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 . . . .

Santa Fe and on to Alburquerque

Friday, 28 October

A good secure internet here so we took advantage to catch up on some banking and financials. And of course getting this far on the blog!

Early afternoon we took the Jeep into the center of town, the old town area and spent a few hours walking around with the dogs. A very pet friendly town, even a crowded gift shop with attached small museum said that Gillian could bring the dogs in rather than wait outside while Art poked around.

She did later take Prana into the museum for a few minutes without incident.

The museum was small but interesting, inside was the entrance to the oldest house in the US, dating from about 1646. That's 300 years older than Art!

Next door was a very old church dating from about the same time. Inside was this very very old church bell which had been brought from Spain. Cast in 1336 (you may be able to read the date cast into it). It was made from metals donated by the towns people (sorry forgot to note which town!) during the Spanish effort to chase the Moors out of Spain. The table lists the metal content. Sorry it is out of focus but it was taken with my old flip phone camera in very poor light.

The street we were on (and the site of the church) is part of the original Santa Fe Overland Trail which ran from Franklin Missouri to Santa Fé which of course still belonged to Mexico. The trail was established 1821 and took two and a half months to travel.






That evening, back in the RV Park Prana decided she needed some cuddle time














Saturday, 29 October

Just a short run today so we took our time getting ready and were on the road at 11:35. Unfortunately, when we unhooked the Jeep yesterday we noticed oil on the rear of the motorhome, towbar, cables and the front of the Jeep . Not a lot, just enough to give Art dirty hands.

While checking things out before hooking up Art discovered that the hitch ball was loose. Not even finger tight! While Gillian held the ball with a pair of large waterpump pliers Art tightened the ball with the large wrench we carry for just that purpose.

Note to self: Check that more frequently!

We gave everything a good wash (Thanks Dawn Dishwashing Liquid) and we will see what we find after an hour or two of driving. Art is suspecting that the fuel leak diagnosed by Chris, our tech back home, is still there and the broken fuel line was something else.

Out of the park we made a left onto the highway as advised by a local and were soon moving southwest on the I-25 to Alburquerque. Uneventful drive, weather quite acceptable.

Into the city, which we are somewhat familiar with, we proceeded straight through to the I-40 then eastbound for several miles to our exit. Which the GPS told us to bypass and take the next.

Suspecting that the street that we would need to turn left from may have had a barrier added since last year we followed the GPS then saw a KOA sign indicating that we were on the correct route. It was a bit round about, with one not very well marked right turn and zig-zaged through a few blocks to find the RV Park entrance straight ahead. Later driving the Jeep we discovered that we could have taken the original exit, I suppose that the way we went would be easier for longer rigs entering the park.

We arrived at the Albuquerque Central KOA at 1:00PM. Disconnecting the Jeep we found slight traces of oil. We will observe as we proceed to San Antonio, a run of several days. Our thought now to go via Oklahoma, a state that we have not yet visited, and thus earn another sticker for the Visited States Map on the side of the rig.

We will spend at least three expensive nights here (read KOA!) We have some good friends to spend some time with here and there are a few things we want to do to the rig, such as fix the recently failed roof fan in the galley. Hopefully just a microswitch. Then this afternoon Gillian was unable to open one of the bay doors to get the seating and tables out. It would appear that the lock mechanism has failed. Art was able to access and remove the latches via the bays at each end and thus open the door but this is not a long term solution! Monday he will see if he can order a new lock to be picked up in San Antonio. Later while fiddling with the mechanism, it seemed to be working. Think we'll look for a new one anyway.

Sunday 30th October Art messed with the fan for a while  with no joy and decided that the only way to properly diagnose what is wrong in to remove the unit entirely. Since this would entail working up on the roof which now is probably not the best idea since he is no longer stable on his feet and even climbing the ladder is difficult he decided to purchase a new one and have it installed by an RV tech. (He would probably climb onto the roof  to fix or install a ham radio antenna though!)

We did get together with Ken and Kathy at their home Sunday evening for an extended happy hour with some lovely appies and of course a nice visit with their dog Sandy Paws. We had stopped off at a car wash on the way to get the worst of the oil off the Jeep and tow-bar so it was at least presentable.

Monday we spent running around:

To AT&T where Art received a free new 3G free flip phone to replace his aging 2G phone that after the end of the year would no longer work on the AT&T system. Unfortunately it is not unlocked so he will not be able to use it on other networks. The rep said that Customer Service could unlock it for us, we will call them from San Antonio and see how we make out with that.

 To Camping World 10 or 15 miles to the west where we bought a new Fantastic Fan to replace the MaxxAir fan that has failed.  Several near by RV supply stores had fans but not with the exact options we needed; bi directional, tri speed and with a built in thermostat. We also located a new latch for the compartment door but it would require a piece being cut off with a hacksaw to make it fit. Since the old one is now working we'll keep our fingers crossed!

Then to meet Ken and Kathy for lunch in the Old Town where again we passed a very pleasant hour or two with good friends and good food.

In a the window of a book shop on the square Art spotted another Anne Hillerman novel, "Rock With Wings" (The Navajo name for Ship Rock.) This is her second in the series, her first, "Spider Woman's Daughter", he had purchased at the same store a couple of years ago! She is the daughter of Tony Hillerman whose detective novels set in the Four Corners area is full of Navajo culture references and features the Navajo Tribal Police. We were both very sad when Tony passed away some years ago. We had been avid fans since discovering his novels in the Twin Rocks Trading Post in Bluff, Utah years ago. We were pleased to see his daughter continue his style, characters and location. Always a good read; interesting insight into Navajo tradition and way of life mixed with a touch of suspense, though not what I would call "nail biters".

(To see where Ship Rock and the area of the Navajo Nation are located see the blue pointer in the second photo in the post "Cortez to Santa Fé". Ship Rock is at the top of the pointer, the town of Shiprock a bit to the north and east.)

Here are the first two paragraphs from "Rock With Wings":

     Officer Bernadette Manuelito had been sitting in her unit by the side of the road for an hour, watching the last of the twilight fade and the pinpoints of stars appear in the blue-grey sky. In that time she had seen two vehicles, both with the classic yellow and red New Mexico plates with the Zia symbol in the center. The grey Subaru advanced at close to the speed limit with no sign of driver impairment. The old green Buick cruised along more leisurely, with the windows rolled down and country music flowing into the night air. She knew the car and the driver and knew he was headed for home after a long shift at the Four Corners Power Plant. If he'd had beer or two, his driving didn't show it. 
     After that burst of activity, things slowed down.

Back at the RV Park we made the decision that we would leave in the morning if we could get ready to go by 11:00. There was still a lot to do, (replace the latch, replace a clearance lamp lens that had broken, set the dog crates up again etc etc) and it takes quite a while with the dogs needing a good walk before setting off.  Even leaving from a Rest Area where the Jeep is already connected, the slides are already in and there are no water and electric connections to put away, from the time the first of us wakes up in the morning (not counting the dogs!)  it takes us about an hour and a half to be ready to leave.

Cortez to Santa Fe, crossed the Continental Devide

27 October


 End of the Tire Saga:

We were away from Four State tire at 10:40, not far off our usual departure time. In Durango we found the Four State shop and pulled in. OOPS! This is not a big rig friendly area--essentially a strip mall with a one lane wide lane across the front! We unhooked the Jeep, and managed to reverse between a couple of buildings and then drive out again and park on the wide shoulder of the frontage road. A couple of cheery young men came out with a very large torque wrench, removed the wheel covers, re-torqued the wheel nuts to spec and reinstalled the wheel covers (which are bolted on). No charge, a smile and a wave earned them each a tip and we were eastbound again shortly after noon. Looks like Santa Fe will be doable today!






Half an hour later we stopped for fuel at Bayfield then shortly after that we turned southeast at Pagosa Springs on the US 84 enroute to Santa Fe. It was a very pleasant drive, crossing the Continental Divide along the way. . .







. . .until on entering Santa Fe we turned right onto Cerrillos Road towards the RV Park. Not only was it rush hour, but also most of the highway was under construction, or more realistically, destruction and were down to a crawl for most of it.

As we approached the RV Park, following the GPS carefully, we changed lanes to what we thought was the left turn lane only for find that this particular left lane was very short and led to a hotel! We managed to make it into a U Turn. The GPS showed a mile and a half route to another U Turn but suddenly Art spotted another left turn lane that led to another hotel, this one with an entrance and exit that we could make. As luck would have it there was no oncoming traffic—it was all held up at the traffic light.We made the turn, found the correct left turn lane and were at Los Suenos de Santa Fe only a few minutes later at 5:30.

Scipio to Cortez Colorado

25 October

As posted on yesterday's blog we were on the road Eastbound at 11:00AM along the last piece of Highway 50 which would join the I-70.  We were hoping for Cortez, Colorado, passing through the wonderful broken landscape of South Eastern Utah which we have seen many times before. One of our favoutite drives.

Not happy with this map photo. I'll try to take and post a better one.

This time though we would turn off at Montecello and follow the 491 to Cortez rather than continuing south to Bluff, another interesting place.

At 1:45 we stopped at a Rest Area on the I-70 for lunch then turned south through Moab and arrived in Monticello at 4:00 where we stopped for groceries. The GPS said it was about an hour and a half if memory serves, so it looked like we would make Cortez at a reasonable hour.

Here are a few photos taken along the way:

Following the GPS through Cortez we arrived at the KOA RV Park to find it closed! We had seen another a few blocks back so turned around in the parking lot of a business just up the highway and headed back. Gillian remembered that we had stayed there years before in the Triple E but Art didn't remember it. He didn't like the looks of it from the street--it appeared too tight and small with too many trees so another round the blocks detour and we continued past the old KOA to a new one several miles east. We arrived at Mesa Verde RV Resort at about 6:15 and booked in for 2 nights.

Next day we browsed around the town, had lunch at a nice pub with nice local beers, took the dogs to the municipal fenced off-leash dog park where Tia wandered around quite happily and Prana was of course delighted, chasing balls (no matter who threw them nor which dog for!) and running and playing with other dogs. We had no trouble finding the dog park: It was right next door to the closed KOA!

Art also dropped into Four State Tire to discuss our tire episode and decided to bring the rig in next morning to have the other four tires examined.

7:40 AM he arrived, Gillian and the dogs close behind in the Jeep. Art again explained the incident in Scipio and asked that the four rear wheels be removed from the vehicle and closely examined. Gillian also had a concern about an apparent dent in the right front tire on the Jeep. She was told that it was due to the manufacturing process and was not a concern.

 Then we went off looking for breakfast, at a place recommended by the tire shop staff, Beny's Diner. The gave us directions but we also set the GPS and off we went. The route did not exactly match the directions but was in the same direction and the same general area.  We arrived to find a vacant restaurant with FOR LEASE signs on it!

Gillian remembered seeing another place back down the main street so we set off in that direction. We spotted it as we drove past and as we looked for a place to turn around there was Beny's Diner on the corner. They had moved quite some time ago--it seems the GPS had not caught up.

We had an excellent breakfast, family owned and operated it was friendly and professional.Sated, we returned to the tire shop to find them all done. It seemed that they had misunderstood and had removed all 6 wheels! The good news was the the rear tires wire in fine shape, there was sufficient tread and no sign of damage. Art was both angry with himself and relieved. The cost for the check?  $64.50. They also suggested that we get them re-torqued at their shop in Durango which was on our route.

Art later did a Google Search for G&G Tire Scipio and the second item was Ripoff Report! ARRRGGGGHHHH!

Scipio and new tires

25 October

 We spent the night at the Flying J Truck stop on the I-15 at the intersection of the 50 East, our route for the morning.

Have been avoiding posting this entry because Art was and is a bit cross with himself, thinking that he was taken in by a less than scrupulous tire dealer.

Red sky in morning, Sailors take warning? We woke to this, and sure enough. .  .  . .

While Gillian was walking the dogs a man wandered past and said the the right front tire looked low and that air was available at the G&G Service tire shop across the lot. Art got our air pressure gauge and exited the rig. The right front tire was about 10 psi low. The man then looked closely at the tires showing him edge of the tread (that was worn more than it should have been) stating that that type of wear was indicative of the likelihood of  air within the tire wall, a dangerous situation.

Art's first full time job after high school was at D&D Tire in Duncan, which served the trucking industry as well as passenger cars and trucks so had some knowledge albiet somewhat dated--by 50 odd years! To him, the front tires looked to have been under inflated for some time (worn on both outside edges) though we kept them at 95 psi as recommended by the Michelin chart for tire type, size and individual wheel load. With our previous tires (our current tires were three years old) we had rotated the tires annually and no significant wear was noted.

What to do? We were miles from another shop unless we went out of our way up towards Salt Lake City so decided "Better Safe Than Sorry" so replaced them both. A blown front tire on a motorhome can be very exciting.

Art became even more suspicious when the tire guy checked the rear tires and pointed out a sidewall bulge in one tire (which Art could not see) and showed him how the tread on the inside dual was very rough and appeared damaged, he recommended that all 6 tires be replaced. Again, Art couldn't see anything amiss and so declined, paid the bill and at 11:00 we went on our way. 

Susanville Ca to Utah via Austin Nevada and the US 50

23 October

Left Susanville at 11:00AM, quite late for some reason. Must have slept in. Gee, I wonder why?

Today we would be heading towards Utah, aiming for Cortez, Colorado with likely two stops along the way. We have taken the I-80 route several times, across the Bonnyville Salt  Flats then down through Salt Lake City. We have also once taken the US 50, known as the Loneliest Highway. We were pretty sure we wouldn't get through Nevada today no matter which way, so decided on the 50.

At Reno we picked up the I-80 to the US 50 at Fernley where after a couple of hours on the road we stopped at the Flying J for fuel and were pleased with the price, then a few miles later saw it at the Fallon RV Park for 35 cents a gallon cheaper. Always the way.

Once eastbound on the 50 the landscape changed to high desert.

At 2:40 we were getting a bit peckish so we stopped at a wide pullout where we noticed this sign.

After lunch the terrain continued pretty much unchanged for the rest of the day.

Just before 5:00 PM we stopped for the night at the Pony Express RV park in Austin. Very basic, no public washrooms but for $22.00 and 50 Amp power we had no complaints.

24 October
 

It was however near the bottom of a very long and fairly steep hill, and by 9:30 we were grinding up it.

But soon we were back on the long and flat desert country. This area known as the Great Basin. At one point we clocked more than 35 kilometers without a curve.

Driving through Eureka later in the morning we had to take this photo through our dirty windshield of the Eureka Opera House and the Jackson Hotel, Saloon and Cafe.

As we crossed the border into Utah we lost an hour as we moved into the Mountain Time Zone as the rain began to fall. We joined the I-15 North bound in fairly heavy rain for a few miles then called it a night at the Flying J in Scipio.