West Coast to East Coast USA(Fort Stockton to Orlando )-17th - 25th April 2012.

Fort Stockton was a town that  we would describe as being very tired.  The RV park typified it in our opinion. It  was the cheapest so far at $15 per night  but as you can see by the photograph that is all it was worth, as it was very, very basic.

RV park- Fort Stockton

We were pleased that after Fort Stockton  the road (I10) started to improve, therefore we decided not to go to Laredo and kept on track heading towards New Orleans passing San Antonio.  This part was horrific to drive through  which  was a bit like the Phoenix roads, so many lanes  and very busy.  We ended up in a town called  Schulenberg for the night at an RV site just off the I10.  We did not want to venture as far as Houston at this stage as going through one major city was enough.  The RV site we found was  quiet and peaceful and after our bad experience we had previously of the  other RV sites we both approved of the site.  As the name of this town suggests it was settled by Czech and German settlers in the 1800's and had a very unique feel to the town as the architeture was very Czech and German as was the many places of interest and roads etc.

The next day we headed for Baytown, just outside Houston and reached the East Coast at the KOA (Camp of America) RV site.  It was a stunning site on Galveston Bay overlooking the sea, we got a sea view plot so were really pleased.  The hospitality was fantastic as they offered  Steve to take  their car a mile down the road so that he could go and get some fishing bait from the local shop.  It was well worth it as the sites jetty was a good fishing spot and kept Steve entertained for hours.  He caught loads of fish, Croakers, Catfish, and a large Bream which Steve delightfuly cooked for me.

 RV on the sea by Galveston bay

Our tea!

We would have stayed longer but we knew we had a deadline to meet in order to deliver the RV to Orlando and still had a long journey ahead of us.  We were starting to enjoy the scenery alot better,  as Texas was getting greener and the roads were slightly better as each mile passed  driving eastwards.  We stopped off at Lake Charles just outside Houston which was an absolute picturesque lake.  This is where the RV came in handy, preparing lunch in beautiful settings.

Lake Charles- Near Houston Texas

Our next stop was a place near  Lafayette called Frog city  which was right next to the I10.  We only stopped overnight as Steve had done enough driving for the day.

The following day we  finally arrived in New Orleans, where we had booked into an RV park about 15 minutes drive from New Orleans central attractions (even though the website did say it was in the centre).  The site was once again neat and tidy so it was great to see the improvement since the beginning of our journey. We found out through the locals that the site had been six feet under water only  a few years earlier when Hurricane Katrina had devestated most of the city and the state of Louissiana.

We had arrived late afternoon on a very hot day, the sky was even more spectacular by the USAF Air display by the Blue Angels.  The noise was unbelievable as they flew right above the RV.  We loved being right in the middle of it.

The RV park offered a shuttle service into the centre of New Orleans so we decided to  do a bit of site seeing on  both of the nights we were there.  All we can say about New Orleans is it is one of our favourite cities, because of the hustle and bustle  of people and atmosphere, music and partying come to mind.  We mostly spent our time around the French Quarters, Decataur  Street which had little quaint squares and narrow streets   and 200 year old architecture.  There were lots of shops ,bars and restaurants with live music playing in most of the bars, blues, jazz etc.  On Saturday nights they have an outdoor market which sold lots of artistic products, some made by local artists.  Special bars were set up so people were just walking around with cocktails or beers in their hand, but still very civilised.

New Orleans market- local produce; Alligator heads 

Local delicacy- Gators on sticks

New Orleans- Margaretta Bar

Locals dancing to the Blues band- New Orleans

French Quaters- New Orleans

New Orleans was one of the best cities on our travels so far and we  hope that one day we will be able to go back again.  However with still 700 miles to go we set off travelling through Mississippi. Before stopping off  near Mobile, Alabama we stopped for lunch at Biloxi Beach on the Gulf Coast, this reminded us of some of the beaches we saw in Australia,just  as beautiful, with clear white powdery sand.

Biloxi Beach on the Gulf Coast

Biloxi Beach on the Gulf Coast

After leaving Alabama, we entered Florida and suffered our third time change in one week and started Eastern Standard time (only 5 hours behind the UK). Also the roads took on a new feeling as they were poor on the I10 in Lousisana and steadily improving  to a great standard in Florida.  This made our lives much easier in the RV and after a good day travelling we arrived as planned in Tallahassee in Florida at their KOA site.  The site had every amenity , but no people!( Apparently it is only busy when the football season is on and Tampa play at home) So we relaxed and both fished in the camp pond, my first attempt of lake fishing, not much luck on this occasion. 

As we had to get the  RV back  in excellent condition for the morning of the 25th we decided to stay in a  KOA RV park really close to the depot, this site had a nice little outdoor pool so it was a great way to spend our last and twelth night in the RV.

So 2,337 miles, 12 days later and having crossed  through seven states, plus three time zones we were pleased to give the RV back with ourselves and the RV all in one piece.

We only  passed through Houston and San Antonio on this occassion as we are going back there in June to meet  up with some friends,when Bailey's Tours do Texas!

Baileys Tours West Coast to East Coast USA ; Road Trip 3; Phoenix, Arizona, Via New Mexico and into Texas (Fort Stockton)

Having had a great road trip so far to Phoenix by car, an opportunity came our way through Cruise America RV company to take one of their Rv's through to Orlando, Florida. Never being one to look a gift horse in the mouth I decided as the designated driver on our 'Tour' to explain fully to Viv the co pilot, all the benefits!!! Basically it sold itself as all we have to do is put petrol in it and drive it to Orlando by th 25 th of April. So basically it was to coin a phrase a 'no brainer' as both of us have always wanted to drive across the States from East to West and here was another 'Once in a lifetime opportunity ' coming our way.





Map of the two states we have been through today (lost two hours in two days due to the time change)

We collected the 'standard ' RV ,(5.3 litre ,Ford V8!) late afternoon on Friday the 13 th of April, so already our fingers were crossed due to the date.

Our RV

Highway 10- Phoenix

Also we knew we would have to be very strict with ourselves knowing we have 12 days to cover the best part of 2500 miles as we have picked out one or two places off the normal route to visit. By the time it had reached 4.00pm the signs were not looking good as Cesar the person in charge of our vehicle was still trying to find out where it was and was working on 'Mexican' time. He then started telling me about his favourite English soccer team, Manchester United, so the afternoon was not going at all well. By the time we left it was like A Grand Prix, with me trying to negotiate a lane to get in to out of th six available going East! We stuck with the Interstate 10 and since Friday we have travelled East through;;

1,Southern Arizona (Desert)

2 New Mexico (High Desert )

3.Western Texas (Semi Desert)

and completed 740 miles, each day we've done a little bit more . However it has not helped us by travelling through two time lines, so now we are only six hours behind the Uk.

High Desert with a few trees (this was rare)

Desert

More desert

We have seen some magnificent desert landscapes with some superb examples of Mesas and Buttes, stayed in four completely different towns and Rv sites. (We were really spoilt in New Zealand and  Australia, what we have experienced so far in America RV parks have been dumps) We've gone through Apache Country, and also been stopped twice by the USA border patrol who randomly stop you and search your vehicle for illegal 'Mexican' imports. To say we have both had enough now of dry, arid, inhospitable dusty countryside would be a complete understatement. However as we have kept reminding ourselves  and quote once again  from our  Ausie friend Barry's when we were all down and out in China. 'Its not the destination,its the journey'!!!

But there has been one fantastic place we both were completely thrilled to have gone out of our way to see;  TOMBSTONE, Arizona....

Tombstone really physically surpised me as it was 4350 feet in altitude-; 346 feet higher than higher than Ben Nevis (and really cold, especially on the evening)

When we arrived on Saturday evening , the sun was setting and we sauntered down the one and only street and it was as if we had gone back in time to an 1870.s western town. We walked past where the famous gunfight took place at the OK Coral, went into the Birdcage (bar,casino,theatre and Bordello) This was brilliant as it has been left in its original state from the 1880's and has photographs, memorabelia and antiques all dating back from when Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Lilly Langtry and hosts of others all visited and used the facilities. We then ended up in Big Nose Kate's bar (She used to be the wife of Wyatt Earp) and saw where the caretaker dug his own silver out of the seam below the bar and claimed it as his- but was later caught and shot for it ! Boothill Cemetery , where all but six of the famous residents were buried is another place all within walking distance from our RV site too.

Everyone was dressed as cowboys/girls except for us

Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday original card table

So today 16th April 2012) we landed in Fort Stockton, the fourth biggest town out of the ten we have seen we have gone through over the last 700 miles . On paper it is a   busy town of 8000 people, with so many Motels, mostly empty too. (One had recently lost its whole roof to a Tornado-again unusual but always possible in this part of the world.) The devistation caused by it does not do itself justice in photographs, but you will get a feel of the surrounding area.

Roof blown off at the holiday Inn

FT Stockton- Texas USA (This picture makes it look quite good but this town has seen better days)

So tomorow we leave with still 1650 miles to go, on a bit of a detour to the greener climate of South Eastern Texas, probably with another famous western town on our hit list; Laredo,,but  right on the Mexican border.  So far it is one of those trips where you say 'Beam me out of here Scotty'- not our favourite trip so far to date , but things can only get better ! (We Hope !!)

Baileys Tours do Vegas!

8th - 11th of April 2012.

Two hours later we were in the centre of Las Vegas, Steve had researched previously what hotels were in the centre and The Flamingo  seemed favorable as it had a tennis court !.  We rang up whilst driving to see if there was any room but they only had smoking rooms left so they recommended Bally's next door. (This actually had 8 tennis courts and we later found out  had an ex pro in charge, who Steve got to know quite well)  By 8-30 we were sat having a meal in the casino, and ended up having a little flutter on the machines before finally going to go to bed about 4am.

Bally's- Las Vegas

As we'd had a really good first night, we decided to say another!(Surprise ,surprise !!) The hotel deal we ended up with was brilliant at $60 per night for a four star hotel right on the strip. It also had live free entertainment nightly and loads of restaurants and fast food outlets for us to choose from. Coupled with that it had excellent tennis facilities and a really large pool complex, so both Steve and I were in no rush to leave. We went through the same decision making process each morning; Should  we stay or should we go?? was the key question ! So in summary the daily format was quite simple until we left on the 12th of April; Get up , go to the pool , rest/sleep , swim , play tennis at 6.00pm and go back to get ready for our evening entertainment ! Poor Steve couldn't cope as he realised that as well as us both loving the shows and the atmosphere of Vegas , I was loving gambling and trying my luck ! (When you add on also that all the drinks you wanted were free, it did lead us to having an even better time than we thought possible.)

Viv outside Ceaser's Palace

Favourite machine, wheel of fortune, but lost!

We left on the 12th of April for Phoenix and really enjoyed the drive down through the mountains and desert areas of Northern Arizona . The 290 miles to Phoenix was covered easily in 5 hours as the roads were great ,but apart from Kingsman and Wickenburg there was no other towns to stay in -worth bearing in mind if anybody fancied doing the same trip at times we felt very isolated.

Steve smiling as he thought we were going leaving1

Steve when he had enough of me gambling

Road Trip 2-Baileys Tours- West Coast to East Coast USA

7th April to 1st of May 2012.

The second part of our trip was to head east, towards as yet an unknown destination by the 1st of May. A very exciting prospect and one that has so far worked out very well for us on our travels so far.

Our first aim was to head towards Death Valley National Park.  Just after leaving San Simons we climbed up the road through the mountains towards Pasa Robles. It was a glorious day again and we stopped on the top at a viewing point, looking over the Pacific Ocean for the last time on our tour, watching eagles  swirling high above us looking for some unsuspecting prey.

View overlooking the pacific- Pueblo Robles Mountain

We continued on the road towards Bakersfield and the surrounding landscape was full of  wineries.  The amazing thing we discovered that some of them had oil pumps within the middle of the vines which were still active.  Lucky owners!

Winery with oil pump

After the winery landscape, we had to then travel through miles and miles of fruit trees. The landscape started to get vey arid and highland landscape with little vegetation.  We travelled a full day before reaching Mojave which was now in the desert.  We stopped for one night  as we planned to go to Death Valley as our next destination.  The next day   was a very interesting journey as the roads got quieter and quieter, in fact  at one point we were by  ourselves on the road for at least an  hour, towards Ridgecrest,through Trona where we stopped at an Elk club for a coffee .We met an interesting volunteer who explained how basically the whole area is famous for its US missile production and testing .That was probably why there was  not a bird animal or human in sight ! The temperatures slowly  increased to 32 degrees which felt very hot inland at midday.

We reached  a tourist spot called Death Valley  Junction  at  lunch time,  which was an ideal place to stop for lunch.  We were quite amazed as there were loads of people, we wondered where they had all come from since we had not seen anything for miles.  Situated there was one hotel and a RV park and restaurant all in the middle of a small desert area.

We stopped for about an hour at  and then headed towards Death Valley where  we were planning to stop for a  night or two.  The drive had fantastic views of sand dunes, colorful marbled rocks with mountains everywhere in the back ground.  (The sort of place artists would wish to stop in order to paint award winning paintings of landscapes) We drove for about another hour before stopping off a place Badwater famous for being the lowest point below sea level at 194 feet and having the highest ever temperature recorded in the USA. We walked on the salt flats and looked around us at the valley sides -another amazing place, especially if you are into Geology.

Death Valley

Mountains hat weere amazing = Death Valley National Park

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Standing next to lots of sand dunes near Death Valley

Bad Waters

Car temperature 37 degrees at 5pm in land- phew very hot1!!!

We got back in the car and the temperature had reached 37 degrees Centigrade , so we continued our journey  with our windows open . Even though we had been driving  for a while and it had reached 5pm there was no choice  but to keep going. Death Valley National Park is huge, one of the biggest in the USA and 45 minutes later   the next place we could have stopped was called Soshane .We stopped for a drink but it had one hotel, and was very isolated.  We both sat and looked at each other, it was quite amazing we were both thinking the same thing and said ; How far is it to Las Vegas?  we checked it out and it was only 87 miles and would take about one and a half hours.(  Why waste money staying in a one horse town when we could be in Vegas that night.?) Our mind was made up and that was our next destination.

Steve standing on the salt deposit on Bad Water

Hotel just outside Death Valley National Park
(This is where we made the decison to go to Las Vegas)

Road Trip 1;Bailey's Tours do CALIFORNIA'S COAST .

West Coast USA .San Francisco to San Simeon ( 5th to 7th April 2012.)

We picked the car up from the centre and started off on our road trip with the aim of a giving ourselves a week to get to Phoenix, which was about 1200 miles. Coming out of San Francisco seemed to be buiser than we expected with 5 lanes of very busy traffic. We would never have managed without a sat nav .

Our first planned stop was Monterey which was not very well signposted. We stayed in the Comfort Inn for one night which was quarter of a mile of Montererey Fishermans Wharf. It had a very quaint marina, famous for having the first Mexican Custom House, you could see it was owned by the Mexicans at one time as it had a large Mexican influance.

Montererey Fishermans Wharf

As we walked closer to the marina we heard thesound of sea lions which at first sounded like quite large dogs howling. Nearby there was a fairly large colony resting on some decking. There must have been about 20-30 sea lions resting very close to each other. There was also a few sea otters showing off near the peers too.   It is a place we could have stayed another night at least but there was still so much to see and do.

Sea lions sun bathing on the decking

Our next destination was to drive the famous West Coast, heading for Los Angeles which we were told was a must do. The first part of the journey we did the 17 mile drive Pebble Beach and Del Monte Forest which was a circular route costing $10 for the toll. There was 21 stop off points all surrounding three golf courses one of which Jack Nicholas had played. The views at the points were stunning and in between there were houses that obviously belonged to millionaires. Many of the houses had a a grand spanish architectual influence.

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All photos above are on the 17 mile pebble beach  circular route

We then followed the west coast through the Big Sur which had an absolute wow factor the road ran along the beautiful coast with fantastic beaches and views.We did not think it could get any better than what we have seen so far on our travels within New Zealand and Australia but this was equally as fantastic if not better. The windy roads ran for a bout 75 miles along the coast. Once on the road beside the lookouts, there were not a lot of places to stop to do photo shoots and we found only three places in total that you could stop for bed and breakfast which were expensive for what they were .(Between $100-200 per night ).

The Big Sur coastal route

The Big Sur coastal route

Our hired car stopped off on one of the lookouts

On our journey we passed  the famous Hearst Castle, where we saw more colonies of sea lions that took up the whole beach. It was like looking at Bondi Beach but instead of people, just sea lions.

Sea lions on the beach

We finally found a place in San Simion at the end of the Big Sur as even though it had been a leisurely drive we had been on the road for about 7 hours. San Simion had about 6 hotels and one restaurant, plus a lovely surfing beach. However it is famous for the large earthquake that took place there in 2003 that measured 6.5 on the richter scale.  We only stayed one night at Sam Simion and loved our journey south so far. However having both been to Los Angeles before, we decided to explore the inland and that night roughly planned our trip east, saying goodbye to some fond memories of the west coast USA.