Texas to New Mexico

Feeling refreshed from a day off work and lungs full of warm desert air, I was ready to keep moving onward.  The last 2 days in Big Bend were packed full of as much adventure and hiking as possible and I was feeling the effects of it as I left the park.  I had also driven way over my 2-hour limit in the last 2 days, even though I had stayed within the park boundaries, because it’s such a gigantic National Park.  So all of this added up to me only making it about one hour outside of Big Bend for my first day back on the road.

I stopped in the town of Alpine, which is home to Sul Ross State University, and I was able to get Dakota out for a little hike.  She had spent the last two days hanging out in the van while I had my fun because dogs aren’t allowed on the trails within the park.  We did a little hike near the university to a desk overlooking the valley and a tree full of bikes.  I had given up hope about a money tree a long time ago, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a bike tree! 

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Back at the parking lot, a couple walked past and started chatting with me about the van.  The young lady mentioned that she had lived in a van with a friend a few years back, but she fell in love and that ended her journey.  I assured her that hadn’t happened to me yet!  A few minutes later she returned to my van with a little bouquet of wildflowers* that she had tied up said, “For you. I hope it brings you luck,” and she gave me a hug.  And little did I know at the time, they just might have.

*while this was an incredibly sweet gesture, please do not pick wildflowers

It was about this time in my trip that I had reached down behind my fridge where I keep my shoes and grabbed for my Chaco sandals.  I pulled out one and couldn’t seem to reach the other.  I looked down and saw there wasn’t another sandal.  *Insert curse words here.* These aren’t cheap sandals and they’re the best piece of footwear for wandering around desert campsites.  The spot I keep my shoes in is right near the door and I imagined I probably knocked one out before work very early in the morning and didn’t notice in the dark.  As frustrated as I was, I couldn’t help but feel a bit like a rougher version of Cinderella.  Maybe my van prince had found my lost sandal somewhere in West Texas and was now on a search for his one true van princess?  He’d search the land far and wide, stopping at National Parks and Walmarts, until he found the dirty foot that fit that sandal perfectly.  A girl can dream, right?

Next, I was off to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, which is right on the border of New Mexico and Texas.  I found a great campsite for the night on BLM land (Bureau of Land Management area with free camping that is found more abundantly out west) and it was so nice to be out of the routine of city camping in parking lots.

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I arrived at Carlsbad Caverns on a nice, cool day so I was able to safely leave Dakota in the van while I explored the cave.  This park actually offers a pretty reasonable kennel service right at the visitor center, which is such a great option when traveling with a sidekick. 

Caves don’t typically get me too excited. I definitely prefer wandering among the pines or feeling tiny in a red rock canyon, but Carlsbad was fascinating.  I had seen just a tiny bit of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky a few months ago and that’s when I realized that caves weren’t my thing.  Carlsbad was really amazing though.  Unlike Mammoth, where you can only access the cave as part of a tour, a huge portion of Carlsbad could be wandered freely at your own pace, so I listened to a quick safety presentation and entered the cave.

There are two ways to enter and exit Carlsbad: you can take the steep natural entrance, or you can take the elevator.  I entered the cave through the natural entrance and began the trek down the path of winding switchbacks.  I figured I’d take this way out too until I started walking this trail and realized it would be an ambitious climb out and I’d be leaving Dakota for a lot longer if I hiked it.  Shortly after beginning this descent though, 3 guys who were quite a bit older than me passed me hiking out.  They were the only people I saw the entire time who had skipped the elevator ride out, and none of them were women.  And that’s when I made up my mind that I’d be hiking out.

While inside the cave, I saw so many interesting cave formations like stalagmites and stalactites and I was amazed at how gigantic the cave was. 

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At one point I had stopped to read one of the information plaques where a family was standing nearby. As they went to leave, the mom looked at me and laughed and said something I didn’t quite make out.  Then she walked a few steps closer to me and explained that her daughter had seen me in the safety presentation.  During the presentation, the ranger had told all the kids that they had a big job to do… they had to keep track of the adults and make sure they didn’t wander off or get lost.  This little girl had seen that I was alone and that I didn’t have any children, so she decided she’d keep an eye on me to make sure I didn’t get lost.  When I had caught up to them, the little girl was so pleased to have found me, and that’s why the mom had been laughing.  So adorable.

After exploring the cave, I got ready for my big trek out.  The sign at the start of the Natural Entrance Trail warned that this 1.25 mile hike would be strenuous and that it was equal to 80 stories, which is almost the height of the Empire State Building.  Challenge accepted.

I was curious about what kind of comments I’d get on my way up the trail, and I was surprised to have so many people tell me that I had a long way to go, as if I didn’t know what I had chosen to do.  There were only words of caution and no words of encouragement.  It didn’t matter though, I was doing it for no other reason than to prove to myself that I could.  And your girl hiked out of there in half the estimated time.

When I got back to camp, I was really feeling ready for a shower.  I had worked up a good sweat on the hike and it had been about a week since I had showered last, with no real showers nearby.  I had picked up a cheap, solar camp shower a few days earlier and decided I’d give it a try.  I had left the bag out in the sun all morning so the water was nice and warm and ready to go, I just had to hang it up.  I opened the back doors where I’d hang the bag on the hook it came with and I’d shower between the doors.  The bag holds 5 gallons of water, which is roughly 40 pounds, and it’s in a bag so it’s not rigid.  I filled the bag myself and put it in the van, so I knew I could lift it alright, but lifting it above my head to the top of the van door was an entirely different task.  I couldn’t even reach the top of the van door without climbing up on the bumper.  I managed to get up on the bumper where I held myself up with one hand and hoisted the bag up with the other.  I struggled but just barely managed to get the hook over the door and then SNAP, the hook breaks under the weight of the bag.  Time for a new approach.

For my second attempt I knew I’d need both hands, so I brought the bag into the van, climbed up on the bed to be closer to the top of the doors, and tried to hook the bag over the door by the rope that’s attached.  The weird crouching position I was in and not having any hands to keep myself from falling out the back doors made this plan impossible.  So finally I settled on leaving the shower bag on the bed instead of hanging it and I showered out the back doors like I had planned.  It worked great and I felt almost clean when I was done!

The next day I drove to Guadeloupe Mountains National Park, which is very close to Carlsbad.  I was coming up on another day off work and was excited to spend another night in a National Park.  This park has one campground with a separate area for tents and RVs.  I pull into the RV area and found it’s literally just a parking lot with a couple of picnic tables. 

The tent area had private campsites tucked away among the Junipers and cacti, with a picnic table for each site, and they were both the same price.  I knew I’d be paying to camp that night, but if I’m going to park in a parking lot, I’m going to do it for free at Walmart.  So, I dug out the tent!

I haven’t camped in my tent since last summer and even then I didn’t camp much because I was drowning in my van build.  It felt so good to get all of my gear out and set up camp.  Dakota and I took a short hike to Smith Spring and then snuggled into the tent, preparing for an overnight thunderstorm that luckily never happened. 

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The next morning I broke down camp and got ready for a big hike.  I had my sights set on Guadeloupe Peak, the tallest peak in Texas, clocking in at 8,751ft.  Again, Dakota wouldn’t be joining me but I had another cooler, overcast day so she was fine to sleep in the van while I was gone.  I pulled into the parking lot next to a big, blue van similar to mine.  I loaded my bag with snacks and headed to the trail.

I could tell I was a little tired from my hike out of Carlsbad still and this hike was just steep enough to make me work hard.  I hiked my little heart out and loved watching the landscape change as I gained elevation.  Just over two hours later, I made it to the top.  I spent some time up here admiring the landscape, chatting with other hikers, and taking too many pictures.  There was a notebook at the top to sign your name so I signed it and then flipped through the previous pages to see where everyone else had come from.  Just a few entries before mine there was a couple who had signed their names and included their Instagram handle and #vanlife.  I figured they had to be the ones with the blue van next to mine.

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The hike down was just as hard since my legs were tired, but I loved every second of the adventure and felt very accomplished when I got back to the van.  The blue van was gone but I was able to find them on Instagram and send them a message. 

Dakota and I went back to our BLM spot nearby and I spent the evening watching her run through the desert in the setting sun.

Next, it was time to head towards Arizona.  I spent a night in El Paso and that was a shock to my system after several days at a quiet desert campsite.  I slept at a Walmart and experienced the worst drivers so far on this trip (yes, worse than Florida).  I had a few “city chores” I needed to get done but I ran out of patience for El Paso quickly and moved along to Las Cruces, New Mexico to finish running my errands.

Las Cruces was much better to us since it’s a much smaller city and is so close to the mountains still.  I took my first real shower in 12 days and got an oil change.  Getting an oil change made me anxious since we had been hung up at mechanics so many times before on this journey.  At least this should all be pretty routine, and we’d be ready to hit the road again in the morning.

But of course, nothing is ever that easy.

I was the last customer there on a Friday and the owner walked out with me and locked the door behind me.  I drove off towards my desert campsite at the base of the Organ Mountains. I wasn’t 5 minutes into the drive that Forrest started beeping at me and displaying the message “HI OIL.”  Time for more curse words.

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After a little google search, I determined I probably shouldn’t be driving off to my next destination without getting this taken care of.  I got up early the next morning and drove back to towards the mechanic.  Halfway there I pulled over and decided I better check to make sure they were open on Saturdays and of course, they wouldn’t be open again until Monday morning. 

To ease some frustration, I pulled into a trailhead on our way back to the campsite to hike it out.  I’d be staying in this spot until Monday, which was way longer than I had anticipated, but the beauty of having your house with you is that a change of plans isn’t usually a problem.

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I hadn’t thought about dating much lately because I had been moving nearly every day.  I wasn’t sure I was really ready to open myself up to something that probably wouldn’t stand a chance, given my nomadic lifestyle.  A casual date would be fine, but honestly that’s never really been my style.

Despite all of this, I got back onto my dating app and started swiping away.  I’d be stuck here in Las Cruces for a few days and figured it could be a welcome distraction from whatever was wrong with my home-on-wheels.  Instead of being a good distraction, it was mostly just frustrating.  I was messaging with guys who were incredibly boring and didn’t have the skills to hold a conversation.  I was starting to think maybe these are all the guys that are left.  The guys who are interesting and have social skills are all taken and so I’ll probably die alone (I know, I’m mildly dramatic). 

I’m super picky when it comes to who catches my eye on this app.  Guys are automatically disqualified for a long list of things: any mention of movies or TV, shirtless gym pictures, pictures of their car or kids, or if they don’t mention any outdoor activities.  If I’ve already passed through their town that disqualifies them too because there is no point if I’ve already left.  Since I’m not focusing much time or energy on trying to get into a relationship right now, I spend about 2 seconds looking at a profile before usually deciding “NO” and moving on.  I will respond to a message, but I don’t usually send a message first because I’m just not that invested in the whole dating idea anyways.

For some reason though, I paused on a profile.  He was 400 miles away.  It should have been a quick and easy “NO”.  But for some reason I said “YES,” and I didn’t just stop there.  I sent him a message.  It was something along the lines of, “Hey, looks like I’m already 400 miles away, which is too bad because it seems like we’d probably have a lot in common.”  I figured I’d never hear from him again, but to my surprise he messaged me back.

We sent a couple messages a day for the next few days and finally exchanged numbers just as I got the van fixed and continued my journey north, the opposite direction of where he was located.

My next stop was White Sands National Monument.  I had been chatting with the couple that had the big, blue van and they were going to be there today too, so we would finally be able to meet up!  Just as I pulled into the visitor’s center, I saw that blue van leaving the park.  We had been leap-frogging for days, never quite being in the same place in the same time.  Luckily, we had plans to stay at the same campsite for the night, so I’d catch up with them after White Sands.

White Sands was amazing, and I was there on a perfect day.  It was sunny but not too hot or windy, so ideal for walking around in the sand!  Dogs are allowed on the trails, so Dakota got to trudge through the sand with me.  We didn’t make it too far because I was wandering in flip flops (I was still waiting on my van prince) and the sand was tough for Dakota to walk through too.  We enjoyed climbing up and down the sand dunes though and Dakota was thrilled to be on an adventure, despite having a mouth full of sand.

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After playing on the dunes we met up with our new friends at a great spot on a nearby lake.  They wouldn’t be van friends if they didn’t feed me dinner (I’m 3/3 on meeting awesome couples in vans and having them make me a delicious meal).  We spent the evening watching the most incredible sunset and swapping stories of the highs and lows of our time on the road.  You can follow this incredible couple on Instagram @the.vanimals or on their blog www.thevanimals.com.

The next morning, Ian messed with Forrest’s oil some more because that pesky HI OIL light came back on right as I pulled into camp the night before, despite going back to the mechanic earlier that day.  I’m lucky to know such helpful people.  They took off shortly after, and Dakota and I spent most of the day enjoying the sunshine and the lake view and taking a much-needed nap while the breeze blew though the van.

That evening I moved along towards Gila National Forest in preparation for my next day off work and an off-grid adventure.

I don’t think anything happens by coincidence. No one is here by accident. Everyone who crosses our path has a message for us.

James Redfield