to-do. In order to do that, they want to make sure that only the nicest looking rigs are in their RV park. So, the implement this rule where your RV must be 10 years old, or newer. Though the Allegro is 19 years old, it still looks pretty good, and I was able to get in. I was not made aware of the rule when I made the reservation in Houston where this issue came up, but I was asked to sign a form when I arrived. When I saw this, I asked the manager about it, they took a look at the rig and said, my rig was just fine.

The town of Fort Stockton still has some buildings from a fort from the 1800's, called... "Fort Stockton". Unfortunately, we visited the fort on a Sunday, so the exhibits were all closed, but thankfully, there were lots of windows to look through and get a sense of the exhibits. I really enjoy checking out these old fort locations and read about life back in the 1800's. Though I don't take much joy in the purpose (Helping the white man defeat the Native American Indians.), it is still helpful to read about how they lived back then.

Just about every week, I've been breaking out the crockpot. This time, I made a really yummy roast! The Christmas after Carol and I split up, my sister Karen and I were talking about if I needed anything. I said "Yes, a Crockpot would be nice!". So, she hooked me up with a Crockpot and a cookbook and I've been cooking with it regularly. It usually leaves me with lots of tasty leftovers! :-)

On Saturday the 12th of March, Remi and I got an early start and headed down to Big Bend National park. The park gets it's name from the fact that the park (as well as the state) are bordered by the Rio Grand river, and it forms a "Big Bend" in the geography of the park, (as well as the state and the nation) where the river boarders between the US and Mexico. It was about a two hour drive from Fort Stockton to Big Bend National Park, but it is always a nice drive to see what the surrounding country side looks like. There was a lot of high desert here as we are at about 2,600 feet in elevation. There was a lot of cool Geology from the melenia of seismic thrusting and water erosion.

As always, they have a great visitors center here at Big Bend National Park. I must say, I'm very impressed with every visitors center I have been to on this trip. I'm glad to see how constructively my tax dollars are at work! :-) After checking out the visitor's center, Remi and I went on a hike near the visitors center checking out the flora and fauna! :-)

After we were done with our hike near the visitor's center, I needed to top off the gas tank. I was surprised that the price of gas at the nearby Alon gas station was 30 to 50 cents cheaper, over 120 miles south of a major interstate than up close to the interstate. The state and federal taxes were the same at both locations. Capitalism at its best!

These two shots are from the Fuel station outside the visitors center.

This is the same brand of gas 120 miles north, right off the interstate.

Our next stop was supposed to be at Dog Canyon, but it turned out that this trail did not allow dogs. I didn't want to leave Remi behind in the car for a protracted amount of time, so I went on a brief hike to see how close I could get. I only left her in the car for about 5 minutes and quickly returned because even at 58 degrees with the windows open 2 inches, I didn't want her to get too warm. As you can see though, the canyon gets its name from the dog-leg shape in it.

When we were done at Big Bend National park, we headed back towards Fort Stockton. Remi and I took a bit of a side trip to Fort Davis which was slightly west of the original path we had gone down.

Fort Davis was very interesting. There were still a few buildings still standing from when they were built in the mid-1800's. Every weekend day, at 2:00 PM, they do a demonstration with gentlemen dressed as infantrymen from the 1800's. It was a very fascinating historical presentation. There were probably about 50 or so folks there to listen to the presentation and see their demonstrations. The gentleman who did the presentation was quite the historian talking about how and why the forts were established and how they allowed the US Government to establish and expand the frontier as the nation expanded west-ward. Though the history parallels what is going on today in Europe, there was a family there with young children who sought out a ranger I had been talking to after the presentation to ask why the historical presenter had to talk about the Native Americans being displaced by the military. The ranger very politely explained that what was presented was true and factual, and that they are just presenting history. The parent was concerned that their children might have difficulty processing all this new information. The Ranger later explained to me this happens all the time.

Here is a fun little demo video that they provided the visitors a link too.

Barracks Viewing Area Video - Fort Davis National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

There were a lot of great exhibits throughout this fort. We were able to walk through one of the old Barracks buildings as well as one of the officers' quarters and even parts of the Post Hospital. This area back in here was really beautiful and even if there were no artifacts back here to check out, just the backdrop was amazing.

This is the officers quarters.

I had not realized how much "Frontier Medicine" had made such advancements in Medicine over history. But I guess it stands to reason that severely adverse conditions would dictate advancements in medicine.

I have truly enjoyed every single national park that I have visited on this trip, and there are still more to see. If you have the opportunity to visit any of our national parks, please make a point to do so, as they are so worth while. Though I am headed back to California, there are still National Parks for me to visit on the way, and I'm going to do my best to make the most of each and every visit.

Here is the video from this last weeks adventures.