Harvey and Our Trip West

Aug, 31, 2017
It's that time of year again. Time to party in Oklahoma City. Both Mom and Dad are turning 90,  and it is their 68th wedding anniversary, So we decided to head north from the island and spend a few days in OKC for another epic party with family. Plans were made to visit the Grand Canyon after the party. We were ready for the start of a 3400+ mile trip westward.

Waiting for the day to depart, Hurricane Harvey decided that the Texas coast would be a good target. South Padre Island was lucky, but not North Padre Island and Corpus Christie. With Harvey making landfall, it would mean travelers all over Texas, and most of the nation would be affected in some way or another. The Texas coastline supplies over 1/3 of the oil supplies. We discovered that by trying to get gas in the Jeep the day before we were about to leave for Austin, our first stop. Gas stations in Edinburg, Texas, 200 miles away from the devastation of Harvey, were already out of everything but lower grade gasoline.

Thursday, Aug 31, we left in the FR3 with a full belly of gas and a 600 mile range. We stopped at a gas station in San Antonio, and found out they had only diesel left, no gasoline.  Further up the road in New Branfels, we found a Buc-ees that had plenty of gas. I filled up there, knowing that I now had enough gas to get all the way to OKC.

Arriving in Austin for a 2 night stay at Lake Georgetown, we noticed that panic had set in at the gas pumps. Cars were lined up in the parking lots, spilling out into the streets, causing traffic problems in some areas. Hoo-boy. We knew then we were going to have an interesting 3400+ mile trip ahead of us.We were planning a westward trip to Grand Canyon and Las Vegas area.

Once we setup at Lake Georgetown, we discovered that the water pump on the motorhome had quit working. Off we went to Crestview RV center to buy a new one. Luckily, it was easy to replace, so we were good to go.

Sept 2, 2017
We left Lake Georgetown early Sat morning for the 370 mile trip to OKC. As we passed by gas stations with HEB plastic bags over the pump nozzles, we hoped that things would get better further north. Once we got into Oklahoma, we found gas everywhere. Panic must be a Texas thing?

Arriving at Twin Fountains RV park in OKC, we set up and then headed out to meet family. There was a party planned at Legends for Mom and Dad Tysor for Sunday Sept 3rd. It was their 68th anniversary, plus we were celebrating 90 years young birthdays for them both.

Sept 3, 2017
The whole family was able to attend except for our son and his family in Houston. Unfortunate events such as sickness, car problems, and of course the aftermath of Harvey kept them from attending. Below is a pic of our family.

We had cake, drinks, and lots of friends show up from the Assisted Care where they live. It was great to see everyone again. The kids all grow too fast.

Sept 5, 2017 - Palo Duro Canyon
The start of our trip west. Left Tuesday morning for Palo Duro State Park in the Texas panhandle. According to the website, Palo Duro Canyon is the second largest canyon in the country. Since we eventually were headed to the Grand Canyon, we thought it best to start small and work up.

Palo Duro is a beautiful canyon and very rustic. It has miles of trails available, and I think Jan and I hit most of them. Campsite was nice, but had too many flies. The weather was nice, and the scenery breathtaking.

Palo Duro is Spanish for hard wood. The canyon is about 120 miles long, 20 miles wide, and up to 800 feet deep. As I found out when I was much younger and camping there with family, you do not want to be stuck in the canyon during a heavy rainstorm. The area is known for flooding.

Palo Duro Canyon. That's Jan in the middle.

Leaving Palo Duro Canyon, we then headed west for Albuquerque.

Sept 7, 2017 - Albuquerque and Petroglyph National Monumnet
I like to drive 300 to 400 miles a day when driving the FR3 motorhome. So Albuquerque was our next stop. Busy city, too big, and being at the base of mountains, the air quality was very hazy. We stayed at Enchanted trails RV park outside the city, which was a quaint little RV park along Route 66. Had some very interesting old style RV's for rent.

Trailer for rent

Jan and I headed into town and found the old historic downtown. There was a spanish dancing group in the center square putting on a performance, which was interesting to watch. We found a TexMex restaurant on the square where we could have lunch outside and watch the dancing.

The Petroglyph National Monument was our next visit. This national park protects one of the largest sites of petroglyphs in North America. Again, there are miles of trails to take, and Jan and I walked many of them. The petroglyphs were amazing to see. These are designs that were carved into volcanic rock 400 to 700 years ago.

Petroglyph National Monument

During one of our hikes, Jan found this little fellow. It is a Horned Lizard, fondly called a Horny Toad. They are now very rare to find, once being in abundance. We both used to find and play with these little guys long time ago.

Horned Lizard

Meteor City was next on the agenda.

Sept 9, 2017 - Meteor City
Meteor Crater was next on our list of places to visit. Located about 275 miles from Albuquerque, we found a RV park right near the crater. This is a meteorite impact site that was created over 50,000 years ago by an asteroid traveling over 26,000 MPH. It is one huge hole in the ground. It is interesting to note that for many years scientists thought it was created by volcanic activity.

It is almost 1 mile across, and up to 550 feet deep. There are no tours down into the crater, but there is a short rim walk guided by a ranger who explains the history. Was very interesting.

That's Us

Widescreen View of Crater

Next day we were looking for something to do, so we drove a few miles to Winslow, AZ. The old Route 66 goes right thru this town, so we thought, what the heck. Driving down the old historic street, we came upon a corner where there were a lot of tourists. Hmm, I thought, lets stop. Folks were getting their picture taken on a corner where a statue stood. We asked a lady to take our picture, but I did not understand why until I asked her the significance. Meanwhile in the background, I could hear this hit recorded by the Eagles - Take It Easy. Bam, it hit me.

Well, I'm standing on a corner in Winslow, AZ, and such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford, slowing down to take a look at me.

On down the road from Winslow, near Flagstaff, we visited Walnut Canyon National Park. Yep another canyon. This particular one was very interesting in that you could walk thru cliff dwellings from years ago. According to the website, these rooms were built by the Sinagua tribe, a pre-columbian cultural group that lived in Walnut Canyon hundreds of years ago.

Rim Trail Around the Dwellings

Inside One of the Rooms

Next, Vegas, baby!

Sept 11, 2017 - Vegas and Hoover Dam
What can I say. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. Especially your money.

First day, we headed to Fremont Street. Guess what, today is Sept 11. Fremont street is a spectacle on a normal day, but on this day, Sept 11, it was awesome. There was a dedication ceremony with a bagpipe band and armed forces personnel everywhere. Made you damn glad to be an American.

For the next few days, we wandered for miles up and down the strip and into every casino we could find looking for the quick buck. What you won one day, you quickly gave back the next.

Hoover Dam is just a few miles away, and is one of the most interesting dams you could visit. What makes Hoover Dam interesting to me, is that my grandfather, Arthur H Woolverton, was just one of the architects on the dam. Upstream of the dam is Lake Mead, downstream is the Colorado River. This is the river that runs thru the Grand Canyon.

Lake Mead Side

Colorado River Side

Next up, Grand Canyon.

Sept 16, 2017 - Grand Canyon
It has been almost 40 years since Jan and I first visited the Grand Canyon. We could not wait to get back, and do some serious exploring. We set up at the Grand Canyon RV Park in Williams, AZ, about 60 miles from the Grand Canyon. Reservations have to be made about a year in advance in order to get a RV spot in the Grand Canyon area itself. Yeah, that isn't gonna to happen.

We acquired two tickets on the Grand Canyon Railway, which is a 2 1/2 hour trip via train from Williams to the Canyon and back. We did this on the first day just to get a look around, and also to take this fantastic train ride to the canyon and back. On the way back, we were actually robbed by train robbers on horseback riding alongside the train. Upon boarding the train, one robber saw the gold glistening in my mouth, and pulled out some pliers. I kept my mouth closed tightly, and he finally moved on.

Our coach attendant on the way back sounded exactly like Fran Drescher.

Grand Canyon Railway

Oh, the Grand Canyon. Yes, it was and still is a huge canyon. We were at the South Rim. Jan and I walked about .8 miles down into the canyon before we finally gave up, turned around, and managed to stumble back up the trail. Exhausting, but worth every step.

View from the South Rim

View from the Easat End looking West

After this point, we were now ready to wind our way back home.

Sept 20 - Picacho State Park
We stayed at Picacho State Park just out of Tucson, AZ for one night. At first, we were the only campers in the park. Finally, one other lone camper pulled in, also just for the night.

Picacho Peak is the outstanding feature of this park. Picacho stands for peak, so this mountain is literally Peak Peak. Arising out of the desert, it is a hard peak to miss. This area was where the last Civil War battle was fought. Hard to believe, being so far west. We were surrounded by cactus taller than our motorhome.

Just us and the Cactus

Sept 21, 2017 - Las Cruces, NM. White Sands national park
On Sept 21, we  headed down to Las Cruces,  Just outside the city about 50 miles away, are the great White Sand Dunes National park. These sands cover 275 square miles of desert. It is an awesome sight out in the middle of nowhere, There is a park road that allows you to drive right out in the middle of the dunes. Like kids, we climbed to the top of the dunes and slid down on our behinds.

Whee!

Jeep was missing the beach.

Lots of Hiking Opportunities

Selfie of Jan and I at White Sands

Sept 23, 2017 - Seminole Canyon
We were not done with Canyons yet. Seminole Canyon is a Texas state park outside of Del Rio. It is near Lake Amistad national park. We were almost home. We did not go down into the canyon due to the weather, but we did drive over to Lake Amistad and took a couple of hikes. This is a beautiful lake on the Texas/Mexico border.

There was a huge rain storm moving into the area, so we packed up and left the next morning for Edinburg. Home at last from a wonderful trip that lasted for 25 days, travelling 3477 miles.

Dodging A Bullet - Hurricane Harvey

August 24, 2017. Hurricane Harvey had been forming out in the Gulf for awhile now. Living on South Padre island, we decided to go inland a few miles to get away from whatever Harvey was going to bring us. There was not a mandatory evacuation, but instead the city had called for a voluntary evacuation.After procuring the necessary stickers for our Jeep in order to return over the causeway for return entry, we left for our motorhome in Edinburg, about 85 miles away.

Actually Jan had an appointment in McAllen for Friday morning, so we thought the timing was perfect. However, due to the impending storm, the doctors office called Thursday afternoon, wanting to re-schedule. Well, dang-it, excuse my french. I really did not want to leave the island, but then again, I wanted to make sure the motorhome was ready for whatever was going to hit us.

Listening to the weather, we found out that Harvey was heading more toward Corpus Christie, than South Padre island. This was a relief to us, but we feel really sorry for the northern part of the Texas coast that is about to get hit by a Category 3 hurricane.

Friday morning, August 25. After listening to the news mostly all night, we decided to head back to the island. The Queen Isabella Causeway, linking the island to the mainland, will close if the winds get above 45 MPH. So we headed out around 8am, hoping to beat the winds. Luckily, we were able to fill up with gas, and get across the causeway minutes before they closed it.

On the island, it felt like a ghost town. Rain came down consistently, but it was rather light. Roads were open, stores closed. After getting back to the condo, we unloaded, and then proceeded to mop up water within the condo. We still have a leak from the work that had been done earlier this year replacing all windows and patio doors with hurricane rated doors and windows. Apparently, they missed some caulking...........

Here are a few pictures we took:

Local Bar with Sandbags

Favorite Liquor Store Boarded Up

The Beach - 4 ft Waves

Trying Too Smooth Out The Ride

We love our FR3 motorhome, but the ride can be very demanding at times. Our highways are in desperate need of repair. The F53 Ford chassis that the FR3 is built upon, does not have independent suspension, or air bags, so we feel every little expansion joint and pothole.

So after a bit of searching, we thought we would try Sumo Springs for the front end. These Sumo Springs replace the existing bump stop that rests between the frame and the front springs. The existing bump stop is a hard little piece of rubber that does absolutely nothing to cushion the action of the springs.

The first step is to remove the existing bump stops.

Passenger Side Bump Stop

Driver Side Bump Stop

Removing the old bump stops was relatively easy. 1/2" socket wrench did the trick.

Once those were removed, then installation of the new Sumo Springs can begin. These springs have a 2600 lbs capacity at 50% compression. They will also compress up to 80% with full rebound. Main purpose is to reduce and stabilize sway, but also improve control and driving comfort. Can't wait to get these puppies mounted and take a trip.......  

New Sumo Springs SSF-184-40-1

First, the bottom of the spring is mounted on the leaf spring with 2 bolts. Below 2 pictures show the sumo springs mounted on each side. 

Driver Side

 Note that the top of the spring does not quite reach the frame yet. The axle will have to be lifted about 1/2" to get the hole lined up. Then using a 7/16" drill bit, drill a hole thru the frame to mount the top of the spring.

Passenger Side

Final assembly. After drilling into the frame, the top is mounted, and after some cleanup, we are ready to roll. 

Passenger Side

Driver Side

Will update after our next trip.

Port Mansfield Cut

Yesterday, Jan and I wanted to get the new Jeep Wrangler out to the beach. We decided to head northward and drive up to the Mansfield Cut. The Mansfield Cut is a dredged area that allows passage for boats to get from the Gulf to the Laguna Madre. The Laguna Madre is the body of water that is separated from the Gulf by the island. The Mansfield cut separates the southern portion of the island from the northern portion which you can get to from Corpus Christie.

Heading up hwy 100 we intended to get to the beach at Entrance #6. This entrance has no entry fee, but there is a requirement of having a 4x4 vchicle just to get to the beach. Pulling up to the entrance, we watched one Jeep Wrangler and one heavy duty dually pickup gun it and plow thru the deep sand. Un deterred, I put the Wrangler into 4H gear and gunned it. We easily made it thru down to the beach. The beach at that point is heavily packed sand, that most any vehicle can navigate. There were fishermen up and down the beach with their poles firmly anchored in the surf, waiting for the big one to bite.

The video above is us driving thru the entrance. You can see on the right a mini-van that attempted to drive thru but got stuck.

Mansfield Cut is about 25 miles down the beach at that point. There were fisherman all up and down the beach with their poles firmly anchored in the surf, waiting for the big one to bite. Once we got to mile marker 10. we encountered a large metal drum/barrel with the single word "NUDE" painted on the side. Apparently, that marks where the "un-official" nude beach is. Maybe it is packed in the summertime, but this time of year all we saw were the fishermen trying to catch some dinner.

Marks the beginning of the nude beach??

After 40 minutes or so of driving, we got to the cut. There is a large rock jetty jutting out into the gulf. The jetty had a handful of fishermen presesnt.

Mansfield Cut Jetty

After leaving the Mansfield Cut, we headed back down the beach to a nice secluded spot and had lunch. I tried to use my metal detector to find Spanish gold coins, but to no avail. The only thing I found was a rusted old pop can that I successfully sliced my finger on while digging thru the sand.

Perfect Spot for lunch

Slicing my finger cut the day short. So we headed back the 25 miles or so driving down the beautiful beach, passing each fisherman along the way, thankful that this day was an extremely low tide.

End To An Era

Yesterday, January 19,  we traded our do-rags and leather boots for beach shorts and flip-flops.With great sorrow and sadness we traded in our pride and joy 2003 Ultra Classic Anniversary Edition harley for a Jeep Wrangler Sport.

2003 Harley traded in on 2017 Jeep

Being on the beach we felt this was the right move, as we rarely rode the harley anymore.  In fact, four wheels in the sand is a whole lot better than two. Yep, believe me on that one!  Then there is the age factor. After a short day of riding, I would ache for a few days. Now we get to bounce and jostle around in a Jeep which we think is a whole lot better.

We put over 48,500 miles on that Ultra. We had put over 32,000 miles on our 1999 Harley Dynasport. So finally, after 80,000 miles on these bikes, we finally decided to give our guardian angel a rest.

We are looking forward to hooking this Jeep Wrangler up behind the motorhome and hit the road.  Till then we will be miles down the beach fishing and sunning.

As always, family are invited to come see us.