The Blitz West, Part 3: The Grande Detour

Don't miss our earlier "Blitz West" series posts!

Part 1: Rainstorms and Flooded Roads
Part 2: Multi-Day Texas Trip

There are moments in our travels when we become very aware of our confidence levels. Sometimes we face a situation where we still feel too green to navigate a certain road or drive in certain conditions. On the other side of that spectrum are the moments where we notice how much more comfortable we are with this lifestyle. Things we would have never done last year, we're totally fine with now. It might be getting into a tight spot or taking a detour from the main roads. Our trip out of Lockhart included both: moments where we felt super confident, and moments where we questioned what we were doing.

Once we had our trajectory figured out for getting through Texas, we estimated that we would have about a week to spare before we needed to get through New Mexico and into Arizona. This is where full-time travel can get fun - if you're confident enough - because you can basically look at the map, see what's around, and go. We had a few options but ultimately decided on the most adventurous. We were heading to Big Bend National Park! I couldn't really think of a better time to go. It's out of the way but yet a lot closer than we've ever been. February is a great time to go and the weather forecast was showing warm sunny days and cool, clear nights. Plus Anthony's birthday was coming up, and being a Saturday, we knew we'd be driving and wouldn't be able to celebrate on the day itself, so why not a fun week beforehand? I got to planning and booked us a week at a HipCamp about 50 minutes outside the park. Our trip to get there would entail driving south through San Antonio, and then getting off I-10 and hitting US 90, which at points would bring us very close to the Texas-Mexico border. We would need two days to get there, and so I researched overnight options along route 90. There were some interesting ones, which just upped the adventure status for us. We could choose a normal RV park, but we don't usually do that for overnights unless it's for good reason. So that left a Walmart (with actual designated spots for RVs!), a few National Recreation Area campgrounds, a community center that allows you to stay in their parking lot for $5/night, or a rest area, as Texas allows parking for up to 24 hours at rest areas. We had no idea where we would end up, but that was plenty of options for us to feel comfortable making US 90 our home for several hundred miles.

Now if only we could get out of Lockhart! I always check weather the night before we leave, and this time I saw a lot of wind in the forecast. Sustained winds in the 20mph range, with gusts up to 45mph or higher in some spots. This isn't ideal, especially when traveling at 60+mph. Gusts of wind can blow a trailer off-kilter. We've never towed in high winds, but we assumed we'd have to at some point, especially in the less forested states. But this time, if we wanted to, we could delay our departure by a day and just wait out the windstorm. We planned to leave on a Friday but had no issues leaving on a Saturday instead, as long as Lockhart State Park had a space for us to hang our hats for the night. We figured we'd head to bed and see what made sense the next day. Sometimes wind forecasts aren't as bad as predicted.

Well, this one was actually a little worse. The high wind warning was now in effect for several hours, and it spread further, meaning we'd be driving in winds all day. The gusts outside our RV were already picking up and we could feel them from inside. I got up early to check wind direction. This is also important because lateral winds are worse than winds we drive straight into. We would be driving into the wind until we hit US 90, at which point we'd change direction and the winds would be blowing at us from the driver's side. Not ideal. We had almost made the decision to go to the state park office and check availability for an extra night, but once we were outside walking towards the office, the winds didn't actually seem so bad. Also, eventually there will be a time where we won't have an extra day and we'll have to drive in high winds. Don't we want to have an idea of what our rig can handle? Maybe we need to be more trusting of our rig and ourselves. Our trailer is heavy and our truck handles the weight great. Our weight is distributed well, with most of the weight closer to the tongue, which cuts down the risk of fishtailing. We have our weight distribution hitch, which has anti-sway bars. And, if we ever get to a point where we feel the gusts are unsafe, we just pull off somewhere. We decided to give it a try.

We must have given ourselves a boost of confidence, because once we were hitched up and heading out, we decided to abandon our GPS and take some farm roads to avoid tolls. We also didn't feel like going straight through San Antonio, so instead we found our own route that let us take backroads to I-35 and then loop around the city on I-410. It added about a half-hour to our travels, but it was kind of nice seeing more rural areas of Texas. It was obvious we didn't belong, especially with how slow we needed to go on all the unknown roads that had speed limits way higher than we'd ever want to tow, but once in a while we'd pass a kind man on his tractor or in his truck, and we'd get a friendly wave. Much better than the "wave" of a certain finger we got from a dude who couldn't wait to pass us!

After about an hour, we hit civilization and made our way onto I-35, which is where we started feeling the winds a little more. Buggy handled them like a champ. We could see the flags out the window all blowing steadily outward and so we knew what was happening, but we could barely feel a thing.

US 90 was the real test, because this is where the majority of the wind gusts would be lateral, plus there was nothing around to block the winds. We kept our speed slow, much to the dismay of all the locals who wanted to go the full 75mph, but they had opportunities to pass us, which they used with pleasure. We got to our pitstop, tried to get out of the truck, and realized that the winds were so strong, we could barely open our doors! We could feel the gusts a little bit in our truck, but the trailer was totally fine the whole time. That's really good for us to know because we can now gauge from experience when we should and shouldn't tow.

Our pit stop was in Uvalde, which you may recognize from the horrific school shooting that occurred last May at Robb Elementary. This town was a little gem on a road that doesn't have much. Uvalde offered us everything we needed, including a huge Exxon where we could get gas and pull over for lunch. We passed some Uvalde Strong signs and talked about the sad side of RVing. Not every place we stop is for uplifting purposes. Sometimes we also want to see for ourselves the towns that have experienced tragedy that we otherwise would only hear about on the news. Actually being there gives us greater appreciation for what those people went through. We sometimes say that the RV life lets us be escapist, but it's more than that. We let in the bad news on our terms, not when the media tells us to. It doesn't mean we don't care about what goes on in our country. If anything, those stories hit home for us even more because we feel so much more connected to the country as a whole and all the people in it.

After our pitstop, it was time to make our final jaunt up US 90 to our array of overnight options. We were feeling good. We got to see parts of Texas we wouldn't have if we didn't have our confidence caps on. We gained more trust in our rig and now had a good sense of how much wind we could withstand during travel. We figured it was a perfect time to try our hand at our first first-come, first-served site ever. It sounds crazy to think that we had never stayed in one before, but that's mainly because there are less options on the east coast, and we planned most of our travels ahead of time last year. We were about an hour away from Amistad National Recreation Area and heard great things about the campgrounds there. Some spots, according to reviews, wouldn't fit an RV our size, but the overall vibe was that if you're good at maneuvering, you can make it work. We also heard that the campgrounds don't often fill up. We plugged a few of them into our GPS and decided to scope them out.

We lucked out at the first campground, 277 North. There were plenty of spots that would fit us, and since the sun was starting to set, we decided to venture no further. We drove around the loop and found a beautiful spot and settled in for the night...but not before we had an all-too-common RVer interaction. As I was guiding Anthony into our site, a well-meaning but nosy neighbor told us he didn't think Anthony would make it into our spot and that we should try to maneuver our rig a different way. Oftentimes it's the older RVers thinking they're helping us youngins, but we have worked very hard to know how to maneuver our rig. I politely let the man know that we have been full-timing for almost a year. He still wasn't convinced and said that unless my husband is "really good at backing in," he didn't see it happening. One swoop and Anthony was in the spot. I turned to the jaw-dropped neighbor and said "I guess he's really good!" And just like that, we had ourselves a lovely spot to enjoy before continuing onto Big Bend. (Edit: The following morning we got to talk to this man some more, and he continued applauding Anthony for being "good with the truck." We also got to share stories of our ATC trailer and our life on the road. He seemed impressed and wished us a good time as we headed on our journey).

After our overnight, we headed back to our beloved US 90, ready to trek the rest of the way down to the Big Bend area. This would be our first time really traveling in the middle of nowhere, and so we made some preparations:

1. We filled up our extra gas cans in case of emergency and made a plan to fill up early and often, whenever we came across a gas station that could fit us
2. We double checked our tires
3. We downloaded a couple of things to listen to ahead of time so when we didn't have cell service, we'd still have some entertainment

What commenced next was the most scenic drive we've had since we started RVing. This area of Texas is sublime. We drove through high desert and canyons, and before we knew it, the distant mountains, mesas and buttes popped up over the horizon. The long stretches of road between towns were scenic enough to keep us enthralled, and when we finally came to the next town, we filled up on gas and continued on our way. As we got closer to the Big Bend area, the towns became even cuter, and we made immediate plans to visit them during our week in the area.

These are the very moments that remind us how cool it is to roadtrip. We get to see things that air travel wouldn't allow. This travel day truly felt like an adventure and we couldn't wait to see what was in store for us in this unique part of the country.

We'll have lots to cover about our week in Big Bend! That series will be released right after Blitz West. Don't miss a beat! Subscribe below to get notified when the new posts release.