Austin to Ottawa... the scenic route!

Well, we are back "home" in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Despite the fact that we haven't spent very much time here in the last 12 years, we still consider it home.

Let me tell you how we got here...

Reflecting on our Mexico RV Caravan trip

We've had a couple of weeks now to think about this most recent Mexico RV trip. This was the third RV caravan group that we have led through Mexico, and it continues to be a learning experience for us.

Let me give you some background. The first trip we did in February of 2016 was just a trial run. We took over another group for 30 days.

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If you weren't going down... you were going up!

We had read about a good biking road that runs between Bastrop State Park and Buescher State Park. So when we checked into our campsite here, I asked the lady in the office about it and she used the word "grueling".

But, we decided to give it the old college try. First, we made a detour back to the office to check on moving sites for tonight. We mentioned we were off to do the bike road between the parks, and this lady used the word "challenging".

New luggage for our trip!

Yesterday we moved from Lockhart State Park to Bastrop State Park. Along the way, we met up with Tom at his land where he has volunteered to look after Sherman while we are gone. While we were with Tom and his dog Nizza (rhymes with pizza!) Tom presented us with a couple of packages.

We had an offer from a luggage manufacturer to try out a couple of fairly high end carry on suitcases. Our backpack style luggage that we've been using since 2012 is starting to look pretty beat up, and we were getting close to needing something new, so we took them up on their offer, and they shipped them to Tom!

Planning for Australia

I mentioned the other day that I've recently been spending a fair bit of my internet time planning for our upcoming Australia trip.

We bought the flight tickets back at the end of November last year, but other than buying an RV, we had been waiting until our Mexico RV trip was over before doing any more planning. We arrive in Melbourne on May 18th.

Short drive to Lockhart State Park

Strange weather yesterday... a little bit of everything. The day started with some rain when we woke up at the skydiving airport. So we waited that out until 10:00am or so, and then hit the road north towards the town of Lockhart.

We popped into the Walmart to get a couple of things, and we were getting such a good wifi signal in the motorhome that we just stayed put and did some free internet time.

Palmetto State Park and Skydiving.

This area of Texas is so different from the typical scrub brush landscape that you between the San Antonio and Laredo area. Nice and green, with trees!

We had spent Thursday night at Palmetto State Park, and we were trying for the Friday night as well, but they were sold out. The ranger told us to come back to the office around noon and see if there were any cancellations.

Only one week left in Texas

Time seems to be ticking quickly... a week from today we fly to Ottawa.

Yesterday, we made our way from San Antonio to Palmetto State Park.

When I was planning our route, there was no easy way to get out of San Antonio without using the Interstate. We see no joy in driving on the Interstate highways, especially around or through a big city.

18 Miles (30 kms) worth of exercise

We set out on the bicycles early yesterday morning. They were calling for a hot day here in San Antonio, and various reports said the temperature got up to 95F (35C)... so yes, it was a hot one!

Anyhow, we knew to get out there early if we wanted to enjoy the bike ride. We set out at about 8:45am.

The San Antonio Missions

Yesterday morning around 11:00am, we headed out of Choke Canyon State Park, and north towards the city of San Antonio.

With an 86 mile (136 km) drive ahead of us, I figured that we would arrive around 1:00pm, just in time for lunch.

A nice stay here at Choke Canyon State Park, but two days is enough.

Yesterday morning, I took the bikes off and we went for a nice 15 km (9 mile) ride around the park.

We stopped in at the front office to ask about the alligators. There are signs warning of them, but we haven't seen any. The lady said "there's lots of them!", but she also said there needs to be a couple of really warm days in a row for them to come out of the water and sun themselves.

But, we did see lots of different birds...

What a storm that was!

Yesterday morning it rained from around 5:00am to 10:00am. We had been parked up behind the Fairgrounds buildings near the town of George West and we were on high ground so didn't have any problems.

But when we left, and headed to Choke Canyon State Park, we saw that some areas, including the park, did have some problems.

Perfect spot for a night

We packed up yesterday morning and headed out from Lake Corpus Christi State Park. A good visit, but four nights was long enough.

We headed north towards San Antonio. With most people on the I-35, we stayed to the secondary roads.

Private, Keep Out, No Trespassing, Beware of Dog

We went for a bike ride yesterday morning. It seemed like longer, but it was only for an hour. Still, we got 15 kms (9.3 miles) done. It sure is enjoyable to ride decent quality bikes.

From Lake Corpus Christi State Park, we rode outside the park boundaries to the small lake-shore community of Lake City.

Missing the sunshine

During the four months we were in Mexico, almost every single day was blue sky and sunshine. Now that we have crossed the border, it seems the weather changed immediately. It hasn't even been a week since we crossed, but we are missing the sunshine already!

However, our batteries and solar panels are still keeping us powered up.

Work Camper Position at Cabri Regional Park

This is the park that we managed for four summers in a row. So we're just helping them out by advertising that they are looking for some help. You never know who might be reading!

They're looking for a work camper, single or couple.

Here's the deal...

Some bird watching at Lake Corpus Christi State Park

It was supposed to be cloudy with sunny breaks yesterday, but the sunny breaks never came. We never saw the sun all day. And, they were calling for rain showers after lunch.

So, with overcast skies we set out on a morning walk to do some bird watching.

Relaxing at Lake Corpus Christi State Park

That's what we're doing for the next four days!

Yesterday morning, we left Freer, Texas and headed towards the thriving town of Alice, Texas. Found a place near downtown to park Sherman, and went for a walk to see what there was to see.

Back on our own...

Well, we are on our own again. Everybody said goodbye to each other yesterday morning and we each went our separate ways. After spending four months traveling with a group of other RV's, it's a little different to be heading off on your own.

And so with no schedule to keep, (other than being at Austin, Texas airport on the morning of the 19th) we set off a little later than normal, headed in the direction of Lake Corpus Christie State Park.

March Expenses and 4 month Mexico Expense Review

Well, we just ended four full months in Mexico. So, a good time to go over our expenses with you for that period.

But first, let's start with the month of March itself. We had a good month financially. We spent a total of $1,461 CAD ($1,100 USD) for the month. But, I need to caution that does NOT include campground fees which were covered by the RV Caravan group that we ran.

Just a relax day with some rain.

Yesterday was a lazy day. We woke up to rain, for the first time in four months. And cold. And windy. I think we all wished we had stayed in Mexico.

The rain was actually kind of refreshing. Didn't mind that, and we had electric heat inside the motorhome, so we were toasty warm. The rain let up around 10:30am and we figured we had better go out and get some fresh air.

Crossed the border yesterday...

And we are now back in the United States.

We had a good night's sleep in the parking lot at Garcia Caverns and we headed out at 8:00am. We had to make our way around Monterrey, and we took the very expensive cuota (toll road) to do it. Cost was 196 pesos ($10 USD, $13.50 CAD) to do the 20 km (13 mile) stretch. But, the road was in great shape and not much traffic. Worth it to avoid the Monterrey traffic.

Visit to Garcia Caverns

Yesterday, we headed from Saltillo to Garcia Caverns. Just a short drive of 83 kms (52 miles), but it involved a bit of bad roads going through the town of Garcia.

Ruth and I had been to Garcia Caverns our very first winter RV'ing in Mexico. At the time, we had camped out for the night in the parking lot at the base of the caverns. We figured we would be fine doing the same thing with the group, and we were.

We don't splurge very often

Yesterday morning, we took the group to central Saltillo. It's not the most exciting city, but the central area is still worth a visit in our opinion.

Some of us walked both ways, about 3 kms (1.8 miles) each way, and others took Uber.

Getting close to the border

Yesterday was the longest drive of our four month trip. We did 375 kms (232 miles) yesterday. Normally, that would be a super long day of driving in Mexico, but the route between Zacatecas and Saltillo has long straight stretches of 4 lane highway, so you are able to do most of it at highway speeds.

We set out at 8:00am with slightly overcast skies...

Well, our Mexico RV Caravan trip is winding down

Yesterday was a relax day. We never left the Hotel/RV Park. Puttered around, checked the tire pressure... had a nap... that kind of thing. We had been in need of a relax day, especially since today is a long travel day.

We only have three more nights in Mexico!