Eastward Ho! – March 2016
Even by our standards, March was a whirlwind. We pulled out
of Mesa Arizona
on February 29 headed for Florida
to visit Kayeanne’s brother Grant. The first move set the pattern for the rest
of the month: drive 200 – 300 miles and set up housekeeping in a new place for two or three nights. We also decided to stay at as many Escapee parks as we could, so
the first stop was Dream Catcher SKP Park in Deming New Mexico .
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| Dream Catcher RV Park |
The park turned out to be a spacious gravel parking lot
within sight (and sound) of I10, but it offered full hookups (water, power and
sewer) and easy in/out for a reasonable price. Deming isn’t the most
interesting place we have been by a long shot, but we discoverer a great family
Mexican restaurant and a very interesting museum.
The restaurant is called Taco Mirasol, true family
enterprise where grandma and daughter turn out really good food at very
reasonable prices. The refried beans
were as good as any we can remember. They even make fresh squeezed lemonade.
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| Volunteers created the whole museum |
As you may have gathered, we both like museums and the Deming Luna Mimbres Museum
was an unexpected find. Housed in a vintage National Guard armory that is
itself worth a visit, the museum is the only one in the country that is
operated solely and completely by volunteers. Over many years they have
assembled a fascinating, eclectic collection of photos, artifacts, vehicles and
art that covers the history of the region from the pre-Spanish Indian cultures
through the early 1960’s. Rather than just laying out material for viewing, the
volunteers designed and built displays, period settings and dioramas that put
many of the objects in historical context. All of them were interesting, but
the one that really caught my eye was the recreation of a hardware store from
the turn of the century that sold everything from thread to bullets. We had no
expectations when we walked in and ended up spending over 3 hours.
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| Tethered Aerostat Radar System used for drug and immigration enforcement near Alpine, TX |
The next stop was Alpine Texas. We picked Alpine because it
was not on I10, was roughly 300 miles from Deming on the back way to San Antonio , and had a
few RV parks to pick from. BC Ranch RV Park didn’t quite live up to its website
pictures or description, but it was reasonably priced and quiet so we decided
to stay for a couple of days. Alpine is a pretty neat small town, big enough to
have one of most everything and small enough to see in a couple of hours at
most.
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| Fantastic food from this little trailer |
We are always on the lookout for local places to eat and the
bright yellow trailer parked on a lot near the center of town caught our eye.
The Smokin’ Cajun served up the best Cuban sandwich I have ever had. The woman
on the grill is Cuban and learned to cook in Miami from her mother and grandmother. I
don’t remember how they found their way to Alpine, but I’d return just to get
another one of those sandwiches.
We both looked forward to visiting San
Antonio , primarily to see the Riverwalk and, of course, the Alamo . After Deming and Alpine, we decided to treat
ourselves a little and pulled into the Green Lake RV Resort in south San
Antonio about 20 minutes from downtown. Green Lakes
We liked San
Antonio . The Riverwalk lived up to expectations. The
river itself is a couple of stories below street level. It meanders through the
city center and is lined with restaurants and bars of every kind. Large trees
and the shadows of the downtown building provide plenty of cool shade to stroll
some of the 13 miles of walkways that border the river. We visited the Mexican
Market one afternoon. Think mini-Faneuil Hall: lots of shops to browse, a food
court and a local band that could really rock and roll made for a very pleasant
visit.
I have to say that I was underwhelmed with the Alamo . Admission to the mission building itself is
“free”, but everyone is forced to stand in long lines while obligatory pictures
are taken that are then “offered” on exit. I refused to play that game, so we focused
on the museum and the grounds, both quite interesting. Based on some comments
that I overheard from people who had gone inside, I don’t think we missed much.
When we unhooked the car tow dolly at Green Lake Green
Lake
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| The neighbors at Rainbow's End |
The Escapees RV Club is
headquartered at Rainbow's End in Livingston Texas , sort of on
the way between San Antonio and New Orleans . We had been
hearing stories about “the mothership” since we we joined the club and couldn’t let the chance to visit slip by.
Site 134 is located in the “new” section of the park. As you would expect from
an organization started by and committed to full time RV’ers, access was easy,
the site was large and it took little time to settle in for a week.
One of the first things we did was go over to the mail
service building to pick up a month’s accumulation of mail. We had no idea how
large an operation the mail service is, but got a strong hint when the US Mail
tractor trailer truck passed us to deliver the incoming mail to the service
center. The mail service handles about 13 tons of mail a day, so much mail that
it has its own Zip code.
Livingston is the Polk
County
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| The French Quarter |
Visiting New
Orleans was one of the must-do’s on this trip, but the
downtown RV park is really expensive. Bayou
Segnette State
Park turned out to be a great place to stay to visit New Orleans . While it is
across the Mississippi River from the city, it
is just 20 minutes from the French Quarter. Big spaces, lots of trees, good
facilities including free laundry, and great dog walking for $18 a
night; we even had great OTA TV reception.
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| Two beauties |
We both liked New
Orleans . Over three days walked all over the French
Quarter in the rain and stuck our noses in every shop in the French Market. We
roamed around a very old cemetery in the Garden District, which is much more
interesting than it sounds, and took a cruise down the mighty Mississippi
River on a real steam paddle wheeler.
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| Oak Alley Plantation |
One day we set off down the River Road , following the river past
farms and plantations to Oak Alley
Plantation in Vacherie ,
Louisiana
B&C Seafood Market
and Cajun Restaurant was a real treat. A true locals place, we drove by and
decided on the spur of the moment to make a u-turn and have lunch. The
alligator burger was quite good (tasted like turkey) and the stuffed gator had
a big grin. Seriously, stop here if you are in the area.
Pushing on to the East, our next stop was the Escapees Rainbow
Plantation RV Park in Summerdale ,
Alabama Alabama (or Louisiana , now that I think about it), and had
no idea what to expect. Southern Alabama is
quite beautiful. The coastline around Mobile
is some of the prettiest we have seen. Summerdale is just east of Fairhope, a
strikingly lovely town with a long commercial fishery and coastal trading
history on Mobile
Bay
Rainbow Plantation
is a very attractive, spacious park. We stayed a couple of nights and really
enjoyed the site, the park itself and especially the people who lived there.
Every SKP park seems to have happy hour around 4 pm and this one was no
exception. We met several very nice people and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The
park has only developed about a third of the land that they own, making dozens
of acres open to walk the dogs, and they loved it.
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| Real waterfront camping |
When we started planning this trip I was looking forward to
visiting the northwest coast of Florida ,
the so-called “lost coast”. Looking on the Internet for RV parks in the area
popped up Ho-Him RV Park in Carrabelle. With a name like that, we had to go
there. Ho-Hum is anything but. Several of the sites are so close to the Gulf
that there is no beach at high tide: the water comes right to the low seawall
that the RVs are parked on. The view through the windshield is ocean to the
horizon. We weren’t able to get one of those sites, but we still had ocean
views from our coach. The site itself could have been a little wider and it
could certainly have used more gravel because it got pretty muddy when it
rained, but being able to walk down the beach a half a mile or so at low tide
made up for any it.
Carrabelle is a pretty little town with limited services and
one small market. It does have a couple of stores selling locally caught, fresh
seafood. One day we bought and cooked shrimp that were swimming that morning. They
were the best I’ve ever eaten.
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| Deeelicious! |
The next day we drove up the coast to Apalachicola ,
a much larger town with many neat stores, several good restaurants and a small
maritime museum and boat building school. We spent some enjoyable time
wandering through the museum, looking at many vintage photos and pouring over a
couple of the boats that the school had made. A couple of the shops were a cut
above the usual tourist traps and we made a small contribution to the local
economy.
The last stop this month was another SKP park, Sumter Oaks
in Bushnell. The park is in a very rural area about 5 miles out of town. Our
site was large and partially shaded, but could have used some landscaping and
fresh gravel. In fact, the whole park was in need of some attention. The trees
needed trimming and the roads needed re-grading and fresh gravel. The dog park
fence had been damaged and never repaired. Several signs were just hand
lettered on cardboard, giving the place a slightly seedy appearance. It was
also the quietest SKP park we have been to. There was no happy hour or any
scheduled activities. The pool hadn’t seen water in years.
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| Glass bottomed boats |
On the plus side was the donkey herd on the adjacent
farm that was just as interested in Lucy and Schroeder as they were in them. Every
time we walked by the donkeys came right to the fence to exchange sniffs. We
didn’t see the resident alligator in the swamp behind the park, but we
certainly heard him at night, and a couple of times I think I caught his eyes way back through the trees with my flashlight on our late evening walks.
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| Algae is destroying the springs |
Bushnell is not far from Ocala
and I had been looking forward to revisiting Silver Springs
State Park
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| A small fraction of Garlit's fascinating collection |
As we approached Ocala a sign on the side of the highway declared that the Don Garlits Drag Racing Museum was just ahead. I couldn't pass that up! Big Daddy is arguably the founder of modern drag racing. He is responsible for many of the inventions still in use today, most notably the first rear engined dragster. He held innumerable records over his long career. The museum is housed in two large buildings and is packed with cars, motorcycles, dragsters, engines, vintage cars and a host of memorabilia. It is a fascinating place that I could easily revisit. Kayeanne was a good sport about it, too.
We are looking forward to arriving in St. Petersburg next month to see Grant,
Kayeanne’s brother. More soon.
Bob
