Month: January 2013

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QUIET

I forgot what quiet sounds like… this morning was the first in way, way, way too long (months? years?) that I was able to wake up under my own steam: no cars racing by, no leaf blowers by the rig, no truck reefers, no birds chirping, nothing. Just blessed peace and quiet.

It was really foggy this morning, but the sun has come out and the batteries are charging. Gina requested a video of the surf, but there isn’t really much of it here on this quiet bay. I have made note of the request, though. 🙂

The water is surprisingly warm and with sunny highs in the low 20s for the next few days, I may actually take out my bathing suit. I’m Canadian. I can swim in 50 degree water if I have to and this water is warmer than that!

I had hoped to just stay in today, but I really do need more computer charge than I have, so I may go for a drive and check out the environs.

Saturday, I’m looking forward to a meetup with blog reader Pam, who was kind enough to accept some packages for me. “Sure, I’ll gladly accept mail for you” is one of the best gifts you can give a full-timer on the move. 🙂 Of course, general delivery is always an option, but with a house address, I can take advantage of Amazon Prime free two-day shipping.

I so wish I was American and that I didn’t have to feel on the move all the time, even when paused. In the back of my mind, I always have that little voice reminding me that there is a very long slog to make back to the border.

But I may end up going just a little further south with the rig this winter. Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, a safe border town, is just four hours away and I’m overdue to see a dentist. So I may get the rig a little closer to the border, drive there with the truck, and walk across for a day, like I did in Tijuana. At any rate, that wouldn’t be well until the end of February. I’d like to sit mostly still at home for a few weeks, rest, and let the coffers fill up again. So I don’t know how exciting the blog will be in the next few weeks, but I will share the projects I’m working on.

Reader poll, what should I do with my new wall?

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– leave it as it is
– paint it yellow
– paint it golden brown
– stain it
– some other option

I was leaning towards stain, but there is a lot of wood filler and it’s not staining as nicely as it should. So paint seems like the best option. The more I look at the wall, the more I think the side panels should be yellow like the other walls in the room and the door should be golden brown like the other solid doors. Hmm, I think I have my answer! But I’m open to suggestions. 🙂

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The Great Boondocking Experiment Starts

The time has come to truly test my new electrical system. I’m starting with a full charge, my batteries are watered, and I’m looking at a long stretch of warmth and sun. This is going to be my first attempt to truly live off grid on a fairly normal routine. The only thing missing is the DC charger for my Mac and that will be here Saturday. So I only have about another hour on my Mac tonight and an hour total tomorrow, then I’ll need to take it for a drive on Friday. Hopefully, the DC charger will work and I will have enough power to use my Mac as much as I need to!

One thing I am going to aim for is to live as much as I can by the sun. The days are short, so that won’t be super feasible, but I am going to try as much as possible to restrain my computer usage to daylight hours and use my iPad in the evenings.

I tend to spend my evenings sitting in the dark when I boondock, but I’m pretty sure that’s ridiculous with my set up. So I am allowing myself one LED light on in whatever room I’m and will see if that’s sustainable.

Finally, I have a ton of projects to do that do not require power but do require good weather. So I will attempt to spend a little less time at the keyboard and a little more time on other things while I am here, in addition to road tripping around the environs.

Well, methinks it’s time for dinner. Spinach salad, bratwurst, and sweet potato fries anyone?

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Life’s a Beach

I am not going to explicitly state where I am right now. I’m sure anyone who’s good with Google will be able to find the location, but I found this place thanks to the Texas Frugal Shunpiker Guide and I’m not going to give away this information!

Some clues:

– I am on a hard packed crushed shell public beach (I would be too nervous to park on sand)

– I am near Port Lavaca

– I can stay here as long as I please

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Rig with a view.

Rig with a view.

Standing behind my rig.

Standing behind my rig.

Life the life you've always imagined.

Life the life you’ve always imagined.

The view from my office!

The view from my office!

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Rae au pays de l’or noir

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Today’s drive was tricky to plan and I spent hours yesterday with Google Maps, my Texas Shunpiker Guide, and my GPS to find the best route. Both Google Maps and my Garmin wanted to route me straight through Houston while the Shunpiker Guide wanted to send me through Galveston. I finally came up with a route that looked pretty good and planned to solidify it once I got my hands on another Texas road map (having lost mine to a cat and coffee collision).

It was foggy when I woke up at 6:30 this morning and visibility was still poor at 7:20 when I had had my coffee and toast and was packed. I decided to hang out for a bit longer until the visitor centre opened at 8:00 so I could get the map and confirm my route. I entered the coordinates for my destination into the GPS but knew I’d be mostly on my own for this drive.

That done, I set off on I-10 westbound, stopping a few miles away at a Conoco pretending to be a Flying J. I missed the first entrance, which wound up being good as entering through the next entrance allowed me an easy exit out of the first and a much easier return to I-10.

From I-10, I took exit 798 and meandered my way down to route 35 by way of route 146. I checked the GPS a couple of times and it finally came up with a route that resembled mine, but with a few more twists.

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The Fred Hartman Bridge was very impressive!

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The first part of my day was in a world of oil refineries, hence the title of this post.

When I started to run out of road, I finally listened to my GPS and turned into… Pasadena.

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I was on Nasa Road and everything was space themed, so I figured I was near the space centre. Yup, I drove right past it! Note to self: you haven’t seen Apollo 13 in a long while.

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At some point, I passed a relic of olden days:

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Entering Bay City, I was overdue for a break, but I had been holding out for a real grocery store, passing only little food stores. So I was quite glad to pass a Walmart, where I was able to stock up on fresh fruits, veggies, meat, and beer before landing at my somewhat remote destination, saving me from having to go out tomorrow.

Port Lavaca was soon upon me:

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Today’s drive was difficult. The roads were in poor shape and I was mostly passing through towns so there was a lot of stopping and going. I really felt the toad today, my gas mileage was the pits, and I could feel both the engine and brakes working hard. It would have probably been easy to just bite the bullet and go through Houston on I-10, but I don’t regret my choice.

Just one damper on the day: I have a nice big crack in my brand new windshield. 🙁 I don’t think a glass place will be willing to fill it. Since it’s well out of my view range, I’m going to get a DIY kit and try to fill it myself before it gets worse.

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The Lone Star State

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When I received my Texas travel kit this summer, I felt a bit foolish. Sure I’ve hit some milestones, like the Chilkoot, the Dempster, a summer in Quebec, and my solar panels, but Texas had way too many variables to be a sure bet. Still, it gave me something to shoot for and if I fell short, well, there’s always next year. Dreams do not have expiration dates. And yet, against all odds, here I am! Texas was an icon of my childhood; one of my first computers was a Texas Instruments machine, so the shape of the state was close at hand for a long time.

Texas is more expensive than some of the other southwest states and wouldn’t make sense to me as a place to boondock for the winter, but it’s perfect for a pass-through journey like the one I’m having this winter. Next year, I will set my eyes on a place like Quartzite where I can drop anchor for the season or a state like New Mexico with affordable state parks. But this felt like the perfect winter for Texas and I have the Frugal Shunpiker Guide to help me keep the costs down.

It was a bit of a harrowing drive from Westwego to I-10, which I had expected. Something bizarre happened to me as I drove over the Huey Long Bridge: I got a nasty case of vertigo and felt quite ill during the drive across this very high bridge. The only thing that could explain it is that Huey was the first name of the dude who rear ended me. Yeah, that has to be it!

I-10 was a nasty 400KM stretch of rutty highway. It was really unpleasant and rough, with a lot of construction and high winds, and there were no obvious places to stop so I ended up driving straight through.

I felt quite itchy going past this town:

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(Maringouin is the québécois word for mosquito. 🙂 Do not use it this word in France, however!)

The sun was low in the sky and in my eyes by the time I got to the rest area, so I was really glad not to have to push on to the Walmart in Orange. I wasn’t able to find any signs confirming that I can spend the night here, but a security guard confirmed it’s okay. I think it’s going to be a noisy night. There’s an RV parked on my driver’s side and a big rig on the passenger side. I’m hoping that big rig gets replaced by another RV.