2017 - Pacific Coast Trip - Canyon Lake, Texas

Photo link:

https://goo.gl/photos/mEeha7S8Bui595XaA

Friday, February 24^th – Thursday, March 2nd

Cranes Mill Campground – Canyon Lake, Texas

We drove through the eastern side of Hill Country, a lovely part of Texas. The destination was Canyon Lake, just northeast of San Antonio and halfway to Austin. This beautiful, blue, clear water lake is a dammed reservoir of the Guadalupe River run by the Army Corps. We setup in Cranes Mill campground, the only ACOE one still open on this lake. In 2014 and 2015, there were major floods in this area, which wiped out many lakeside recreational parks, including two ACOE campgrounds. The sites were very spacious and all had a view of the lake. There was a fishing pier next to the campground and a boat launch just down the road. Again, the Army Corps campground met all of our expectations.

On the north side of the lake is a peninsula with the Madrone Trails mountain biking and hiking system. We headed up there on the second day to find several miles of very rocky trails with many drops and elevation changes. These trails are so different from any we’ve ridden. The geology in this region is all limestone base, with a desert atmosphere. We rode the trails as best as possible, but they were not the fun flowing trails that we really enjoy.

Hiking trails were mostly non-existent here, other than the Madrone Trails. A couple of days we made our own hiking trail by taking the dogs over to a closed tent camping area and let them run off leash. We all enjoyed the walk around the lake shore.

Another day we drove east to San Marcos, where there are more mountain biking trails. This system at Purgatory Creek was well designed and maintained, but still very rocky single-track. There were some “moderate” trails that were filled with huge, volcanic rock that was mostly impossible for me to ride, so I hiked my bike through many of these trails. However, there were trails through forested areas and open fields, a little more interesting and fun. We enjoyed these trails and got a good workout.

Kurt did put his kayak in the lake and paddled around while fishing, which he always enjoys. The Guadalupe River runs through this region, upstream and downstream of the dam. We drove around the area looking for kayak put-ins and take-outs. We quickly found that most of the river bank lands are privately owned, with little or no public access. It is a beautiful river and is famous for fly-fishing. But basically, to get on the river you must pay an outfitter and you cannot use your own equipment. So disappointing.

This stop also allowed us some down-time, relaxing and hanging out around camp. This is such a beautiful place, we definitely would consider returning here if we ever come this way again.

From here we are heading to Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas. So excited to explore this park and see what it has in store for us.

2017 Pacific Coast Trip - East Texas

Photo link:

https://goo.gl/photos/4cNQ2rzdseAHfnBV6

Monday, February 13^th – Saturday, February 18^th

Village Creek State Park – near Beaumont, TX

The drive to Village Creek S.P. was a long day. It was a familiar drive and campground, as we had camped there in 2014. This Texas S.P. is very nice with a great paddling creek running through it. The creek winds through the forest and has many white sandbars along the way. We were able to paddle an 8 mile section of the creek with an RV couple who also had a kayak, so we ran our own shuttle from put-in to take-out. There were many hiking/biking trails throughout the park, which we enjoyed with the dogs and a few times riding our bikes. This park was also in the process of repairing flood damage that had occurred in the last couple of years. While there we did eat out for Valentine’s Day at a local Mexican restaurant in Lumberton, the nearest town. Again, we noticed the growth in the area since 2014. We keep seeing this population/building boom in places where we have been before. It seems that one day we will have to move back out to the boonies to get away from the sprawling cities and towns. After six days there, we continued westward to a new adventure in Texas.

Sunday, February 19^th – Thursday, February 23^rd  

Bastrop State Park – Bastrop, Texas (southeast of Austin)

We found this State Park while looking for nearby great mountain biking trails. Also, this was a highly rated State Park campground, with full hook-ups for our RV. We were able to schedule a full week, with the plan for a lot of hiking and mountain biking. After taking the back roads like we prefer to do, we arrived at the park, where we were able to see the effects of the “Lost Pines Forest” fire in 2012. The fire burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 1660 homes during a bad drought period. It has been known as one of the worst fires in the state. The forest is beginning to regrow, but very slowly. There used to be a golf course on the property, which was also destroyed during the drought and fire.

The dogs enjoyed hiking off leash with us in the park, the trails were along the steep hills and were mostly rocky, red dirt and mud. The whole park was very hilly with steep roads. The campground is well maintained with spacious campsites. The second day there we drove over to the mountain bike trails, Rocky Hill Ranch, near Smithville. After arriving we checked in and paid the small fee. There were no other riders there and we proceeded onto the trails. After about 3 miles of riding the trails we rode back into a forest area, where we found the trails extremely muddy and not rideable. Our tires were caked with about 1-2 inches of red mud, making it impossible to ride; plus it is a known rule not to ride muddy trails as it will destroy them. There had been a couple of previous days with a lot of rain. So we turned around and headed back to the truck. Wow, what a disappointment, we had planned to ride there at least three days. As a side note, while looking at the satellite view of the trails, we noticed a huge field with carved out letters, LUEKE. We googled this and found out this was on an adjacent ranch and is the farmers name. He carved the letters by removing pine trees for cattle grazing and left the letters for his name. It was designed so precisely, that NASA uses this view to measure photos taken from the ISS space station. If you want more information on this interesting story, check it out:  http://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-luecke-farm-landmark-you-can-see-from-space

The remainder of the week, we drove around through the Hill Country, hiked some more trails and rode bikes around the park. We also used the time to get some maintenance done, work on/clean our bikes, shopping, laundry and a night of great TexMex food. We really enjoyed the town of Bastrop, which was much bigger than expected. Texas seems to also be growing in population and development. However, the Hill Country around the area is so beautiful. This wouldn’t be a bad place to live, as long you one is out in the country.

On to our next adventure in Texas, it’s a big state!

2017 Pacific Coast Trip - Gulf Coast

Photo link:
https://goo.gl/photos/8AY4wg8dYxy9YEpeA

Sunday, February 5^th – Wednesday, February 8^th

Davis Bayou Campground – Gulf Islands National Seashore, Mississippi

After an easy drive out of Florida and into Mississippi, we arrived at the Gulf Islands National Seashore and setup our RV at the Davis Bayou campground. We were fortunate to find out about this campground from a fellow RVer in Salt Springs. Since this is a Federal campground, we were able to use out Senior National Parks pass and get a 50% discount. The campground was very spacious with a nice shower house and friendly camp host. We rode our bikes around the park to discover the layout and trails. The next day we were prepared for the major storm that was forecast for that day. We hunkered down in the camper with the dogs and waited out the storm. For the second time on this trip, we were under tornado warnings for most of the storm front. This was the storm that produced tornados in east New Orleans. We were fortunate that it was not that bad as it rolled over us. After that, the weather cleared and cooled down. The next day we were able to ride our bikes around the area on a designated bike trail. It was nice for a good workout and getting outside. This park was a few miles east of Biloxi. One day we drove over to Biloxi and checked out the area. Davis Bayou is located in the town of Ocean Springs, MS. This was a very nice historic town, which had a beautiful beach along the bay shore. We spent some time there walking the dogs and enjoying the nice weather and sunset. After four days there, we were ready to head to the Big Easy.

Thursday February 9^th – Sunday, February 12th

Bayou Segnette State Park – New Orleans, Louisiana

For the next adventure we headed west to New Orleans, Louisiana. We decided to stay on the south west side of the city at a nice State Park, so we could easily get into the French Quarter and have some fun. Friday, the next day, we went into the city. There is a passenger ferry that leaves the south side and crosses the Mississippi River and lands right near the French Quarter. The ferry ride was easy and fun, a short walk to the French Quarter. We first went to lunch as we were both starving. Oceana was a typical NOLA restaurant with Cajun food and a lovely courtyard, which we enjoyed very much. We explored the Quarter, saw all the famous sites and visited a couple of bars. Since Mardi Gras was less than a week away, the Quarter was preparing for the big Carnival. Some of the early krewes were already practicing throwing beads from the balconies, so we caught some beads and didn’t even have to show any body parts! There were the typical street performers and musicians. Some were very talented in their specialties. It was a lot of fun seeing NOLA again, it had been since before Katrina that we had visited there together. Kurt decided to go back into the Quarter the next night, as the first parade was scheduled. I didn’t want to go, that stuff is too crazy for me. He had a good time, but was disappointed in the krewe, as they were not as good as he expected. Very crude and primitive floats and messages. However, he did enjoy the city for Mardi Gras.

On Sunday, we drove down to Houma to visit with Kurt’s extended family who all live there. His sister-in-law, Helen, had a get together at her home. All the family members were there, Kurt’s nieces and nephews and their families. It was a great time, good food (including raw oysters) and a nice time seeing them all again. We truly enjoyed our visit there, it’s too bad we don’t get to see them often enough. Maybe we could get some of them to move to Florida….

We continue our trek westward, on to Texas for some adventures there.

2017 Pacific Coast Trip – Leaving Florida, Heading West

The plan for this upcoming trip is to slowly work our way across the southern United States, ultimately heading to southern California and then north along the Pacific Coast. We plan to return across the northern states, then head south through some midwestern states. After that we will head south towards Florida. We are not sure how long this will take, but predict we’ll be back in south Florida around October.

Friday, December 30^th – Saturday, February 4^th  

Photo link:
https://goo.gl/photos/3dWbZkSZ847EZEPP7

After leaving Hobe Sound, the first stop in Florida was Fisheating Creek, our favorite campground to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The weather was good, but the creek water level was too low for any serious kayaking. We enjoyed four days there hiking, relaxing and celebrating the New Year. While Kurt was out looking for campfire wood, he found a discarded Christmas tree, which he brought back for a New Year’s Eve super-fire. When he lit that tree, it went up like a bomb. Wow, way more than we expected, but it was fun to watch. While we were packing up to leave, I accidently smashed my left hand middle finger in the truck door… OUCH. I know the finger above the knuckle was crushed and it was very painful. I just wrapped it up and went about my business. It will take weeks to heal and I will lose the fingernail eventually.

After FEC, we headed toward our favorite Florida mountain biking location, Alafia River S.P. As usual, the campground was great and we settled in. We spent four days there, but I was not able to ride the trails, due to my injured finger. While there, our friends the Lea family from Clearwater, came over to visit. Lindsay brought the kids over for the day, Walker (Dad) had to work. We made tacos for lunch and went on a hike. It’s always a great time to hang out with them, the kids are so much fun. On the last day there, I did get out on the trails to see if I could ride with my injured finger and was pleased to be able to. We would have loved to stay longer, but there was no more availability.

Next, we headed to Santos Campground, south of Ocala. Another great mountain biking experience and I was able to ride each day. We were there for 6 nights and enjoyed it as usual. Next we headed to Salt Springs in the Ocala National Forest for 12 nights. Our friends, the Leas, also camped there for the weekend. We had a lot of fun playing with the kids (Pickett, Makena, Brynnan and Tallulah) and catching up with Walker and Lindsay. 

Manatee Springs S.P. was our next destination. This park is near the Gulf Coast of Florida, where the Suwanee River dumps into the Gulf, near Cedar Key. We have camped there before and enjoyed our two night stop. Next we headed toward Apalachicola on the Gulf coast and stayed at Coastline RV Resort, a very nice RV resort. It was a new park on the bayfront. We normally don’t stay at RV resorts, but this one offered very good discounts and made it worth the price. This was one of the nicest, well designed RV resorts we have ever experienced. One day, we drove around the town of Apalachicola, and St. George Island. We stopped at a great seafood restaurant and had raw oysters and fish. Also, while there we went on a hike in Tate’s Hell State Forest. There was a marked “hiking” trail that we decided to take with the dogs. The hike started out very nice, a normal hiking trail through the forest, but then it quickly evolved into nothing but huge sandy, double-track trail right in the middle of hunting season. We were over halfway into the 6 mile hike and decided to continue forward. It was mildly frightening as we were not wearing bright orange clothing, as all the hunters were. We hiked as fast as possible to get out of there. What was so annoying was the trailhead advertised a hiking trail, but no indication that active hunting was in process. We were so happy when this was over, and later when Kurt spoke with a FWC officer he mentioned this lack of notice. The officer also indicated that it was heavily populated by black bears (again no notice at trailhead). Wow, I wonder how many tourists get into this situation!

Our last destination in Florida was Blackwater River S.P. north of Pensacola. One of our favorites due to the great paddling in the area. While there we paddled Juniper Creek (with the dogs) and Kurt paddled the Blackwater River. We were also very excited to find a new mountain biking trail system just a few miles north in the forest. It makes this campground even more inviting for future camping. While there, we drove down to Niceville (near Pensacola) to visit our friends, the Falzone family. We hadn’t seen them in a couple of years, so our visit was wonderful and it was great to see Lily and the kids, Abby and Craig.

As we left Florida, we were excited to move westward and visit some new places.

Summer 2016 - West Virginia, New River Gorge

Friday, September 30^th – Monday, October 3^rd

Photo link:

https://goo.gl/photos/oasSFNe42Vz2uWLF9

The drive from the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania, down through the Appalachian Mountains in West Virginia was a new experience. These mountains seemed different as there were small, steep mountains surrounding deep valleys and gorges. Fortunately, most of the drive was on interstate, which we prefer not to take, but was our only option for hauling the travel trailer. It was a long, up and down, curving drive, with some very amazing mountain views. We finally arrived at the New River Campground, near Gauley Bridge, WV. This place was right on the riverfront where we could look out our back window at the river and the opposing rocky walls of the gorge. Just a mile upstream is the convergence of the Gauley River and the New River, which forms the Kanawha River. A few miles upstream on the Gauley River are white water rapids, ranging from Class V to Class II. There are many outfitters to shuttle kayakers on the river.

One of the main attractions for us was to visit the New River Gorge National River and the Gorge Bridge, which is run by the National Park Service. The New River Gorge Bridge is a steel arch bridge 3,030 feet long and 876 feet above the New River near Fayetteville, West Virginia. With an arch 1,700 feet long, the New River Gorge Bridge is now the third longest single span bridge in the world. This bridge is closed to vehicular traffic the third Saturday of every October for “Bridge Day”. This annual festival day allows BASE jumping, climbing and repelling. We missed Bridge Day by two weeks; it would have been a blast, but just didn’t work into our schedule. Also, we would have had to book a campsite months in advance. It was just wonderful to see the bridge, the gorge and the river. Beautiful country!

We also found a highly rated mountain bike trail system south of Fayetteville, Arrowhead Bike and Hike Trails, part of the New River Gorge National River region. We spent one day there riding the trails; not very technical, but very fun to ride. We wished we had another day to ride again, but it was not in our schedule. At this point we are slowly heading south to make it back to Florida by the end of October.

Summer 2016 - Pennsylvania, Raystown Lake

Friday, September 23^rd – Thursday, September 29^th

Photo link:

https://goo.gl/photos/Nskxo7rZU3hrEHu6A

After some great times in New York State, we headed to Pennsylvania. When we were in New Hampshire, we had met a gentleman at a mountain bike park that had Pennsylvania license tags. We asked him to recommend a great place in his state to visit. Knowing we were mountain bikers, he highly recommended Raystown Lake. This Army Corp Project is the largest lake in PA and near the town of Huntingdon. One of the best features of the lake is that there is no commercial or private development along the waterfront, so the whole lakeshore is left in the natural state; except the Army Corp campgrounds and marina. When we arrived at the Seven Points Campground on Friday, the campsites were first-come first-serve. We were not able to get a waterfront site that day, but on Sunday when most of the campers left, we moved to the best waterfront site in the campground. It was well worth the move. The campground was mostly empty by that point and we allowed the dogs to roam the campsite and waterfront. They really enjoyed some freedom from the leash.

The primary reason we wanted to stay here was because of the mountain bike trails. The Allegrippis Trails were built by the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA), along with the Army Corps, local conservation groups and volunteer laborers to create a multi-use trail system for mountain biking, hiking, running, snowshoeing and cross country skiing. These trails were some of the best engineered and maintained trails that we have ridden. We spent almost every day riding some of the various trails and truly enjoyed the experience. We would love to go back one day to camp and bike ride at this special place.

While camping there we also got our kayaks in the water and took the dogs for a paddle. The weather was wonderful up until the last two days. A storm with heavy rains and high winds whipped through the area and kept us hunkered down inside. Ugh, we really hate those days, but we used them to get some maintenance and cleaning issues taken care of.

Our time at Raystown allowed us to ride great trails and to also relax in such a beautiful lakeside environment. This Army Corp campground was one of the best we ever stayed in. Also, with our Federal Senior National Parks pass, we receive a 50% discount on the campsites, at $17 per night. There are some advantages of getting older!

Summer 2016 - New York, Ithaca & Niagara

Photo link:

https://goo.gl/photos/AfktAkCu5Beaxg6Z8

Monday, September 12^th – Sunday, September 18^th

Taughannock Falls State Park, Ithaca

The drive out of Adirondacks over to western New York was quite beautiful, traveling mostly back road highways.

We camped at Taughannock Falls State Park near Ithaca New York. Ithaca is on the south side of Cayuga Lake, one of the major Finger Lakes in the region. After setting up we decided to hike up along the Gorge Trail and have our first look at Taughannock Falls. We were in a state of shock when we got to the falls overlook and noticed that there was only a trickle of water coming over the falls. Wow! What a disappointment as this was the reason we specifically booked this campground due to the falls. There are also numerous falls around the Ithaca area, but they too were all in this situation due to months of serious drought in the area.

We took some scenic drives around the Cayuga Lake and the City of Ithaca, it was quite lovely. We were surprised at the great number of vineyards and wineries surrounding the lake. It was a great area for tourists to do the winery tours. There was also a lot of agricultural lands in the area.

One night we went to a free concert in downtown Ithaca at an area called Ithaca Commons. The downtown is very quaint with many historic buildings. The commons area is a former street that has been blocked off as a pedestrian mall. Also, Ithaca is home to Cornell University, a renowned university for math and science. There are several well-known scientists that graduated from Cornell, among them being Carl Sagan, one of our favorites. Kurt was so intrigued by the university that he drove into town one day with his bicycle and toured the whole campus. It was interesting to see the mix of historic and new high-tech buildings. It was quite obvious just driving around town that it was a University town due to all the young adults walking around with their backpacks or on their bicycles and the abundance of coffee shops.

We also found some great mountain biking trails about 15 miles out of town.  We drove out to Shindagin Hollow Forest on two days and enjoyed the rides. We were ready to head to Niagara Falls.

Monday, September 19^th – 22^nd

Niagara Falls

After Ithaca, we were excited to get over to the Niagara Falls. Neither of us had been there, so we were anxious to see what it was all about.

Niagara Falls is close to Buffalo New York, where Buffalo wings were originally created. So the first evening we drove down to Buffalo and found Anchor Bar, which is the home of the original buffalo chicken wings. We just had to go try them and they were good as expected; however we still feel that Brass Ring Pub in North Palm Beach is the best ever.

The next morning we headed to Niagara Falls. This beautiful State Park provides various viewing areas for the falls. The Niagara River actually splits before it goes over the falls, so one of the falls is on the Canadian side and the majority of the falls on the American side. The view from the Observation Tower was really amazing and allowed us a better view of the American Falls and some of Horseshoe Falls. We walked from the main visitor area on the bridges over the Niagara River to Goat Island, from there we were able to see the American Falls from the south side and then Horseshoe Falls (Canadian) from the north side of the river on Terrapin Point.

The next day we went back to Niagara Falls and boarded the "Maid of the Mist" tour boat.  This boat leaves from a dock on the north side of the American Falls, which it passes by and then down into the Horseshoe Falls. While in the Horseshoe Falls area the mist was so thick you could barely see parts of the waterfall. As part of the boat tour, they provided translucent blue rain ponchos which we were glad to have. The hardest part was keeping our camera dry while trying to take photos. Later that night we went back down to Niagara Falls to view the illumination of the falls and later the fireworks. These amazing light shows were compliments of the Canadians.

The next day at Niagara Falls was spent with our dogs hiking the Niagara Gorge Whirlpool Trail. This was a moderately difficult hike with many stairs to descend, then a lot of rock hopping along the riverside. Then, of course, we had to ascend the stairs returning to the trailhead. It was a beautiful day and we all enjoyed the hike and seeing the river at the lower level.

Our last day at Niagara Falls was spent on a scenic drive heading north up along Lake Ontario. Neither of us had ever seen the lake so we wanted to check it out.  We also drove through Fort Niagara which was a historic military base during the Revolutionary War. From the Fort property we were able to see the inlet where the Niagara River flows out to Lake Ontario.

All in all, our time in the Niagara Falls area was well spent and we truly enjoyed it. Neither of us really knew what to expect, but it actually turned out to be much more beautiful and interesting than we had thought it would be. We had decided to stay an extra day so we could see everything.