Koyote Ranch, July 2012

Koyote Ranch July 2012

Day 1: Thursday, July 12, 2012

Last Friday, the project manager for the remodeling project told us that there would be no activity at the house this week. I was disappointed, as we are anxious for our lives to get back to normal. It isn't either pleasant or easy to live in a house with missing bathrooms and workers running around everywhere. It is especially hard with the dogs. Even though I seclude them with me in some secure spot, Nicky feels the need to sound the alarm every time some one takes a breath.

Suddenly, I realized that N2S and I could make a hasty retreat to somewhere. It didn't really matter that much to me. I just needed to pull the Colby T and get the hell out of San Antonio for a few days. It took a little work. Step one was to check the calendar. We had appointments at the dentist, eye doctor, and driving school that took us through Wednesday. Thursday and Friday were gloriously unscheduled. Step two was making sure that the kennel could keep the dogs. A quick call took care of that. Step three was to find a place. I opted for the Koyote Ranch. It has lots of good amenities, and for being about an hour away, feels like it is at the end of the world.

The dogs went in the kennel on Wednesday because I can't leave them alone with the workers. N2S and I spent the day at our appointments, then headed to WalMart to buy our supplies. Doug, from KM, called us while we were there and we headed over to KM on the way home and approved the glass for the master shower. Then I spent the evening packing for the trip and tidying up the house a bit.

Thursday morning, I got up early, cleaned up, and dressed so that I would ready for the workers when they came. Ernesto, who I believe is a painter, showed up right at 8:00 AM and started taping windows for painting and “window boot” construction. N2S and I packed the truck and left him there. It was strange leaving a stranger in the house, but I really trust KM.

We ran to Walgreens to get my prescriptions and bags of ice, before running by Storm's house to pick him up. He went with us to Packrats, and before long, we were on the road. It took about an hour and twenty minutes to get to the ranch. I always drive a little slow anyway, but the road from Bandera to the ranch (Texas 16) is really curvy and narrow.

I checked us in, drove to our site, and told the boys to go explore while I got the Colby T all set up. It is too hard to unpack and set up my galley with two extra bodies in there. I was able to work quickly and get almost everything in place. I decided the sewer hookup could wait, but I even set up the cable TV channels.

I found the boys in the rec hall playing ping pong with a little eight-year-old boy from Beaumont, Texas named Grant. His dad was sitting at a table working on his laptop. After a few minutes I went and sat on the porch swing, just enjoying doing nothing for awhile. Before long, the boys were out there too. They decided that they wanted to hike to the Koyote Mercantile and play pool. We went there with Grant in tow.

The boys played pool for awhile. I sat on the patio and did nothing some more. It sure was nice. I had my feet up and a nice ice cold drink.

After awhile, I headed back to the Colby T. I decided to learn once and for all how to use the awning. I downloaded a YouTube video and did it step by step. Very easy! Then I ate a quick lunch of canned mackerel mixed with mustard and Splenda. It was delicious. I also made myself a nice hot cup of coffee. Before long, the boys were back grumbling about being hungry. I had told them that I was only buying two meals this trip. The rest would be off the shelf microwave stuff in the Colby T. N2S had a can of macaroni and cheese. Storm had some kind of Italian pasta.

N2S turned on the TV, and I swear it looked like those boys were settling in to spend the afternoon inside the trailer. I quickly pronounce a “HELL NO!” and led them by the snout on a hike to the pool area. We checked the pool and the bathhouse out before taking a mini-hike down to the other pond by the tent camping area. I had never actually been down to that part of the ranch. Mind you- the last two times I was here in the popup, there was barely a drop of water to be seen. This time all the ponds were totally filled.

From there, the boys talked me into hiking up to the pool table for a quick match. I agreed, because I secretly planned to drink a nice cold beer on the patio. I enjoyed a nice pale ale from Shiner while I beat both boys at pool. About that time, the mercantile was getting ready to close up, so we finished and headed back to the Colby T. It was a little after 5:00 PM.

As we passed the Upper Lake, we saw Grant's big brother fishing. He said he was getting some bites, so we decided to go to the Colby T and get our little poles that we bought during the Buescher State Park trip two weeks ago. I caught a bass right off with my second or third cast. Storm got my picture, and I sat down to watch him fish. Then N2S caught a much bigger bass. We took his picture and then spent about another hour casting with no real luck. A water moccasin kept swimming around the rim of the lake. It was freaking Grant and his brother out. (I forgot to say he saw us at the Colby T and followed us to the fishing hole, much to my boys' chagrin. They were tired of hanging out with an eight-year-old.) The fishing here is strictly catch and release. Fine by me.

Back at the trailer, it looked like they were getting ready to settle in with the TV again. I explained that the TV was only in the Colby T for weather reports, unless we were in for the night and tired of playing games and stuff. I made them put their shoes back on, and we hiked the Big Foot trail. It only takes about 45 minutes, so it isn't very long. N2S grumbled the entire first half of the trail. You would have thought I had them on a death march!

When we got back to the trailer, I fixed dinner. Storm had some Marie Calendar microwave meatball lasagna that involved steaming pasta. N2S had another can of macaroni and cheese with a pouch of tuna stirred in. He said it was really good tuna casserole. I had a mix of canned calamari, tuna, Splenda, spices, and mustard.

After dinner, we settled in to a game of Monopoly that went from about 8:45 to after 1:00 AM. I think we were all happy when it ended. We made up the beds and were all sound asleep by 1:30

Day 2: Friday, July 13^th, 2012

I was the first to wake up this morning at about 6:45. I got up and made myself a cup of coffee, then hiked to the bathhouse to use the toilet and clean up. I only allow urination in the Colby T when the three of us are on a trip. There is no reason not to take advantage of the nice bathhouse facilities at an RV resort. They are separate home style bathrooms that are very clean. The bathhouse by the pool is air conditioned to the point that you freeze after your shower.

For breakfast this morning, the boys were served hot chocolate, Pop Tarts, and instant bacon. I had the bacon and an Atkins bar. Don't tell the MEDI people. They got mad at my eating them, but I was using them everyday for breakfast and lunch. I use them occasionally on trailer trips for breakfast only.

I don't know how the time passed by so quickly, but it was suddenly 9:30 AM, and we got in the truck and headed to Medina. There is a coffee shop there called The Core, that I have always wanted to try. It turned out to be one of the nicest I have ever been to. It is roomy and clean with a nice homey atmosphere. They serve different foods and any kind of coffee you could want. They also have free WiFi. You really need to stop there, because it is a non-profit place run by volunteers. I bought a really neat book there called The Bee and The Bear. It was written by a 14-year-old resident of Medina who has Asperger Syndrome. I thought it would be a nice book to donate to the Carson library.

From there, we headed into Bandera to hit the Super S for snacks and water. We forgot snacks at WalMart since we were hurrying to get to KM. Can you imagine being stuck in a trailer with two 16-year-olds and no snack foods? Plus, they went through the two cases of water I had in the cooler in under 24 hours!!!!

For lunch, we went to Brick's. The food there is always amazing. N2S and I both had venison sausage with sauerkraut. Storm had Cajun catfish. They both pigged out on some of the best looking onion rings I have ever seen. I had a piece about the size of a quarter and trust me- they are worth the drive alone. The deserts are also great there, but I don't eat desert anymore and the boys were too stuffed.

Our next stop was the Love Creek Apple Orchard. We picked about a half box of apples for $6.25. It was a lot of fun. They are small little yellow and red apples, but they are crisp and flavorful. I ate one without even thinking about the carbs. I'm not going to look it up. I'm going to hike Big Foot again today and burn them off.

We stopped at an old fashioned store in Medina looking for fishing worms, since none of us remembered that we were supposed to buy them in Bandera. Fortunately, they had them. We rushed back to the ranch and went fishing for awhile. We caught about 5 little perch between us. Just enough to be fun. After awhile, though, I was just hot. The boys wanted to go play pool, so we parted company and I headed to the Colby T.

I talked to Rachel for about 40 minutes to hear about her travels from St. Louis back to Greenville. They had some mechanical problems on the last leg of the trip that involved switching planes and lengthy delays. I am glad she is spending time with her mother. That is to important. Besides, she really does not belong at the house. It is not a very nice place to be with all the construction and workers coming and going. Just the same, I can't wait for her to get back. We have NEVER been apart this long. The only other lengthy time was when I went on 7 day cruises with my dad. And, before you say anything, Rachel did not want to join us on either of those cruises.

After I got off the phone, I went ahead and processed all my pictures taken so far. I even got to upload them too Photobucket. The WiFi works pretty well during the day. It slows way down in the evening when everyone starts to use it.

At about 5:30 I started over towards the mercantile. The plan was for us to eat the all you can eat fish fry for dinner. I told the boys I would buy one lunch and one dinner on this trip. As I was just approaching Upper Lake, the boys were coming up the hill. Neither of them was hungry, so they went to the rec hall to play ping pong instead. I came on over to the Colby T and started writing this post to the blog. I didn't really want to spend my time in the trailer, but I really needed a break from the boys for awhile.

At about 6:30 they came and said they were ready to go to dinner. N2S said he wasn't hungry, but would go along. I told them to go on down and play pool. I would come down there at 7:30 for dinner. When I got there, it was so crowded that I just lost interest. There wasn't going to be anything I could really eat anyway. That and Jared not being hungry made me decide I wasn't paying close to $40 for dinner that night. I told them I had decided to cancel dinner at the Fish Fry, and we would eat the buffet breakfast in the morning instead. They were okay with that.

I left them playing pool and went back to the Colby T to get our fishing stuff. I fished alone for awhile at the Upper Lake until they finally joined me. N2S caught another nice bass. Storm and I were only catching little perch. Some were barely two inches long. We still had fun. A family was fishing close to us, and I kept hearing the little boy ask his dad why he wasn't getting a fish. When he finally caught a little three inch perch, we were all celebrating him as a mighty fisherman. You never saw such a proud little boy.

It started to get dark. I was done fishing and told Storm I was also done baiting his hook. N2S had quit fishing and was swinging on a swing hanging in a big oak tree. Storm said he was gonna stay and fish until the worms were gone. I told N2S he could go back to the trailer, but I was not leaving someone else's kid alone at the pond in the dark. He wasn't happy about that and told me to just tell Storm he had to quit. I had to re-explain that we came to enjoy the ranch not watch TV in a trailer.

Anyway, Storm fished for about ten more minutes, catching about two more little perch. There was a water moccasin swimming around the bank of the pond the whole time we were fishing. He never bothered us. Then Storm caught another tiny perch, and just as that fish hit the shore, that old snake went after it. As Storm realed is toward us, the snake kept coming. I took the pole and told him to get out of the way. I reeled it enough to be able to fling cast that fish back out about three feet into the pond. The snake went back into the water after it, but I reeled it in super fast and walked about twenty feet away to throw the fish back in. I told Storm he was finished for the night.

We went back to the Colby T. Storm packed his stuff and headed for a shower while I cooked dinner in the microwave. Then we played another rousing game of Monopoly until 12:30 AM. This time, I told the boys we needed to set a time limit. We had fun, but the boys were getting a little crabby towards each other. I really think two nights away is about their limit. We closed everything down and were in bed by 1:00 AM.

Day 3: Saturday, July 14, 2012

I fell right to sleep and didn't wake up again until 6:00. Even then, I used the restroom and went back to sleep. I set an alarm for 8:30, just in case I ended up sleeping longer than planned, but I actually got up for good at 8:00, got the coffee going, and hiked to the bathhouse for my shower, etc. When I got back, I made the guys get up. We stripped and stowed the pillows. We rolled and stowed the sleeping bags. Then we headed to breakfast.

The breakfast buffet was $10.00 for all you can eat. They had pancakes, biscuits and gravy, tortillas, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, fried potatoes, and refried beans out. It was better for me than the fish fry because I could eat the bacon, eggs, and sausage.

I left the boys playing pool again. They are both lousy at it, but sure do have a lot of fun. I played each of them once before leaving. Yesterday, they were playing with the chef. He was giving them pointers. I didn't see that it helped any.

Back at the Colby T, I went ahead and did all of the “before towing home” check list. Just to show you how obsessive I am, I will share the list with you now. The items with ---- are the ones I did not have to do on this trip for one reason or another. For example: I did not use the antenna, so obviously sis not need to put it down.:

List:Before towing home

Awning secured

Stow/remove all gear

Keurig stowed

----Furnace off

----Fridge off

----Turn off/stow fridge fan

----Gas turned off

Microwave clean & secured

----Antenna down

Disconnect cable

Cable wires stowed

Television & remote stowed

Cabinets secure and closed

Counters/dinette cleaned

Sink cleaned

----Tub/shower cleaned

Drains plugged

Toilet cleaned

Tanks dumped

Sewer disconnected

Sewer pipe secured

water and deodorizer added to black tank

top off fresh water tank

Water disconnected

Water hose and regulator secured

Pump off

Lock windows

Secure blinds

Close all vents

Floor swept/mopped

Lower dinette

Secure barker under bed

Trash removed & can stowed

AC turned off

Check / wash AC filter

Unplug shoreline

Lights off

Get mat

Secure entry step

Stabilizers up

Torque lug nuts

Check tire pressure

Stow yellow tongue lock

Connect to hitch

Lock the receiver

Hook up chains/power

Get and stow foot plate

Get and stow chocks

Check signals

Lock doors

Lock storage bay

Review checklist AGAIN

Final walk around

I can understand that this seems like a lot of stuff to do. It actually only takes about an hour. A lot of it is stuff that I don't even do after a short trip by myself. It just depends. My policy is that the Colby T should be totally clean and ready to go for the next trip.

Well, after I got it all done, I drove it down to the mercantile and picked up the boys. We had plenty of time to get back to San Antonio. We pulled out right at 12:00 and I had to get the dogs by 2:00 or pay another days boarding fee. For whatever reason, it took us a lot longer to get to Packrats than I expected. Traffic in Bandera was at a standstill for one thing. Plus, the traffic from Helotes to Mainland was bumper to bumper. It looked like rush hour.

We knew we didn't have time to drop off the trailer, go home, and switch trucks. I started giving instructions for our arrival. N2S would get the gate. I would back the Colby T in place, unlock the storage bay and hitch lock while N2s put the chucks behind the wheels. Storm would be moving all of our luggage from the back seat to the back of the truck. N2S would raise the hitch so I could pull forward. Then I would look inside to make sure everything traveled well while N2S cranked it back down. While I was locking the doors and storage bay, N2S was getting the gate unlocked and opened again.

We drove around the block to Home Away from Home, and N2S and I ran in to get the dogs with five minutes to spare! Vinnie rode home on N2S's lap, and I lifted Nicky into the back with Storm. We got to the house, dropped off the dogs, and unloaded all of our stuff. Then I drove Storm to his house.

It was nice to be home, even though the home is not so nice. They did a lot of work while we were gone, but I still don't have a master bathroom. Everything in the entire house is out of place. It is like living in an unfinished camp house. But it is our unfinished camp house. I am happy to be here.

I was going to get this blog post finished and do the rest of the pictures. No matter how hard I tried, I could not stop dozing off. I finally let the dogs out for a final run and went to bed just before 9:00. I lay there with my cell phone looking at Facebook to catch up a bit, then turned out the light and slept hard until the phone rang at 12:17 AM. By the time I was awake enough to know what it was, I had missed the call. I did not recognize the number, so I went back to bed. Then it chimed a few minutes later saying there was a voice mail. The voice mail was 1.5 minutes of some drunk guys talking at a club or something. It was obvious that they had “butt dialed” or something. I did not recognize the voices. Oh well.

I got up this morning, had some coffee, showered in N2S's bathroom (shudder), got dressed and went to church. I was the lector this morning. Unfortunately, I was also a flasher. I did not realize until getting in my truck after church that my zipper had been down all morning.

On that note, I will leave you until next time. No trips are planned, but I suspect that, once Rachel is back, I might get to sneak off a few more times this summer.


Click here to see photos from the trip.