Padre Island, Texas camper trip -January 2021

 The new year took us and our E-Pro camper LaVern on the road to Texas.  Our goal was to meet Joe & Nancy from Wisconsin for a week or so in warm weather.  We did not get much warm weather, but we enjoyed hanging out with friends for the first time in almost a year!

Sitting by a fire, walking on the beach, riding in the car together, eating meals together was amazing after not doing anything with anybody else for a long time. Stupid covid!   We loved camping on the Gulf coast beach with Joe & Nancy and all that included. Too bad the weather didn't cooperate.  

Scott & I got to know Texas a little better (we don't love it) and visited Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico for the first time - huge and beautiful.  The town of Carlsbad is developing with a nice area of riverwalk, but the older part of it includes trashiness and a homeless camp.

Capulin Volcano was a destination on my bucket list for years!  Just inside NM from CO, we got there this time.  Road was closed, it snowed, and there was nothing to see.  Very sad.  We drove through NM without visiting anything bc parks are closed to non-residents due to covid.

Unfortunately we had camper issues the entire trip.  Arghh.  Our brand new solar panel and lithium battery system has a problem so after many calls to the dealer & the GoPower tech help about fuses and connectors, we learned to conserve our power and our heat.  Frustrating but we were stuck in Texas!   We dropped it off at our dealership as we drove home from vacation through Denver.  Had a car problem too but we got lucky with an honest and quick mechanic who fixed us up with a new fan/cooler unit. 

Our plans to meet Joe & Nancy at Colorado Bend State Park near Austin changed due to snow.  Scott & I got snowed in at Colorado City State Park in Texas. We shared the entire park with about 6 other campers.  We made gaitors (in photo) and hiked in the new snow until roads melted and we could get out.  Then we headed farther south, fast.

We enjoyed biking at Muleshoe Bend State Park, exploring Corpus Christi, camping on north Padre Island on the beach, fresh seafood, the changing beach, sunrises & sunsets by a fire, then the mist and fog and cold.

We watched Biden/Harris inauguration and celebrated with fresh seafood on the fire.  What a good day!

We were traveling for 3 weeks and never got the warm weather we hoped for.  In February, Texas got hit with a huge snow that we missed.  They had major power issues and it was a disaster.  

More photos from the trip.

Cadillac Ranch tourist attraction near Roswell, NM

This big cowboy is the same mold as the big cowboy near our house off Hwy 66 and the Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad drive-in in Wilmington, IL on Route 66.  They are known as "Muffler Men"! You can find out more online.

home in the morning

One beautiful formation at Carlsbad Caverns, NM.

This enormous amount of plastic in the grasses just off the beach, far from the people on Padre Island, effected me profoundly.  I was flabbergasted by the amount of plastics on those remote stretches of beach.  Tiny pieces that have been there for 40 years, big pieces, little pieces, and so much that an army couldn't clean up the 30 miles of it in years.  DEPRESSING!   

After this experience I am making a concerted effort to avoid plastic containers and buy things in non-plastic. It's not easy.  Eggs come in styrofoam, milk in plastic jugs, cleaners in plastic, yogurt and ice cream in plastic, shampoo, and on and on!  It's maddening.

I read that less than 9% of of plastics used in the world actually get recycled.  

Here's a short article from National Geographic.

Plastic containers that will last 400 years are created to be used just once.  Happily, I've found many companies making cleaning products and soaps (including shampoo and conditioner) that do not come in plastic. Refills are tabs or sheets.  Nice!

My part in this won't change the world, but it makes me feel better.

Inauguration day.  This makes me happy.