by 110 – South Houston. Stayed one night @ USA RV Resorts. Nice place in the middle of several freeways. Had great BBQ @ Killen’s BBQ. Tolls were pricey on Sam Houston Tollway.
109 – Port Aransas. Stayed at Gulf Waters RV Resort. Very nice resort – owners have very nice palapas and gazebos for entertaining – lots of ponds. Direct access to beach marker 55. Beach is miles long – cars and RVs park up and down the beach – very nice beach. Need beach parking permits except markers 52-58. Rio ate something on the beach again – got sick the 2nd night. Had a good afternoon on the beach. Celebrated John’s birthday @ Scuttlebutt’s in South Corpus Christi – live music. Celebrated Fat Tuesday in Port Aransas – attended gumbo cook-off waiting for golf cart parade – The Gaff and Stingrays – had dinner and live music @ Giggity’s. Will consider Goose Island and Mustang SP in the future – Port A RV Resort is a good backup (visited several other RV parks but they were very small). Visited a couple of local national wildlife refuge centers – they were okay. Took ferry to Rockport – stopped by Winery on the Bay / Dog’Gone Brewery. Most of the damage from recent hurricane has been removed, but there were several condos still waiting for repairs to begin.
108 – South Padre Island. Stayed at KOA. Had a great site – pull-thru with patio. People were pretty friendly. Met Rex and Karen again, and their friends from Iowa, from Chimney Park. Visited Resaca de la Palma State Park and Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge – both were fairly spartan this time of year. Had a okay lunch @ Longhorn Cattle Company in San Benito – good place – great brisket, but okay ribs. Had a good dinner @ Pier 19 restaurant next to KOA. Had good coffee and enjoyed a great jam session @ Cafe Karma. Went to dinner with Rex and Karen (and their friends) @ Lobo Del Mar – food was okay, but the band was very good. Went on the Brownsville cruise – interesting to see the ship building and recycling – went back to shrimp boat to get shrimp and fish near Brownsville. Bought oysters fresh fish and fresh ceviche at local restaurant/market (Los Tortugos Seafood Market). Weather was goofy – ranged from warm for a few days to very windy – a couple of days were stormy. People can take their vehicles onto the road at the north side of island. The Isla Blanca Park seems to be nicer after the latest infrastructure improvements – the RV campground is large, but fairly spartan – next to beach – grass areas have thorns… need to check out bathroom situation.
107 – Mission. Stayed at Chimney Park. Nice, but small campground. It is on the river – Border Patrol portable tower and boats stay at the campground. People at the park very friendly – met a lot of nice people. Hot and humid the first day, then became colder and windy throughout the week. Went to put luck and watched movie at the park. Also listened to jam session @ the park. Went to the National Butterfly refuge – saw bird feeding and butterflies. Visited the Bensten-Rio Grande State park – large – saw about 1/3 of the park. Walked on popular walking/biking trail nearby. All three parks were rather dry. Listened to live music @ the Riverside Inn – lots of people and parking lot packed. Went on cruise @ Riverside Inn to see the nearby dam on the Rio Grande. Listened to music @ the Junkyard – interesting biker bar. Valentine’s dinner @ Old Republic Grill & Cantina – food good, but service kinda suffered. Ate @ 1492 BBQ – ribs were good, but ribs and brisket were smothered in sauce. Bottomed out the Vista driving out of the park – not sure how it did not happen on the entrance into the park. Might check out Bensten Palms or Victoria Palms RV resorts for next visit. Wall may change Chimney Park, so need to monitor. Gas, food and local prices fairly low in the area.
106 – Del Rio. Stayed at Broke Mill RV Park. Nice campground. The Armistad National Refuge is large and seemed very nice. Walked along the river front. Went to Val Verde winery – bought a couple of white wines – oldest winery in Texas. Ate dinner @ Memo’s Restaurant. Went downtown for art walk – a little small – but it was nice.
105 – Ft Stockton. Stayed at Fort Stockton RV Resort again. Nice campground.
104 – Las Cruces. Stayed at site #14 in KOA again. Great views. Snowing over-night! Sparky’s restaurant in Hatch closed Mon-Weds 🙁
103 – Casa Grande. Palm Creek is a very big and very nice resort. Missed main entrance and came in car entrance. Big sites for RVs. Cell phone coverage was iffy inside the park. They had hot air balloons in the main parking lot as part of cancer fundraiser. Suzanne went to swim class. We both went to line dancing class – good class. Nice people in the RV resort – may books for a month in 2021. Visited Tonto National Monument on the Apache Trail. Visited River Bottom Grill near Florence – live music – interesting biker bar. Visited June and Larry in Tucson – they just got back from QE II cruise to Dubai. They showed us pictures and shared info for their cruise as well as the Maritimes. We also discussed the planning for the 2021 Alaska trip. Rio enjoyed seeing June and Larry – met June’s brother.
102 – Yuma. The Blue Sky Resort is okay, a little tight and spartan. Multiple activities are planned in the park. We might try the The Palms RV resort in late 2020. John had a broken tooth removed with Dr Yasmin in Algodones, Mexico – good experience. Interesting place, was clean and seemed safe. Lots of Americans and Canadians. Visited Painted Desert trail in Imperial National Wildlife Refuge – very nice hike – met some interesting people afterwards, especially a couple who live on boat in San Juan islands as well as travel in pick-up with cab (they also travel internationally quite a bit). Visited lake Martinez afterwards. Visited the Kofa National Wildlife Refuge – Palm Canyon trail and Castle Dome off-road – spectacular views and scenery. Re-visited downtown river park. Scheduled RV maintenance for December 2020. Got advice for Kruger NP in South Africa as well as Canada from the many Canadians we met @ the RV park.
101 – Borrego Springs. Love The Springs @ Borrego. We actually booked a month-long visit in January 2021. The Palms Canyon trail was closed to recent fire – really sad. Went to Fonts Point – great views of the whole valley. Visited the The Slots as well as the Iron Door in Ocotillo Wells – great rural bar – a bunch of Canadians and Americans arrived in a Jeep Caravan. Visited Julian for a day (Suzanne missed the trip last year). Had great Apple Dumplings @ Mom’s Cafe. Great Chicken Pot Pie @ Heroes Cafe and finally Hard Cider Tasting nearby @ Julian Cider down the road a few miles – better selection this year. Scoped out a great boondocking place on the bluffs overlooking the Salton Sea – met a really nice couple. The couple at the Welcome Center gave us a couple of really good things to do in the area.
100 – Desert Hot Springs. Always love the hot springs @ KOA. Visited Joshua Tree NP from north to south entrances. Went to several new places and really enjoyed it. Walked downtown Palm Springs. Went back to TKB cafe in Indio – love their sandwiches.
99 – Bakersfield. Orange Grove is a great stop-over. Free donuts and coffee. Got to pick fresh oranges. Went to local taco food truck – El Buen Pastor.
98 – Morgan Hill. Met Jimmie, Mike and Marsha for walk in Los Gatos – then watched 49ers game – Jake’s Pizza. Took Tiger, Cindy and Cody to Florentine’s for dinner – saw the Camaro. Had lunch with Jimmie @ Dish Dash to discuss sale of Joanne’s car and our boat. Took stuff to storage unit – walked around Livermore (Panama Bay Coffee Co) – had lunch @ Layang Layang in Milpitas. Made various repairs on the Vista. Started making reservations for our trip east. Suzanne had a minor cold – missed out having good-bye lunch with her parents.
97 – Pescadero. Really enjoyed the campground and resort. Graham spent two days in San Francisco for an aptitude test. We spent time walking around the Presidio and Aquatic Park. Crazy parking. 2nd day was much harder after the holidays. Took Graham to NYE dinner @ Burma Superstar – spent some time @ resort NYE party. Had a couple of nice breakfast and lunches downtown as well. Graham took us to Dolores Park. Beautiful weather. Met Graham in Santa Cruz, went to lunch @ Cafe Brasil, then had wine & sunset @ Davenport beach. Met Jim for lunch in Half Moon Bay @ HMB Brewing Company – had clam chowder from Barbara’s Fish House. Bought favorite Ollieberry pie and artichoke bread in Pescadero. Met David Marsland and Verna for drinks and snacks. Met Jimmie and Jerry for walk near Palo Alto airport – had happy hour @ Fish Market to watch 4th quarter of 49ers game.
