Johns Trippin'

Van Horn RV Park was a former KOA that got run down, so they were basically kicked out of being a KOA. It was a stop in between Big Bend NP and White Sands NP. Because it was an in between stop, we were just going to stay there one night. But then mom found out that they were doing a free Thanksgiving dinner there so we decided to stay a week instead.  I like to report gas prices on GasBuddy and there were both Pilot and Loves highway gas station signs that I could see from the campground. Every day I would go outside and use my spyglass to see the prices and report them.  Thanksgiving dinner at the café there was awesome because it was free (although mom gave a tip later) and there was no cleanup afterwards (for us). And there was ham, turkey, and brisket! We didn't have a National Park to go to on Saturday so we got a free day! I used that time very wisely and took a nap.

On the way to BJ's, we stopped at the El Capitan overlook in Guadalupe Mts. NP . BJ's was a dump. The only thing nice about it was the small library right by our site. Mom, dad, and I went to see the Terlingua Ghost Town, an abandoned mine town. The next night we had a campfire with spaghetti and s'mores.  We went to Big Bend NP  through the West Entrance. The first thing we did was turn down Old Maverick Rd, a 13 mile gravel road. We took that as a shortcut to the Santa Elena Canyon. The Santa Elena Canyon trail was my favorite trail in Big Bend. The cliffs were straight up and they were up to 1,500 feet tall. There was a bunch of smaller rocks that we had fun climbing on. The trail started at the base of a cliff and the canyon went into the cliff. The trail followed the river into the canyon a little bit. There wasn't much water in the river at all. We didn't think that it was the Rio Grande since it translates literally into "big river," but it was. We ...

If you ever find yourself in the Big Bend region of Texas, you are either there for the annual chili cookoff in Terlingua or to visit Big Bend National Park. There aren't many other options. The park's namesake region is named after the U-turn that the Rio Grande takes along the Texas border. 118 miles of river (and therefore, border) lie within the park. On one side, Mexico. On the other side, The United States. On both sides, unforgiving desert country. Nutrients from a rock? Big Bend National Park is a large park, but it's mostly desolate. If you are looking to see tarantulas and roadrunners, you are in the right place. There is a small population of black bears, but we didn't see any. Other than that, it's you and the cactus. And be careful where you step, because pretty much everything growing is some form of cactus containing some sort of thorns! Upon arrival, we did a short hike into the Santa Elena Canyon. This is narrow cut in the mountains through which th...

Sunset Reef was a boondocking, dry camping site. That means that it was free, but there was no hookups.  There was however, a fire ring/grill and a picnic table with a cover. There wasn't anything special about Sunset Reef. It was just a base for Guadalupe Mts. NP and Carlsbad Caverns NP. Because of a planning error (we were supposed to go to Carlsbad Caverns NP from Carlsbad KOA), we went to Guadalupe Mts. NP on Thursday. We soon found out that there's no scenic drive there, it's mostly trails. We did a trail called called the Smith Spring Trail. Back East, a spring isn't something to hike to. But out West, it is. The spring was cool. There were pools of water and trees! On the way back, there was a pretty sunset.    We went to Carlsbad Caverns NP. Dad got us self-guided cave tickets for a dollar each! We hiked down a bunch of switch-backs into the cave (a.k.a. huge hole in the ground). Even before we got to the Big Room, we knew one thing for sure: Mammoth Cave (at ...

If you've been following along, you know that we've visited a number of caves on this trip. Going into it I had no idea that multiple national parks were either focused on or included caves. Well, here we are again at a park with a cave. Or as they call them here, "caverns." Carlsbad Caverns National Park has a few hiking trails on the surface, but the reason people come here is to either: 1) Go into the caverns, or 2) Watch the bats fly out of the caverns. Or most likely, both. It was too late in the year for us to see the bats come out at dusk (they have already left for a warmer locale), but we were excited to get into the caverns. We were starting to get a little bit jaded towards caves, but we had heard good things about this one. Descending into the abyss... We have seen big caves, and we've seen caves with formations. But this was our first big cave with formations. The descent into the cave (or caverns, if you prefer) was about 750 feet. If you are a hiker...

Ever heard of the Guadalupe Mountains? I'd wager not. I hadn't. A little to the left, Jordan... perfect! They aren't big, at least compared to other mountains we've seen. They aren't pretty. They are honestly fairly plain. So what's the big deal? Apparently they are an ancient coral reef that has been uplifted. I say "apparently" because we never actually got onto the mountains to confirm that. This is one of the rare parks with no scenic drive. It's basically a handful of parking lots off the road and a whole bunch of hiking trails. We screwed up our schedule a bit and didn't have a weekend to do this park. So we planned a Thursday afternoon visit with an option for Friday afternoon. On Thursday, we picked a 2.5 mile round trip to a spring and back (note that we're in the desert, so springs are a valid sightseeing destination). Since we're after the time change now, it got dark around 5, so that's all we had time to do. One thing w...

We met Sayer, Max, Cannon, and Arie at the playground that was right next to our site. (Later we met Max at two different campsites: Oliver Lee State Park and Tucson KOA.) We played freeze-tag and simon says. Caleb did his bake sale here. We saw a pretty sunset from the gameroom. There were chairs, a four person ping pong table, games, and balls for gaga ball and basketball. We had a campfire with the kids. The green thing is Caleb's laser-pointer in the smoke.

Well, I guess no one wished me luck. This bake sale didn't go as well as the first, but I'm getting ahead  of myself. It was a bright sunny Saturday, perfect for my sale. We were at Turquoise Trail campground in Cedar Crest, New Mexico. I worked 'til 2:00 making my baked goods. It's not as easy as it sounds to make the brownies and the cupcakes and baking the cookie dough. After I did, I set up on the picnic table. Mom finished baking the brownie mix. After a bit of waiting two people came and one was the campground host. They only bought two cookies total. I was a little disappointed, because they bought so little. A while later, someone else came and bought 5 butterscotch cookies. Then after a long long time, someone came before dinner and got some cookies. That is all I got that day. I made fourteen dollars, a lot less then the $37 from my first sale. Two days later, I set up at a KOA campground hoping to get a customer. Here is what I was selling stuff for: cupcakes...

We had to call the person at the campground before we arrived so we could get Number 1 and Number 2 Halloween gifts at the office. I wore a Rey costume. Caleb wore a robber costume and he made his own mask and gun. Asher wore a ninja costume. We met a cute and playful dog named Wesley there. He liked playing fetch with his tomato ball. The Number 1 present was glow sticks and the Number 2  present was Smarties, Oreos, a glow ball, Cracker Jacks, more glow sticks and candy. I felt good about that!  We went to a Trunk or Treat. At the Trunk or Treat we got to hold a tarantula. He was cute! (The office person's son used to pick up tarantulas and put them all over his arms.) After getting more candy, we went to a neighborhood to get lots of candy! Most of the houses had gates on them. The lawns were made out of rocks so they wouldn't need a lawnmower. At one house, we got to pet a Great Pyrenees dog. When we left, I was so tired that I was dragging my candy...