January 2025

Southeast to Midwest 

Before we departed Florida we snorkeled with manatees at Swim With Manatees in Homosassa, FL.  We invited our friends Kendall, Natalie, and Walt to join us.  Hailey booked a private boat tour so Lucky could go on the boat with us.  This saved us from booking a dog sitter for her, and everyone enjoyed having her on board.  The manatees were really cool to see up close.  They look like giant floating potatoes.  They're gentle giants as they lack the part of the brain for aggression.  A fun fact we learned was that when certain areas of Florida are flooded, manatees can get into people's yards and will eat their roses, grass, and other plants! 

We knew we wanted to spend a long weekend in Big Bend National Park in Texas.  We had a lengthy and hard push to get there, quickly passing through Louisiana (where we experienced true southern hospitality with some incredibly welcoming Boondockers Welcome hosts who made us a homecooked meal of shrimp jambalaya and fried catfish), and making short overnight stops in Houston, San Antonio, and Sheffield, TX.  For two nights we stayed at Chisos Basin Campground and our final night was spent at Cottonwood Campground.  There was  a lot to learn about Big Bend - the first being that the name comes from the large bend of the Rio Grande River that separates Texas and Mexico.  Josh downloaded a Shocka Guide for the area  and we enjoyed learning about the history and attractions of the land.  Another interesting fact is that Big Bend has over 400 species of birds.  

One of the highlights of our Big Bend trip was hiking into Santa Elena Canyon as it was such a beautiful area; the other highlight was we were able to walk (and "boat") across the Rio Grande to Mexico.  There's a port of entry, Boquillas Crossing Port of Entry, that is open from 9am-4pm most days.  We walked down to the river where a gentleman with a dinghy had us sit in the boat while he pulled us across.  If we were wearing shorts we could've walked across, but the boat was part of the experience - as was riding burros into town.  However, once we were on the burros, we quickly realized how slow and uncomfortable they are!  We appreciated seeing the town and supporting local businesses.  The town has about 200 residents and the closest city is a three hour drive away.  

From Big Bend we stopped at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.  We stayed a night at Pine Springs Campground but the majority of the park (about 95%) is meant to be experienced by hiking into it.  After Guadalupe Mountains National Park we went to Carlsbad Caverns National Park.  One of the signs in the cavern mentioned "the 'Big Room' in Carlsbad Caverns National Park is so large that the entire U.S. Capitol Building could fit inside it, with some sources even saying it could fit twice over."  Once we spent enough time at Carlsbad we headed to White Sands National Park.  There's a great area just outside of the park called Raptor Lake, or Holloman Lake, for boondocking.  

We stayed two nights outside of White Sands and then we opted for some rest and relaxation at Truth or Consequences.  We tried two separate accommodations - Riverbend Hot Springs and The Hot Springs Glamp Camp.  Riverbend is a little more bougie as it's right on the river and you can reserve private pools.  The Glamp Camp was nice as they had a communal firepit and their tubs were open 24/7.  Each place had RV parking so we stayed in the van but used the hot springs.  Even though the town is small and low-key, we would like to go back and spend more time there. 

Once departing T or C,  we made a detour to the Very Large Array.  It was fascinating to see the antennas - there are 27 of them, and they can be spread in four different configurations - the largest of which is 13 miles apart.  The diameter of each dish is 82 feet.  The documentary at the VLA was narrated by Jodie Foster and did a great job explaining the history and use of the antennas. 

The next stop on our journey was Albuquerque, NM to visit family and friends.  We spent a week catching up with as many people as we could, also while working during the week.  While we were in Albuquerque, Josh did a lot of maintenance on the van, including installing speaker grills on the rear door, installing a high idle kit, and replacing the door flap to the freezer in our fridge.  He also did some modifications to our plumbing so it's easier to use any sewer hook-ups or dump areas at established campgrounds.

Following Albuquerque was Petrified Forest National Park and then an overnight in Flagstaff.  We were able to stay in the driveway of Hailey's college roommate.  It was great to catch up with old friends and see a little bit of the town - we highly recommend the Bee's Knees pizza at Dark Sky Brewery (it has mascarpone, sage, house mozzarella, Italian sausage, and honey).  We debated whether to try and get to the Grand Canyon, which ultimately would've been out of the way since our next stop was Mesa, AZ.  Our friends encouraged us to explore Sedona instead, and we're glad we followed their advice.  We had fun walking the downtown area, seeing the Chapel of the Holy Cross, and experiencing the beautiful rocks and scenery nearby.          

One night was spent in Chandler, AZ as we had a maintenance appointment to install a larger fuel tank at Owl Offroad in Mesa, AZ.  Our current fuel tank holds about 25 gallons of diesel and we're almost doubling it to a 47 gallon tank.  We also had a wider fuel nozzle installed so we can fill up at truck stops.  We worked from the  shop in the morning before relocating to the parking lot of Phoenix's Desert Botanical Garden.  Unfortunately we didn't have time to go inside the garden but would like to check it out another time. 

We departed Phoenix in the evening and rolled into Ironwood National Monument, which is Bureau of Land Management land after 7pm.  It was dark but thankfully it was easy to find a level spot.  The next morning we worked from the Sendero Esperanza parking lot at Saguaro National Park.  We were able to take Lucky on a nice walk on the Golden Gate Road.  

We've been preparing to enter Mexico for several weeks.  After doing some more research, we determined that Josh needed to renew his passport.  His current one expires mid May 2025, and to legally travel in Mexico we need to each get an FMM (Forma Migratoria Múltiple).  The FMM is a tourist card that (per Google) "is a mandatory requirement alongside a valid passport for gaining entry into Mexico by land."  The FMM is valid for 180 days, and we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get Josh an FMM since his passport expires before the FMM does.  Thankfully Hailey utilized her stellar research skills and found where to schedule an in-person appointment to request an expedited passport, scheduled the appointment, filled out the correct forms, provided proof of travel (our Mexican car insurance), and found where we could print the necessary documents (a public library in Tucson).  Josh's appointment was at 11am on Wednesday, January 29th.  Not even an hour later he was able to get confirmation that his new passport (which is valid for 10 years) would be ready to be picked up at 2pm.  We were astonished and relieved that we could get a new passport in one day! 

Before crossing into Mexico we wrapped up the month by staying at Holtville Airport near Holtville, CA.  It's a public use area but the military still uses it for training.  We were able to see and hear helicopters doing drills.  The helicopters were practicing for several hours.  It was neat to witness. Thankfully the drills wrapped up around 8pm, otherwise it would've been challenging to sleep through the night as the noise was quite loud.