Journey to SXSW – Home Stretch

The SXSW Epic Journey: Lake Havasu City to Austin  (click to enlarge)

Wally’s been bugging me to start planning my SXSW events, so since our cell coverage has been declining, we’ll summarize our remaining stops . . .

• March 5 – Saddleback Mountain RV Park, Balmorhea, TX (Elevation 3200’)
• March 6 – South Llano River State Park, Junction, TX (Elevation 1700’)
• March 7 thru 9 – Inks Lake State Park, Burnet, TX (Elevation 1300’)
• March 10 thru 19 – Pecan Grove RV Park, Austin, TX (Elevation 500’) – SXSW !!!

We’ll try to get more photos and stuff before we arrive in Austin.

So far we’re going to the

• Austin Music Awards on Sunday, March 12,
• a free cocktail hour hosted by Looking Forward with Madison on March 13 (simply an excuse to drink & eat free),
• KPOP Night Out – I’d really like to see  Yoonmirae and Hyolyn because she’s hot, she sings incredibly, and she’s hot.
• more coming

In the planning stages . . .

March 20 thru 23 – San Antonio
March 24 thru 31 – Port Aransas

Journey to SXSW – Part 4: A “Mullet” RV Campground

The 4th stop on our way to SXSW . . .

COACHLIGHT INN & RV PARK (Las Cruces, NM / Elevation 3900’)

MULLET Definition – “Business in the Front. Party in the Back”.

We’ve seen several RV parks like the Coachlight Inn — a formal hotel in the front and an RV park in the back.

We love the Coachlight!

Coachlight Inn & RV Park

Campground Notes:

• Funky (see photos below)
• Inexpensive ($20 a night)
• Located right off I10. Easy in, easy out.
• Couldn’t connect to the park’s WiFi.
• Cell coverage: Verizon 4G (10+ Mbps).

Campground Photos:

Insulation? Radiation protection?

Star Trek Shuttle Craft?

Radio Free Las Cruces?

NEXT STOP: Balmorhea, TX

Journey to SXSW – Part 3: Benson & Tombstone, AZ

The 3rd stop on our way to SXSW . . .

COCHISE TERRANCE RV PARK (Elevation: 3600’) – By the way, almost every local business has “Cochise” in its name.

Campground Photos:

Flirt Contemplates the Laundry Building

Turquoise & Terra Cotta – Yep, we’re in the Southwest

Campground Notes:

• A really, really, really nice campground. Modern facilities, friendly staff, well-planned sites, great dog walk through a wash, laundry, showers, pool, hot tub, . . . and they gave us free tickets to the campground dinner that night. Jeez! All for a whopping $25 per night (with Escapees discount).
• Beautiful views of the mountains and, of course, those superb AZ sunsets.
• However, like most RV parks, the WiFi was sketchy.
• Cell coverage: 4G (5 Mbps)

TOMBSTONE

On the advice of a fellow camper, we took an afternoon trip to Tombstone which is about 25 miles south of Benson, AZ.

We weren’t expecting much . . . some history mixed with Western schlock and expensive, bad food. You know – a tourist trap.

And we were so right, but we loved it because it was so over the top.

It all started when we bought tickets to a “gunfight” . . .

She Just Had To

NEXT STOP – Las Cruces, NM

Journey to SXSW – Part 2: Boondocking @ Painted Rock Petroglyph Site

Painted Rock Petroglyphs (click to enlarge)

The 2nd stop in our trip to SXSW . . .

PAINTED ROCK PETROGLYPH SITE (Elevation 600’)

Parker, AZ to Painted Rock (click to enlarge)

We thought it would be fun to boondock for one night. Boondocking is staying somewhere where there are no water, electric, or sewer hookups — for example, camping in a Walmart parking lot or in the middle of the desert (like Painted Rock). We camped in Site 30.

Painted Rock Campground

Jan and I made sure our motorhome’s on-board water tank was full and that our holding tanks were drained. We hoped we had enough juice in our batteries.

We didn’t.

After watching about an hour of TV, we watched our battery voltage drop and drop . . . 12.4, 12.3, . . . (11.9 volts is as low as you should go).

So we shut everything off, including power to our residential fridge, hoping for the best.

At 3:30 AM our AGS (Auto Generator Start) system started up. When battery voltage drops too low, our motorhome’s generator fires up automatically in order to recharge the batteries. However, we turned off our generator because the park doesn’t allow running them after 8 pm.

Then we went back to bed.

As luck would have it, when we woke up, we were able to recharge our batteries in short order.

We’d like to boondock again, but later rather than sooner.

Campground Notes:

• Bring plenty of water and electricity
• The desert landscape and night sky are beautiful
• Cell coverage: Verizon 4G speeds

Campground Photos (click to enlarge):

Next Stop — Benson, AZ

Journey to SXSW – Part 1: Parker, AZ

We plan on arriving in Austin, TX for SXSW on March 10. Here’s how we’re getting there . . .

CASTLE ROCK SHORES (Elevation 400’)
It took us under an hour to get from Crazy Horse Campground in Lake Havasu City to Castle Rock Shores.

A few years ago we had stopped here to check the place out. We liked its location on the Colorado River so we camped there for two nights (February 27 & 28).

Campground Notes:

• The road into the campground was full of potholes. It was like driving on the surface of the moon. On this basis alone I’d be hesitant to come back.
• Also, our first impression of campground management was not good. The guy in the office sent us to a site that wasn’t vacant. However, we did end up in a better site.
• We couldn’t use the 50A service at out site because one of the power legs was out. So 30A it was.
• Even though our site was right across from the clubhouse, our view was still very good.
• Our campground neighbor’s car alarm (?) went off several times during our first nice.
• Cell coverage: Verizon 3G speeds

Campground Photos:

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