Returning to Boat Life – The Final Van Miles from Arizona to Florida (Including Big Bend National Park!)

We enjoyed a delightful couple of months finishing out 2023 at our RV lot at SKP Saguaro in Benson, Arizona – living aboard Zephyr again, exploring the area and surrounded by amazing friendships.

But it was time to pack Blooper back up, get Zephyr back in the storage lot and make our way back east to Y-Not. So after recovering from New Years Eve, we hit the wheels to the pavement.

This adventures spans from January 2 – 16, 2024:

Stop 1: Faywood, NM – Faywood Hotsprings

First stop on our way east, a place we had not been in way too long – Faywood Hot Springs in southern New Mexico!

We were able to get a site for a couple of nights, and thoroughly enjoyed multiple soaks a day in their sanctuary feeling hot pools. And lots of hiking abound to explore as well.

They offer both clothing optional and clothing required pools and campsites. A perfect place for naturists and textiles to co-exist.

While we are nudists, our site was in the clothing required campground (too cold for walking around naked anyway), but we partook of the clothing optional pools. Because, who wants to deal with wet swim suits?

On the morning we were to leave, there was a light dusting of snow overnight. Pretty, but a sure sign it was time to continue on to warmer areas.

Stop 2: Elizario, TX – Pistoleros Cantina & Grill

Next up on our journey back to Y-Not – we had been booked with Mike Wendland of RV Lifestyle, for a live mobile internet round table in their new community space. So we needed to be still somewhere with great connectivity by 5pm.

We picked a Harvest Hosts location south of El Paso at Pistoleros Cantina & Grill.

Since we were doing ‘Dry January’ staying at alcohol based Harvest Hosts locations wasn’t appealing.. but eating Mexican food as our support? No problemo!

It was a pleasant night’s stay, decent food and enjoyed some Mexican karaoke. And the live cast went really well.. the archive is available for free on their new community.

Stop 3: Marfa, TX – Tumble In RV Park

Texas is big.. if you didn’t know.

You drive for 8 hours, and you still have more 8 hour driving days ahead of you. We’ve done the trip so many times over the years. And we try to mix it up as best we can – but I-10 is usually the default.

Not this time.

This time.. we’re going a route we’ve never done before. Our first time visiting Big Bend National Park.

But first, a stop in Marfa – which we’ve only driven through before.

At first glance, it’s not much.

But if you stay a bit, its charm quickly grows on you.

We selected the Tumble In RV Park on the outskirts of town. It just had our vibe – online reservations, self serve check in vintage trailer and funky Burning Man night art.

Whoever assigned our spot couldn’t have known we’re burners, but we somehow got the site right next to the art display – which made for our own ‘Marfa Lights’ experience out our windows.

The park is about a 1/2 mile walk to town down a dirt road – with easy access to local gems. Angel’s Mexican Restaurant with amazing fresh made meals (the Chile Rellenos were amazing!). And Little Juice, a self serve shack with refreshing cold press juices to start our day.

Maybe we should have padded in more time to explore? So much more to do!

But we had reservations and lots of anticipation awaiting us…

Stop 4: Big Bend National Park – Cottonwood Campground

Big Bend National Park – anyone who has been there, knows the struggle I’m about to have trying to share it in a few photos and words.

It’s just simply.. breathtaking. And full of adventures.

We had always passed this detour up over the years – between the distance and the reported lack of internet connectivity. But with Starlink onboard (and now being semi-retired), the trip was a top priority this pass across Texas.

We started our adventure leaving out of Marfa and routing through Big Bend Ranch State Park into Terilingua, to enter the park at the Study Butte entrance on the west. Simply amazing scenic drive not to be missed.

We topped up the fuel tank in Terilingua, thinking prices would be higher in the park (WRONG – much cheaper in the park!).

Staying in Big Bend National Park takes a bit of planning. All campsites are now reservation only, no more first come first serve (newish change). However, former first come first serve sites are only bookable 2-weeks out – making it a bit easier for us more spontaneous RVers.

We were able to piece together a collection of sites at all of the organized campgrounds within the park, by being up early on the day reservations opened. We opted to skip the dispersed sites this visit, which also require reservations and many only accessible by 4×4 vehicles, which we are not.

We took the first right hand turn to Castolon, stopping at many of the displays and short hikes. At the end of the road is Saint Elena Canyon – an epic hike down the canyon carved by the Rio Grande. We loved it.

The canyon walls tower over you.

After we finished the hike, we pulled into our reserved spot at Cottonwood Canyon.

Amazingly, we had usable – but slow with drops and high latency – AT&T and T-Mobile signal for most of this section of the park. We did deploy Starlink for planning our next day.

Stop 5: Big Bend National Park – Rio Grande Village

In the morning, we did the scenic drive back to the main road, with a couple hikes along the way. It was Sunday Runday, and Chris had picked out running the park’s newest trail – Lone Mountain near Panther Junction.

It was an amazing 3-ish mile trail around.. well.. a lone mountain. Mostly flat, but a bit rocky.

We explored the visitor’s center, and then took off for our time in Rio Grande Village, where we had booked a couple nights.

First adventure – crossing into to Mexico!

There’s a small US border crossing within the National Park, considered one of the most casual. It’s the only place in the park where it’s legal to cross into Mexico, despite how easy it is to actually cross the Rio Grande river.

A single national park ranger runs it, checking passports and giving the overview of what to expect.

After that you, you take the ‘ferry’ for $5pp (round trip) – which is a small aluminum row boat pulled by a person across the Rio Grande into Mexico.

And then you are greeted with a variety of ways to get into the village of Boquillas. You can walk the 3/4 mile on your own – or hire a burro, horse or vehicle.

For just $10 pp (round trip) with a tour guide, we opted for the burro – because, why not?

Along the trip, our tour guide walked beside us describing the lunch options – either the casual place on the right, or the more expensive place on left. Both run by the same family offering pretty much the same menu.

We opted for the casual experience – with three items on the ‘daily special’ menu (which have been the options for decades – cheese enchiladas, goat tacos or chicken tamales). There are also margaritas offered, but we declined as we’re doing Dry January.

You can buy some crafts in town and take them back over the border – but no alcohol is allowed (as they have no way to collect/record taxes). We bought a huge bottle of vanilla.

And then you repeat the process back across into the US, going thru customs via an iPad video chat.

The border crossing is only open Wed – Sun, and closes at 4pm. So plan your visit accordingly.

What a memorable and unique experience we’ll always treasure!

After crossing back into the US, we hiked Boquillas Canyon and the nature trail at the Rio Grande Campground (which is quite the trail!).

We then proceeded to our campsite at Rio Grande campground (there’s a dry camping area and full hook-ups here – we were in dry). Lots of trees in the campground and absolutely no hint of cell signal. Our Starlink on a pole was able to get online just fine however .

The next morning, we took the van out to the remnants of an old hot spring resort that folks came to for healing. The ruins of the hot spring bathhouse are still there, and open for park visitors to enjoy.

It was a blustery windy chilly day. We took the side dirt road, knowing there was a ‘steep & windy’ part on the final approach not recommended for RVs. But there’s a parking area at the top and you can walk down.

Turns out, the steep windy bit is passable for vans (a couple did while we were there) – it’s just well, steep, narrow and a bit butt clenching. We opted to walk it, as we’d be going hiking anyways to get our fitness points.

It’s a short hike along the spring loop trail and then bam – there’s a rock square to the side of the Rio Grande, with 104 degree water flowing through it.

When we arrived, we had it all to ourselves for a bit – seemed others couldn’t convince themselves to put on a swim suit in the chilly temps.

It was absolutely.. magical. The views of the mountains and oasis surrounding us, just, spectacular. And the Rio Grande River the perfect temp for a cold plunge.

The springs themselves are pretty shallow with a sandy bottom. And apparently at some other times of the year it can be quite crowded and even have biting insects. The chilly windy day worked to our advantage, for sure.

With the gusty winds, we opted to return to Rio Grande Campground, where we had a second site booked for the night. We had already hit all the highlights of this side of the park. We hoisted Starlink and got caught up a bit on some work.

Stop 6: Big Bend National Park – Chisos Basin

At the center of this huge park are the Chisos mountains, they taunt you from all angles as you explore the hundreds of thousand of acres in this Texas desert landscape.

The road up is passable by most vehicles, but the final ascent into the basin is steep twisty switchbacks. Signs are all over that this part of the park is not suitable for motorhomes over 24′, and the campground doesn’t have spots larger than that.

Perfect for our van, however! So we snagged a site reservation and headed on over to check off this remaining major part of the park.

And it’s absolutely stunning. The ‘window’ is the view out the mountains to the western valley – and T-Mobile and AT&T cell signal waffles through (albeit, it reported as roaming on our router, so we hoisted the Starlink once again).

There are several amazing hikes to explore, but most have lots of elevation gain. After several days of hiking, we stuck to some of the easier ones to give our bodies a break. We still managed several miles.

The Chisos Basin is also the most developed of the park – with a full on lodge for overnight non-camping guests, stores and restaurant.

Apparently, it’ll all be torn down later this year and redeveloped. We’re glad to have had the classic experience.

If you have a small enough vehicle/RV – we definitely recommend making Chisos Basis part of your Big Bend adventure!

Stop 7: Del Rio, TX – Governor’s Landing Campground

One final stop in Big Bend National Park on our way out – the paleontology exhibit, which was absolutely fascinating to learn of the fossils found within the park.

And then we were off.

We had originally thought we’d make a side trip down to Boca Chica to see Starbase (where the SpaceX Starship launches are done from). But with a cold front fast approaching and just in general ready to get back to Florida – we decided to make miles in earnest.

We made a lunch stop in Marathon (pronounced Mara-thin) and had a healthy lunch at the V6 coffee shop, and then proceeded eastward along Hwy 90.

We were able to snag one of the last spots at Governor’s Landing along Amistad Reservoir outside Del Rio.

Lovely spot, and only $10/night paid through a digital ranger. On a past visit, we had stopped at Seminole Canyon State Park – which is a lovely choice too.

The waterfront views were pretty, and we were most impressed by the solar powered device charging stations with a view.

We got a short sunset run in, and kept eastward in the morning.

Stop 8: Blanco, TX – Blanco State Park

After several days in Big Bend National Park, and some long driving days – we needed some downtime to catch up, including some video projects to film for the Mobile Internet Resource Center.

So we selected Blanco State Park in Blanco, TX – able to snag 2-nights online. It was just $23/night, but with day fees came to $33/night (Texas also offers a state park pass that waives those fees – but we wouldn’t be staying in state parks enough this year to benefit from it).

What an adorable little park with nicely spaced sites and some trails for runs and walks. And it’s right in downtown Blanco – easy walking distance to several restaurants (breakfast tacos!!!) and shopping.

We had a great time, got some work done and even adopted a metal rooster that will eventually make it back to our casita in Benson. For now ‘Blanco’ will travel with us.

Stop 9: Bastrop, TX – Family Visit

Next up.. a very special visit with my brother and his wife, and to meet our new niece! Isn’t she just precious???

While we are childfree by choice, we’re thrilled to be aunt & uncle! And Kiki loves being a cousin.

Stop 10: Anahuac, TX – Fort Anahuac City Park

With an arctic blast approaching, we decided to make our return to Florida in quick haste.

Our first stop after the Austin area was on the east side of Houston at the lovely Fort Anahuac City Park in Anahuac, TX. They allow 2-nights of free dry camping – you just need to call and get a permit e-mailed to you.

We found a lovely spot along the bay – enjoyed a chilly run, and gorgeous sunset.

It got to about 30 degrees over night, but temps forecast for the teens the next evening… so it was an early morning departure to keep making miles to stay ahead of the frost line!

Stop 11 & 12: Harvest Hosts

The final push wrapping up our 5 months out on the road – making the miles from Houston, TX back to Y-Not in Sanford, FL. Almost a 1000 miles to finish!

And with an arctic blast on our tail – we decided to make quick time of it with long driving days.

We made two overnight stops at Harvest Hosts – each night with it getting into the high 20s, with predictions of teens the next night. Staying just one step ahead of a deep freeze!

We just queued up a lot of podcasts.. and made frequent rest stops for getting in our steps to keep our Apple Watches happy (we managed to not break our streak of closing all our rings!).

Really makes you appreciate rest stops with walking trails!

Real Time Update

We’ve been back in Sanford, FL aboard Y-Not since mid-January. Wow, almost 2 months has gone by so quickly.

We’ve been enjoying an abundance of social time with friends & family, many of our favorite Sanford annual events and lots of biking and running.

There’s also been ‘adulting’ with catching up on doctors appointments, some dental work and getting taxes done.

We’ve also been attending to boat projects – as we’re aiming to cruise away from Sanford next month and resume our Great Loop.

We’re also planning a quick van trip over to north Texas for the Xscapers Solar Eclipse Event in early April. We won’t stay for the whole event, as there is much left to do get ready to depart Sanford, including finding storage options for Blooper.

Sanford having been our boat’s nomadic port for the past 4 years (!!!) – it’s bittersweet to think of leaving. But we’re also excited for the adventures ahead!