Buescher State Park and RV Bill

It was only about 50 miles from Luling to Buescher State Park. It was a bunch of two lane roads, but of coarse in Texas all the two lane roads are 65 miles an hour!

State Park

We had wanted to meet up with Bill and Jenn because we had not seen them in over a year when they flew back to Ventura to do the ABC of RV'ing DVD's for Good Sam.

It looked like we again were going to miss them, but Bill called me up and told me to look up a product called JTB Power Solutions. He thought I might want it because I have two air conditioners in my rig. You need 50 amp power to run both and even them sometimes it doesn't work if it's week power. 

Most Thousand Trails are only 30 amp. It WILL not drive both airs. In addition you need to be careful about running the fireplace heater and the microwave and water heater and the same time, etc...

Most power poles also have a 20 amp receptacle that is on a separate circuit. You used to be able use a 30 amp and 20 amp splitter to combine the two to make 50 amps. 

By code the 20 amp now has a ground fault circuit or GFCI. That is like what you have in your bathroom or kitchen with the reset in the middle. The problem is that when you combine it with the 30 amp it immediately throws the breaker and will not work! 

Using advanced computer circuit boards JTB has figured out how to safely (It is UL approved) override this problem.

Without going more into it because Bill is writing an article for Motorhome and Trailer Life magazines he used my 5th wheel as the photo shoot review RV. That means I got a free system and free installation! Camping World sells the system on sale for $799.00. That is not including installation! 

Well that is all the excuse we needed to meet up with them! We originally were going to stay for 3 nights which was enough time for the install but after spending a day with them we extended for 3 more nights for a total of 6 nights! It was so good to see them again!

Bill , Jenn, Brie and Ginger

Here I am helping with the install.

Under the hood!

My 20 amp plug was not working. It turned out the breaker was bad so we had the ranger replace it. You can see Bill's rig next to ours. He was in 2 we were in 3.

Fixing the breaker

We had a walking path to each others rigs between the trees.

Bills Rig

The JTB works fantastic! You have to decide which circuit to put on it. Normally Bill said you would put the second air, but we decided to put both the fireplace and the second air. It would throw the breaker if you ran them both at the same time, but why would you??

If you do not plug in the 20 amp it runs like normal and bypasses that breaker. 

Running off the 30 amp and the 20 amp I was able to run both airs. Then I turned off the airs and ran the fireplace, the stand alone parabolic dish heater, the electric water heater, and the microwave! This would have been impossible with just 30 amps! 

If I have a weak 50 amps I can still plug in the 20 and make it 70 amps, or if I have a 50 and 30 amp in the box I can run 80 amp. I have even seen two 30 amps in a box and I can run both 30's. The 20 amp cord is actually a 30 amp with a 20 amp adapter so it is very versatile.

After we (I should say Bill) finished the installation we took the Gehr's out to diner. They wanted to go to Zimmerhanzel's which is a famous BBQ place in Smithville. Pretty amazing, Brisket for four, 5 sausage rings, and 1/2 rack of pork ribs for $28.00! 

Zimmerhanzels

We also went into to town looking for the "Hope Floats" house from the movie. This is the house, but we found out they added a fence for the movie.

Hope Floats House

The magnolia trees were blooming and the flowers smelled great. It is what you would expect in a Texas city that Hope Floats was filmed. What is funny is that I have never seen the film, but I looked on the Dish guide after we saw the house and that very night it was showing on a cable channel. I recorded it just to look at the  house.

Magnolia Trees in bloom

This is old town Smithville looking from the train depot.

Smithville

Well that's it for today. Next blog we will be at the Colorado River Thousand Trails near Columbus, Texas.

We love you all!!

Brian and Patty

Luling and Lockhart, Texas

I haven't posted for awhile because I haven't had WiFi except for what I could tether from my phone. You are really not supposed to do that with Straight Talk, and we have been using alot of data so I decided to wait until we got to the Colorado River Thousand Trails to use their WiFi.

We got a call from Bill Gehr (RV Bill) that he had a piece of equipment that I might be interested in for my 5th wheel. He was doing a review of it for Motorhome and Trailer Life magazines and didn't think he needed it for his rig so we decided to use my rig for the test rig. We changed our course and decided to skip Medina Lake TT near San Antonio and go straight to Luling for three days. This is near Lockhart, the BBQ capital of Texas. Smitty's Market and Kreuz Market (Pronounced Kritz) are the most famous. We beefed out for 3 days and payed for it, but it was SOOO worth it!

Here is a picture of our Passport America Campsite in Luling. It is called the River Bend RV Park.

River Bend RV

We went into Luling the first afternoon to the City Market to have our first taste of BBQ. BBQ in Texas is not the same as in California. We grill meat, they smoke meat. It is also funny that they call them markets, when all they sell is prepared food. It is not really what you would call a market.
We had the brisket, smoked sausage rings, and of course white bread! It was seriously awesome!!

Sunday we went to San Antonio which was about 60 miles away to go to church and see the sites. We went to a Vineyard church which is what Crystal went to in San Luis Obispo.

We first went to the Alamo. It was very busy because it was Presidents weekend.

Remember the Alamo!

We enjoyed taking in all the history of the Alamo. We then walked to the River Walk. This is a canal built with locks and all with businesses and restaurants for miles in the city.

River Walk

For $8.25 a person you can get on one of these boats. They take you on about an hour ride through the "horseshoe" and tell you about the history of the buildings around the canals.

River Boats

We were originally going to walk around the river, but there were soooooooo many people because of the holiday it was really hard to get anywhere. It was much easier to just get on the boat and have the pilot tell you about everything.

River Boat Ride

There were some very cool buildings around the river. Everything from Gothic with gargoyles to European style.

Cool Architecture

We headed back and went through Lockhart. We hadn't been into Lockhart yet and there were 4 BBQ places we had to try and we were leaving Tuesday!!

Lockhart

The only BBQ place that was still open at 6:00pm on Sunday was Blacks BBQ. It was good, better then anything we have had in California, but the least favorite of the places we ate at in the area.

Monday we had to have a strategy because we had three places left. Smittys, Kreuz, and a place that all the locals told us we needed to try called Chisholm Trail.

We decided not to have any breakfast and go to Smittys at about 11:00. We shared 1/2 lb. of Brisket and one sausage ring.

Smitty's Market

They all have huge wood piles, this one is Smitty's but they are all about the same!

 

Wood Pile

We then went to Walmart and did some shopping. At about 1:30 we went to Kreuz and got another 1/2 lb of Brisket and one sausage ring and shared. 

Kreuz Market

On the way out of town we stopped by Chisholm and bought some to take home for later. We also bought some potato salad because I read it was the best around.

Now for our ratings....

1. Smitty's Market - Best Brisket - Best Sausage

2. City Market (In Luling) 

3. Chisholm Trail - Good Smoke, Potato salad was like Cynthia's! Best value (Brisket $7.25 per lb.)

4. Kreuz Market - Brisket was a little fatty but the fat rendered in so it was OK

5. Blacks BBQ - Brisket fat did not render in, so you had to cut it off. Meat still tasted good

Whew!! We made it! 

We are meeting up with Bill and Jenn at Beuscher State Park right next to Smithville, Tx. Smithville is where the movie Hope Floats was filmed. We had planned to stay for 3 nights, but more on that in the next blog.

Love you,

Brian and Patty

Las Cruces, Nm

It was cold last night! It got down to 22 degrees! We had a light dusting of snow which for us SoCal natives is really cool!

Snow starting to fall.

The campground in St. David has it's own artesian well and we were even invited to dump our fresh water tank and refill it here. The water is so soft we did not use our water softener. It tastes like RO water. Although it is usually a good idea to unhook the water hose during cold weather like this so it does not burst, a Canadian neighbor of ours said to just leave a stream of water running all night in a faucet. Because they have their own well we didn't feel bad about doing this. It has been working.

However because we were leaving in the morning and the hose would have been frozen and impossible to coil up, we put it away and ran off our water pump last night.

We woke up with the scooter looking like this.

Snow on the scooter

As I said it was just a light dusting of snow. We headed out at about 8:30 on our way for a couple nights stay in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

This picture is of Interstate 10. The road was dry but the scenery was beautiful!

Interstate 10

It was so unusual to see cactus with snow on them!

Snowy Cactus

At about 9:30 it was still 30 degrees according to the truck thermometer.

30 degrees

We got to our campsite at about 2:00. It is at a motel that also has about 30 full service RV sites. It is called Coachlight Motel and RV park. It is a Passport America park so it is also very reasonable.

Coachlight RV Park

Wednesday morning Las Cruces has a farmers market so we are going to go to that. After the farmers market we will go to the Old Mesilla area. We were told by my friend Larry in Quartszite we should check it out.

That's it for now,

Love you,

Brian and Patty

Kartchner Caverns and Fort Huachuca

Wednesday we had booked a tour through the 'Big Room' tour of Kartcner Caverns. There are two tours available, the Big Room and the Throne/Rotunda Rooms. We chose, the Big Room because it is only open about 6 months a year because of bat migration. We thought we would do the most rare tour.

Kartchner Caverns

The cavern was not discovered until 1974 by a couple college students. They did not want it destroyed by graffiti and people stealing pieces of the cave so they told nobody of it for over 4 years. To make the story short, finally the owners of the property, the college kids and the state made a secret deal to make this a state park. It is a living cave meaning that it is still growing. The stalagmites and stalactites and all are still dripping water, so they really want to protect it. It is a humid 92 degrees all the time in the cave. You have to go through 4 or 5 metal vault type doors to enter, and even get a light misting to knock off any dust you may have on you.

 You can not take anything in except your clothing. No cameras or backpacks or purses or anything, so the only pictures you can have is the ones you can find on the internet. That is why I will have limited pictures, because they are not mine!

Big Room

This is an amazing cave! We were so impressed that although it is a little pricey to go, we have now booked the second tour for the Throne rooom/Rotunda tour for Friday. We figure how often are we going to be here? It is truly a magnificent cave and well worth seeing!

After we finished the cave we had a picnic lunch we brought and then we decided to go the Fort Huachuca. This is an active Army base just south of the caverns. 

After checking in at the main gate we drove to the base cemetery. There are people buried here from the civil war. We also found gravesites for Indian Scouts that the Army used. Very interesting!

Fort Huachuca Cemetary

On of the features that Patty's new camera has is to take Panoramic pictures. You put in in the pano mode and just hold down the shutter and move from left to right. Patty had never tried it so I thought the cemetery was a great place to try. Here is our first panoramic picture. It actually came out very good.

Panoramic Cemetery pic

After the cemetery we went to the museums. 

Historical Museum

They had a lot of info about the Buffalo soldiers which was a black brigade based out of here. It is amazing patriotic these soldiers were considering how this country treated them! God Bless them!!

Buffalo Soldier

There was also information about Geronimo and our relationship with Pancho VIlla. It is something how we keep repeating the same errors over and over!

Museum

Across the street there is the Annex. 

Museum Annex

This was just a continuation of the museum.

Annex

afterwards we went to the Military Intelligence museum. They had a drone from the 1960's. I didn't even know we had drones back then! We then went to the MI Library and the base historian told us that at 4:30 they would be doing the "Retreat". 4:30 was getting close. Retreat is bringing the flag down with revelry playing and they even fire a cannon!

Getting ready to lower the flag!

Readying the cannon to fire!

Firing the cannon

Saluting the flag. This was quite a moving moment and they do this every day. Patty and I were the only ones watching, but WOW!

Ole Glory

They marched the flag out in unison, but see how the front guy is looking back? He was kind of high stepping. It was really cool.

Marching the flag down the steps

They folded the flag and then one of the female soldiers carried it against her heart to put it away!

Folding the flag

After the flag ceremony we went to the overlook. This is an area that was used in the old days to look out over the whole valley all the way to Mexico for any charging army's. You can see almost all directions from up here.

Overlook

We had seen a blimp in the sky. Asking around we got several answers as to what it is. 

1. It is fitted with cameras and is used as a training tool on the base.

2. It is used for border security.

Military blimp 'drone'

Either way it has been hovering in the air since we have been here, and we have been able to see it for a good 30 miles! 

Well that's it for today. We may be making some changes in plans to meet up with Bill and Jenn Gehr in Texas. It won't effect when we get back to Ventura, just where we go in Texas.

More on that later!!

Love you all,

Brian and Patty

Saint David, Az and Bisbee

We arrived in Saint David at the Saint David RV Resort on Monday. This is Western Horizon Resort. We get in here on our RPI membership so it is only $10.00 per night! Here is a picture of our campsite at dusk.

Site number 133

We are on an end site and also on a bluff so we have nobody out our door or our back window. The campground has a heated swimming pool and a hot tub that we have already used. The WiFi is somewhat inconsistent but when working right is fast at about 30mb. You can only access it at the clubhouse.

On Tuesday we decided to go to the town of Bisbee.

City of Bisbee

It is a small town about 40 miles south of us. They are known for their copper mines, both open pit mines and also cave mines.

They have a mine tour that you can take called the Queen Mine Tour.

Bisbee Queen Mine

The mine is a constant 47 degrees cold!

Cool?? Nooooo! Cold!

They dress you up in a hard hat, rain slicker and belt with battery pack with flashlight jut to make you look goofy! Good thing that Patty and I fit the bill without the silly clothes!

Miner Patty

Minor Brian

They take you about 1500 feet into the mine on a mine cart. This is the entrance to the mine. As you can see from the photo the mine was opened in 1915. You straddle the seat to ride into the mine. The cart rides in on the mine rail tracks.

Queen Mine entrance

If you wanted to know why we decided to go on this crazy full time adventure, I think this picture explains it all! :)

Getting ready to enter the mine

Here we are entering the darkness!

Queen Mine

We were able to go up these stairs to another level of the mine. I believe it was only about 35-40 steps.

Mine level

This guy just couldn't wait to get back out of the mine to take care of business! These 'Porta Potty's' had wheels and were on the rails. Not much privacy, and they were two 'holers'. But hey, back in those days, there were no women working down in the mines. Somehow when I saw these, I thought about Matt! (Love you son!)

Porta Potty

Had to keep Patty away from the dynamite! Good thing she didn't have any matches!

Dyn-O-Mite!

On our way out we got a picture of Bisbee from the hill!

Bisbee

That's it for Tuesday,

Love you all!

Brian and Patty