Winter trip 2026 - Day 10: Padre Island

The wind last night was relentless, and continued in the morning. We had a pretty great view though.

We left the vent lid open last night, quite the mistake. It's directly over the bed and I woke up to probably a cup of sand in the sheets.

We walked the beach, picked up trash, hunted sea beans. I picked up all these caps in 15 minutes.

Around 10 we left the park and headed to Port Aransas on the north end of the island. Drove around the town, this area feels like the outer banks. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant that had old music videos playing on their TVs.

After lunch, stopped at a small grocery store for a few things and then headed back to the beach. Went to the visitors center for showers, but they were only cold water and no heat in the building so we passed.

The wind kept up all day, so we'd walk around outside for a bit, then back to Planet Express to warm up, play games, just hung out.

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Winter trip 2026 - Day 1: Home to St. Roberts, MO

After lots of planning and packing and downsizing to get everything to fit in the new van, Planet Express, we hit the road on Friday morning just after 9am. Took 30 to 71 to 70, which Joe says is the boringest road known to man. The next 200 miles of driving weren't much better. Lots of flat and watching the snow gradually melting. Beautiful sunny day. Made our first real stop just past the Indiana line at Uranus fudge. Worth the stop just for all the goofy signs. Bought a sticker and a fake can of spaghetti-o's to hide our valuables. On the way out we walked through this crazy tunnel and almost fell down. We covered a lot of miles today, which was our plan. Went through Saint Louis just before the sunset, finally stopped seeing snow We ended the day in St. Roberts, MO. First stop was the Route 66 Neon Park, which was a neat stop. They had about a dozen neon signs that have been refurbished and donated to the park. Each neon had a sign with it's histo...

Winter trip 2026 - Day 2: Missourah to Lawton, OK

It rained overnight, which is just about the best thing for sleeping. Looked like we were the only ones that spent the night at this CB. Made a quick stop for fuel next door and we were on the road by 8. Our first stop was in Springfield to see the Largest Fork (by mass, they specified, there must be a taller one out there). As far as forks go, it was pretty damn big. Crossed into Oklahoma, which appears to just be one big toll road. We aren't even sure what we spent since it's all just pay-by-plate, but at least $40 to get through the state. As we headed into Tulsa, we listened to the first chapter of the book The Outsiders in preparation for our next stop, The Outsiders House Museum. We watched the movie last month without realizing it was going to be on our path. I should have paid more attention. It was a neat little museum set in the house from the movie. The book author, SE Hinton, is from Tulsa and she still lives in the area. They had lo...

Totals

We spent around $110/day, which is pretty close to what we were expecting based on past travels. We did start with groceries and fuel, but will end with some food and maybe some fuel, not a full tank though. Fuel $517.62 Grocery $432.68 Campsite $390.00 Restaurant $80.00 Stuff $71.98 Tolls $25.50 Firewood $20.00 Park fee $13.00 Laundry $8.00 Van wash $2.50 Trip total $1,561.28

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