2024-4-15 Snyder, Texas to Fort Collins, Colorado

We woke up early this morning and were on the road before 7am which turned out to be a good thing because we were battling strong winds all day long! We had commented that we had seen so many wind turbines, but no power plants. Well ... that changed! We passed several of these along the way through Texas.

We also reminded ourselves to try to practice what the sign said and get to our "happy" place.

When we got to Amarillo, we did make a stop at Cadillac Ranch. What, you may ask, is Cadillac Ranch?

In 1974, an art group, Ant Farm, came up with the idea of creating an interactive art installation that would pay homage to the American automobile culture. Inspired by the aesthetics and symbolism of Route 66, they chose a location just west of Amarillo. Route 66 was known as the Main Street of America and was essential for cross-country travel, connecting the Midwest and the West Coast. It was a symbol of adventure and freedom. Originally placed directly on Route 66 allowed the installation to become an attraction for visitors across the country. In 1997, the installation was quietly moved from the original wheat field to a location two miles to the west in order to place it farther from the growing city limits. Today, visitors can buy spray paint from the Cadillac Ranch "merch" store and add your own artistic flair to any or all of the 10 cars.



No, we did not buy any spray paint, but we saw people who did! Quite honestly, there was so much paint on the cars, it was difficult to know if they were Cadillacs or not!

Our lunch stop was just south of Channing - where we spent our first night before moving on. The wind was still blowing! While it was a tail wind part of the time, it was a side wind every time the road turned to the west, so we were rocking and rolling down the road - especially when big trucks went by in the opposite direction. Not long after lunch we discovered that the refrigerator blew a fuse and wasn't working. Tobey replaced the fuse and it blew almost immediately. Needless to say, we didn't have another fuse, so our decision to head home quickly was made for us. I moved all the ice we had down from the freezer and that helped keep everything cold, but wouldn't last another day.

We continued our northward journey through lots of small towns, stopping in Bennett, Colorado for a quick dinner. All across Colorado the dust and dirt blew and we never really got a view of our Rocky Mountains. We encountered a little rain near Fort Lupton but it was brief, thank goodness!

The wind never did let up! Look at those flags!

We finally pulled onto I-25 near Longmont and were soon watching ominous storm clouds.
Fortunately, we made it home with just another brief rain shower and pulled in about 8:45 pm.
700 miles in 14 hours of travel time (one hour time change, too) is TOO long to spend in the RV fighting wind and semi trucks all day. We were able to unload part of our stuff and will finish it on Tuesday. The poor old RV is anxious for a rest!

2024-4-14 Gonzales, Texas to Round Rock to Snyder, Texas

It was an easy morning today traveling from Gonzales heading to my cousin Doug's house in Round Rock about 90 miles away. We arrived about 11:30 and spent some time visiting before we all went out for lunch at the Salt Lick Restaurant. We hadn't had barbeque since arriving in Texas so that was the choice of the day. We had the brisket and pulled pork and they were both tasty. We hadn't seen each other in almot 25 years so it was fun catching up and all too soon it was time for us to get back on the road.

We continued on from Round Rock to Sweetwater, Texas where we stopped for sandwiches at Schlotzsky's. We both like them and the one in Fort Collins closed down last year, so I have to get my sandwiches when I can!

This area of Texas has mile after mile of wind farms. It was crazy!
We thought it was pretty funny to see the turbines along with oil drilling.

We decided to go a little further and are stopped for the night in Snyder, Texas. We had a beautiful sunset and we hope that it will cool off for sleeping tonight since it is still 82F at 9pm!

2024-4-13 Port Aransas to Gonzales, Texas

Last night turned into an interesting situation! It was well past 10pm when we had new neighbors come and park RIGHT NEXT TO THE RV! There were two trucks, an RV, two tents and probably 10 children. They were SO loud hooting and carrying on - and starting their grill to fix dinner! We got out and walked down the beach just past our other RV neighbor and there was plenty of room, so we moved! I had to go outside and watch while Tobey backed up so he didn't hit their grill. I am sure they liked our RV for a windblock, but that came to an end. After 11pm, they shot off some fireworks and I was sure we were in for an even longer night, but they must have only had two because it did stop. This morning we talked with the other neighbor and she told us they were packing up to leave a day early, also, because of the noise.

We took one last walk on the beach and saw some small sand castles that campers had made. Some folks are talented!
After getting everything secured, we headed to the county RV park to dump and add fresh water before hitting the highway. Once again we had a ferry back to the mainland. It's pretty cool how they operate - four of them going back and forth all day! We started to leave our docking station and the captain backed up because a ship was crossing in front of us.


From Port Aransas we headed toward Gonzales with a stop for shrimp and fish for lunch. Tomorrow we head on to Round Rock to see one of my cousins before our trek back to Colorado.

2024-4-12 Port Aransas, Texas

Today was another beautiful day in Port Aransas! We took a long walk before breakfast – about two miles and I collected more shells. Tobey asked which craft project this were for because he was sure I had used all the shells I’ve collected over the years that are stored at home! Silly man. Shells are like fabric, you can never have too much.

Later, we unloaded the motorcycle and headed into town to visit the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center at the Port Aransas Nature Preserve. (That is a mouthful!) What a beautiful place to see! They have a birder’s checklist with over 250 birds that you might see in the area – although it includes migratory birds. Needless to say, we didn’t see that many!

Black necked still

Roseate Spoonbill

American Avocet

Great Blue Heron

American White Pelicans (and cormorants)

It was interesting but I felt a bit intimidated by all the birders with these giant cameras that had lenses over a foot long and I had my little point and shoot camera. Oh well, I can’t identify all the birds either, so I just enjoyed it.

We headed off to Grumbles, a seafood restaurant recommended by Mark and Kim for lunch. We shared a shrimp dinner and had plenty! There was a nice view of the ships going by from the outside dining area.
Our next stop was the Mustang Island jetty and beach. The jetty was busy with lots of folks fishing – and dolphin watching.

We were lucky enough to spot several dolphins, however, it is very difficult to get their pictures. They just didn’t want to pose the way the ones at Sea World do! You just have to have a “Kodak moment in your mind!”

We followed the sand beach road back to the RV … it was a bit dicey in areas and I was sure I was going to find myself under the motorcycle if it went down because the sand got pretty soft in areas! We made it, but then headed back into town to pick up some groceries before reloading the cycle on the RV.

We changed into swimsuits and headed out for another walk. North of us the beach is a hotbed of actifity. It’s packed with cars, families, and groups hanging out.


It’s been busy all around us tonight – I guess that’s what you get on the weekends at the beach!

It’s been a good stop and we have enjoyed being here. Tomorrow we begin our journey northward with a couple more stops along the way.

2024-4-11 Port Aransas, Texas

What a luxury – we got to sleep in and I took full advantage of it until 9am! We had breakfast and watched as the huge plows were moving sand along the beach. I’m not sure if the tide actually comes in that far, but it was interesting to see them working to smooth it out. We then took about a 2 mile walk on the beach.

The Port Aransas Sand Art Festival is coming up and they are starting on huge sand art displays.

Sand sculpting in the morning

We were happy the winds had died down and there was only a nice breeze off the water today. I enjoyed collecting a few shells and watching all of the shore birds. We headed back to the RV for lunch and reading before driving over to meet the mobile RV repair guy so he could check out our roof damage. Lucky for us, it wasn’t TOO bad and set us back less than $200.

About an hour later, we were back at the beach!

We spent a little time reading then decided to take another walk back toward the sand art area.

It was pretty amazing to watch the folks sculpting. This guy made good progress since this morning.

After our walk, Tobey beat me at two games of gin. I think it’s because we were drinking margaritas, but he thinks it’s because he is better (or luckier) than me!

Dinner behind us, we are reading and relaxing. Tomorrow we will take the motorcycle into town for lunch – and maybe find internet! Until then, good night.

2024-4-10 Sandia, Texas to Port Aransas, Texas

What a night! Not long after we went to bed the wind picked up and the rain came down – and down – and down! There was lots of thunder and lightening and the little RV was rocking and rolling. Fortunately, the corner that got clipped didn’t leak (it’s my side of the bed!).

We enjoyed spending most of the morning with Mark and Kim before heading off to Port Aransas. The wind continued so the drive wasn’t nearly as pleasant as it could have been.

As we got closer to Corpus Christi it and Port Aransas, we crossed several causeways with LONG bridges! We stopped at an H.E.B. grocery to get our parking pass so we could camp on the beach. It’s $12/year and you can camp three nights every 21 days. Right now, we are thinking of three nights, so that is really cheap camping!
We arrived at the ferry terminal for the last leg over to Port Aransas. Talk about being thankful for the flaggers directing traffic onto the ferry! It was a bit confusing, but we made it. Onto the ferry and a short ride across Aransas Bay and we were almost to our camping spot.

We turned onto the beach road and headed down to find our spot – of which there are several! We are parked at mile marker 18 which is a little confusing because they are every 1/10th of a mile. Once parked, we took a walk down the beach and back – about 2 miles. There are lots of folks out enjoying the day even though the wind is still blowing full force.

We decided to chill and enjoy watching the waves out our front window before dinner.

After dinner, I beat Tobey at our first game of gin – woohoo! The sun set and it was cooling off so we went out to close our outside door and saw the stars and had a great view of the moon. It was almost better than the eclipse!

Tomorrow we are meeing a mobile RV repair guy to see what we need to do – if anything – to the RV. The wind has died down a little so I hope we will have a more restful night.