Headed out west
Here we go, officially into a campervan for the first time on this adventure. We picked up our Vanish rental campervan "Stella" from Austin mid morning and after some sytem checks, dumped our bags and suitcases on board and headed straight for the nearest Wallmart. Unpacking could wait, we had a long 6 hour journey out west ahead of us so it was time to get moving.
A rushed Wallmart stop loading up with the essentials, Coke Zero, Oreos etc you know...
Then onward west to Fort Stockton. Back through Fredericksburg and beyond the landscape slowly turned more and more into a desert.
The trees made way to plains of dried bushes and cacti as far as the eye could see until mountains and ridglines began to rise out of the horizon.
The landscape is truly hard to describe in a way that does the vastness of it all any real justice. As a Brit, it's unlike anything I've ever witnessed before. Only the Taurus mountains in Turkey 17 years ago has come close for me.
Theres only so much to say about a long drive west, but we made it to Fort Stockton and Hilltop RV park as the sun was setting. You couldn't miss it thanks to the enormous flag at the entrance flying at half mast for the death of President Jimmy Carter days before.
This was our first ever RV park and I don't know what we were really expecting, but it was a lovely little spot overlooking the mountains to the south and west. A perfect spot to unpack and get to grips with the van's systems and plot our course for Big Bend National park the next day...
