Trip Report: Orange, CA to Austin TX

[uwe]

Business called me to Austin TX for a trade show this July, and i decided to make it an adventure by bringing the 63 Overlander along for the ride. It would have to double as a mobile office, hotel room, cafeteria, and refuge.
The trip to Austin ( appr. 1500 miles) took me 2 half and one full day. Left Orange on Monday around noon, got to Austin on Wednesday about 1:00PM
I spent the first night in Tucson, AZ at a Voyager resort. Although immaculately clean, it wasn't much more than a parking lot with hook-ups. 90-something degrees at midnight....that's why God lets us have A/C.
Took a rest stop at Las Cruces NM, a good Kodak moment...

[uwe]

Second leg took me to Fort Stockton, to a pleasant KOA. Not much cooler, though, still had to run the A.C all night to be able to sleep comfortably.
From there, I made it to Austin in a long morning, starting out at 4:00 AM. One of the epic events of this leg was leaving I-10 and heading east on TX290
through the Texas Hill Country. A gorgeous sunrise in Texas...

[uwe]

Here a few of the Pecan Grove RV park near downtown Austin. A pleasant place for the most part. The intense heat, and a nasty intermittent sewer odor somewhat dampened my excitement. They offered me a different spot, but it was difficult to get into. Then, the sewer odor disappeared for the most part after my neighbor moved out. There were quite a few Airstreams in this park. Most of them looked like they were semi-permanent, and of newer vintage.

[ArtStream]

Hey Uwe, the coach look beautiful

Michael

[ZoominC6]

Welcome to Texas Uwe. Sorry about the heat wave; however, it should be a little more seasonable this weekend. Austin is a beautiful city.

[90345]

Welcome to Austin uwe !
I keep my A/S next door @ Shady Grove Park.
Great pics of your trip - hope that the rest goes well.
Barton Springs Pool is a chilly 68 degrees and just down the road ....

[uwe]

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody. I am actually home already, just got too tired to post more pics last night.
I had a great time in Austin, despite the heat. Dealing with the professionals at the convention center was exemplary of good service. Setup and teardown was a breeze, and the help was courteous and respectful of my items. We found a hadful of very excellent restaurants, one of them is Dona Emilia, right off Cesar Chavez near the convention center. Romeos on Barton Springs road was also very good. That one is right next to Pecan Grove. For killer a/c, great coffee and the fastest Wifi ever, Austin Java is the place, I suppose.
Then we had a showcase at a club on 6th street, called the Troubadour. 6th street is something else...altogether. However, even in the madness of that place, everyone was friendly and forthcoming, with only very few exceptions.
Driving around was a little cumbersome, perhaps. Whoda thunk that you can go west on 290 East....

[uwe]

Heading back, I stopped by a fellow forum member's place to see her project, a 1958 Overlander in total rehab. Nice work, Lynne!
Then off to a meeting at Lake Travis, then finally pointed northwest, to my next destination which is Albuquerque NM. I decided witht eh help of KenJ to take the samll lines on the map, and stay away from Interstates as much as possible. I wanted to see that par of Texas, and all the little small towns etc. I was rewarded with excellent roads, Courteous drivers and absolutely no problems getting lost. That one was courtesy of guardian angel/remote navigator Ken. Took a direct northwestern route and ended up ata KOA in Lubbock, TX the first day. Again, a nice environment, and much cooler there. I could sleep the first time in many days without a/c.

[uwe]

From Lubbock, I made it to Ken's place in Albuquerque with ease. It was Ken's birthday, so we all went out and had a wonderful dinner with good friends. Forum member Airstrem 25 also joined us.
Ken has a very peaceful property, which has a sweet scent of pine all emcompassing. Thanks Ken and Ellyn!

[uwe]

Met this little fellow on the way to New Mexico, at one of Texas' many nice picnic areas...way out in the middle of nowhere. It was literally yelling at me...feed me or else...so I did. I had some cat food from our cat left in the pantry, and also gave it some fresh water. It would sneak around my legs, but would not let me touch it, ran off immediately. Well, so I fed it and wished it well.

[uwe]

My take on staying safe and keeping Suburbans and Marathons alive in 120F heat...3rd gear and cruise control.

[uwe]

After Albuquerque, I took I40 to Williams, for yet another night in the Airstream. I stayed at the Railside Rv Ranch, basically another gravel lot with hookups, but nice people there. Wifi was out, bummer.
From there, a short hop to Ash Fork, and then AZ highway 89 South to 71 west, to 60 west, and back to I-10 near Quartzsite, I-10 all the way home.
I did find a spectacular place for lunch shortly past Prescott AZ. This would make a great boondocking spot. You can only get to it going south, and the north route is split and runs below.

[uwe]

The rest of the trip was uneventful. I find driving in CA a bit easier since the big rigs slow down considerably from TX and AZ. Of course the traffic quickly got dense,and it did not take long until I was stuck in a rush hour traffic jam in Riverside. Something I had almost forgotten about in the prior 9 days.

[ZoominC6]

Thanks for sharing the trip report UWE. That was a fun read with all the visuals attached. Hopefully you're in more comfortable weather conditions. After the Austin visit, maybe you know why Texans sport bumper stickers stating Keep Austin Weird. After a visit to good old Lubbock you might see the opposing humor in the bumper sticker that proclaims, Keep Lubbock Flat.

[uwe]

Austin definitely has a certain charm, and some weird. It's different kind of weird, in comparison to Hollywood, for example. I think the college kids have a lot to do with it.

[Waynon]

Since the early '60's Native Texans have called it (not necessarily complimentarily) Austin, CALIFORNIA. It's different than any other city in Texas. I love it.

Waynon