Views from El Malpais, New Mexico

Random overlook on the way to El Malpais

View from the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook in El Malpais

The main attraction in El Malpais National Monument, the Arch.

Ancient Lava flows

View of our campsite from one of my hikes

A little cactus man I stumbled across, about 8 inches tall

A view from above of the 10 camping site camp we stayed in for a long time, different spot than the picture above.

Another view of the Lava Flows from the Sandstone Bluffs Overlook

Sandstone Bluffs Overlook again

Catching Up after a Blogging Hiatus

After our trip to Padre in December, we decided to make another attempt at it this April. Again we had the beach all to ourselves, though the sand was littered with a lot of branches and refuse that had washed down from the Brazos and into the Gulf.

It amazes me how empty the beaches there are and how peaceful it is. At least until the mornings, when everything is literally dripping wet from the humidity. We managed I believe 3 nights there on the beach before a major storm woke us up early in the morning with some 40-50mph gusts that were blowing over the pet fence. So I ran out there in shorts and t-shirt trying to wrangle all the gear back onto the truck, before the combination of wind, hail, cold and rain forced me back inside to put on some jeans and my fleece jacket to continue the fight. After about 2 hours of fighting the weather I had everything loaded back onto the Beast (normally takes me about 30 minutes tops in good weather.) Of course about 10 minutes later the whole storm vanished, and it was sunny and peaceful again. By that time we were already driving off the beach and I was ready to keep on going. After a quick stop to the Padre National Seashore Visitor center parking lot to figure out a new destination, and to take a hot shower and put on some dry clothes we decided to make the journey to Big Bend National Park. Even after a very sleepless night, I managed to put about 450 miles of the 600 mile trip behind me, stopping near Ft. Stockton for the night, assuming we only had about 120 miles to go in the morning.

Anyone who has been there knows that I was a dummy for assuming that the GPS destination was our final destination. After arriving at the Park, it was another 2.5 hours of navigating the mountain roads and various Visitor Centers along the way to find a campground. We also had about a 30 minute stop along the way after we saw a Prius about 6 inches from about a 200 foot cliff. I offered my very amateur assistance to use my winch to yank the unfortunate lady's car back onto the road, but she opted to wait for a tow truck. Probably the wise decision. No pictures were taken of the lady's misfortune. Found it odd that with about 6 other 4x4 trucks that had stopped, including the park ranger, that I was the only one with a winch on my RV.

We spent about 4 nights there, and didn't see much until the day we left, when we hit a few trails, taking turns in the vehicle. Though the park allows pets, there are strict rules about them. Cannot take them on trails, cannot leave them unattended, and basically can't do anything except sit in the camp with them. Course this all became apparent after making the 700ish mile journey. So let that be a warning to all pet owners.
We did have nice views from the campsite though:

And had a visit from a herd of Javolina and a pair of Great Horned Owls to keep us entertained.

On the way out of the camp we stopped into the Santa Elena Canyon. Interesting enough, I didn't see anyone crossing the border from Mexico here. (Mexico is on the left of the Rio Grande)

We then started the long journey back toward Snook with a one night and day stay at the Caverns of Sonora. My photos cannot do it justice, but I guarantee that it's worth the stop. Also the gift shop wasn't overpriced like most are, very reasonable prices and lots of neat stuff. I believe it is about 200 miles west of San Antonio.

After another full day of travel we arrived in Snook Texas to spend some time with family and recover from our travels. Then back onward to Plano, after what was a 10 or 11 day 2000 mile trip around Texas, where we stayed for a couple weeks to take care of a few things and spend Mother's day with the family. That catches us up to mid May... to be continued.

North Padre Island in Pictures

So this is my addition to the pictures galore of the North Padre Island, beautiful and peaceful location at least in December. I loved every day of it, even the one day the cold front blew in and scared us off from the waterfront. With no further words, here is my favorite boondocking so far ;) North Padre Island National Seashore.

Life's a Beach, Padre.

A few additions to the Beast..

Most importantly of all: I finally have an inverter installed. This baby came straight from the hard working folks in China, unfortunately all American versions were well outta my price range. For the low price of $299.00 and free shipping, we now have power in the RV for all of our 120 V appliances and powered by our battery bank that powers the a/c.

2500 Pure Sine wave inverter, just roughed in and testing.

To connect this inverter directly into my power, I had to fashion what is called a murder cable, basically an extension cord with 2 Male plugs on it, so you just plug it directly into a power outlet. This in turn powers all of the outlets and appliances on the same pole in the circuit box. We are setup with 2 poles, so I created 2 cords that plug into 2 different outlets, and hence power my entire RV.  I tested it and it handles the load of the Washer/Dryer, Microwave, the wife's hairdryer(which takes more power than anything else), and the all important Keurig.

Murder Cables fashioned by me

Also, the way my RV is wired, the 12 V charger plugs into one of the 120 volt outlets, so when I have my inverter powered on I am also providing power for all of the 12V circuits in the rig as well (this is all of the lights, pumps, stairs, and a few other things I'm surely forgetting.)

So, the inverter was really the last piece we needed in order to Boondock and be off the grid completely. I no longer need a power cord when visiting my cousins house to prevent my 12 V batteries from draining. The Solar now keeps everything charged either directly to my 48 V bank of batteries or indirectly thru the inverter, to the charger to my 12v systems.

Okay..If you are still awake after the boring electric stuff, onward to our first Boondock trip: Padre National Seashore!

It's about a 450 mile drive directly from Plano Texas to Padre, but we broke it up into 2 days and stopped at my favorite halfway point, Snook Texas. From there we finished off the remaining 250 miles the next day to Padre. At the entrance gate I went ahead and purchased my Annual National Parks Pass for 80 dollars, which will let me into all the National Parks in the country for a year for "Free". After that I pulled into the visitor center to see what the 'grocery' section had as far as necessities, picked up a couple 6 packs of Coors Light and drove to South Beach. We drove down about 5 miles, passing just a few campers and continued maybe a quarter of a mile past the sign that warns only 4x4 vehicles recommended.

This is our site, no one within miles of us either way.

View to the left

View to the right

Our camp and fence setup

View from the front door

From the dunes(Only point to get a bar or 2 of EDGE network)

Sunrise the 2nd Day

The Neighborhood watch

The 2nd night a cold front blew in FAST, and we relocated off of our beach as the Tide was coming up fast.

After a little scouting the next day I found the RV/Campgrounds. It was still primitive, just gravel parking lots with a bench, but it had grass and some protection from the winds that came constantly off the coast. Plus we enjoyed meeting many of the full timers that were enjoying the Beach. The beach was maybe 100 Yards directly in front of us, easy to access via the handicap access pier/boardwalk thing. For 8 bucks a night, it was worth the piece of mind of not waking up buried under sand. Plus some grass for the dogs to utilize(though it had a million burrs).

Our new site

The experienced folks did start getting me pretty scared by the 4th day, as we had not prepped the Beast for the hardships a beach can do to a rig. Specifically they recommended an uncoat sprayed on before coming to help stop some of the rust. Having never lived in the north where they salt the roads, this was new to me and had me a bit worried. My new grill after 1 day the screws were already rusted, who knows what was going on under my rig.

Enough for now, on that note I'll give you guys the birds. Please keep in mind with the sun out in full force I could no see any of these pictures on my phone as I took them, I just pointed and shot blindly.