12/1-3/14 Magnolia Beach

I left Kerrville pretty early after a quiet night. I was hoping to make Magnolia Beach early enough to avoid any drama with driving on sand in the darl.  It was a miserable drive. It poured a good portion of the way. I kept *almost* stopping but pressed on. I made a quick detour into Port Lavaca to get gas and was thrilled to see a 7-11.  I'd been carrying some checks around for months and thought I'd finally get to deposit them. Not to be.....I'd found the only one without a Citi ATM. :-(  I found the beach and was amazed at the sand. It was like concrete. I found a spot off by myself where I wasn't parked right in front of someone's house and called it good.  I ran out and snapped one shot, then the rain started coming down again.

 
Parked on Magnolia Beach. The sand is like concrete, no worry of getting stuck.
12/1/2014 12:53:16 PM

The rain came down like gangbusters and the wind was howling. I ended up moving a bit around 10 pm as I couldn't stand the buffeting.  I turned more into the wind and that helped.

The next morning dawned cold, grey and windy.  I took a walk but it was pretty miserable.



12/2/2014 10:32:37 AM



12/2/2014 10:34:16 AM


Plenty of room tho folks still seem to want to park on top of each other. I don't quite get it.
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12/2/2014 10:45:05 AM


Freshly groomed beach. This was softer...I'd be more wary of parking here.
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12/2/2014 11:08:26 AM


Signs explaining a lot of history.
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12/2/2014 11:24:47 AM


That grey concrete house is cool. Weird, but cool.
12/2/2014 11:28:54 AM


I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw an 18 wheeler drive by
12/2/2014 12:44:07 PM


18 wheeler driving down the beach
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12/2/2014 2:30:01 PM


I didn't think it was quite THAT cold.
12/2/2014 3:03:19 PM

I pretty much just sat in the rig all day and listened to the wind howl, doing a lot of reading.  I needed the rest. The wind finally died down a bit in the evening.

The sun came out for a bit in the morning, giving some welcome amps to the batteries. I had run the generator for an hour last night as it's a new month and I try to run it once a month.  Since there'd been no sun it was a good time to do it.  Since it was almost a nice day I went for a walk.



12/3/2014 12:10:20 PM



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Grumpy Bird
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12/3/2014 2:42:36 PM

The sun didn't last long and it got pretty foggy & misty.  I'm pretty sure I'm leaving tomorrow, the forecast for the next few days doesn't sound promising either.

11/30/14 Another day driving through Texas

I knew Doug was in Ft. Stockton but got there too late to meet up. And also knew they'd likely be on the road before I got up.  Tho I got up earlier than planned when this guy fired up his contractor generator.

 
Even if it is Walmart, this is a but rude. Running a Harbor Freight gen at 9am on a Sunday. SMH.
11/30/2014 8:59:05 AM

I did some research and after deciding I was going to try to get to Magnolia Beach/Port Aransas area, I set Kerrville TX as my next overnight stop.  Cracker Barrel here I come.  :-)

I saw a sign saying Fort Laurence Scenic Loop and on a whim got off the highway. Eight miles later I was pulled over in a town called Sheffield Texas wondering where exactly the scenic bit started because this town looked like something from the Walking Dead. When some scary looking dude started shambling towards me I bolted. LOL. The GPS confirmed the fort did exist a few miles further down the road.  The visitor center was being rebuilt and if there's a scenic loop drive, it must be as well as I saw no sign of it. The nice man at the welcome trailer offered to let me use a golf cart to tour the ruins. I told him I'd walk. It was a nice day.


Fort Laurence
11/30/2014 1:07:19 PM



11/30/2014 1:07:44 PM


Up the chimmney
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11/30/2014 1:17:44 PM

After leaving the fort I saw signs saying one lane road ahead.


Really??
11/30/2014 1:30:19 PM


Yep. No flagman, just look-and-go as we used to say in air traffic.
11/30/2014 1:30:37 PM


I had a guy on my bumper so pulled into the picnic area to check out the view.  Pretty, but swarming with bees.
11/30/2014 1:34:46 PM


This sign might be more helpful if it were located at the turnoff rather than after the point of no return.
11/30/2014 1:38:09 PM

I got back on the road, and later saw a sign for Caverns of Sonora. I had been tempted by that on the way out but didn't stop. I exited, wondering how far THIS detour would be. It was @ 7 mi. Of course when I got there the next tour wasn't till 4:30. I decided that was too late and left. Next time. I got suckered in one last time about 5 miles from Kerrville. I was climbing a fairly steep hill and saw a sign for scenic view at the top. It was close to sunset so I pulled in. Well, there was no real view and the whole area smelled overwhelmingly of pee. :-(  I got back in the rig and realized getting out of there was gonna suck, speed limit is 75, sight distance is limited because of the hill, and there wasn't a ton of merge lane.  Sigh......  I just floored it and hoped for the best.  That is one nice thing about my rig, it has a lot of power. I can watch the gas gauge drop when I use all of it, but when I need it, it's great to have.

I pulled into the Cracker Barrel. Much to my astonishment, there was a waitlist for dinner. Guess the pickings are slim around here. But I had a big salad and spent the evening catching up a little on blogging. Hopefully I get an early start tomorrow and make it to the beach.

11/29/14 White Sands

My boondocking spot near White Sands looked waaaay better in the daylight, as they always do. I need to stop getting there in the dark as I'm terrified getting there then uncomfortable the whole night because I'm unsure of my surroundings.  The "lake" was more like a pond, but it was clear and reflected the sky beautifully. The bad thing was, the entire area was carpeted with those awful stickerbushes. Ah well.



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Living room view this AM Alamogordo NM
11/29/2014 10:07:51 AM


View out the front window. Alamogordo NM
11/29/2014 10:08:10 AM

I took some pics, had coffee, and headed to White Sands.  What an astounding place! Even though it was in the 60's I felt cold, probably because it looked like I was driving through huge snowdrifts.



11/29/2014 11:53:41 AM


White Sands Nat'l Mon.
11/29/2014 12:01:50 PM


White Sands Nat'l Mon.
11/29/2014 12:14:01 PM


Sledding at White Sands
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11/29/2014 1:34:30 PM


Even the roads look wintry
11/29/2014 1:39:07 PM

The only problem was, it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend and the park was full of people. It was very difficult to find dunes without footprints. And I got there a little late, the sun was too high. But I'll be back for sure. I enjoyed a lox sandwich in the picnic area & then headed to Alamogordo for gas. I had sorta planned to go east through Cloudcroft & then down through Carlsbad again. I was having second thoughts after a guy at the gas station said he thought it had snowed up there. Not sure if that was true, but after spending 10 minutes getting through 3 traffic lights and seeing lots more ahead, I said screw this, turned around & headed south towards El Paso. I'm not sure what was going in Alamogordo but I had had enough traffic.

I thought I might stop in El Paso, but I wasn't that tired and and it was still a bit early. I figured I'd find somewhere east of El Paso. Turns out there's about 200 miles of nothing east of El Paso. Now I was doing the mental math on the gas vs the miles to go to Ft. Stockton and I thought it might be close. I was tempted to fill up in Van Horn, but they have a rep as the most anti-RV town in Texas so I really didn't care to give them any of my money. I was pretty sure I could make Fort Stockton, and if not, I had my 5 gal gas can I bought after my last brush with fuel exhaustion in Texas. I made it with no problem and settled in for the night at the Fort Stockton Walmart, which is a popular spot. I parked near a nice Born Free that looked to be about 22' as well, but they were towing a car too. I ended up doing over 300 miles, which was way more than planned. I was tired but was still up till midnight. I guess I'm just a night owl.