PADRE ISLAND NATIONAL SEASHORE

     What can we say about this beautiful barrier island just off the coast of Corpus Christi, Texas... Paradise!  If you love the beach and you don't mind dry camping then this is the place for you!  It is the most peaceful and relaxing place that we have been to thus far and all for a whopping $8.00 a day, or $4.00 a day with the Golden Age Pass.  Our two weeks passed much too quickly.

     We stayed at the Malaquite Campground where there are individual campsites.  On the beach side there are sites with grills and shade structures over a concrete patio where your table sits.  On the opposite side of the road there are campsites with tables on the pavement delineated by white lines.  There are restrooms with cold showers and a fresh water faucet.  Just outside the campground is the dump station and fresh water fill station whenever you need it.  There's also camping over at the Bird Island Basin on the bay side of the island.  For the braver soul you can drive your RV right on the beach on either the North or South Beach and stay for free.

     There's plenty to do here at the beach.  Walking, jogging, biking (Yes, I said biking on the beach), fishing or taking your 4X4 for a drive on the 60 miles of coastline.  If you drive South about 20 miles you will hit Little Shell Beach, then Big Shell Beach, for those of you that like to collect various Sea Shells.  Or you can do nothing and just relax, enjoying the sun, sand and warm weather.  Notice I didn't say swimming!  Swimming is permitted at your own risk, there are no lifeguards.  However, the reason we would not venture in the water were the Portuguese Man-O-War that we saw every day washed up with the high tide.

     When we first arrived at Padre Island it was raining.  The following day was sunny, but the 4 days after that were cloudy and cool.  It was a challenge to our Solar Panel to keep our battery charged.  We had to run our generator at times to top off the battery.  Our RV was designed with only one Group 24 house battery, rated at 85 amp hours.  You can't run a whole lot with this set up, but we do manage for the most part to keep our lights, water pump, hot water heater, propane alarm and refrigerator circuit panel operating.  We don't have enough battery power or a large inverter to run heavy electronics like a TV or microwave.

     We are a "work in progress" and are evaluating all of our systems.  We certainly want to add additional batteries at some point, but would need to give up a storage compartment.  With that we would need another one or two solar panels to keep them all charged.  We thought about a wind turbine during the cloudy days, but where do we store it when not in use?  We have limited storage and are a little overweight as it is!

     Anyway, Padre Island is a NO BRAINER!  Where else can you go and stay at a beautiful beachfront facility at this price?  It is the perfect RV Winter getaway!  It is only 13 miles from town and about 20 miles to Walmart.  We will certainly visit this wonderful place again!

FP & RG

HOT SPRINGS NATIONAL PARK, ARKANSAS

     After welcoming in 2013 in Illinois with Rene's family we headed South to spend some time exploring Hot Springs National Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It's the boyhood home of President Bill Clinton, as well as, the historical Bathhouse Row.  You can indulge in a full spa treatment in one of the restored Bathhouses, but you can't do it together as a couple!  Unfortunately, there are separate men and women spa areas.  You can also spend time camping at the Gulpha Gorge Campground or hiking the 26 miles of trails on the surrounding mountains.  The hikes are fairly easy and it is a nice way to 'walk to town' if you are interested. 

     The Hot Springs consist of mineral water springs that are heated way down in the depths of the earth and then forced up to the surface at a temperature of 143 degrees.  The Bathhouses cool the water down to about 100 degrees for the spa treatments that they offer.  So if this sounds like something that you would enjoy, come on down, Hot Springs would love to see you.

     The Park Service's Gulpha Gorge Campground, which is open all year, is nicely wooded and is situated along the Gulpha Creek at the base of Hot Springs Mountain.  The Park Service has made some improvements to this campground in recent years.  The roads and RV pads have all been repaved.  Twenty six of the RV sites have Full Hook Ups with 30 and 50 amp service.  If you wish to dry camp, there's a dump station with potable water available.  The Rest Rooms were clean and heated, but do not have showers.  The office even has an automated registration terminal that takes both cash and credit cards.  You should try to have close to exact change, otherwise you will end up with a pile of dollar coins as change.

     While we were here we hiked the Gulpha Gorge Trail up to the observation tower at the top of Hot Springs Mountain and walked Bathhouse Row and the Grand Promenade.  Even though it is not the most spectacular of the National Parks it is still worth a visit if you are passing through the area.  For us it is another State to add to our U.S. Map and another National Park to check off our list.

FP & RG

OUR 2012 HOLIDAY CARD

TO ALL OUR FAMILY & FRIENDS

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

MPG TOWING OUR JEEP LIBERTY

     Prior to my retirement I had been thinking about buying a 2006 Winnebago View mini-motorhome built on a Dodge Sprinter chassis and powered by a Mercedes Turbo Diesel engine.  It was supposed to get about 15 to 18 mpg, but they were going for about $50K.  When the time came to buy a newer and larger RV than my current 1977 Dodge Brougham 20' Class C, I decided to bid on a 1994 Fleetwood Tioga Montara 29Z that had only 20K miles on it.  As it turns out I was the high bidder on EBAY at $10,001.  At that point I knew I would use the other $40K, that I saved, on fuel for my future travels.

     So lets keep in mind that our RV is 29 feet long, 8 feet wide and 11 feet high.  It weights about 8 tons and is not very aerodynamic.  On top of that we are towing a 4000 pound Jeep Liberty behind us.  This RV was built on a 1993 Ford E-350 cutaway chassis and is powered by a 460ci  fuel injected V-8 tied to a 4 speed overdrive transmission with a Banks TransCommand AND it has a 55 gallon fuel tank!  That doesn't sound like a very economical vehicle by any stretch of the imagination!

     Anyway, in order to keep some kind of record of our fuel costs and miles per gallon I downloaded an app to my smart phone called FuelLog.  The first two days of travel were on relatively flats roadways down the East Coast on I-95 and we averaged 8.68 mpg traveling at 55 mph.  Traveling in the mountains of North Carolina and West Virginia it dropped to an average of 7.33 mpg.  On some of those inclines we just followed behind a tractor trailer at 30-35 mph.  Once we were out of the mountains and back to the Great Plains of Indiana and Illinois we jumped back up to 8.51 mpg.

     Keep in mind that RVing is not for everyone, but for those of us that want to travel the country by RV this is just a fact of life and a cost that you have to embrace and accept.  There are others ways that we make up for the expense, like not having to pay for motels every night when we hit the road.  And not having to buy breakfast, lunch and dinner as you would if traveling by car.  We also know that this "IS" the way we want to see this beautiful country of ours!

FP & RG

Free - Zac Brown Band - Our theme song!

Day 1 - Stopped for the night!

Up at 5 and on the road at 6! We are now quite exhausted after exiting Long Island and managing the traffic on the busy I-95 corridor and around the DC area! We will finish this first leg tomorrow in Wilmington, NC at my daughter's house and we will see Baby Sofia for the first time:-)

SURVIVING SUPER STORM SANDY

     Rene and I had left Nickerson Beach Campground for good right after our Columbus Day weekend Halloween event.  We had spent the entire 2012 Season there, but we had to bring the RV in for service in preparation for our departure in November for the start of our Alaska Road Trip.  It was in the shop for two weeks and we got it back the Friday before Super Storm Sandy was suppose to hit Long Island.  We were happy that it was back with us, as it was parked in my Dad's driveway where it was away from any large trees!

     When Sandy hit on Monday night we lost power and didn't get it back for 12 days.  Lucky for us that was the worst of it.  Dad's house only sustained some minor damage to a rain gutter, which we immediately repaired after the storm passed.  However, the heavy wet snow from the Nor'easter the following week damaged his Dogwood trees in the front of the house. (See Photos of the snow storm.)  We gave them a severe pruning and they should return to good health in the Spring.  Oh and you missed all the fun you could've had helping us remove a foot of heavy wet snow from the roof of the RV!

     The neighbor down the block had his RV parked in his driveway next to the house and was not so lucky with the strong winds.  A large tree was blown over from an adjoining yard landing on the RV and the house causing serious damage to both.  I wanted to go over and take a picture of it to have for the blog, but I felt that would only ad insult to injury.  (See photos of my Dad's neighborhood and you will get the idea.)

     The Lido Beach / Long Beach area was hit pretty hard with a multitude of damage to its 2.2 mile Boardwalk, businesses and residential properties.  The Nickerson Beach main parking lot is being used as a temporary dump site for debris cleanup.  (See Photo of the beach parking lot.)  The Campground appears to have survived, although it had been evacuated prior to Sandy's arrival.  The only thing between the campground and the Atlantic Ocean is a very long beach and a very large sand dune.  The beach goers complain all Summer about the long walk to the water, but that is what probably saved the Park from major destruction.

     I sold my 2004 Dodge Dakota pickup, since it was going to sit for a year in the driveway while we were away, and used that money to fund the repairs that needed to be done to the RV before hitting the road.  Here's a few of the things we had done for the trip: New tires, New shocks, New ball joints, Front wheel alignment, New rear brakes, New steering damper, New Banks Trans-Command module, Engine tune-up, Oil change, Tranny Service with new synthetic fluid, Rear end service with new synthetic gear oil, Broken bolt repaired on exhaust manifold and Non working tail light repaired.  Oh and a New York State Inspection!  I think that is about it.  Needless to say, there was no money left over from the sale of the truck!

     We also had a number of things that we did ourselves recently that involved cleaning, sanding, scraping, sealing and painting on the outside.  We are still working on getting some wax on the entire RV!  Does anyone want to come over and help!  I didn't think so!  But that doesn't include other things that were done on the interior over the last year.  We installed a new microwave, new roll up shades, changed some of the valance material, added new curtains, new cab over cushions, a new kitchen faucet, new vinyl flooring everywhere except the bedroom where we replaced the carpeting!  Outside we installed a Go Power 95 watt solar panel kit, 2 MaxxAir vent covers and 4 MaxxAir window vents.  Also cleaned and resealed the rubber roof!

    Last, but not least, today we had a new Kenwood Stereo installed with an ipod jack to bring the sound system up to date, along with a couple of new door speakers.  We replaced the old AM/FM Cassette player that came with the RV back in 1994.  Anyone want some old cassette tapes?  Believe it or not, we still have a few items left on our "To Do" list, but most are just cosmetic, except for the "Trouble Shoot the Tank Sensors"!  The Grey Water sensor works, but the Black and Fresh Water do not!  We will just have to work on it along the way as we are scheduled to depart on November 17, just a few days from now!  Can't wait for our "Endless Adventure" to continue!

FP & RG