San Antonio, and closer to the border

We are quite at home at Braunig Lake RV Park. Even though under new owners this year the staff is all the same. They even remembered us from the previous year and the much delayed windshield replacement.

Friday we called Billy Bob RV, the RV service place recommended by the resort. The Mechanic would be able to come Tuesday morning. The earliest the RV Tech could get to us was Thursday. Looks like we'll be here another week. Worse places to be.

Friday evening there was dinner in the activity room. Saturday and Sunday mornings they did breakfasts; bacon or sausage with eggs, hash browns, biscuits and gravy, toast and coffee on Saturdays and Sundays is all you can eat pancakes or waffles.

We were able to get in touch with our friend Lulú and made arrangements for a visit. We drove to the other side of the city to her daughter's place and had a wonderful lunch and visit. We may not see her this winter in Zihuatanejo as she has to stay in the U.S until her paper work comes through. She has been waiting for her "Green Card" since summer. With her daughter and grand children in San Antonio it will be so much easier to cross back and forth.

Jorge, her husband is still in their home in Morelia working. We hope we can persuade him to drive their campervan to Zihuatanejo and visit us even if Lulú doesn't get back.

Tuesday the mechanic arrived and had a look at the oil which had spread about again with the rain. He crawled about over and under and couldn't find anything to be concerned about. His comment "I'd be happy to drive this to Mexico." took a weight off our shoulders.

 Wednesday was Gillian's birthday so we went into the middle of the city for a celebratory dinner at Zinc Bistro & Bar which had so impressed us last year. And it's only a few steps from a parking garage! The Texas Lamb Pappardelle was superb.

Thursday the Fantastic Fan was installed and now we're ready to go Friday morning. We had booked in for a week when we arrived so had to pay one more night.



Friday 11 November, San Antonio to Laredo

We had a very short drive ahead of us today so there was no rush to get started. Once we were ready Art took the rig over to the propane tank while Gillian drove the Jeep to the office  to ask them for a fill, (and to wait for it to be done and pay for it).

Once topped up with propane Art drove next door to the Valero station to fill the fuel tank, Gillian was right along to fill the Jeep. We drove behind the station to hook up where Art discovered that he had forgotten to put the protective cover over the airline and brake indicator wire for the Jeep braking system.  A few minutes with a roll of PVC tape took care of that. At 1:45 we were on the road northbound for a few exits before following the 410 to the I-35 South towards Laredo.

A few minutes after 4:00 we arrived at the Texas Tourist Information Center for the night. (MM 18 I-35)

Tomorrow: Mexico!



As you can see I'm chipping away at the blog:

We are now in Zihuatanejo and I'll do my best to tear myself away from a book, the restaurant, the beach, the chaiselongue,. .  .at least once in a while, to get this done.  Unfortunately, I am not a skilled typist and spend more time correcting errors than composing! And as for getting the photos out of the camera and into the computer where I can find them again. . . . . .

Albuquerque to San Antonio.

1 November, heading East

We left ABQ at 11:10 AM, about what we had planned for. Today we were continuing Eastbound, looking to spend at least one night in Oklahoma, a new state for us. We wouldn't reach Oklahoma today, guessing we'd be spending the night in a rest area or perhaps the Oasis RV Park in Amarillo TX which had been recommended to us.

Still east bound on the I-40 at 1:30 we made a 40 minute lunch stop at a closed Rest Area at mm 300.

At 3:30/4:30 we crossed the New Mexico-Texas state line and changed from Mountain Time to Central Time. Almost into Amarillo we stopped for fuel at 5:10 and at 5:30 checked in to the Oasis RV Park for the night.

As it happened they have a kitchen and it was open until 6:00PM, wings and/or pizza on the menu. We were either going to have an early dinner close on the heels of lunch, OR one of us was going to have to cook and the other would be doing the washing up. No contest. Dinner: Pizza from the office and cold beer from our fridge.

2: November Southeast

 10:45 We left the Oasis and were east bound through Amarillo then turned southeast on the 287.

At Quanah we turned left on the 6 and followed that north for a bit into Oklahoma and up to the 62 then continued east until at 2:50 in a pullout near Cache OK (Near Lawton) we stopped for lunch. From Lawton we continued west on the 7

We were getting to the end of our day and near our destination; as we approached the I-35 we stopped for fuel at 5:00 PM then on to the 35 where we turned south towards Hidden Lake RV Park near Ardmore. Following the conspicuous signs for the Hidden Lake RV Park rather than the GPS, which wanted us to take a somewhat convoluted route, we arrived at 6:20. Another State for the map!

To be fair to Garmin, we are using the Garmin RV unit and it has our length, height and weight details programmed into it and so tends to keep us off residential streets. 




 

Thursday, 3rd November Southbound
 
at 10:00 AM and soon back into Texas on the I-35 which would take us all the way to San Antonio. We were through Fort Worth by noon, traffic not as bad as expected, pretty uneventful for a big city.

Then we began to run into rain. Which soon turned to RAIN and of course wind. Hard driving to say the least. After a bit of this, shortly after 2:00 we stopped at a rest area between Waco and Austin for lunch and to give the dogs (and us!) a break. The rain let up a bit and actually stopped long enough to get the dogs walked and we were back southbound on the I-35.




In terrible rain and wind. Driving through Austin was horrible with wind, rain, heavy traffic and roadworks. Visibility at times down to 100 meters. Most of the big trucks had 4 way flashers going, 30mph in a 70 zone, sometimes almost at a stop. Nearing the end of the city limits we came across a large overhead highway sign warning: NEXT 4 MILES 9 MINUTES.









After we were well out of Austin the rain began to abate and the drive through and around San Antonio on the 410 wasn't bad at all. It helps that we have driven that quite a lot over the past few years in the Jeep so knew where our exits were and what to expect.

A few days ago I got the idea of marking the Start with green pointer and arrival position with red. These just mark our entry to the city and our arrival at the RV Park.








We arrived at Braunig Lake RV Resort at 6:30 PM. We plan to stay here a week, get the ceiling vent fan installed, get the oil leak confirmed, repaired or . . . .