New Mexico and Texas
After deciding to drive from Denver to Albuquerque, we hit the road right away the next day. The roads seem endlessly long and on this route you will occasionally encounter a town/village. Halfway through, we stop at Gears RV park: a campsite in the middle of nowhere! There are no sanitary facilities, but there is a restaurant and otherwise it is amazingly full at this remote campground.
En route to Albuquerque
We have written in previous blogs that we met very nice people. Canadians and Americans are so tremendously friendly and welcoming! It is always fun to chat with everyone we meet........
As Robert -at Gears RV park- prepares the RV for departure, in no time he finds himself chatting with a neighbor: a single former professional soldier traveling with her pet. Moments later, another neighbor - Dru - joins him. She tells us that she looked up our website (the name is on our camper) and that she likes our camper so much. She also inquires about our travel plans. Robert tells her that we are going to the hot air balloon festival and that we have yet to see where we will spend the night.
After talking with her for five minutes, Dru offers us to come stay with her mother. She is traveling with her wife and pets in a beautiful RV and is on her way to visit her mother. Phone numbers are exchanged and so suddenly we are on our way to see Dru's mother.
Ingeborg, Dru's 91-year-old - from Germany - mother welcomes us so kindly. She lives in a beautiful house overlooking the hot air balloons. She enjoys being able to speak German with us. What a sweet woman! Talking to Dru is also inspiring. This self-made jack-of-all-trades is a successful organizer of mega events and real estate agent.
Balloon fiesta
In the neighborhood where Ingeborg lives, you have the best view of the hot air balloons taking off. It is beautiful to see. Later during our trip, we talk to two couples who were camping at the festival site. That sounds like a lot of fun too! Who knows, maybe we will do that someday. For now, we choose to drive to Galveston, Texas.
State parks and Boondockers Welcome
We drive at a leisurely pace toward Galveston and spend the night at various state parks and boondocks in New Mexico and Texas. At Elephant Butte State park Ingrid is taking a shower when a lady reports that there is a rattlesnake at the door. No idea if there is a crack under the door.....it is already dark and with trembling knees she goes outside. Luckily nothing to see! It is a beautiful campsite by the water, we find out later that the little island in this water is called Rattle snake island.....
In this park we meet Angela & Lenny whom we also met at Peggy Sue's dinner. How likely is that in such a big country?
Boondockers hosts Rick & Bonnie offer us power, water, and dump water. Very sweet, but we are completely self-sufficient. After having a drink together the next morning, we leave with a bag full of travel brochures, books, and tips.
The Boondockers host in Sweeny is not home when we arrive. We are allowed to choose a spot in the yard. When we are introduced later, we are treated to a box of organic eggs from the store of a friend of the host.
At Guadalupe river state park suddenly an armadillo walks past the camper, what a special animal that is!
Galveston
We feel like being in one place for an extended period of time, with preferences:
- At the beach
- Sunny weather
In fact, we have some minor repairs to make to the RV and want to order parts. Galveston seems like the nicest place for us to stay.
Located on the Gulf of Mexico, Galveston is a peninsula below Houston. The houses on the coast are on stilts, and for good reason. During storm season, they would otherwise be flooded. The first weekend of our stay the Lone star rally place. This is an event that attracts 400,000 people from all over America and has about 150,000 motorcycles on display.
It is a big celebration of motorcycle noise, bands performing, fun food trucks, restaurants and all kinds of market stalls. On the Strand, the most famous street in downtown, bikers parade past all the onlookers.
Campings Galveston
There are lots of campgrounds in Galveston. During the Lone Star festival, you pay about $200 a night at many campgrounds! We have already booked a campground for a month, but not for the weekend of the festival. Lots of campgrounds are full, but again we are lucky. The government campground Dellanera RV park, right by the sea, still has room. Most campers book this spot a year in advance, but there was a cancellation! The campground is run by very nice people, there are clean facilities and, of course, the place is in a prime location. We paid ? 86.40 per night during this party weekend.
Camping Stella Mare- Galveston
If you ship an RV to North America, you obviously want to experience as much as possible. Spending a month and a half in a campground will not be in the "planning" of many travelers. We really experienced it as wonderful. We had some chores to do on the motorhome and after driving 22,000 km we found it really nice to enjoy the sun and the beach.
Camping Stella Mare is mega large. At first that is not our preference. This campsite is so neat.....you can eat "off the floor" so to speak. Every week the grass is mowed, your trash is picked up at your camper, a few times a day the plumbing is checked and also the pool is a must with over 35 degrees. The campground is across from Dellanera RV park and thus by the sea.
The spots are so big! It is just laughable to see our camper, with 7.5 meters in length in a spot of over 25 meters! Most of the guests are winter visitors and they have a touring car with an extra car or a fifth wheel/caravan.
What we love most of all are the people who stay there and also who work there. Our closest neighbors Steve, Janet and dog Molly, our opposite neighbors Roy & Delia and Ken & Mary are all so sweet and cozy and have spoiled us with delicious food. With our back neighbors JD & Tabby we spent over 3 hours chatting in the pool until our skin was all wrinkled.
The German Gerhard & Liane also shipped their camper. We also had a nice coffee with them and exchanged tips. Very nice! Keith & Christine, a retired couple from Melbourne, bought an old camper in America and travel, as much as the visa allows, to beautiful places and also have nice stories.
To the Netherlands
It is a lot of fun to travel through Canada and America, but our visa expires soon and we also feel like seeing our family again. The camper goes into a covered enclosed storage in Houston and we fly back to the Netherlands.
Continued
We are flying back to America. Our daughter-in-law Sanne and son Mike have agreed to travel with us for five weeks. They have already mapped out the route, but we don't know yet where we will go when we return. We are not in the mood for snow and sub-zero temperatures.
As much as we loved it in Galveston, we have no desire to spend another month somewhere. It is a huge country and are still so many gems to discover.
We are going to enjoy our family first and then, as always, the ideas will pop up naturally.
Travel across Canada and America with your own motorhome?
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