Greetings and salutations veteran readers. Short blog today because we’re “boondocking” (stopped with no electrical or water hook-ups) in the Wal-Mart parking lot in San Marcos, TX. Hey - its free and we’re on a fixed income now by golly.
It was a good, if difficult ride today. The SB’s (my new acronym for the sadistic bastards at Texas DOT) saw fit to chip seal probably 48-50 of the total miles today. Interspersed with the occasional 500 yard section of smooth pavement. Oh - there was one 1.5 mile section of good pavement that got my hopes up, but alas it was not to be. Delta and I did see some interesting sights today tho. The first stop of the day was just past Gonzales, TX where we pulled in to my old buddy The Lion King’s place unannounced. Unfortunately, he wasn’t home. I’ve heard a re-make is in the works. He was probably on location shooting.
The next stop was at about 31 miles for an early lunch. It was only 1130, but I was hungry. So into the Buck-ee’s we went. For those of you who are unfamiliar, its apparently a Texas chain of truck stops. Susan found it. So, here we are about to head into the Buck-ee’s with some of our best friends. It was good. Susan and I both had shredded brisket BBQ sandwiches. She also insisted that I purchase a bag of chocolate chip cookies and as of this writing there is still one left. Susan also got a chance to catch up with some of her truck stop buddies - at least I saw her chatting up the lady behind the counter just before we left with our sandwiches. Susan mumbled something about, "You mean when we checked out." upon reading this part of the blog, but in the main she ignores my posts. Better for both of us this way. We weren’t there long, but it was a good break.
Somewhere along the route Delta and I were talking and we both had noticed that these Texans are quite fond of grand entrances to their “ranches”. Never mind that some of them are rather affluent estates and some are hovels; a goodly number of them like to dress up the entrance to their property. This is the only one we saw that didn’t indicate it belonged to a particular ranch and there was no home visible. Since it was just pasture as far as the eye could see, Delta suspects that the Texas cows are starting to get in on the act.
We also stumbled across this pitch for a local skydiving company. Apparently they used the same consultant as the State of Texas. Recall the "adult entertainment" business, the "Welcome to Texas" sign, and the dead motorists sign shortly after we entered the state a few days ago. Not gonna generate a lot of business this way, one would think...
And finally, our home for the night. Turns out we located ourselves on the opposite side of the trees from where the local Job Corps (they help disadvantaged kids get a high school degree and teach them a trade - we have one in Manhattan as well) parks to off-load buses full of kids between the ages of 16-24. I know this because I stepped out to talk to one the staffers who travels with the kids on outings. He told me they have something like 1,400 kids. Good Lord! Between the ages of 16-24? That's gotta be like herding cats. Nice guy. Turns out he's proposing to his girlfriend at a yet undisclosed (to her) date. But he let me in on the secret. If she sees this and figures out that I know, just respond to the blog and we can talk. But he's got it all planned out - you'll be impressed.
Oh yes - a bit of bad news today. Several days ago - after the rain in El-Dorado - we noticed one of our storage bays under the RV had about 3 inches of water in it. We both assumed it was storm related and checking the weather stripping on the compartment went on my list of things to do. However, when the water was back yesterday despite the fact that there was no significant rainfall, we knew we had another problem. After a bit of sleuthing we determined that our water heater had sprung a leak. Even worse, I was doomed to a cold shower tonight. Sigh... Anyway - we have an appointment to have it replaced at RV Land in Kyle, TX. Its about 10 miles North of our route but right off I-35. So, tomorrow's plan is for Susan to drop me off at my start point. She will then take the rig back to RV Land for repair, then meet me at the RV Park where we have a reservation in Boerne, TX. More on how this all works out tomorrow.
Till next time.
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