American Gam

“Washington [D.C.] is not a place to live in. The rents are high, the food is bad, the dust is disgusting and the morals are deplorable. Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country.” ~ Horace Greeley

“Go West, young man!” is a phrase, the origin of which is credited to the American author and newspaper editor Horace Greeley, concerning the United States’ westward expansion as related to the concept of Manifest Destiny, an early American point-of-view that the United States was divinely ordained to spread its dominion, expanding democracy and capitalism across the continent.

“Manifest Destiny” was coined in 1845 by John O’Sullivan. This ideology justified rapid westward expansion through the Homestead Acts, the annexation of Texas through the Mexican-American War, and the displacement of Native Americans from their lands and onto reservations.

History lesson aside…Treva and I continued our westward expansion on the I-10 trail. We stayed at some campgrounds familiar to us and to you if you followed last years Great American Road Trip 2025. We have reservations at Mission Bay RV Park in sunny San Diego for a two month stay starting on the 18th of this month so we’re trying to time our stops and miles to land there on schedule.

We camped one overnight in a Cracker Barrel parking lot in Kerrville, Texas. We had a nice dinner and breakfast while there…

I had been here before back 2013 when my mother and I did a road trip to Del Rio, Texas. Across the street from this Cracker Barrel is the Coming King Sculpture Prayer Gardens. We had stopped here when they were still constructing this place with its massive cross. Back then it was just a big dirt lot around the big cross. As you can see, they’ve made a few improvements…

From there Treva and I continued on to Fort Stockton, staying at the familiar and quirky Hilltop RV Park with its flags and unique sculptures scattered about…

Then it was on to the KOA Las Cruces, New Mexico for two nights to rest. We stayed here last year and had a delicious pizza from Valley Pizza, which we did again…twice! 🍕 So good! 😊

The Benson, Arizona KOA is where we stayed last year when we stopped to visit the infamous town of Tombstone. This time we stopped to visit Wendy’s and then just relaxed at our campsite.

North of Tucson we stayed at a KOA near Picacho Peak. The neighbors on our south fence were peaceful as they dined on some fresh, green hay. Our neighbors on our north fence were an unrelenting Highway 10 and railroad tracks that ushered commerce, tourists and locals all night long. Despite the noise, the three of us slept well. 😴

Next was the Yuma KOA, which was near the Mexico border and on the Colorado River, which creates the natural border with California. That’s the same Colorado River that also created the Grand Canyon some five hundred miles away! This KOA had some neat oddities scattered about…

Then we had one last stop before our final landing. We made it to San Diego but we had one more night before we started our two-month residency at Mission Bay so we opted for the Silver Strand State Beach Campground. It’s on a sliver of silver sand with ocean on one side and bay on the other. And only thirteen feet above sea level!

The good news is we were right on the beach! Bad news: Thunderstorm warnings, gale warnings, high surf warnings, water spout warnings, high wind warnings, basically just hunker-down-and-hold-on-to-your-hat warnings! We made the best of it despite the trailer shaking all night long in the hurricane-like winds. Kodi and I went out to pee on a bush at two in the morning and got sandblasted by the intense wind and beach sand.

Before the storm…

I almost stepped on this momma bird protecting her egg nest…

The next morning Treva went out in the storm to take pictures…

We survived the storm and headed out the next morning having to drive an easy half hour to Mission Bay…

It was an arduous trek, about 2,500 miles, across the Southwest, sampling some of the KOA’s along way, bee-lining it most of the way, driving and resting, watching the Winter Olympics at night on TV, passing by the touristy stuff and highway shlock, but we made our deadline and now we have two months to relax and enjoy sunny San Diego before heading to the KOA at Mount Rushmore for our first ever work/camping experience.

I hope you enjoyed this leg of the Great American Road Trip 2026.

The gam continues…