Goliad Land Cruise

Goliad Land Cruise April 2012

NOTE: I was really tired after this trip. I wasn't going to write this post at all. Then I got comments and emails from some of my friends saying they wanted to hear about the trip. Okay. I did it. I didn't do it good, but I did it. I am not even going to proofread it. I'm too tired.

Waiting for these trips is becoming a problem. All I think about when I am not traveling with the Colby T. is traveling with the Colby T. This time was no exception. I watched the clock every day, both at work and in the evenings at home. I couldn't wait for bedtime to come so I could wake up one day closer to my trip.

This getaway was my longest and the farthest from home. School was out in San Antonio on Friday for Battle of Flowers. It is a holiday we get every year during Fiesta San Antonio, a big and crazy party time for the city that goes on for few weeks. I used to love it, but not even that could keep me in town on a three day weekend.

As soon as school got out, I was ready to go. Unfortunately, N2S wouldn't be out of school for another hour. I went over to Starbucks and had a coffee to pass the time. I hate how some parents get to the school and wait in line forever as if they are afraid they won't get their kids back if they wait until the crowds are gone. This time, however, I needed to join the cue and be ready the second the bell rang. I was one of about twenty parents waiting at Marshall. At an elementary school, I would have been in a line of about one hundred cars that starts cuing up at least thirty minutes before school is released.

Once N2S was in the truck, we rushed home to use the bathroom and grab the last of our stuff. Then we headed over to Pack Rats and hitched up the Colby T. We left the lot about fifteen minutes ahead of schedule because we really were in sync on the hitching process.

Traffic was awful once we got close to downtown. I was wishing we had taken another route, but both the Tom Tom and OnStar were telling us that we were following the best one. I'm pretty sure that the traffic ate up our fifteen minutes and added enough time to make us that much behind schedule. That was my least concern. It is hard to be changing lanes pulling a trailer in stop and go traffic. No matter how hard I tried to make sure I got over early, things would come up that forced a last minute lane change. I kept telling N2S that I would be happy to get out of the city.

Unfortunately, the laugh was on me. The traffic stayed heavy all the way to Floresville and beyond. Then the rest of the trip was on two lane highways. I had trucks on my tail waiting to pass at every valley. It was nerve wracking. I wanted to be a nice guy and let them all pass, but there was no shoulder or anything else that I could pull over onto. On top of that, the roads were really bumpy and I just didn't feel comfortable going over 60.

It was easy to understand all the traffic. There is a mini-oil boom going on in parts of Texas. We must have seen about a hundred makeshift RV parks. We are talking no frills. Just a crowded lot with hookups. Each one held fifty to one hundred travel trailers. All the pickups that were passing us were the oil workers heading for a beer, dinner, and their temporary quarters.

We finally arrived at the state park at about 7:30. The office was closed, but the sign said to pick a site and register in the morning. We drove the loop and looked at all of the sites. Some were being used by oil workers. You could just tell. I decided to pick one closest to the park host and near some obvious couples with decorated sites.

We unhitched and did some set up. We hooked up the water and electricity. We got the AC running to cool the camper down. We passed on the sewer hookup, because we wouldn't need that until later anyway. It was still daylight when we finished the little bit we did. I decided to make a run into town and get some groceries and pick up dinner for N2S at Whataburger while we waited for the camper to cool down. We still had our gear in the truck, but we didn't need any light to do that.

The Super S came through with the few things we needed. I got a little pack of chicken to nuke in the microwave for my dinner. Then we went to Whataburger. We sat there forever waiting for our order. They made me move up to the line and at least four other cars got theirs and left. I guess the special burgers like the A1 cheddar burger aren't as popular there. While we sat there waiting, I was absolutely amazed at the amount of traffic that passed through the town. It was a constant flow. If you were dropped off at this intersection blindfolded, you would never know you were in a small Texas town with a population less than 2,000.

Back at the camper, we brought in our gear and finished setting everything up. I got the Keurig going, nuked my chicken, then settled in to watch Biodome on TV. We got about twenty channels, but N2S picked. I was just enjoying being in the Colby T. I didn't care what was on. I messed a little with mapping out our next day's excursions, but the phone service was pretty poor. I either had one bar of 3G or 2 bars of E. Neither one of them was good enough to do anything major over the Internet.

We finally set up the bed and hit the sack at about 10:30. I read for a little while, but kept dozing off and finally gave in at around 11:00. It is humbling to admit how much pulling the trailer for two and a half hours wore me out. I must have slept pretty well, cause I only visited the bathroom once during the night.

We got up by seven. I fixed some coffee and ate an Atkin's bar for breakfast. N2S had Poptarts. We didn't buy anything for the refrigerator because we wanted to make sure it was cooling overnight. You have to be balanced to get a camper refrigerator to work right. If it wasn't cool in the morning, we were going to put more effort into balancing. Fortunately, it was perfectly cold in there. Later that day, we bought some perishables.

I went over and registered for the site. I spent longer than planned talking with the rangers. They were some of the nicest I have ever encountered. That is saying a lot. I have never met a Texas Parks and Wildlife ranger who has been anything less than wonderful. I told N2S that I respect them as much as our soldiers. They are there to keep our state parks safe and protected for us.

We got on the road for our first excursion at about 9:00AM. The plan was to go through Port Lavaca to get to Indianola. That is a historic spot where a very important port city used to be. In fact, many of the people who immigrated to Texas from Germany and surrounding areas during the eighteen hundreds entered the country through that port. A hurricane all but wiped the town out. They managed to do some rebuilding, but another hurricane dealt a death blow ten years later. There is nothing left to see but some memorial markers now. There is also a monument honoring LaSalle, as it is believed that that is where he first landed.

We were the only people down there, except one guy who pulled up to the La Salle monument and started taking pictures at the same time we were. Most of the homes, the few that were there, seemed to be summer beach homes, and looked like they were still closed up and waiting for the season to start.

From there we headed on to Victoria for lunch. We wanted to eat at a cajun place we saw on TV. It turns out it was in Sea Drift, so we ended up at another place instead. It was not very good. We were surprised how big Victoria was. I thought it was a much smaller town. We stopped at the Super WalMart hoping to find some more bacon jerky. Ours is out of it, and I like to keep it in the camper.

We planned to stop and see the Fannin Battleground on the way back to Goliad, even though we knew it was closed for construction. The ranger had told me that we could see everything from the side of the road. We drove right past the exit for the town of Fannin, thinking we would see something, but didn't. I offered to turn around, but N2S said to just go on.

We went to the Super S as soon as we got to town and bought some eggs, cheese, sausage, and red hots. The red hots were for dinner. We decided to eat in since there wasn't much to choose from in Goliad. We dropped off the groceries, used the bathroom, and walked over to the Mission Espíritu Santo State Historic Site, which is right next to the park headquarters. We took a lot of photos and then talked with a ranger. He told us about a trail we could take that would lead us to the town square. Since we were really planning on doing the State Park activities on Saturday, we went ahead and left the Mission and hit the trail.

The trail turned out to be a mile or two of wooden walkways. It was really fascinating. It was raised up above the ground and included some actual bridges over ravines and creeks. The San Antonio River was off to our left most of the time. Just as you feel that you are in the middle of nowhere, it ends at a big tree filled field near the Boy Scout headquarters. Then, you are just two blocks from the square. We walked all the way around it taking pictures.

As we walked up one side of the square, we hit a flower store called Eula's. My dad's mother's name was Eula. I had never seen another reference to it. The very next store was called Mae's. That was my grandmother's middle name. It was such a coincidence that we had to stop in. Once inside, we saw that it was really one big store. I talked with the people working and they told me the owner's name was Eula Mae! They were as amazed as I was to hear about another Eula Mae! Meanwhile, N2S had discovered peach baskets full of different flavors of taffy that was being sold by the pound. He filled up a bag, we grabbed some cold drinks, and off we went.

We found the Market House Museum, but it was closed. There was no sign saying when it would be open, but we hoped it would be the next day, if we got the chance to run back to town.

The walk back to the state park was really nice. There was a wind that would blow cool air in awesome gusts that totally refreshed us. We saw some interesting hairy caterpillars and shiny black grasshoppers with orange stripes along the way. Neither of us felt as tired as we probably were after so much time in the truck and such a long walk.

Back at the Colby T., we cooked up the red hots and deer sausage links we had bought at the store. We cleaned up the dishes then enjoyed a quiet evening together. I processed all the pictures off my Flip video recorder and N2S read his George Carlin book. I don't remember what was on the TV. Neither of us was really watching it. After awhile, we decided to turn in.

We woke up well rested on Saturday morning. I gave N2S some hot chocolate before cooking up some breakfast sausage, egg, and cheese tacos. They were pretty good. The sausage was made somewhere in the Goliad area. It didn't take long to scarf it all down.

We took the river trail and hiked around the park while it was still cool. It was a little humid by the river also. We were kind of disappointed because you almost never actually see the river. At one point, we came out onto a picnic area and had trouble regaining the trail. N2S noticed that there were four leaf clover patches all over the field. He told me that four leaf clover was lucky. I told him that I felt lucky already, just to be on such a great trip with him. I know...sappy. He stuffed his pocket with clover, and we went on to another trail that took us over the areas where they had quarried the stones that built the mission. It was interesting because it had flights of wooden stairs and winding bridges. We even found the remains of the old kiln.

At the end of the trail, we ended up in the courtyard of the Mission. We went ahead and finished touring that, since we had stopped abruptly the evening before to go to town. They have lots of things set up in one of the long buildings to show what life was like in the mission. We took a bunch of pictures then headed on to the trail that would take us across the highway to the Presidio. That one started out under a thick canopy of trees and led us down and under a highway bridge. Then we climbed back up to the highway and crossed the big bridge over the San Antonio River.

Before long, we were standing in front of a very nice monument to Zaragoza (of Cinco de Mayo fame). From there, the Presidio was off to the right, but we could look off to the left and see the Mission Espiritu and the courthouse on the square downtown. Zaragoza's birthplace is a rebuilt version of his original home. It is filled with pictures and other exhibits. There isn't much actual furniture or anything in it.

We went into the Presidio to tour it, but I was really thirsty after the long hot hike from the campground. Unfortunately, the water fountain was broken, but the clerk told us there was a gift shop across the street that sold water. We told him we would be back for our tour and headed over to get a drink. That place was closed. I tried calling the phone number to see when it would open, but it was busy. We schlepped back over to the Presidio and walked through it and the church next to it. Then, we sat on a bench under some trees and studied our geocache notes before hitting the trail again.

This time we hiked up past the Presidio to Fannin's grave. Just before we got there, we found a monument to the Angel of Goliad. It was very nice. They had her statue in the middle of a little plaza with concrete tables and benches around. All of the tables had historical information imprinted on them.

We headed on to the grave. We took a bunch of photos, then started looking for geocaches which were in the cemeteries right next door. The first was in a camouflaged pill bottle and did not have a pen, so we carried it with us. We walked about a half mile up the street to another cemetery to find the next cache, carrying the previous one with us and hoping for a pen at the second. It was hidden in the middle of the cemetery. We did not feel right messing around in there, so we blew that one off and took the other back to its hidy-hole. Before leaving it, I wrote our information on the log using a stick and a piece of grass. That's a neat trick I learned from an awesome geocacher named Cybercat.

When we reached the giftshop, it was open. We bought four bottles of ice-cold water and sat on the porch of the store to drink them before getting back in the hot sun and taking the long hike back to camp. It was nice to finally get back to the Colby T. and sit in the AC for about thirty minutes to rest our feet and cool off. I was hiking in my Topsider style shoes from New Balance. I keep tennis shoes in the camper, but forgot that I took the socks out last time I camped. Fortunately, the shoes I was using had my heavy duty inserts in them. It was like wearing tennies, but I could have used socks and a little bit more support.

While cooling off in the Colby T., we ate a quick lunch. I ate the rest of the breakfast sausage on a low carb tortilla, and N2S ate the leftover redhot on a bun. We decided that we would wait and go out for dinner later. We both wanted to take the awesome hike back to the town square, and didn't want to waste time going out for lunch.

The hike to town was uneventful. N2S and I enjoyed some nice conversation along the way. Our feet were pretty sore, so we walked at a nice leisurely pace. At the end of the trail, we went on to Ferry Street and walked about a mile down to the river. There was another cache hidden down there, and we wanted to see where the canoes got into the river. Of course, that meant that we had to hike uphill all the way back to town. It could have been rough, but there was that awesome gusty wind that kept us cool.

As we reached the square, the Courthouse bells were playing songs. It was only 2:47, so I guess the tower clock is a little fast. We headed back to Mae's to get more taffy and some cold drinks. Then we sat on the square and drank them. We noticed a man coming out of a store with a white bag. Being nosy, we went in the store to see what kind of food they had. It turned out to be a pharmacy. We looked around and bought a few things before heading on to the Market House Museum, which was closed again! As we were leaving the square, the bells went off again, and we realized we had been there for over an hour. We made one last stop at an antique store. It was a lot of fun. I, personally, like antique stores more than some museums. They have all the old stuff without all the reading.

Back at the Colby T., N2S watched part of Not Without my Daughter while I sat in the cool and dozed in and out for awhile. Then we got cleaned up and headed back towards Fannin. We were going to eat at another Cajun restaurant near the reservoir called the Lost Cajun. I thought we could try and find the battleground on the way this time. It wasn't hard to do. Going towards Victoria they had those brown historical site signs that led us straight to it. We couldn't get in, but you could see everything from the road, just like the ranger had told me.

The Lost Cajun was okay. It was in the middle of nowhere. N2S wanted steak and shrimp, but the chef wasn't there, and the server said that the kitchen staff that was there would not be able to grill a steak well.  N2S  ordered grilled alligator instead. I guess the kitchen staff that was there wasn't up to grilling anything. It was pretty disappointing. I tried to taste it, but it didn't have any taste at all. I got a boiling pot meal of shrimp, crawdads, sausage, corn, and potatoes. It was pretty good, but the shrimp was really hard to peel. The shells were sticking to the meat and it got pretty shredded. We stopped at Whataburger on the way back to the Colby T. so N2S could have something for dinner.

I spent the evening harvesting the day's photos off of the Flip again. N2S was watching detective shows and reading. Then, suddenly at 9:36, the Colby T. was filled with the sound of loud snoring. I had to wake N2S up so we could set up the bed. Then he went back to sleep. I layed there and read until about 10:15. Then I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore either. I turned off my iPhone (I was reading a book on the Nook app.) and went to bed.

We took our time getting up in the morning. Neither of us was hungry so we skipped breakfast. I did a little bit of departure prep in between cups of Keurig and watching the weekend Today show. Then we decided to go ahead and start the whole 47-step departure checklist. That involved putting everything back in its traveling spot, wiping the counters and table, sweeping and mopping the floors, and cleaning the bathroom. Then we both went out and dumped the tanks before finishing up the checklist.

My last two things on the checklist are the “walk around”, during which I look to make sure we are hitched properly, tires are okay, everything is locked, and nothing is still attached to the campground utilities, and the final obsessive complusive re-check of the checklist from top to bottom. I decided to wait on those until after we walked over to the park headquarters. N2S wanted to get a new pristine park map. Of course, I got into a lengthy gabfest with the rangers, much to his chagrin.

The trip home was uneventful until the last few minutes. We were in downtown San Antonio trying to get over to make the I-10 West exit, but I was having a hard time of it. I finally got in front of a red car, but he didn't want to be behind a trailer, so he sped up, flew around, and squeezed in front of me, inches from my bumper. I was still grumbling about it as we rounded the bend to merge onto the highway. Just then, we saw a silver car hit another car and bounce sideways across the road about fifty yards up ahead of us. I thought he was going to flip and roll, but he didn't.  All the other cars came to a screeching smoky stop right in front of us. I put on the brakes, but I honestly did not think I could stop the truck and trailer in the space available. God was smiling on us, because we did stop about three feet before hitting the car in front of us. It was that red car. He squeezed in between the two damaged cars and sped off.

I was terrified. We were on a curve, and I expected to get slammed from behind at any second. I put my emergency lights on and tried to get over to the right of the cars so I could get out of the way, but the traffic just kept coming, and it seemed to take forever for us to get past. There were plenty of people with cell phones on the scene, so once we were able to get by, I kept going. It just wasn't safe to be there in a trailer.

Back at Pack Rats, we parked the Colby T., unhitched, emptied the refrigerator, and went home. Another awesome adventure was over! Come on Corpus Christi! I'll be taking the Colby T. down there in May for the Beach to Bay. I can't wait. See... I'm watching the clock right now!!!!!!!!!

Photos of the trip may be viewed here:
http://s1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff433/jjjandrbaker/Land%20Cruise%20to%20Goliad%20TX%20%20April%202012/

Password is Goliad2012

Colby T. and the Land of Cowboys

April 5, 2012

Well, after all that waiting for my trip to Bandera, TX, today finally got here. It was miserable waiting for it to come. Last night, I barely slept at all. Then I was so tired this morning, that, when I did wake up, I let the dogs up normally, went back upstairs to the couch for my little snoozeroo, but when I woke up after the first 45 minute interval, I was so tired that I set the timer for the Carson schedule. I realized I was going to be late for work. At Braun Station, I have duty starting at 7:15. But, on Carson days, I don't have to be there until 7:30. I texted the boss and told him I would be there at 7:20, so all was OK.

The rest of the day was spent doing stuff on my list and whatever new things people threw my way, or just passing time helping classes, talking to other teachers, eating lunch, etc. But, I won't lie... My eye was on the clock all day. It never left it.

Finally, three o'clock came. I said my goodbyes, ran to the truck, and flew home. The plan was to get home, change, use the restroom, let the dogs out, put the few things that were already packed into the truck, and head over to the storage lot to get Colby T. I got it all done, but, just as I started up the truck, I got a text from N2S asking what the earliest time was that I could pick him up. Evidently, he had a band contest at another school, so they were signed out for the day. When they got back to Marshall, the band director said they could go home, but the bus wasn't leaving for over an hour. I called and told him I would get him, but he had to go to the lot and help me hitch up. He agreed, so that's what we did. Then, I dropped him off and hit the road. It was a little bit of a late start, but not that bad.

When I was leaving Helotes, I remembered that I wanted to stop at Dino and Gino Liquors for a bottle of Scotch. I pulled in, but, just as I was ready to park off to the side of the parking lot, I noticed it was one of those painted fire lanes. (We call the one at school The River.) It took me a few loops to decide where to park. I didn't want to block anyone in, but I also wanted to be legal.

When I finally went in the store, the two people who were working in it asked me all about the Colby T. I invited them to go out and check it out, so they did. The lady really liked it and asked me where they were for sale. Then she took photos of it before going back in and selling me my Glen Livet. It was nice to have someone admiring something of mine. I don't usually get that.

I got back on the road and had a nice slow and uneventful ride to Bandera. I love the drive. It is very nice. You get to see lots of pretty Hill Country. It won't be long before it is too built up, though. They seem to be building homes at the top of every other hill. For now, it is a nice thirty minute country drive with rolling vistas.

As soon as you enter town, you turn left on Main Street to head towards the river. The Pioneer RV Resort is located right before the Medina River bridge. I haven't really walked around it much. I'll tell you more about the resort tomorrow.

A man welcomed me and led me to my site in a golf cart. I spent a while getting things set up. Of course the first thing I did was plug in the power and turn on the AC. It was pretty hot today, and it took about an hour before the trailer felt “cool”. It was bearable before that, but not “cool”. Now it is almost 10:00 PM, and I can't find a setting that isn't downright cold!!! I am freezing. I don't want to turn it off. I keep adjusting it, but haven't found the sweet spot, yet.

Anyway, I hooked up the sewer pipe for the first time. I also got the city water running. I don't have the pilot for the hot water heater lit, yet. I'll do that tomorrow when I want to take a shower. I'm just not ready for that, and don't see the need to burn the gas all night long keeping water hot.

I did have one little snafu to my plans. I went to WalMart yesterday and bought a cable wire because I had been led to believe that I had built in cable connections. Evidently I don't. It says in the manual, “To utilize the cable access, locate the exterior hookup on the side of the recreational vehicle. Attach cable to access hook-up and trailer hook-up. If your antenna inside control switch has a cable selection, move the sliding switch to cable. Otherwise turn to “OFF” position and hook TV coaxial cable into separate park cable jack.” I don't know what that all means, if it isn't saying I have a cable hook-up. I wasn't going to watch TV anyway, except for the Spurs game. I can get plenty of San Antonio local stations. Unfortunately, for those who don't live around here, the Spurs are only shown on a Fox cable channel. If they play a major market team like the Lakers, it's broadcast on a local channel. They play the Hornets tomorrow, so I'm out of luck.

Because of my learning stage. I do everything with my manual. The neighbors probably thought I was crazy hooking up my sewer and water while reading the directions one step at a time. Oh, well! I am a newbie. I have to learn somehow, and don't want to always be pestering Jack with my newbie questions. I don't want to blow my head off lighting the gas pilot either.

The other little snafu I had is a WiFi issue. I knew that I was going to have it free here. I assumed the code was written on my welcome brochure/map. It has been at the two other RV parks I have used. Not this one. You have to ask for it in the office, which was closed by the time I realized it. As I passed another family of RVers, I asked if they knew whether or not we had a common password, or if each of us had our own. The man I spoke to told me he didn't know anything about it. I'll have to get my code tomorrow morning.

At about seven, I decided I was hungry and headed into town to get some barbecue at Sid's. When I got there, it was closed. I went to the grocery store instead. I got some meat, cheese, mustard, and low-carb tortillas. I was really surprised to find them. There weren't many choices for non-carbers at this store. I made some microwave tacos for dinner. They were pretty pathetic, but who cares? I'm in the Colby T.

I made myself a cup of Keurig coffee, poured a little Scotch, and started doing some writing. Finally went to bed at about 11:30.

April 6, 2012

It is amazing to me how well I sleep in this trailer. Even when I had two 16-year-old boys crammed in here with me, I slept good. I did wake up a couple of times during the night and used my toilet. How nice is that? No more pee bottle. No more putting shoes on and looking for a tree, or worse yet, hiking to the bath house in the wee wee hours.

I actually got up and started my day at 8:15 by having a cup of coffee and eating my Quest bar. Then I put the dinette back together and tidied up before heading over to the office to get my WiFi code. As I left the office heading for the bath house (I can't bring my self to put solids in my camper toilet, if you get my drift. Jack F. says that day will come. I'm just not ready for it, yet!), the lady called and asked me to return and register. I thought I had been registered last night, but evidently not. Once she saw that I had paid in advance, everything was set.

After using the facilities in the bath house, I walked around the property a bit and took a few photos. When I got back, my closest neighbor was already gone! Later during the day, a new guy came in one of those little Casita trailers. I think it might be smaller than mine. It's nice looking though.

I got everything ready and headed over to the Hill Country Natural Area for my hike. This time, the ranger sent me on a gentle walk through the hills that never once made me gasp for breath. It was a well shaded hike, and the breeze had a coolness to it. It was almost a hypnotic experience. I loved it. There were so many vistas, so many flowers, so many lizards, so many butterflies, and so many birds. Rachel had jokingly responded to my text that I was headed for a hike with, “Go commune.” That's exactly what I did. I know God was a busy fellow during creation, but he surely took His time when he crafted Texas.

I thought a friend of mine was going to be there riding her horse today. Every time I saw horse riders, and there were a plethora of trail riders, I would ask for her. Some knew the name, but didn't know where she was. Turns out she will be there tomorrow. Oh, well!

I forgot to mention two things. First, I foound a geocache on the hike. I had four of them in my GPS, but had only planned on getting them IF they were coincidentally on my trails. This one was, so I grabbed it. Second, I got a Voxer message saying that Jack F. had downloaded the Voxer app. I suggested it to him earlier in the week for when we go to Corpus for the Beach to Bay. The funny thing is that I didn't have any service for my phone! I had just tried to send a picture on Facebook, but I wasn't high enough on the hills to get any bars. I sent a message to Jack, and thought he didn't get it. But, after a few minutes, he sent one back saying he had. Now, I'm not saying that it will always work when there's no phone service. I'm just saying that I was amazed.

After the hike, I asked the rangers about a sign I had seen saying that Tarpley was ten miles away. That's the tiny little town in the middle of nowhere with the gourmet restaurant, Mac and Ernie's Roadside Eatery, that was featured on the first tripleD episode. I asked if it was really possible to get there from the park. They said it would be five miles on the dirt county road and another five miles on a paved road. I decided to go for it. It was a beautiful day to go for a drive in the country. You can't get much farther out in the country than this!

When I got to Tarpley, I just wasn't hungry, so I decided to pass it up and head for Bandera instead. I ended up at the BBQ place I had wanted to eat at last night. I ordered a half rack of babyback ribs. That's all- just the ribs. I usually don't mess with any sides on this low-carb diet. Anyway, I took the ribs and sat outside at a picnic table in downtown Bandera. It was great.

Back at the trailer, it was time to figure out the pilot light for the hot water heater. The manual said to be sure the hot water heater was full of water before lighting it, but I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to tell. I ended up calling Ancira RV about 5 times during the process. I wish we had actually lit the damned thing during the orientation.

Anyway, just as I was going out with my lighter, Floyd, the manager, came and handed me a paper that said, “6 McQueeny” and told me I needed to get moving, because checkout time was way earlier in the day. I told him I had paid for two days, but he said I needed to go to the office and talk to the lady, which I did. Evidently, the leaving of the last guy in my space, Jim McQueeny, didn't get recorded correctly, and they thought he was still here. The lady remembered me from the morning and took care of it.

Back at the camper, (You'll notice I switch between the terms camper and trailer a lot. Can't help it. Don't know why.) I got the pilot light lit and had lots of hot water. Unfortunately, I also had lots of loud beeping of my carbon monoxide alarm. I called Ancira back, and he told me that was usual for the first time, because I was burning stuff off the burners, etc. It drove me crazy. I decided to go ahead and get my shower over with and turn the gas back off. I'll deal with the beeping on the next trip, if it happens again.

I stripped and climbed in the shower, but before I could figure out how to get the water to come up through the shower head, I noticed that the tub wasn't draining. I had been told to keep the grey water valve closed so I could dump it after the black water to clean out the system. I even asked the Ancira dude a few minutes earlier, since I had him on the phone. I wanted to know how I would know that the tank was full. He said there was no way I could fill it in two days and to leave the grey valve closed. Well, I dried my feet, threw some clothes on real quick, and went and opened that valve. I left it open, and I will actually run water to fill the tank up, if necessary tomorrow, but I am not willing to shower standing in dirty water that's not going down the drain.

What did I learn about showering in the trailer? Probably won't happen much. It was tight and awkward. If I am boondocking, it'll be nice to have as an option. If I'm at a park, I'll use the bath house showers.

After I was dry and dressed again, I went out and turned off the hot water heater and the gas. That stupid alarm still went off every five minutes for about another fifteen minutes. Okay... Here's what I think. I think that the tank was full of some kind of winterizing stuff. It had a smell, and the hot water was foamy. I think heating it caused something in the air to be detected wrong. When I get to the storage lot, I'm going to totally drain the hot water heater. I'm not sure they like floods here.

I sat down for awhile with a cup of coffee. I had a response from smokedummy, a buddy of mine on the Open Roads RV Forum who also has a Retro 140. I had mentioned to him last night about my lack of a cable connection. He said he couldn't find it on his either, but came up with a plan. He was going to open up the box under the port side dinette bench where the water tank and hot water heater are stowed, and run a cable wire out through the shoreline opening. It sounded like a good idea to me, but my bench was securely bolted down. Fortunately, Rachel gave me a little tool box full of tools as a house warming gift for the popup. I took the bolts off and lifted the board. I didn't realize that the shoreline (the electric wire that plugs in to the post at a campsite and powers the entire trailer) just went nilly-willy into a section of the bench box. I threw the cable in there, then threaded one end out of the trailer, and the other up through the finger hole on the bench board. Now I have 49 channels of cable TV. Fox SW (150 at home) is one of them. In fact, the Spurs just tipped off against New Orleans. Time to take a break from writing.

Well, the Spurs are playing really well. Saw some amazing plays. Loving the newer players, too. Still makes me angry that we aren't taken seriously nationally. Even this ten-win run doesn't seem to be noteworthy. The Lakers could lose every game and still get the accolades and network attention.

Anyway, once I got the cable set up, I went ahead and put the antenna down. That's one less thing on my departure prep list. I have a pretty long one. I know that it will all become routine some day, but I still go through every step one at a time right now. Then, before I drive away, I go over the whole list a couple of times again. If I can't remember doing something, even though I crossed it off, I go back and double check. I've heard too many horror stories. Besides, I'm the bonehead who pushed the popup bunk in, knocking over the cooler, breaking it, and flooding the camper with 20 pounds worth of melted ice water.

I spent a little bit of time just relaxing and processing some of my pictures from the Flip video recorder. I had planned on taking a trip into town to look around, but I was really pooped.

At about 5:00 pm, I did hike into town. It's only about two football fields length from the RV resort to the start of the historic downtown area. It took about ten minutes to get to Busbee's BBQ. I went ahead and bought some brisket for later. Then I walked farther down Main Street and took some pictures of the downtown area, including the courthouse and water tower. Then, I walked back toward the RV resort. I was passing a place called the Chicken Coop. There was country music coming from inside, so I went in and drank a Lonestar. It was a rustic country bar. I enjoyed it. I stopped in some other little stores after that. I took a picture of the Bandera General Store and sent it to my sister. She loves Bandera. She has a bit of a cowboy fetish. I figured it would be nice of little brother to point out that he was staying for two nights right down the street from all her favorite places.

Back at camp, I finished up all my pictures and started working on this blog post. I wanted to put the pictures on Facebook, but I just couldn't get the WiFi to work right. Every site but Facebook loaded. Facebook loaded a textual version like you used to get on an iPod touch before they created the app. Anyway I gave up. I stopped writing this to watch the game. The Spurs won by nearly 30 points. Even a blow out is fun to watch for me.

I took a trip to the bathhouse during halftime. Remember, I said I'm not fully using my trailer toilet. That doesn't prevent the need to make a deposit elsewhere. I know... TMI. Deal with it! While I was walking over there, I got a great view of the full moon glowing bright orange over the river. I tried to take a picture with my iPhone, but it just looked like an orange dot on a black background. Not the impressive view I was seeing with the bunny showing better than ever! According to Facebook, it is equally beautiful in Decatur, Illinois and St. Louis, Missouri.

April 7, 2012

Another great night of sleep in the Colby T. In fact, I slept so well that I didn't even here the Casita and the big RV he was traveling with pull out sometime before 8:00 AM. When I am sealed up in the trailer with the AC running, I hear nothing from the outside world. That's why I like early spring. I can have the windows open and hear the sounds of camp.

I made myself a cup of coffee and ate some bacon tacos for breakfast. Walmart sells “bacon jerky”, which is actually just a package of cooked bacon. It tastes and chews just like bacon that you cooked earlier in the morning. I like it. A few seconds in the microwave, and it was as if I had just taken it out of the pan. It was an easy to prepare and easy to clean satisfying meal.

I went outside to close the grey water valve so I could start building up a supply of water in the tank. It wasn't really raining or anything, but there was a mistiness that made me want to finish up all the outside stuff just in case. I went in and ran the hot water to both drain the hot water heater and fill the grey water tank. That was when it hit me. I had to GO! I stood there in a panic. Should I run to the bathhouse? Will I make it? Do I use the toilet in the Colby T., even though I wasn't ever going to do “that” in it? Finally, the decision was made for me. Let's cut to the chase. Jack F. was right, sooner or later you will end up pooping in your camper! Damn it! Why does he have to be right about everything?

Well, all in all that wasn't so traumatic. Neither was emptying the tanks. In fact, it was kind of a let down. After watching all the videos and reading all the stories about it on my camping forums, I was ready for something really disgusting. The reality is that you see nothing, you smell nothing, and you don't get anything on you. Backing up the trailer is still the worst part of camping!

I went ahead and cleaned the toilet, tub, and kitchen sink before disconnecting the city water. I made sure I put a few gallons of water back into the black tank and poured the blue stuff down in. I undid the cable wire and stowed the TV in its travel spot. Then I had one last cup of coffee before stowing the Keurig. I would like to say that I sat down and enjoyed it, but once I got started on the departure prep, I kept at it. Pretty soon everything was stowed, and my gear was back in the truck.

I brushed off all the sofa cushions, swept and mopped the floors with my Swiffer, and cleaned the counter tops and dinette. When I was putting all the cleaning stuff away, I found the can of lemon pledge that I had bought earlier and forgotten, so I went ahead and wiped down all my cabinets and doors. Everything looked great. I sat down and went through my checklist to see what else I needed to do. There were only a few things left, but they were mostly hitch related, so I turned off all the lights and the AC. I went out to disconnect the shoreline, and when I was finished, I noticed a lot of dried mud on the front of the camper. It got thrown up by my left side tires because I drove through a puddle at the storage lot. It was dried on like cement chunks. I got a tub of water and some paper towels. It came off pretty easily.

I did the last few things and started hitching up. It took me about twenty tries of backing up and pulling forward to get the hitch lined up with the receiver correctly. I had an audience sitting about 50 feet away. They must have enjoyed it. It isn't easy to by yourself, especially when you can't see behind you. At a state park someone would have helped guided me. At an RV park, people aren't as helpful for some reason. When it was finally hitched and everything was ready for departure, I sat at the picnic table and went through the entire check list again.

I was finally satisfied that I was set to go so I went over to the office and checked out. I told the managers (maybe owners) that I was really nervous about the hill going out of the park. They told me another way to go that avoids it. I did that, and within an hour, Colby T. was back in prison. I didn't have any issues backing in at the storage lot this time. I think it's because the utility trailer that is angled oddly was gone.

So, now I'm sitting here finishing this up. Then I'll post it to the blog site and upload my pictures. After that, I'll lay back on the couch for a few minutes and reminisce about my trip and dream about the next one. That will be in two weeks. I'm going to go to Goliad SP for three nights. It'll be my longest and farthest trip so far. I can't wait.

All this weekend has done is tease me for retirement. I live for the day when I'll hitch up and leave a campsite just to go that very day to another. Wanderlust has taken over every fiber of my being. I totally get where my parents were coming from!