Texas! October 30-November 6

After a good relaxing afternoon and evening in Louisiana we were ready to move again, this time along the I-10 the road to Texas. We have been in Texas before but never from this side.



We left the RV park at 10:15, travelling through much of the same countryside.





A couple of hours into the trip we made a fuel stop just east of Houston at a Flying J, one of our popular fuel locations as they are usually RV friendly, some even having a dump station. At this one however, the pay at the pump option wanted a zip code which of course as Canadians we don't have. Our postal codes don't work.

Gillian had taken the dogs our for a break so Art went inside asking them to please turn on pump number 14. The cashier said "how much do you want"? Art said "full, don't know exactly how much it will take". She said "how much do you want me to validate it for"? Art explained that he wanted it filled and no more, that putting a larger amount on the credit card and then crediting the card for any excess costs us money on the difference between the buy and sell exchange rate and he wouldn't do it in principle. He would go across the highway to Love's, their competitor and they just lost a 50 or 60 gallon sale from a formerly loyal customer.

Across the street the Visa card was accepted at the pump, we filled, and went on our way, Art happy with his complimentary coffee.



We negotiated the Houston North Loop and its very light traffic and were running north-east on highway 290 towards Austin. Here the scenery changed to more like what we had visualised as Texas.


About 2 o'clock we stopped in a vacant lot for a lunch break along the 290. Nearing Austin we turned north on the 95 then west again on the 77 to the town of Round Rock.

This is where were we were to visit an old girlfriend of Art's whom he hadn't seen since high school when she was 16! They had made brief contact via the website Classmates.com sears several years ago and since we would be in the area he sent and e-mail and here we were.



We arrived in front of the house at 5:00 pm, Veronica wasn't due home from work for another hour, so we spent the hour tiding the motorhome. Art notice that we had picked up more than the normal amount of bugs on the front of the motorhome. Must be too close to Hallowe'en.

Ronni arrived in due time, wife of 35 years introduced to girlfriend of 45 years ago without incident. We spent an hour or so chatting, we were told that we should not leave without sampling the local donuts and were offered a tour of some of the historic sites. We made our way back the way we came for several miles to the RV park for the night.


Other than the frequent trains across the highway we had a pretty good sleep. After the dogs were fed and exercised we called Veronica to see when and where to meet and made our way there without incident.


The donuts were superb! There was a bit of a delay while we waited for the glazed donuts to come out of the fryer. . . have you ever tasted donuts that were almost too hot to eat? Mmmmmmm. Art managed three--two glazed and one chocolate covered. And he got one of their special cinnamon rolls to go!






From here we had a very short drive to the park marking part of the Chisholm Trail, the path of very long cattle drives from south Texas to the northern railroads. Here is where Round Rock got its name, from the landmark rock in the river at a natural ford. So many wagons crossed the ford they left ruts in the rock of the river bed. The authorities have placed brick into the ruts to preserve them.



We enjoyed strolling around, Trekker his dip in Bushy Creek, and Art visualising herds of hundreds of Texas Longhorn cattle crossing the ford and continuing up the trail on the way north to the rails .











Back to the rig, dumped holding tanks and refilled fresh water tank, we were south bound at 3:20 on the I-35 through Austin to Campingworld in New Braunfels (north of San Antonio) where we had an awning waiting to be installed over the bedroom window. We arrived at 5:00 PM, parked and set up for the night.

Come dinner time we went looking for a place to eat and chanced upon a funky authentic looking Mexican restaurant where we had a very enjoy meal. The staff were anything but Mexican but the food and margaritas were excellent.

At 8:00 AM we booked in for our appointment then went for breakfast. After miles of chasing down suggestions from the GPS we gave up and finally settled on the restaurant attached to a TA Travel Plaza. The food was good, typical truck stop fare, but we did OK.

The job was done quickly, ready in an hour or so, but it took well over an hour to locate a part that Roadmaster had sent to us at the CampingWorld address. This was a warranty replacement for a gravel guard between the car and the motorhome. Once Art found the right person to ask we got the package and went on to our next stop, just south of San Antonio.

While at New Braunfels we had gone scouting for Trekker's grain free dogfood. It is impossible to find in Mexico so we have to take a supply with us. We found a good selection in a pet store not far from CampingWorld and knowing that there was no room in the car for four bags while the dogs were in the back we decided to stop on our way south.

Of course by the time we were on the freeway southbound we had forgotten all about it. At the last second Art exclaimed "*#(%!" and peeled out of traffic onto the exit ramp. Startled, Gillian said "what's the matter?" "Dog food" was the reply as we entered the shopping centre.

We easily found Braunig Lake RV Resort in Elmsdorf, just off highway 37, essentially in San Antonio. In fact their address used to be San Antonio.

We had asked our friends at home to forward our mail to the DHL depot in San Antonio. They would (we hoped) be sending it off today. At the campground Art had an idea! We checked with the RV Park office, Art phoned James' cell--not available--and left a message, also sending an e-mail, giving the campground address James called back, he had received the e-mail and was on his way to DHL, having been in a meeting all morning. We should have it in a couple of days!

While at CampingWorld Gillian had noticed a small oil spot on the ground where we had been parked. We could see what appeared to be a small leak at the rear of the motorhome, there was a small amount of oil with a few drops of oil on the underside of the the engine!

Art checked the oil; it was down slightly but not enough to require topping up. On the internet we located a Freightliner shop not too far away ( we're getting good at this!) and called to talk with the service department.

We were told to bring it in first thing in the morning, they would probably get to it in the afternoon.



7:45 next morning we dropped the motorhome off at Freightliner and went looking for breakfast. There wasn't much on the GPS nearby--other than fast foods, but more by good luck than anything else we found a Mexican Restaurant that was full of Mexicans! A very good sign.





After an excellent breakfast we went exploring historic San Antonio, first to Mission San Jose, one of the several Missions in the area. The attached visitors centre had may displays, including this one, a typical "Day of the Dead" shrine.




















Again more by good luck than careful planning we had come across the mission that was in the best condition and best restored. We spent quite a bit of time here, enjoying the place very much then moved on to what is probably the best known of the Missions, Misson San Antonio del Vaslero, or "The Alamo".


The Alamo is right in the centre of town. Parking was a bit of a problem but we found a place where there was a bit of a breeze, set up the sun shade and reflector for the dogs and set off. It was not what we were expecting, but it was very good and very interesting. The most unreal part were the gardens planted in what would have been the centre courtyard. Instead of the dust and dirt of the dry open space we had visualised (probably influenced by the old John Wayne movie) there were many shade trees and foot paths. Click on the picture of the plaque to enlarge it.


















By the time we were though here we were famished--well past lunch time, so we went looking. An old bar in a large hotel looked promising until we opened the door. The acrid stench from the cloud of tobacco smoke drove us out even before we crossed the threshold.




Across the street, near the intersection of Alamo Plaza and Crocket, (Bowie was next street over!) we found what appeared to be an Irish Bar. It was nothing like, had a terrible selection of beers but the food was good--lots of Cajun dishes!



Back to the parking lot we let the dogs out for a quick break then headed across town to Freightliner to see how they were doing. They hadn't started it, it was possible but unlikely that they would get to it tonight though they were open until midnight. The motorhome was parked in what was obviously an RV spot--30 Amp RV connections, water and sewer as well. When we mentioned sleeping there for the night we were told that we could not. They locked the gate at midnight!

Art suggested that we would take the rig and be back waiting outside the gates when they opened at 7:30 next morning. He was told that if the rig left the lot we would loose our place in line and would be back on the bottom of the stack!

Art was not pleased. The leak appeared to be small, he would keep an eye on it, got the keys and we pulled out of the yard a few minutes after 5:00PM!



By 5:30 we were parked again. Note in the picture you can tell the Canadian rigs by the StarChoice dishes on the roof. The two rigs in the right front are from Quebec and both have the same automatic dish mechanism as ours (on the left).




We spent the next few days waiting for our mail and pottering around the park and, believe it or not, working on the blog. We had a pretty good internet connection but uploading photos to the blog was often painfully slow.


On a bit of an austerity program we ate mostly at home, having had an awful lot of restaurant meals lately! Not that we are suffering, food has has been great. Here are a couple of examples. The dishwasher is a bit slow sometimes.




We checked the DHL web site frequently, tracking our mail and were delighted to see it arrive in the United States so quickly. Then we watched it sit for two days, held up by US Customs. Friday morning we noted that it was back in the hands of DHL and being sent on. We hoped that there would be a Saturday delivery. Imagine our surprise when about noon the same a golf cart pulled up along side the rig with our mail!

We dealt with a few thing that would best be taken care of right away as some required sending things through the mail. I know that we Canadians and Americans too are fond of complaining about postal service but we were not going to use El Correo if we could avoid it. Gillian went off on the car in search of a post office and returned shortly. One of our postal chores was sending off Christmas Cards to those of our friends don't have internet!



11:00 Saturday morning we left on our last day's journey in the United States. North a bit then west on the I-410, the San Antonio ring road exiting southwest on the I-35 for 30 miles where we turned west on highway 57 to Eagle Pass. This was the Texas landscape that we always visualised.

We have been through Eagle Pass twice before and always managed to get lost. "Well at least we know where we are going this time." Famous last word. Entering the town he who was driving missed a left turn. Easily corrected at the next intersection we arrive in the Walmart parking lot at 2:0 PM.

While Art disconnected the car and temporarily parked the vehicles Gillian took the dogs for a much deserved walk. Art then went in to check with customer service about staying for the night. We were given permission, but neither representative could remember which part of the parking lot we were supposed to use. Art suggested that he ask security (he had noticed on of their trucks in front of the main entrance) which proved to be a good idea. The security guard out side said we were in the right area, all was well.

Art had hoped to be parked over a couple of rows alongside a grassy area and well out of the way of the many vehicles that seemed to race across the parking area perpendicular to the traffic lanes with no regard to traffic driving the right way. There were a few close calls in front of the motorhome as we blocked the view of cross traffic. Eventually the last vehicle that had been parked where we wanted to be had left, we got level, jacks down and slides out.


Tomorrow, Mexico!