Thursday, August 16, 2018

Leaving San Clemente, California

We finished  Camp Hosting at the California State Park  and sadly had to say good-bye to our newest "family". We look forward to meeting up again next year. After pulling stakes we headed east. Our destination was San Antonio, Texas. A little back story. Some may know our oldest grandchild graduated last year. This year he decided he would like to give back to this wonderful country so he joined the U.S. Navy. He graduated from boot camp in May and we were not able to attend his graduation due to our Camp Host commitment. After boot camp he was assigned 'A' school in San Antonio and is due to graduate so we want to be present for that. We are very proud of him and his choices. Since I'm a retired LEO, as is his great grandfather, he decided to follow in our footsteps and carry on the tradition through the Navy. I'll post more after graduation from A school. Meanwhile, enjoy some of these pictures of our journey east. Unfortunately we were pressed for time so we did over-nighters for four nights to get to San Antonio in time for graduation.




Our first stop, Yuma, Arizona. We had fueled before leaving Arizona. With diesel hovering around $4.15/gal. in California, we decided to wait until we left that State before refueling. Diesel in Yuma? $2.99/gal.




Once over the Colorado River, we entered Arizona. It was really HOT. 117 degrees HOT. Did I mention it was really HOT? Whew! Like the Mel Tillis song, "Send me down to Tucson" I know why "no one wants to go, down to Tucson in the summer", no one wants to go to Yuma in the summer either!



Araby Acres RV Resort. Beautiful resort with a POOL. Remember I said it was HOT? Even the pool was warm but at least it was cooler that it was outside. This is an Encore Park so we used our RPI membership to stay here. 50 amp service so we used all three air conditioners.




Willcox, Arizona was our next stop. This historic railroad town is east of Tucson and was founded in 1880. Rex Allen, singer, songwriter, actor, was born here. Many westerns, including the Texas Rangers TV show was filmed on location. If you're a train enthusiast, this is the town for you. 22 freights rumble through here every day. 










As members of the The Elks, we are able to visit any of their lodges. Many have RV spots. This particular one has a large RV campground featuring a playground, grassy sites with water and electric. They also have a dump station on site if needed.




There was only one other RV in the park when we were there. It's off the Interstate far enough, yet close enough. No freeway noise. However, remember those 22 freights? They rumble through regularly. No horns though, unless it's an emergency. The park only provides 30amp electrical service, but for a one night stay, it's adequate.



Leaving Willcox brings you to the desert plains of the Sonoran Desert. This was Apache country. Towns like Bowie and San Simon pay tribute to Cochise, leader of the  Chiricahua Apache Indians. Willcox is about 75 miles west of the New Mexico border. Lordsburg, New Mexico is the next town east of here. When crossing the Sonoran Desert, be very aware of dust storms which can appear suddenly and bring visibility to virtually zero.




After traversing New Mexico, the road drops down into the town of Las Cruces, which is known mostly for the White Sands Missile Range. Established in 1849, it is New Mexico's second largest city after Albuquerque. That is a view of the Organ Mountains in the distance. The Rio Grande river runs through the Mesilla District at the southern end of town.


We had originally planned to stay in Sonora, Texas for the night, but the campground we had chosen was not in an area we felt comfortable in. So, we continued east to Junction, Texas and stayed at a former KOA campground, now North LLano RV Park on the LLano River. Spacious accommodations and a pleasant campground. 50amp service and a very nice pool with cool water.




Finally arrived in San Antonio and put some temporary roots down in the Traveler's World RV Resort. We chose this particular park for it's closeness to Lackland Air Force base where our grandson is stationed, completing training and awaiting further orders.






The San Antonio river runs adjacent to the campground. Adventurous campers can take the river walk from the campground to downtown San Antonio. It's a fabulous paved pathway that runs alongside the river. We are a mere 5 miles south of the famous 'RiverWalk" in downtown. We did not have our bicycles, so we drove downtown. We thought about renting the electric scooters they have there but never explored it completely. We did walk 2-3 miles along the trail for our daily exercise though. Very peaceful.

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