Gracias Grandpa Garcia...

After the formalities of establishing residency, obtaining our new driver licenses and updating our health and vehicle insurance in Livingston, TX, we headed for Alice, TX for the more enjoyable portion of our Texas "detour" to visit some of Shonah's relatives.  In addition to seeing Shonah's grandfather and Uncle Ruben in Alice, we also took Grandpa Garcia on a day trip to San Antonio for a visit with Shonah's sister Stacy, her husband Jeff and one of their children Jeffery.

Jeffery, Jeff, Grandpa, Stacy, Shonah



Stacy and Shonah

 

 

 

 

We ended up spending about a week and a half parked in Grandpa's driveway where we enjoyed his company, watched him play billiards in a local tournament (he still plays competitively 3-4 nights a week), shared meals together, went to the town's Cinco de Mayo celebration and worked on some (actually a lot of) projects for our vehicle.  Todd quickly learned that Grandpa Garcia has a very well equipped and huge garage which made it so much easier to finish our projects.  If Todd even mentioned a tool, Grandpa said, "Oh I got one of those somewhere" and off he went to look for it.  After adding an extra set of slides to our box on the back of the truck, we decided to remove the rear crew cab seats to make space for additional storage and organization.

Driver's Side Rear Seat Storage

Passenger's Side Rear Seat Storage

Next we made a flip out foot rest for one of our bench seats to make tv watching more comfortable (albeit we only watch tv maybe once a week, but still worth it).

Flip Out Foot Rest

Flip Out Foot Rest with Cushion

We then made a quick mounting shelf to hang our bbq grill and prep surface off the side of our box and then adjusted the window security screens previously made in Cleveland to fit more snugly.


Our Quick and Dirty BBQ Grill Shelf & Prep Surface

Front Window Screen Security

Rear Window Screen Security

Texas Bound...

Leaving Copper Mountain behind, we headed South toward Texas.  Our general travel goal is to avoid interstates and opt for the more scenic route.  This prompted us to head through Leadville, Colorado where the discovery of gold in 1860 sparked the Colorado gold rush.  Leadville's mining history of gold, silver, copper, zinc and molybdenum also produced a number of interesting characters such as Horace Tabor, "Baby Doe", the Guggenheims, Marshall Fields and the unsinkable Molly Brown.  After a quick stroll through town, we continued our journey South to the Great Sand Dunes National Park located in the Sangre de Cristo mountains near Mosca, Colorado.  The dunes, North America's tallest, are about 755 feet tall.



Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado







Those little specs in the middle are people hiking to the top.



Shonah at the summit



Deer near the Great Sand Dunes

We spent 2 nights camping near the Great Sand Dunes enjoying the hiking, the nearby Zapata waterfall and wildlife before continuing on toward Texas.  Our route took us through the corner of New Mexico where we spent a night in the Carson National Forest before entering Texas.  As we entered Texas, we were greeted with large open plains and herds of white tailed deer and elk.



Herds of white tailed deer and elk in Texas



Herds of white tailed deer and elk in Texas

Our first stop in Texas was Lake Meredith National Recreation Area where we spent 2 nights camping in different locations and finally enjoyed some mountain biking and heat.



Sunset at one of our camping spots in Lake Meredith

Todd mountain biking on a sand trail

Todd fixing a flat after running over too many cactus (nopales)

Just like Looney Toons - a roadrunner crossing the road (fast)



The small vehicle by the lake is our EarthRoamer in our camping spot

Camping on Lake Mededith

Leaving Lake Meredith, we were now headed for our new official residence in Livingston, Texas.  We originally had become "residents" of South Dakota on the way back from Colorado in January, however, due to a combination of health care and vehicle insurance costs, decided it would be better to become Texas "residents".  Both Texas and South Dakota cater to the full time traveler with easy residency requirements and huge mail forwarding companies that will receive,
then forward your mail anywhere you travel.  So off came the South Dakota "STEV" (Shonah and Todd's Expedition Vehicle) plates and on went the new "boring" Texas plates.

Next stop...  Alice, Texas where we visit Shonah's Grandfather.