Friday, February 19, 2010

River Walk

The last two days were spent in sunny, almost warm San Antonio. Such a delightful city and so beautiful! Although, I had lived here 33 years ago I was hard pressed to recognize much as I entered the city. So many big green signs that weren't there before. I did manage to recognize some of the street signs that would take me to old neighborhoods. The traffic was intense. Traveler's RV Park was nestled in a somewhat "iffy" part of town about ten minutes from the city. Checking in went well but the hookup process revealed a lost water hose. Seems I didn't quite get the box locked and the hose fell out along the way. What is this, #4 or 4 1/2??? Ah well, onward and upward.

Nancy, Ginny, Kathy, Gary and I had a happy reunion and celebrated with dinner in Kathy's RV. Corn casserole, biscuits, salad, and peanut buster parfait. Oh fat, fat, fat but good, good, good!

Yesterday was spent walking the River Walk and the little village of La Villita and taking in the shops. I remember going to La Villita ta by myself and enjoying the serenity of the old adobe houses and quiet streets. That was long ago but it surprisingly looked and felt much the same. La Villita was across the river from old San Antonio where the soldiers who married Mexicans/Indians had to live. Kinda the "other side off the tracks" in modern day towns. However, far more charming.

An old high school friend, Steve, met me for coffee and we had a brief reminiscence catching up on family news. He and I have known each other since 10th grade and were good pals. When Clay and I moved to SA in'72 Steve and his wife, Madgie became friends. We have kept in touch throughout the years. Steve's dad and my dad were both pilots in the Air Force and for a number of years both families were stationed at the same AFBs. That is about the only way we could have an extended friendship in the Air Force.

Last night we all celebrated our last night at Mia Terrea cafe. What a place. It is owned by one family dynasty who opened it in '41. There was room after room highly decorated in Mexican Fiesta style, lovely lights, flower bouquets, pinatas and banners hanging from the ceiling. Impossible to describe it's beauty. One room featured a 50' mural of the family and events of the times.. Quite lovely. Food was good, too.

This am Ginny, Nancy and I head out to Seminole Canyon State Park where it promises to be warm and sunny. Sounds good to me!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

On The Road Again

Yesterday I took off for parts south and warmer weather. I needed a few little items for the Casita so I stopped by the egg hatchery (our lingo for the Castia factory) in Rice, TX. I dropped a few bucks but oh well. These folks are Christians so I just considered the $ my tithing for the year.
I decided to bypass Waco Lake and try a new place so I stopped at Liberty Hill Park ( a corps of engineers) on the lake near Dawson. The park is lovely and right on the lake with a marina and beautiful camp sites with pecan trees and rolling hills. With my Golden Pass Card the cost for full hookups was $9. You really can't beat it. I took Fox for a long walk but couldn't stand too much of the cold and the wind was blowing despite a sunny sky.
Dinner was sauteed New York strip, baked sweet potatoes and brussel sprouts. Not bad for a camp dinner. I was so tired that the Fox and I were in bed at 8 and asleep at 7:58. Unfortunately, it was not a good night for the little Fox. He was up 3 times to go outside. It was very dark so I really couldn't tell what he was "going."
We awoke a little late, 6:36, and I sat under the covers and drank coffee. We then took off for our morning rounds. Chilly for sure and the wind was blowing.
After some consideration I decided to stop at Bastrop State Park for the night instead of going on into San Antonio. Good choice. Bastrop is in the Piney Woods of TX with large camp sites, a golf course, swimming pool, lake and lots of hiking trails. Really lovely. The pines are tall and remind me of the forest in the Florida panhandle. I don't know what kind they are.
Before we got to the Park I stopped for gas and grabbed a salad at Wendy''s. When I returned to the car Foxy had a bit of a surprise for me on MY SEAT a wee bit of throw-up. After we stopped at the park I had opportunity to observe the "going" at the other end. Fox had yogurt for dinner. The Vet swears by it so let's hope it does the trick. I really don't want to get up in the middle of the night.
We have had our long walk and I am about to fix dinner then knit for awhile. It is finally fairly warm, somewhere in the 50s. I'll take it. I haven't washed my hair since yesterday morning and my cowlick is sticking straight out. I think I am going to put a ribbon around it. I can smell those piney woods!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I Have Emerged

The Fox and I recently emerged from a snow bank here in McKinney, TX. The last 4 days have been cold, wet and snowy. The lovely weekend in sunny Hunker Down on the lake was scratched for a few days in the big, crowded, traffic jammed, icy roads city of Mc Kinney. Oh joy. On the bright side I was able to finally put a new thermostat in the Casita. Next project is getting the sour milk out of the carpet. I will heat up the Casita today and start on that task.

My original plan was to leave the trailer at Hunker Down and drive into McKinney for a dinner out with the "Sippers", group of Jill's friends. While I did make the dinner, unfortunately, I had to do it with the Casita in tow. I tried at least 5 times to disconnect the hitch from the car witih no luck. The ground was so uneven and wet that the hitch just wouldn't pop off. I only managed to drive the whole mess further from the cabin. Meaning, I had further to go to pack up the Casita. That translates to carrying my oxygen unit (30lbs ?) up the incline to the Casita. Had to use the inhaler before that one.

Actually, it felt good to be on the road again going somewhere with no rain, maybe. Yep, no rain, just snow and lots of it. Now, I love my Casita, but camping in the snow is a little like driving in the snow in a rear-wheel drive auto. It sucks.

Looking on the bright side, I did manage to get the Casita and car separated and got the oil changed in the car. Also, did a little shopping for the necessities, cookies and a thermostat. Tomorrow I am planning to take off for parts south. I plan to be in San Antonio for a couple of days of sunshine. In fact, the whole week is predicted to be sunny except Thurs, the day we are going kayaking on the Guadalupe River. What the heck, the river should be wet anyway.

Foxy has been enjoying the break in camping playing with his three friends, teeny, tiny greyhounds wearing teeny tiny coats to keep them warm, Ned, Ty and Dottie K. The boys are very attracted to Foxy and enjoy a bit of "humping" practice. Dottie K is smart, she just hides most of the time. Foxy is constantly making his escape and growling at the boys.

Guess I'll do a few chores and prep for the take off tomorrow.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Pics of Texas Welcome Center and Hunker Down




Still Hunker Down

One star faintly glimmered in the morning sky, that is to say the sky at 0:dawn-thirty. The promise of a wee bit of sun today. Yesterday was glorious, sunny, bright and clear. A little ice here and there especially clinging to the water grasses in the lake. They sported a shimmery show of little multi colored diamonds. A wonderful gift after the driving rain and gloom.

I took the opportunity to open the blinds in the Casita letting in the warmth and assessed the "milk" damage. As far as I can tell, no smell. But, and that's a big "but", it was very cold so could have masked the odor. I was encouraged. I cleaned up and washed the rugs. Fox (who is now lounging on my lap with his chewy) and I took a walk around the grounds. The grass is starting to turn green and buttercups are blooming. Spring comes early to north Texas. And as far as I'm concerned you can have spring in any state. I, personally, hate the wet and cold.

Every hour or so we have a weather check of places on the road south. Not good. Looks like rain everywhere until Sun. I am considering going straight to Brownsville where the temp yesterday was 80. That seems civilized.
I will join Jill for lunch in McKinney today and try once again to find the right thermostat for the Casita. Also need to restock the frig. Sitting around in the rain is not my idea of fun. It drives me crazy not to be doing things. Of course, I have a big bag of yarn and a couple of sweaters to knit but that involves sitting.
The Fox is antsy, too, and after his hyper run yesterday I had to put him in the sink for a bath. So much mud everywhere.
Must move the Casita before I unhook her so I need to scope out the situation. Need to find more level ground. Thank goodness the big 3 bad luck events are behind me. Now I can move her with confidence. Ho, de, ho, ho. Also need to get the oil changed, yes, in the car not the trailer you old fart! Plenty to do in McKinney today. I've almost talked myself into an exciting day! Oh Yeah

Monday, February 8, 2010

Hunker Down

After almost 700 miles I had arrived at Hunker Down (Jill's place on the lake) and was about to back into a preapproved area with the help of Jack, next door neighbor's 30 some yr old son who operated on a little less than 2 AA batteries. He was so sweet, and so very confused. I always do much better backing on my own (when I can see the road). Jill also chipped in to offer a hand. At least she kept me out of the ditch. After a week of rain the place was like soup. Thanks to the jeep "Chili Pepper" I managed not to get stuck and parked appropriately after about 30 min of left and right. The only mishap was when Jack put his hand in the window to welcome Foxy @$#%^&* Ah, Jack, wadya do that for? No broken skin due to Jack's quick reaction jumping out of harm's way. Did I mention it was raining? Oh yes.



It was good to get into the house, get into dry clothes, take a muscle relaxer (Jill's a nurse practitioner) for the back pain, maxalt for the migraine (yes, another one) and sip my hot chocolate while relaxing on my heating pad. It didn't take long to want to crawl into bed and snuggle up with the Fox for a good night's sleep.



Next morning it was raining. Neither of us was in a hurry to move so Jill fixed scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits for breakfast. What are friends for? After breakfast we napped a bit then dressed and hit wal-mart. I was still looking for a thermostat but no luck. We were going to see a movie but my head was still in a bad place so I opted out. Jill took me to a place for lunch with real home cookin.



I guess I had been away long enough to forget that home cookin meant lots of grease and fried stuff and that north TX was cowboy country. We ate at the TNT. Since it was Sunday after church the place was full of folks and families. Two little boys around 6 and 7 were dressed in Sun best down to their polished pointy boots, hats and string ties. Mama had on her sparkly dress and Daddy his best black leather jacket and hat. A real Texas cowboy family. As they were leaving I noticed a middle aged couple (30s) come in. She was sporting an 8" long 3" wide silver cross around her next and a sharp lookin black vest embellished with silver sparkles in the shape of a cross on each breast and on the back. Of course, she had on the usual black boots and jeans. A baseball cap with a large, silver sparkle cross on each side completed the outfit. I think she went to some kinda Christian church.



I couldn't finish my hamburger with grilled onions and let some of the onions slide out onto the plate. No forks or knives, just napkins and I was thankful for those. After lunch we stopped by Braums for ice cream. At last, real food, I had a cuppachino with choco chunks. Goooooood!



Back to the house in time for a nap before dinner. By this time the place was swimming in water and Jill kept saying "Don't, worry, it won't flood." Who, me worry???? Right about that time the neighbor, Cheryl, came over with homemade goat cheese for us. She is a delight. Former engineer who quit to become a goat farmer. She raises Nigerian Dwarf Goats and one had just had a baby that morning. I can't wait to visit the farm and help her feed the babies. That will happen when the rain slows down or ends. I was gifted with 3 kinds of cheese; honey fig, apricot, and heavenly "plane".

Shortly after Cheryl left Jill took off for McKinney and back to work on Monday. I dined on banana and cereal before falling into bed at the first hint of darkness. Then the rains came, hard all night complete with thunder and lightening.

Second Day Out

The rains came down all day from Amarillo to Bonham. Never ending. Just short of Wichita Falls a guy flags me over to let me know I am about ready to throw some rubber on the passenger side tire. I pulled off the road and into a service station at Electra, TX. What nice folks. That had the spare (a new tire) on in five minutes and charged me $5. I drove on and stopped in Wichita at Wal-Mart and bought 2 new tires for the trailer. I told the sales clerk, (an old fart) that I needed 2 tires this size handing him the paper I had written the tire specs on.

He looked at it and said these are trailer tires (like I didn't know), yes, I replied. Well, what have you got on it now? I said, 2 trailer tires. He said well your not supposed to put trailer tires on a vehicle, where is it? I said it is on the back of my car parked out front. he says, and you want trailer tires on it? I said well, yes, ITS A TRAILER, I didn't add you stupid old fart. He says Oh, I thought you had them on your car. And I said why would I have trailer tires on my car???(you old fart)! In the end I got the tires and went on my merry way. NUMBER 3
At least I thought that was #3.

We stopped for lunch and I opened the frig, mistake. . . milk again and a lovely yellow pool of something in the bottom of the frig with several fuzzy islands floating in it. The milk had not spilled but looked to have "leached" out the sides along with the yogurt. Oh man, BIG YUKIE. It was safe to say that Grandma was not happy. This was the rest of #2(excuse the pun). I cleaned it out, put in a cup of coffee grounds; however, the milk stuff had seeped out of the frig onto the carpet where Foxy was busy licking it up as fast as he could. I spread towels on the floor to soak up as much as possible and got back in the car. I actually stopped at Big Macs and got a hamburger which I regretted as soon as I ate some of it. Topped that off with half a bag of ginger cookies and a cup of coffee.

Did I mention that my back had been hurting since I left La Veta? Oh, and that I had a migraine. Fox and I were so relieved to pull into Jill's cabin on the lake in the driving rain that I was almost jubilant. Well, until she indicated that I had to BACK into her property a total of at least 100 yds. to be cont'd

"As The Rain Falls" North Texas

Here we are, on the road again. I had a "feeling" about this trip, not a good one. The first day out driving across New Mexico was bright and sunny. Snow had just preceeded us and looked to be about 2 to 3 feet, although, the highway was clear. Thanks be to God on that one. Highway 87 from Raton to Clayton, NM never fails to bring fond memories of travel times long ago. The landscape was even more spectacular with the snow and the grasses barely breaking through to form a caramel glaze on top of a foamy latte. Instead of the usual way to Amarillo via Boy's Ranch Road, we headed through Dumas. It occurred to me that I hadn't been to Dumas in about 50 years. We pushed on to Amarillo to stay the night, I had my eye on the AOK RV park east of town. Kinda fun going through town remembering my last year in high school and friends at the AFB. The AOK was a miserable choice, most buildings boarded up and mud and slush everywhere. I barely made it out of there with the Jeep in 4x4 and low gear. Thankfully, we didn't get stuck. I headed back to Hwy 287 and the Texas Welcome Center we had passed a couple of miles back. I was so tired, I had to stop for the night. Ran into a TX ranger who promised to keep an eye on me through the night. She was a case, big, big girl who barely fit behind the wheel of her truck. She didn't get out and I guessed there was a reason for that. . . probably took some real work to get in there.
Leave it to the Texans to build the most beautiful Welcome Center I've ever seen. Horzontial stripes of various colored bricks that gave the effect of canyon walls in Palo Duro Canyon. Foxy and I made our way around for walks and he had a grand time. Plenty of open spaces to run. By sundown it was freezing so I hung a wool blanket over the back window, towels over the side windows and one of those space blankets over the front door to keep out the drafts. Then I turned on the stove to heat water for tea and have my dinner of bread and peanut butter. Oh Boy!
Foxy and I got all tucked in with the down comforter and wool pendelton over us. My face was so cold I had to put my head under the blanket. No heater? you ask. Right oh, remember the guy who put in the wrong thermostat. Well, I have been unable to find a new one. So, you might say we roughed it.
In the morning, I suited up to take the Fox for a potty break and opened the door.. . . . I had to throw out my elbows to break a path in the frozen fog just like an ice breaker in the artic. Burrrrr. . . oh Misery. He did his duty and we crawled back into the bleakness of the camper.
Breakfast time. Too bad the refrig had stopped and the milk had fallen over. So of course, when I opened the door yuckie milk spilled everywhere. I cleaned that up and re-lit the frig. Had a gronola bar with coffee. Needless to say I hurried to ready for the day's drive and turn on that car heater! Bad things come in 3s, I had had 2, a very cold night, and mess in the frig. What next? Oh, I did brush my teeth but that was the extent of it and I wore the sweats I had slept in the night before.