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Our Texas road trip (updated w/pics)

eDUBz
Explorer
Explorer
Well this trip was over due ever since my Inlaws moved from CA to New Braunfels TX. They insisted we visit them and we would love it. We did have a great time I was just too far from the Pacific Ocean for me to ever consider moving there. Although it is amazing how much house you can get for half the price we bought our house for. First stop on the road trip was to visit family in Lake Havasu AZ and holy **** it was hot out there.
Got the Toy Hauler loaded up. I made. Quick board rack that I actually like and going to leave it in. The RZR fits right in perfect and I can always have 2 boards ready to go. Anyways they said there was water near by so I brought these just in case. Oh yeah my water tank fell out in my drive before we left. The bolts on the cross member failed. Set us back 2 hours but got it all fixed.

We hit the road and went through the Santa Clarita Fire.

Welcome to AZ. We made it.

We decided to go hit up the Nautical Resort to cool off



From here we headed up to the Grand Canyon. We stayed at trailer village which was awesome . It's very close to the canyon,shopping etc. highly recommend staying at trailer village. We didn't bring Bikes with us but if you have a bike you can access everything.

This was a cool over hang ledge that a few people were hanging out on. Me and my daughter had to check it out. My wife couldnt do it and my youngest daughter only took a peak.

My youngest daughter loves shooting pics.

Enjoying the sunset. This is from the trail that leads to the Amphitheater.


Two days in the Grand Canyon, time to move on the our next stop which was wild spirit wolf sanctuary in a small town called Ramah New Mexico. It's on candy kitchen road that's gravel for about 4 miles.
Here's the entrance, if you 6' or taller like me make sure you duck :). I didn't know prior to showing up but they offer camping. The gal who gave us our tour had asked if we were staying with them at there campsite. Had I known I would have stayed.

Very interesting stories on how these wolf dogs ended up here.




From here our plan was to hit Acoma Pueblos but we weren't going to make the last tour at 3:30 so we stayed the night at Dancing Eagle RV park for $11 bucks you get full hook ups and they have a laundry facility inside. It's a clean lot that's fenced in. 6 am we hit the road for a long 6 hour drive to Carlsbad New Mexico KOA.
While at dancing eagle there was lighting in the distance and we just relaxed and enjoyed the light show. We Barley get any rain here in so cal let alone lighting so we enjoyed it.


On our way to Carlsbad we just had to stop by the UFO museum. It's a lil cheesey but for like $14 bucks what the hell we are this far why not. We will probably never come back.

We made it to Carlsbad KOA, this place is well maintained and has great BBQ dinners. We just took it easy, did laundry and went for a swim and just hung out waiting for tomorrow to go see the Caverns. KOA is about 30miles north of the caverns.

Next day we headed to Carlsbad Caverns National park.
Natural entrance to the self guided tour, although we didn't walk in through the natural entrance we did walk it back up. When we got the the Caverns Around noon there was a tour for the big room so we took it and had to take the elevators down.

The big room is the most decorated in the caverns and I highly recommend doing it.

Don't forget to bring a flash light.

There is still natural water that seeps in.


From Carlsbad KOA we made the 7 hour drive to New Braunfels TX. Loooooooong and boring.

We made it and I didn't realize that the Guadalupe River was in the back yard. Next day I had to go paddle. SUPs down at the river is not a common site.

I met on guy by the name Michael who Runs Jolly Roger SUP he was very surprised to see me down at the river. I got his contact and the next day we paddle downtown San Anyonio King William area. If you want to get into Sup's or rent them and are from the San Antonio area / new Braunfels I recommend Contacting him.


Did some more paddling this time it was on the comal River.

We also went to the Nautural bridge wild life park, this park was awesome. You get to drive through and feed the animals. It's says don't hand feed but a lot of the animals would stick They're head in the truck and we would hand feed them anyways. We also figured out of you hang out of the window shaking the food bag and be patient they will come up to you.


We also did a bunch of other Texas stuff. But the highlight of the trip was my sister in law had her baby and we got to meet him. So we spent the rest of the time hanging out and enjoying all the family around.

When we left we went back to Carlsbad KOA to gets one sleep after taking the long 7 hour drive back to New Mexico. The next morning we only had a 2 or 3 hour drive to Alamogordo KOA to check out white sands national monument. This KOA is about 12 miles from white sands, they have sleighs at the front desk free of charge to go down the sand dunes.







It was 100 degrees outside and we were bare foot in the sand. We couldn't keep up going up and down the dunes so we decided to come back in the evening, it definitely felt much better.


We hit the road in the Am and set out for Acoma Pueblos.


The pueblos were built some where around 1200 Ad and they still live in them. No running water no elctricty Everyting is done how it was back then, there's a lot
Of history and it's amazing what we learned here. Highly recommend seeing this place if your ever around.






That pretty much sums up our trip. Thanks for reading
LBZ - Stealth TH - RZR 900 4 - Honda 450X - Paddleboarder - Fisherman - Kayaker
18 REPLIES 18

eDUBz
Explorer
Explorer
texasclarks wrote:
Great post and pictures. New Braunfels and areas south can be a great place to live and work...a lot to do, but no Pacific Ocean!


very cool place to visit, I dig the river homes. We also checked out Gruene.
The river is such a different vibe than these SoCal waves. We had a blast and it was a great trip.
LBZ - Stealth TH - RZR 900 4 - Honda 450X - Paddleboarder - Fisherman - Kayaker

eDUBz
Explorer
Explorer
SCVJeff wrote:
Being a beach native too I hear ya, but don't sell the greater Austin area short, there is allot to do down there in the water. Obviously Lake Austin in the middle of town and the river heading south, but APPARENTLY you can Kayak from Austin all the way to the golf. Don't know about post S. Texas drought, but I've read about it being done. And Travis is a monster of a lake too

Nice pix... I like the internal mounts


We did go check out Austin, was only about 45 mins away. We love the beach life too much, no surfing on the lake just not the same. We will probbaly look into a river house later down the road as a vactiion spot to visit. The hot humid weather is hard to get used to.
LBZ - Stealth TH - RZR 900 4 - Honda 450X - Paddleboarder - Fisherman - Kayaker

texasclarks
Explorer
Explorer
Great post and pictures. New Braunfels and areas south can be a great place to live and work...a lot to do, but no Pacific Ocean!
Posts are for entertainment purposes only and should not be construed as endorsement or recommendations. YMMV!

Steven & Stacie, plus 2 ('02 & '07)
'04 Suburban 2500, Quad Seats, 8.1L, 3.73
'09 Rockwood 8313SS

Texas not just a State, but a State of mind!

SCVJeff
Explorer
Explorer
Being a beach native too I hear ya, but don't sell the greater Austin area short, there is allot to do down there in the water. Obviously Lake Austin in the middle of town and the river heading south, but APPARENTLY you can Kayak from Austin all the way to the golf. Don't know about post S. Texas drought, but I've read about it being done. And Travis is a monster of a lake too

Nice pix... I like the internal mounts
Jeff - WA6EQU
'06 Itasca Meridian 34H, CAT C7/350