Delaveaga -- Day 340

Many of you know that I like to disc golf. For me, it's a particularly special sport, because it can be enjoyed simultaneously by people of varying skill levels. It's a chance to walk around outside, talk with your friends, and throw stuff really hard.

One of the cool things that I like to do is find new courses to play. When we lived in Dallas, we used to drive all over the city looking for new disc golf adventures. Now that we're travelling more widely, the opportunities for disc golf are more widespread, but not always easy to make happen. Fezzik is not the best vehicle in which to explore cities, and disc golf courses seem to end up in some pretty interesting, and hard to get to places. Remember Taylor Mountain?

I have compiled a wishlist of courses that I would like to play one day. I haven't updated it much, since we were stationary all summer and I was limited to the practice basket that I bought from Amazon. Now that we're back on the road, I dusted off the bag and got to check off one of the great courses of the USA.

Delaveaga

It's hard to explain the excitement that I felt when I realized that we were going to be in the vicinity of this course. I have learned that often proximity doesn't equal opportunity, and that is just part of being an adult. But this time the stars were aligned, because all of my new friends also happened to like disc golf, and have vehicles that can navigate the treacherous highway 9 through Santa Cruz to get to the park. It's like the universe WANTED me to play Dela. (Dela is what all the cool kids call it.)

The tall trees, and elevation changes made it a truly challenging course. Having all of my friends with me made it a memorable experience, and I wish I had taken a bunch of pictures. I didn't throw as well as I would have liked, being rusty from not practicing enough. But it was still a great time, and one that I will remember forever.

My buddy bought this disc as a souvenir

The moral of the story for me is: sometimes expectations set you up for disappointment. But sometimes the reality, while different from the expectations, will be so much better! I would have loved to play the most amazing round of my life at Dela, but really just being there and sharing it with my friends was the best day of disc golf I've had in a long, long while.

Now I have to find the next course to add to my wishlist, since a spot has opened up.

The Best Laid Plans -- Day 138

I had this entire entry written, but couldn't post it because we were not in a service area -- and then it got deleted. Which is particularly funny to me, since the title becomes more significant.

When we started this journey, there was no end destination in sight. The road was the goal, and we had accomplished it. The new plan was to figure out how to keep the vision going. I figured that with careful planning and budgeting, I could probably make our money last for a year.

Things that I didn't account for in our budget (that maybe I should have):

• Dad's birthday
• RV Bootcamp
• Losing a sideview mirror
• My birthday
• The brakes failing
• Christmas
• The Great Data Crisis
• Jason's 21st birthday

 Unexpected experiences are a part of life, and the lessons that we learn along the way make us who we are. I don't regret any of the things that we spent the money on, or the life lessons that we picked up along the way. But now, faced with depleted resources, we had a decision to make: was it time to draw this chapter of our life to a close?

"Flow like water" ~ Bruce Lee

When you are flowing like water, your path changes many times. This lesson applies so broadly in my life, from our financial situation to our travel itinerary.

Anya took on the task of finding us jobs, while I tried to rework the budget to stretch our dollars "until the eagle screams" (credit to my wise father for that turn of phrase.) Online searches for opportunities yielded lots of results, but not many that would work for us. We have some needs beyond the financial, and we believe that the perfect job will meet all of them. Encouraged by this initial foray, we planned to continue our westward trek, still chasing that warmer weather.

Hiking the trail through Bull Canyon.
Posted by Anya Phenix on Monday, March 7, 2016

We left Lake Arrowhead in high spirits, spent a couple of amazing nights at Copper Breaks State Park, and got refreshed by nature and rejuvenated during our time of being unplugged. We had planned to hit up Caprock Canyon and then stay at Palo Duro Canyon for a week, where we were going to really delve deep into nature, and commune with the buffalo. However, having disconnected so completely from society, I was unaware that we were running into Texas Spring Break crowds, and both of the campgrounds that we were going to visit were full. So much for my careful planning!

I love the silhouettes of the branches against the sunset sky.
Posted by Anya Phenix on Monday, February 29, 2016

My hours of meticulously planning out the trip, mileage, driving conditions, and budget all went out the window. When am I going to learn that on this journey, when you wake up you may not know where you are going to sleep that night? Gazing into my crystal ball (Samsung Galaxy S6) I sought the answer to our dilemma.

For anyone that is going to take a trip in an RV, or anyone that likes to go camping, I highly recommend the AllStays app. Using it, we traced a new route, still westerly (albeit more northerly than before) and found a few places that would offset the extra gas by actually being cheaper (a couple were even FREE.) The silver lining in this cloud and the confirmation that we were on the right path: three of the four new stops featured 18-hole disc golf courses!

Gone were the canyons, but say hello to small town Texas!

We spent three nights in Childress, which had a beautiful city park with a great disc golf course, a playground, and great LTE coverage. This facilitated the job search, and we actually got to do a phone interview while we were there.

Posted by Anya Phenix on Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Our next stop was the McClellan National Grassland, balancing our nature needs after three days in town. Serene in the extreme. Also had just enough cell service to get a job offer email, which we accepted. We now had an actual destination!

Posted by Anya Phenix on Thursday, March 10, 2016

Disc golf stop in Pampa, on our way to camp out in Borger. Free camping in Borger, with water and electric hookups, is a deal that can't be beaten. They also had one of the most exciting disc golf courses that I have ever played. This is a picture of me walking along hole #9, what you can't see is the canyon drop off just to the right.

Disc golfing in Borger, TX. Some of the terrain was rough, but it was also beautiful.
Posted by Anya Phenix on Saturday, March 12, 2016

After Borger, we stopped in Dumas for a night, and then Dalhart for disc golf and our final night in Texas. Having a deadline and a destination is a bit foreign to our style, but we are flowing with it. Figuring out the budget for the rest of this chapter of the trip was an interesting endeavor, trying again to balance what we had with what we need. But, as always, we know that we will always have enough, because that is the Way of Things.

Of course, this is still just more of the Best Laid Plans that are subject to change. :)

Further ... Farther? -- Day 128

I last wrote about being Unplugged while we were at Lake Mineral Wells, the outskirts of our cell reception area. Last week we were at Lake Arrowhead, near Wichita Falls, where the cell reception was intermittent at best. It’s in these times that you get the chance to rediscover the simpler things in life, like taking a sunrise walk with your daughter, or reading a good book.

We arrived at Lake Arrowhead well after sundown, the rangers in the park office had long since gone home, and I wasn’t looking forward to hiking back up from our campsite to register in the morning. The map that we picked up from the late check-in station showed a quaint little park with all of the RV sites arranged in circles of six just off the campsite driveway. Looking at the map, I instinctively picked out site 21 for it’s proximity to the bathrooms, the lake, and it’s distance from the road.

Sometimes I’m a genius, sometimes I’m just really lucky.

Zoe was up before dawn, excited to see what this park had to offer. I had already watched a promotional video (preview trailer?) of the park, so I was equally excited. Since we had to get to the office before 9am to check-in, I thought that a little walk around would be the perfect way to start the day.

Opening our front door at sunup felt like stepping through the wardrobe into Narnia. The silvery dew glinting off the soft grass looked like a velvet carpet up to the gnarled Mesquite trees hunched around the ring of campsites. Our particular site was blessed with its own path cut through the wooden sentries, leading to the road that separated the campsites from the lakeside picnic areas. The still rising sun gave a soft light that bathed Fezzik in a gentle glow, promising more warmth once its had its morning coffee. The previous campers were gracious enough to leave us with four stout logs for the fire ring, and we had the entire circle to ourselves. Just over the tops of the naked branches, you could make out the expanse of Lake Mineral Wells, and the faint calls of the gulls and coots greeting each other. What a perfect place for Anya’s birthday week!

An old pumpjack kept time as we marched down our secluded path toward the lake. The chitter of the morning birds greeted us like we were Disney princesses while we searched for our true prize -- Prairie Dog Town. Now, I’ve seen a lot of promotional videos that hype up the attractions of a state park and many will list the animals that live there. The odds of seeing these elusive creatures are usually not very good, so I was skeptical of Prairie Dog Town and its ability to impress me. What I wasn’t prepared for was the overwhleming number of praire dogs that we saw prior to reaching the actual Town. From skittish little ones to great lumbering fat ones, all barking at one another what I could only assume was the warning that THE GIANTS ARE COMING. I had hoped to catch sight of one, would have felt lucky to see two. I was completely unprepared to see twenty.

Prairie Dog Town is located toward the end of a peninsula, so we looped around the tip and walked along the shore back toward the camping area. There were about a dozen hardy fisher types out on the docks, braving the chill breeze. There were priarie dogs all along this side of the peninsula as well - in the playground, the picnic areas, and along the roadside. Zoe dashed at the flock of mixed waterfowl, laughing at their indignant squawking as they relocated themselves farther out in the water. “I really love this place,” she breathlessly confessed upon return. And I wholeheartedly agreed.

Afraid to break the magic, I reminded her that we still had to hike to the office to pay for this glorious experience, but she happily acquiesced. The walk from the shore to the park station was almost a mile along the paved road that split the dry, grassy fields dotted with more mesquite trees. We arrived at the office minutes after they had opened, and were greeted cheerfully by one of the rangers. While I took care of the reservation, Zoe gushed about how awesome the park was. She even donated her last birthday dollar to the collection box that was on the counter. The effusive ranger gratefully listed off more of the offerings of the park, including the Junior Explorer Backpack and rental fishing quipment. All of which was free. Zoe giddily clapped her hands and asked if we could go fishing. I hate fishing, but I am not a monster.

The ranger also loaded us down with stickers, jelly bracelets, temporary tattoos, an iron-on patch, a keychain, a flint arrowhead, and a magazine about the attractions of Wichita Falls. We thanked her and loaded everything into the Junior Explorer Backpack, picked up the fishing rod and tackle box, and made our way back toward our campsite. All of this after discovering that we got a discount for staying for the whole week (pay for five nights, get two nights free.)

There is even a disc golf course at the park.

Everyone agreed that this is now the best place that we have ever stayed, meeting all of our needs in all of the categories, with bonuses. Anya had a wonderful birthday that was mostly just relaxing all week, going on nature walks, communing with the prairie dogs and not fishing. Zoe and I tried a little fishing and built an awesome campfire, cooked a bunch of meat and found an LTE signal out on the fishing dock.

Life just keeps getting better and better.

Unplugged -- Day 121

I’m a pretty smart guy. I have managed to survive on this planet for over four decades and have created a couple miniature versions of myself (one male, one female -- just to see what that would be like), but I will still never understand the wizardry that is cellphones. Between the science and the economics, it is a mystery that just makes me want to move to a cabin in the woods on the edge of a lake and talk to the trees. (If you haven’t noticed, I’m halfway there already.)

We like to stay connected as much as anyone else. Maybe a little more. Okay, truth be told, my daughter and I are constantly online. It is one of our basic needs and it is her key to happiness. I have disc golf as my happy place, Anya recharges with the energy of the trees, but Zoe needs her virtual friends to find her center. When we were living in our last apartment, I paid a premium for super fast internet, opening up the entire world with a few mouse clicks. No questions went unanswered, no topic went undiscussed. We felt superior to our TV watching friends, because we didn’t have to sit through commercials -- we were the commanders of our own entertainment. Movies, TV shows, and music, all in glorious High Definition. Researching how to take this experience with us on the road led to frustration.

There are people out there that are full-time RVers that make thier living via the internet. Not just because they publish a travel blog that has advertising on it (although there are dozens of those -- you probably can’t live on those residuals alone.) They run a business of some kind, and always have a good connection. The secret? They have unlimited internet on a “grandfathered” Verizon plan. That is not helpful! What we needed was something that was going to be attainable NOW, not something that we should have done three years ago. Through trial and error, we did finally come to a solution. Remember the Great Data Crisis? Now we are online as much as we need to be. As long as we stay in the coverage area.

Trip planning has become an interesting project, as we now are trying to follow the Sprint data coverage map with stops along the way for disc golf. Online coverage maps are notoriously inaccurate, as illustrated by our experience here at Lake Mineral Wells State Park. The map says that we’re within a good coverage zone, but it doesn’t reach our actual campsite. We’re about a half mile outside the range of the tower, making for an excellent example of a First World Problem. I like to imagine Zoe telling her kids in the future about the days back when she had to hike up a mountain to get cell service.

Our backyard

Posted by Anya Phenix on Friday, February 26, 2016

We have now been here for four days, and I have learned to accept the separation. Letting questions go unaswered, trusting in my prior trip planning for the route to our next stop. I have discovered that my constant connection is a crutch that has been preventing me from finding the inner peace that I have been seeking. I have to let go of the worries of the outside world, and accept that what I have is all I need.

Learn to be content in your present situation. Where you are right now is exactly where you are supposed to be. Savor each moment as perfect. Live in the right now. When you can do that, you will find eternal peace and happiness.

I am not yet there, but I’m working on it.

Mother Neff State Park -- Day 103

It isn’t very often that I sit down to write about one particular place in which we’ve stayed, and this place will never overcome the awesomeness that is Live Oak park in Ingleside, Texas. However, the serene beauty of this hidden gem deserves a highlight, and after our short nature walk yesterday, I feel compelled to share.

We’ve stayed in quite a few State Parks here in Texas, it’s actually quite an impressive collection of properties. Many of them seem to be around one of the 6,000+ lakes that Texas boasts, and being a person that loves a good sunset over water, I find this to be quite pleasing. Mother Neff is one of the exceptions to that general rule, being situated just outside the sleepy little town of Moody (population: 1377.) Looking at it on the map, it’s just a rectangular patch of green paralleling state highway 236 just after it turns north from the Iron Bridge Wildlife Management Area.

If you had put the state parks in a lineup, or compared them by amenities, Mother Neff probably wouldn’t rate very highly. We just happened upon it because of my 150 Mile Radius Travel Card. (If you have read Day 44 you know what I’m talking about.) I swear it’s the greatest invention that I’ve had since The Technology Box (more on that later.) We had actually discovered this park earlier in our journey (check out Day 62, if you haven’t already) and we had said that we would love to come back. With our new method of deciding our intinerary, we were excited to see that Mother Neff was going to be back on the destinations list.

It’s a quaint little park, with really level concrete pads for your RV, as well as full electric, water, and sewer hookups. There are just enough trees to provide a little privacy, but they are mostly young live oaks and cedars, so there is lots of unobstructed sky to enjoy. Being so far from any major city means the stars are particularly impressive. (I’m humming “Deep in the Heart of Texas" right now.) Yesterday, we explored one of the walking trails through the dense cedar forest and just enjoyed being ALIVE and away from the constant barrage of brick-and-mortar civilization. But then we had to come back, because I couldn’t get a really good LTE signal to send out Snapchats. But it was really pretty!

Mother Neff is a beautiful place. It’s small, compared to other sprawling parks that we’ve experienced, but they make great use of the space. You don’t feel like your neighbors are too close, but you don’t feel like you’re going to get murdered without any witnesses. (I see you, Campsite 7!) The crushed pink granite makes for an interesting ground cover, and clearly delineates the safe zone, so the wild coyotes can’t eat you. At least, that’s what I’m assuming it means, your mileage may vary. Add to all of this the clean, tiled, warm bathrooms with latching shower stall doors (no more accidental shower shows for the fellow campers) and I am really impressed with this place.

Posted by Anya Phenix on Friday, February 5, 2016

I expect a good showing for this place on the next Places We’ve Stayed list, which is due to come out around Day 144, or 123 depending on which formula you’re using to predict. Personally I like rolling the dice.

Before I go, I said I would explain the Technology Box. It’s really a simple invention from the mind of my lovely travel companion. What if there was a way to keep all of the chargers, cables, and devices organized and portable? One thing that living in the RV has taught us is to be more compact and efficient with our things, and since we are heavily reliant on our technology (remember the Data Crisis?) we have lots of chargers, devices and cables to manage. The Technology Box is a modified plastic storage container with an external hard drive and a power strip with all of the chargers plugged in. It also functions as a stand for the Chromebook when it’s plugged into the TV, since the HDMI cable has to be shared with the Playstation. Looking for the controllers for the Playstation? Also in the Technology Box. Simple, genius.

Travel update: We’ll be leaving this majestic place for a little disc golf up in Waco, after which we are heading to Lake Whitney State Park. Our new travel plan is to try to fit a round of disc golf into travel day, so that we don’t have to take the rig out of the campsite after we’ve hooked up. We’ve only done it once so far, but I think I’m going to like this new itinerary. Makes our travel range a little shorter, but increases the frequency of the disc golfing.

It’s all about priorities.

I'm very lucky -- Day 86

I’m very lucky.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember that, in the face of some challenges that we have, but then I sit back and think about all of the people that have told me that they wish they could be doing what we’re doing. And you know what? They’re not wrong!

We’ve had a marvelous last two weeks, punctuated by two interesting events, The Grey Water Flood and The Data Crisis.

First, I want to emphasize how wonderful this experience has been, generally speaking. We have had lots of family time, made some interesting road friends, and gotten to feel a level of freedom that a lot of people can’t imagine. We found a really cool campsite at Riverside Park in Victoria that was both inexpensive and had a wonderfully tree-filled disc golf course, meeting the needs of just about everybody. Zoe made friends with some carnival vendors that were staying there prior to their tour, and she helped out around their campsite so much that they gave her two turtles!

“There is nothing more expensive than a free pet” ~ Sensei

Luke and Leia are red-eared sliders, and despite their steep odds of survival, they are now part of the family. I have to admit that I was not initially excited about the idea of adding two more sets of needs to our already interesting list. These turtles, particularly at their young and vulnerable age, were not going to be making much of a contribution, from my perspective. But then, when you see your child’s face light up in that special way that you know means you have done the right thing, there is no better reward. As to their odds of survival, I quote Leia’s film husband, “Never tell me the odds!”

Our second week we spent in Live Oak Park in Ingleside, TX, and it’s the most awesome place EVER. If and when I do make another list of our favorite places, this one will definitely be at the top. First, they have TWO 18 hold disc golf courses, one of which is Championship rated. Secondly, they have two playgrounds, and lighted tennis courts. But the best thing of all: it was FREE. For five days a month, you can stay in a campsite with electricty and water hookups while spending absolutely zero dollars. For some perspective, the average Texas State Park will charge you $20 per night, and the private park that we stayed at just down the road from Live Oak was $38! On the meeting needs scale, this place hit homeruns. Aptly named, Live Oak Park was filled with trees. There were hooting owls at night, and soaring vultures during the day. I played so much disc golf that I got tired of it. Literally. I think I quit after 132 holes.

The only downside to this magical place was the lack of a dumping station, which led to The Grey Water Flood.

For those of you that don’t know anything about RV systems, all of the water that you use is captured into holding tanks. The “black” tank is toilet water, while the “grey” tank is everything else. We typically don’t stay in a place longer than a week, and often will dump our tanks after just three or four days, if the facilities are available. We thought that we were going to have the opportunity to dump at Live Oak (these are things that I typically scope out on the way in) but what we thought was a dump station turned out to be something else. Since we were planning on leaving after 5 days, we figured we would be ok. But my math was bad …

I’ll spare you the nasty details, but we did lose a couple of storage boxes that were in the shower stall where the grey water had overflowed. The realization that we were flooded prompted a swift exit from Live Oak and a late night run back to Victoria, where we knew there was 24-hour access to dumping facilities. Day saved!

Two days later we hit The Data Crisis.

For a little background: we are very heavy data users. When we were living in an apartment, we didn’t have cable TV, opting instead for Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. When we moved out, it was a challenge to try to stay connected. There didn’t seem to be any mobile plans available that weren't prohibitively expensive. But Needs Must Be Met. So we supplemented our 10Gb mobile data plan with trips to parks that had WiFi. One of the things that we discovered was that it is really difficult to find a park that actually has WiFi that is fast enough to watch streaming videos. It would seem that they are figuring on an audience that is more reliant on cable television and sattelite for their entertainment needs.

Then from the darkness came a light, and it was called KarmaGo. A fairly new company, offering an unlimited data plan, capped at 5Mbps for $50 per month. Seeing the awesome potential, we opted in for an entire year, paying up front for a 20% discount. It arrived just in time for Christmas, and Zoe could not have been happier. It actually freed us from having to stay in expensive WiFi enabled parks, which completely justified the $600 cost. We blew through 100 Gigabytes of data in the two weeks (which, if calculated against based on our phone plan, would have cost us $1350!) There were some minor inconveniences, such as only being able to log three devices in at a time, and no compatibility for the PlayStation, but in the big picture: we had good, fast internet.

The bait. The switch.

After those glorious weeks of amazing internet, we received an email from KarmaGo informing us that too many people were using the device for “unintended purposes.” They didn’t realize that offering unlimited data meant that people were going to be streaming Netflix, or backing up hard drives to the cloud. What planet do these people actually live on? So their solution was to throttle the speed down to 1.5Mbps, which actually still worked for us, albeit more frustratingly. About two weeks after that, we received ANOTHER email from them informing us of the NEW structure of the “unlimited” plan which was going to be 15Gb of high speed data, followed by an unlimited of data at 128kbps. Which basically means that we would have two days of normal use before the speed was too slow to do much of anything.

Cue the panic.

I know that we are lucky to live in a place that even HAS mobile internet, and there are whole regions of the country where you can’t get a cell signal, much less have google at your fingertips. But I purposely don’t go to those places, because I love my phone. I’m always on my phone. I’ve gotten in trouble at work for being on my phone too much. And if we had never had the KarmaGo, it probably would have been better than this four week tease. The worst feeling is the powerlessness, because you know the multi-billion dollar telecom corporations really don’t care about the little guy, and are trying to maximize profits instead of service. They know that we will pay lots of money for these phone plans, so they charge us lots of money for these phone plans. I’m disgusted, but an active participant.

Exercising my priveledge, I took out my frustrations on Twitter. KarmaGo, AT&T and Sprint all responded to my situation, with apologies, investigations, and temptation respectively. Essentially, KarmaGo said, “Sucks to be you, but you can have your money back, if you want.” AT&T promised to look into my “situation” which they then followed up with a retention call, offering steep discounts on their published plans. (Because they can afford to charge you less, but they don’t.) Sprint offered to make me happy with promises of unlimited data, and money to pay off our old plans.

We needed at least to get Zoe up and running immediately, so we went to the closest Sprint store to see what they were actually talking about. As it turns out, they were ready to give us a plan that worked out to unlimited data for all of us, plus new phones (!) for the cost of what we were paying AT&T and KarmaGo. We had only planned to do the one line, to sort of test the waters before giving up the AT&T yoke that I had born for over a decade, but Sprint offered even MORE money if we switched all three lines. I’m a sucker for a good upsell, so we took the plunge.

And now, I’m so happy! We all played with our new phones late into the night, personalizing, streaming, and enjoying the new freedom of not worrying about data consumption. Crisis averted!

Back to enjoying this very lucky life that we have.

The Force Awakens -- Day 52

People want to describe me as a huge Star Wars fan, but in deference to the true fans out there, I have to confess that I’m not. Just because I own two copies of the original trilogy (the original and the digitally remastered) as well as copies of the awful prequels (just to complete the set) all of which I’ve watched multiple times, does not make me a huge fan. I know people that have Star Wars tattoos, have watched the movies HUNDREDS of times, and named their children after characters. Those are the real fans, I’m just a casual fan.

However, I was super excited to see the newest movie opening weekend with my family. Excited enough to drive away from warm, sunny south Texas 600 miles so that we could all be together. It’s all about priorities.

We did have some stops along the way, since I don’t really like to drive more than 150 miles in a day. Lake Corpus Christi State Park was gorgeous, and actually enticed us to stay two days. We had also planned a stop at Blanco State Park, but they were completely full so we pushed on to Hico (our favorite small town in Texas.) We spent four days catching up on emails, youtube, Netflix and other internet needs (because they have the best WiFi of any park we've ever seen), before the final leg that put us back at the Lake Park Campground in Lewisville. We like this campground because it’s close enough to the people we love, it’s cheap, and it has WiFi and disc golf.

Well, it usually has disc golf. Apparently there is has been some flooding prompting construction in the park and the disc golf course is closed until February! Never being one to let the circumstances get us down, I discovered another gem of a course in The Colony a short drive away. Really nice course that more than satisfied my disc golf needs. I can’t wait to share Bill Allen Memorial Park with the rest of my golfing buddies.

Nothing could temper my excitement for this movie.

Finally, Friday morning arrived and we drove Fezzik to the Irving Mall for an 11:30 AM showing of The Force Awakens. It was everything that I wanted from a Star Wars movie, and my inner child was thrilled beyond expectations. Being able to share the moment with my wife and both of my children (all of whom really enjoyed the movie as well) was icing on the cake. I offer no review, no spoilers, and no commentary on the film itself, but I encourage you to go see it. It is a fantastic experience, even for a non-fan.

Hanging out with our friends and seeing the family this week has convinced us to stick around for a little while longer. We had originally planned to leave the day after Star Wars, but now we’re going to stay through Christmas. It just seemed appropriate for the season and all.

May the Force Be With You.

Lake Corpus Christi State Park -- Day 44

After the very stressful saga of replacing the sideview mirror, we needed some serenity. Checking my atlas, I found a state park within our 150 mile travel radius, and plotted our course. What’s that you say? Why am I using a printed atlas? Where’s my sextant? Hardy-har, you! Let me backtrack a bit …

So we were in Alamo, stranded with a busted mirror. The guy said that he would have it no later than 3 pm the next day, so we looked around for a place to hang out. Fortunately, there was a Walmart about six blocks away that allowed overnight parking. Now, you may remember that we hate overnight parking at Walmart, because we had issues with our generator last time, but this time we were confident that it would be different. We had been running the genny off and on all day already, so we thought this would be a great time to use the free WiFi, get some much needed groceries, and save the cost of a camping spot.

After lunch at Carl’s Jr, and a huge shopping trip in Walmart, we settled in for the night. Genny was running good, air conditioning was pumping, WiFi was sketchy -- but better than nothing -- and everybody was happy.  We even had neighbors a few spots away in an old rig that looked like they were doing the same thing. Out of courtesy, and to save fuel, we turned off our generator when we went to bed.

In the morning, the sun was shining, the people were happy, and it was already starting to get warm. Figuring a little AC to cool off the rig was in order, I went to turn on the generator. No joy. Spinning, whining, and then a sick winding down sound was all I got. With no generator, we can’t charge our phones, which we were using heavily last night because of the WiFi. No genny also means no AC and the morning temp was already 70 climbing toward a promised 85. We now have 7 hours to kill in the black-topped, heat radiating Walmart parking lot before our mirror is due to arrive, with nothing electronic to entertain ourselves! Fortunately, we do have books and games, and with the open windows it wasn’t too bad until about one o’clock when we decided that we had to get the air moving to cool off -- for the animals. Gotta keep the pets cool, too.

Our arrival at the repair shop happened to coincide with the parts delivery truck, so we were able to get our mirror and fix it in a jiffy. Then we broke out the atlas to figure out how far we could get before we needed to camp out for the night. I have a Rand McNally Road Atlas with an index card that has 150 miles marked off, and I know that I can make that drive in one day. I realize that 150 miles may not sound like much, but for us that is the perfect amount of travel for a day. Fortunately, Corpus Christi State Park fell within our radius.

This place is magical! Not quite as serene as Inks (see my post), but also much less popular; therefore, more private. We enjoyed two gorgeous sunsets, some hiking, and a little geocaching while we were here. They even have a little WiFi that is just enough to get some emails, and let people know that we’re still alive. We liked it so much that we opted to stay for another day, just to fully recharge our soul batteries (and hopefully the genny’s battery, too.) If you ever find yourself down in Mathis, Tx, I would highly recommend a stopover at this place.

We’re leaving today to head toward Livingston, but it’s going to be two days to get there. We’d like to stop somewhere this side of Houston, because if you don’t have to drive in rush hour, you shouldn’t. My atlas says Stephen F Austin state park, or Brazos Bend state park is within reach. Or we may splurge and get a place with actual wifi.

The beauty of the decision making process is that we get to make decisions. No pressure. Do what you like, and follow your heart. (And the WiFi.)

Meeting needs -- Day 15

We've been on the road for two weeks now, and I think that we're getting it down pretty well.

Or so I thought.

This is an amazing, life-changing, epic adventure! So many new experiences and learning opportunities! We're having the time of our lives! Unless you ask each of us individually, and then you start to see the disconnect.

We have five creatures on this rig, two adult humans, one junior human, one dog and one cat. (Any other creatures are stowaways and have no voting rights.) The dog and the cat are pretty easy to satisfy, as long as they have access to food, water, love and waste elimination opportunities. The humans each have different basic needs ranging from disc golf to watching YouTube. The challenge is trying to get all of the needs of all of the beings met in a timely fashion.

Being the patriarch and course planner, it is mostly up to me to decide where we are going, and what needs are going to be met. Fortunately, my helpmate is really flexible (heh, heh) and really just needs to be around some trees. This is the easiest requirement of our nomadic, camping lifestyle! Of course, I get more points the more scenic and prolific the trees are, so I try to find really nice state parks when I can. The animals are mostly happy when Momma is happy, so there's three sets of needs taken care of with very little effort. The final two are more complicated, and require a lot more creativity and compromise.

My darling 10-year-old is a YouTube fanatic. I honestly didn't know such a thing existed, until she became one. I've spend my share of hours sitting in front of YouTube (usually trying to learn something at first and then devolving into mindless entertainment -- or worse.) But my many (many, many) hours pale in comparison to the hardened, seasoned viewing time that my lovely daughter has put in. Honestly, if there were a college degree in watching YouTube, she would have a Ph.D. She can talk for hours about Jack Septic-eye, Markiplier, SkydoesMinecraft, and others. YouTube is her source of life force energy, and without it she gets cranky, almost depressed. So, what's a girl to do when she's on the road, with no internet to speak of?

The other major entity in need of satisfaction is me. I like to think that I'm a simple guy with simple needs, but this trip has proven that to be understatement. Mostly, I don't mind sacrificing my personal happiness for the happiness of my family. I have proven that for years. The only major thing that I can't generate in any random location is my one sporting outlet: disc golf. Really just a fun hobby, it fills with me with great joy. Also a fun family activity, when I can get the girls to come with me.

So how do we reconcile all the needs of all the people? Hico, Tx. Seriously, you would think that I have a longer answer than that, but it's been pretty simple. This little town has been the answer to all of our issues, and we plan to come through here as often as possible. They have a wonderful RV park located on the Bosque River, with kickass WiFi and a disc golf course. The camping rates are reasonable, too!

Granted, this doesn't address the deeper issues that we all have, and we realize that we can't stay here forever. The bigger solution is to compromise, and rotate getting our needs met in a revolving sequence. In Hico we golf, watch YouTube, and enjoy the park. When we leave, we try to find a place that meets the needs of at least two people, and then on the next stop we meet the needs of the one that was left out. This is the compromise that we're going to try. I'll let you know how it works out.