Month: March 2020

Left Baton Rouge about 8am and arrived in Birmingham about 2:30pm. Jude had gone into the hospital the day before, so we wanted to stop by and visit him and the other grandkids.

Took the RV all the way to Megan’s house. That was probably a mistake. But we made it.

Ate supper at Megan’s with take out from Smokin Hot Bar and Grill. That was good as usual.

Arrived at home around 9:30pm. After 2 weeks, and 2700 miles, our long vacation has come to an end. We really enjoyed it, but happy to be back at home.

Left about 10am and traveled to other side of Baton Rouge. Arrived there around 7:30pm. During the trip, stopped by another Buc-ees to get gas and some lunch. It’s one of our favorite places now.

We pulled into a Bass Pro shop in Denham Springs, LA and boon-docked. We wanted to get to the east side of Baton Rouge to miss rush hour traffic in the morning. It made it a long day, but worth it.

Ate at a nearby Mexican restaurant, then went to bed.

After getting some Dunkin Donuts for breakfast, we drove the car to San Antonio and visited The Alamo and the Riverwalk. Did lots of walking, shopping, ate a small lunch, and rode the boat down the river walk.

This evening, we had the opportunity to visit with some of our Chapman relatives that I haven’t seen in over 40 years. Aunt Millie Chapman and Virginia Chapman were able to join us at one of the Mexican restaurants at the Riverwalk. We talked for almost 2 hours reminiscing and sharing about our families. It was such a blessing. So happy we had this time to visit. Hope we can do this again.

We left around 7am to head to our first stop on the way home, Boerne, TX, about a 7 hour drive. Stayed at the Top of the Hill RV Park, outside of San Antonio.

After setting the RV, our traveling partners for the day (Kevin and Dodi), and us went to downtown to shop around and eat supper. We ate at one of the restaurants downtown. Food was great! Came back to the RV park and called it a night.

Slept in on our last day. Decided to hit some of the local shops for artsy things and gifts. Explored a few of the things we kept seeing along the way, but didn’t have time to stop.

Went to see some real- looking teepees off the main road, on several of the dirt roads. They were available to rent overnight. Not sure I’d want to. It really is amazing to see how the locals live out here.

Our friends cooked out coney dogs and we all ate together outside. It was time to start packing up and preparing to leave out of here in the morning. It has been a really fun place to visit. I would recommended it to everyone. Next stop, San Antonio.

Another day for hiking! The Grapevine Hills Trail was in the National Park, via paved roads and also an unpaved road. Another adventure!

Again Renee and I didn’t make it to the top, but the others did. The end of the trail had a rock that was balanced across two other rocks and also had quite a view. Here are some pictures we took.

After the hike, we went to an area called the Basin in the National Park. This area was more green and had more color. A park ranger told our friends that it was due to a higher elevation and natural springs in the area. The change from desert brown to vivid green trees and bushes was quite prominent. The area had a nice gift shop and nice restaurant, where we ate lunch.

After visiting the basin, we returned to our RV Park and rested that evening.

Not only is there a Big Bend National Park, there is a Big Bend State Park that runs along the Rio Grande River on one edge. We drove thru there this morning.

We stopped at several places to see the river and the mountainsides. One stop we saw several canoeing down the Rio Grande. The River was much smaller than expected. The road, as you can see in these pictures is very hilly and curvy. Certainly couldn’t drive the RV up here.

Some of the places we stopped were interesting (teepee picnic tables) and amazing views.

After visiting the state park, we ate lunch at a food truck called Rustic Iron BBQ. It doesn’t look like much but was rated in the top 10 restaurants in Texas. We tried it and it stood up to its high rating. We ate at some picnic tables outside and was quite chilly and windy that day. It was delicious.

After lunch, several of our friends hiked up the mountain behind our RVs, but we stayed at our RV and relaxed a bit, Later that evening, all our friends stopped by and we had crack chicken sandwiches. We had a good time talking together. Then it was getting time for bed. We are enjoying this time together with our friends.

This has been by far the most strenuous day so far. We agreed to do another trail near the resort because one of the long term RVers from here said it was close by, you could see the Rio Grande from the top and the trail was easy. NOT!!! Here is the view from the parking lot, the trail head.

We went to about 430 ft up and decided we could not make it. Four of the others went on up the steep climb, but the rest of us decided to go back down. The trail went for about a mile on flat land, then about a mile further going up the mountain. It was hard. There were loose rocks and slick rocks during the climb. And it sounded like it got even worse beyond where we stopped. Here are some pictures, but they really don’t give it justice!

We stopped at a Mexican Restaurant called Chili Peppers. Food was good. Returned to the RV Resort to rest. Renee and I went to a couple local shops, but didn’t buy anything.

After supper, we were all sitting around talking, and all of a sudden, no warning at all, a sandstorm came around and we all escaped to the RVs. That storm was really wild. Had to bring in the slides. It was a little scary, but was over about 10:30pm. We slept just fine.

Left this morning to go to Santa Elenas Trail in the Patk. Took shortest route, a dirt road… a long and rough dirt road. On the way back we went the long way home, a paved road. The trail is along a cavern between the mountain with a creek that shoots off of the Rio Grand. Trail was a couple miles long. Here’s some photos.

That evening, back at the RV Resort, our friends cooked up some Jambalaya that was delicious. Slept good that night!

After 1300 miles, and several unplanned adventures, we have made it to Big Bend National Park in Lajitas, TX.

When we got off the interstate, it was 2-lane roads, up and down, and around many curves. We enjoyed the view of the mountains in Southwest Texas. Here are some of the pics Renee took…

We arrived about 1:30pm, got everything setup and took some strolls around the RV park. The views from here are pretty amazing.

Renee fixed tacos for supper and then we went to a 40’s, 50’s and 60’s music concert at the RV Park. They were funny, but not really my style of music. We left after a few songs and headed back to the RV. Tomorrow we are going to take a morning hike. Hope we can do it. It said it was an easy hike. We’ll see.