let's go to Luckenbach Texas....

Here we are in New Braunfels Texas - but first! let me just say that we went through Luckenback Texas! No big deal you say - I even had to explain - and sing - the song to Derek - and he likes country music! "Let's go to Luckenbach Texas..." is a line in the song by Waylon and Willie - click to listen - loveeeeee it!

Along the many roads we travel I try to make it a point - if we can - to go through the town/cities made famous by songs. To date I have been disappointed - Winslow Arizona (Eagles) was a scary place and El Paso (Marty Robbins) is just a HUGE city. We still have Galveston on our itinerary for this trip - but at least I can now tick off Luckenbach. Hard to be disappointed with this place since there really isn't anything there. But Sunday night on our way from Fredricksburg to New Braunfels we drove through just so I could at least take a picture. It wasn't ideal since the sun was setting but I did get this picture of the old post office - not a post office anymore - now it is the general store that sells all sorts of souvenirs. We saw a large grass parking lot on our way in and so I asked if we could park there for the night. It is $15 to dry camp so we moved on - but glad to have seen it - not much there - a large area with seating - seems that they have music events going on most days/evenings.

The Luckenbach General Store

We carried on along a back country road which wasn't the best idea since it was getting dark. Blanco was the best we could do - so we pulled up to the parking in the deserted downtown square and spent the night.

Monday morning we were up early and after a quick walk through Blanco's park we headed down the 281 to catch the 46 over to New Braunfels. A beautiful drive through rolling hills and lots of trees.

Once in New Braunfels we headed to our destination the Berean Bible Church. We have been reading and listening to and are fb friends with Pastor Jerry Lockhart and so decided that we should stop in as we travel through Texas. At home we don't have a Rightly Dividing the Word Church to go to and so thought it would be nice to meet some of our brethern. We are now parked in behind with a very beautiful and restful garden to enjoy.

While here - in addition to the fellowship, sermons and bible studies - we would also like to see a bit of New Braunfels which is just over 30 miles north east of San Antonio. There is the Gruene Historic District, downtown New Braunfels and Landa Park - where they have a miniature train we would like to take Cassia on. We are big train buffs and would love to take a trip on the real thing but the mini kind will have to do for now. Ideally we would like to visit downtown San Antonio and the River Walk while we are here. We were hoping that they had a bus for us to take since we would rather not take on the interstate and traffic - sadly that is not an option - so for the second time I think we may miss San Antonio.

This morning we awoke to a thunderstorm. It rained for the next few hours so we decided to stay around the Church for the day. Once the rain slowed down we were able to get out of our trailer that gets really small with a 2 1/2 year old for any length of time. It wasn't long before Cassia found a huge puddle to run around in. While Derek had a conversation with Jerry, Cassia and I spent some time in the Church's toddler room which of course was the next thing to heaven for Cassia.

Yes, she got very wet - but that doesn't matter - does it! She had fun!

The weather is supposed to be pretty nice for the rest of the week so we are going to get out and do some exploring plus get some laundry done.

Pictures of New Braunfels Texas coming soon!

Today's Interesting Link: For something different - in addition to following other road warrior blogs I also enjoy following world traveler blogs. I have several listed on my blogroll on the right - why not visit Bacon is Magic. A strange name I will admit but I have been enjoying traveling along with Ayngelina - a single Canadian who started out traveling to Central and South America but has since headed further afield.

Texas Hill Country

We have been away from our blog for a few days. We arrived in Brady Texas on Friday just after lunch - it was a short drive from our rest area overnight on Thursday. We made our way south through San Angelo and then headed east to Brady. We came to Brady because I read that this town had Richards Park - with a campground - with hook ups and showers for $10 a night.

Richards Park did not disappoint! We enjoyed two nights there with everything but wifi. That was ok - because there were two playgrounds where Cassia kept us very busy. On Saturday morning we walked up to the playground furthest from our campsite and were happy to meet several Brady bunch families there. Of course we had Roofous with us and he is always a draw. Cassia had a nine year old babysitter - Hannah - who enjoyed playing with Cassia on the rides. Also nice for Cassia to be around other kids.

A really big slide - you can see our trailer in the background.

Cassia is pretty good at convincing her parents to come down the slides as well.

We laugh at this one - Derek's younger more agile days have obviously come to a screeching halt!

Our first Armadillo sighting.

Went for a walk this morning - there should be water in there - It has only rained in Brady

 twice in the last year.

This morning we had only a short drive through some very beautiful hill country to Fredricksburg. Along the way we drove through Mason - we didn't stop since it was Sunday morning and it didn't seem like much was open, but we were struck by the cleanliness and quaint downtown.

We parked for the day along Main Street Fredricksburg and have enjoyed walking the historic district for the day. We happily stumbled upon Hondo's and decided to stop for lunch and a live band, with Gospel Music. The food and band were great! We then set out to for the four block walk to the Visitor's Center finding a park along with way - a beautiful downtown park, really clean.

A German Christmas Pyramid.

A view of the park - lots of flowers still in bloom, we could see ourselves living here in hill country.

We just stopped here for the day but it seems that this town has a lot to offer - we are headed over to New Braunfels now to the Berean Bible Church where we are going to spend some time with some Mid Acts Brethren and Pastor Jerry Lockhart.

Texas 87

What a pleasant surprise we got today! First, we said goodbye to Coleman Park this morning promptly at 11:00 and after a stop at the sani we were on our way. Thanks for the free campground Brownfield! On our way south - to Lamesa and then on to Big Spring. Big Spring has a Walmart Supercenter so that was our destination to stock up - we were out of almost everything!

The plan was to sleep at Walmart tonight but since we arrived at 1:00 it was pretty early. By the time we shopped and had lunch it was just after 3:00 so we decided to continue on.

The new plan was to push all the way to Brady - thinking that it would be better to go through San Angelo during the early evening and thus missing rush hour.

Throw that plan out the window - as we were getting closer to San Angelo we saw a sign for a rest area (nothing new of course) but wait - look - a sign for wifi and it sure looks like a nice rest area - let's go take a look.

Our home for the night.

We see A LOT of stars in Texas.

Well, we pulled in and thought - lets stay here! A very nice and CLEAN rest area - and wifi!

Thanks Texas  Department of Transportation!

Front of the Restroom & Information Building - love the golden stone they used.

The first thing we did was go for a walk around.

Today's Interesting Link: I would be remiss if I didn't pass on TexTreks - the provider of our internet at the rest area. Check out the site for lots of great info on Texas - boy do we LOVE Texas - really!

Crunching the numbers - expenses so far

Eight days - it has taken me 8 days to get around to calculating our October expenses. Something about a whole stack of receipts kept me away. I mean we usually have less then 10 receipts in a month - so more then I can hold in my hand seemed very daunting.

But it had to be done and today was the day - it is our last day here in Brownfield - it has been 4 days of R & R in very nice warm temperatures. Today, however, is cool and windy - an indoor day.

To get myself in the mood I first set up to calculate the miles. We track ALL of our spending! I have a coil notebook that is never far from me - in it I write down everything from our fuel stops to notes on places to stay etc. Since leaving home I have kept a detailed list of the miles and fuel.

From our home in BC to Brownfield Texas we have traveled 3, 874 km or 2,407 miles. We have used up almost exactly 200 gallons of gas and have paid $712.00 to get here. What that means is that we spend approximately 30 cents to go 1 mile - we get 12 miles to the gallon. The numbers are ok - we can live with those - they are even a bit better then we thought - we were thinking that we were getting 10 miles to the gallon.

That done I moved on. Next to figure out how many miles we will do this trip and what it will cost. This is very important for us because as mentioned earlier we don't use credit. The money we have is the money we have - we can't go too far without making sure we can get back again. So - we have come 2407 miles. The only way I can determine the rest is using our maps and road atlas. Based on that I am predicting that we will do approximately twice what we have already done - so we need $1,400 more for fuel. This will take us to Mississippi and back and down into Mexico and back and then the trip home via Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Since in my mind I budgeted $3,000 for fuel we should be ok. Whew!

So, now to our October expenses. The grand total for the month was a HUGE $3,600.00 - OUCH! For us - living on around $20,000 a year this is a big number for one month! It almost makes us weak in the knees. Thankfully this is the only month in the year like this. Other then our normal expenses like food, gas, alcohol, and cigs we needed to pay for the following: medial insurance (6 months) $748.06, passports (incl. photos) $336.37, and for our truck to be fixed $700.00. October's total also included getting from there to here - so it includes the $712.00 on gas.

Other blogs post their expenses and we are going to do the same. It is good for all of us to see what things cost these days. We must now - for the next 6 months - stick very close to our absolute maximum budget for the month which is $1,000.00. I know that seems like a lot - but trust me - whether in Canada or the USA - money just doesn't go so far these days. That being said - as long as we choose our groceries carefully, don't pay for overnights, and only buy what we need, we should be ok.

I have noticed that groceries are a bit higher in the USA then last year. Although I can't quite say at the moment because we haven't really shopped in Utah and New Mexico before, plus we haven't shopped in Texas yet. In 2008 we found Texas to be much cheaper then say Arizona and California. Maybe down the road I will do some grocery cost comparisons.

Running like the Wind!

Anyway, after a busy morning of number crunching Cassia and I took to the wind and went for a walk. As we were getting Cassia dressed Derek was asking her if she can run as fast at the wind which she assured us she could. Funny to see - as she hit the ground from the trailer off she went with arms held high - flying as fast as the wind! cost? PRICELESS!

Playing ball with Roofous!

Today's Interesting Link: Since we are talking about spending and the need to be frugal - here is a link for our Canadian visitors - Simply Frugal - Helping you Save Money in Canada - they have a website and a facebook page. Lots of coupons, deals and tips on saving money.

Simply free

Well our blog on traveling and living simple (read frugal) just wouldn't be complete with 'a life made simple's' weigh in on 'free camping' AKA boondocking, stealth camping, dry camping, independent parking and on. There are rules attached that we travelers all learn (well most of us) in order to preserve this mode of travel. We make use of these overnight stops as much as possible - actually last year on our 2010 tour we only stayed in 1 State Park for 1 night - the rest was on dispersed or BLM land - not totally free since we paid the $180 - but over the 4 1/2 months - pretty close to free.

In order to stay on budget we will need to be creative and resourceful on this trip. Texas and states east are not known for boondocking as are Arizona and California. As mentioned on the last post we make use of the internet for our research - both freecampgrounds.com and freecampsites.net are great sites - there are others plus we visit other travelers blogs for overnight stop ideas. A lot of RVers boondock and a lot talk about it on their blogs - thankfully! Here is one of the best descriptions of boondocking I have read.

Coleman Park, here in Brownfield TX, is one of the best we have found - water and electric hookups, sani dump and free wifi - plus a nice big park to walk around - this is free camping at it's finest. I am now working hard to find more city parks around Texas and further for us to stop in. The next one on the list is only 40 miles down the road in Lamesa - as long as the warm weather holds we will take our time moving across Texas and making use of these free or near free city parks.

We do make use of Walmarts, rest areas, roadside pullouts, and travel centers - as long as they look safe and are not too busy we will stay. We have used a few Casino's in the past but not our first choice. Baker City Oregon was also one of the better overnight stops this trip also - it was a truck stop but with the visitor's center and hotels across the street with pretty tree lights it made for a nice stop.

Tonight I was excited to find Magnolia Beach - a free place to camp just south of Port Lavaca - we will probably head there once we have visited the Hill Country on our way east along the Gulf Coast. Operation Explorations reviewed this beach here - and Kevin and Ruth described the beach here - actually Kevin and Ruth have become my inspiration for finding free overnight places - they seem to have it fine tuned!

I can't wait to have our toes in the sand at Magnolia Beach and the Gulf Coast on from there - it will be a first for Cassia - we sure hope the weather holds.

Roswell to Brownfield, Texas

We arrived in Brownfield Texas yesterday afternoon just after lunch. We didn't have far to go from Roswell - around 130 miles straight east through the plains. It was a fairly quick ride of about 2 1/2 hours - it was a bit windy with a storm brewing to the west. The landscape was very prairie like - flat. As we traveled closer to Brownfield we understood why the name for the town - lots of red/brown soil to the east - a cotton growing area. Brownfield is about 30 miles in from the state line - HELLO TEXAS!

Today we are enjoying Coleman County Park on the south side of Brownfield. I found this campsite when I checked our handy Texas tourist book - a free campground! I then confirmed it online at FreeCampgrounds.com - a free campground with water, electric, sani and wifi. Freecampgrounds is a great resource for places to park $10 and less. I am always checking it to find places to stop -- after all we don't like paying to camp - well I should say we would be all for it if it fit in the budget - but paying to camp every night is beyond us.

Coleman Park is full of Pecan Trees!

There are 12 sites here - the van in front of us is from Ontario.

We are now parked here and enjoying a bit of luxury - 24 hr wifi and all the electricity we need. This gives us a chance to catch up on things and watch some movies. When we left Nampa our friend K. sent us off with a whole bag of DVDs.

Cassia finally got a chance to take her baby for a ride this morning.

It is a beautiful warm day here today - we can stay here for up to 5 days. After that we will continue our trip south - the Hill Country is our next destination.

Roswell, New Mexico

Well, we had a very busy day here in Roswell. Once we finished stocking up at Walmart we headed over to the gas station - there seems to be a price war going on - we paid $2.929/gallon - the cheapest so far - not sure of the exact conversion but must be around 80 cents a litre!

Our first stop was the Roswell Visitor Center towards downtown. Two nice ladies assisted us with where to find the UFO Museum and other attractions. After taking our picture with their resident alien they pointed us in the direction of the arts center and museum.

Roswell Visitor's Center

The RMAC - Roswell Museum and Art Center is right beside the Visitor's Center - and admission is free. We enjoyed looking around at the artwook, Robert Goddard exhibit, Western and Native artifacts and my favourite the Natural Beauty exhibit.

The largest piece of the Natural Beauty exhibit.

Next, we traveled to downtown Roswell for the UFO Museum and Research Center. This I guess you can say is what we came here for.....isn't it what everyone comes to Roswell for!!?? A very interesting place and a lot of information - lots to read. Cassia and I ended up doing laps while Derek studied the material - not exactly interesting for a 2 1/2 yr old. I can't say it was what I was expecting - not real flashy - but lots of info. You can see a lot more pictures then we took at a fellow Canadians blog from when they were here last summer - Operation Explorations.

Derek fits right in - doesn't he - ha ha!

We finished off our day with a trip to the Spring River Zoo & Park - as suggested to us by the ladies at the VC. This is a free park with animals and small pond with ducks and a playground. We have to admit that it was a pretty sad place. I am sure the animals are well fed etc. but their accommodations are very minimal. The black bear and cougar beside him have fairly small pens with just fake rock - not a blade of grass, shrub or tree in sight. We watched as the cougar just paced back and forth.

 The zoo was a very lack luster place in desperate need of funding - I wish they would charge a fee in order to make improvements. The animals here today combined with yesterday's visit to Smokey Bear's grave have left us with a real sad feeling for animals in our world. "For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now." Romans 8:22.

We are spending our second night in Roswell once again at the Walmart/Sam's Club amongst a new group of Snowbirds. Tomorrow we head to Texas! yaaa - we had such a good time in Texas on our 2008 tour we are really looking forward to it. 

Night ya'll!

Today's Interesting Link: Well since we are in Roswell I will post the UFO Museum and Research Center's link here.