Alamo River Ranch RV Park- January 2013

Well, this was almost a spur of the moment tip of trip. I suddenly realized that this was a three day weekend on Monday, so I called and made a reservation for this park. As I have said before, I like it because it is an easy twenty minute drive from my house. However, once I get here, I feel like I am way out in the country. You can see the pictures for yourselves to see why I feel that way.

I left straight from work to come on this trip. I stopped at the Shell to buy gas with the gift cards I bought off my boys. They got them for Christmas, but since I pay for their gas anyway, they preferred the cash. After that, I went straight to Packrats, where I have to admit I had a hard time hitching up. The sun was shining in my eyes, making it hard to use the rearview. On top of that, the truck was casting a shadow on the hitch so bad, that I couldn't even use the camera. I finally put the yellow balls on, but even they were hard to see in the shadow. There were some guys mowing grass on the lot next door. They seemed pretty entertained. I was about to call one of them to guide me, but finally got it lined up after about 100 tries. I think I lost about 25 minutes! By then I was so rattled that I didn't put the chains on OR the electricity for the signals and brake lights. Fortunately, I always go through my multi-item obsessive compulsive checklist. That caught all of those disasters in the making.

I came into the park a little too fast. They have a beautiful new electric gate now that stays open all day. I didn't even notice it. Unfortunately, it has a little metal lip which knocked one of my stabilizers a bit. It was already a bit wonky. Now it is worse although it does still do its job. I'll probably have to get it replaced. I'll ask Jack Funkhouser what he thinks.

By 4:35, I was set up enough to go for a sunset (or almost sunset) hike. It was really nice. The trails were dry, with not even a trace of the usual humidity. There were a lot more deer this trip. I couldn't believe my eyes at one point, when I walked up on a white doe. I thought it was the sunlight shining on her strangely, but, as she ran off with her buddies, it was obvious that she was white. Not white like ladies' gloves. More of a very light grey- noticeably different from her peers. I also saw a poor little black squirrel. It fluttered into the trail right in front of me. I thought it was a bird taking flight, but it wasn't. I think it might have hurt itself when it tried to run back into the woods because he rolled on his back with his legs kicking like a dog that wants its belly rubbed. Then it flipped over and sort of limped off. I hope it was alright. Of course, it may have already been like that when it first came out. I really don't know. I was so surprised by how beautiful its fur was. I have never seen a black squirrel up close. They usually hide quickly when you come near them, and rarely appear in trees.

Back at the Colby T, I finished setting up and bringing in my things. As soon as I was kitchen ready, I enjoyed a nice supper of chicken breast on tortillas. I used mustard with liquid sucralose to mimic honey mustard. I drank some great Obsidian coffee with it. As I ate, I fiddled with the Wi-Fi and was sad to see that my phone didn't automatically connect. I tried my kindle, but couldn't remember the password. I went over to the office and got the password and learned that I needed to log into a different connection. I usually have a site by the bathhouse and use the bathhouse router. At this end (I'm in 133), you use the office router. Oh well. Once you set it up, it switches between them automatically when I go to the bathhouse. Unlike other RV parks I have been to, the Wi-Fi here is excellent.

I turned on the League Pass app to see if the Spurs would be on for me here. They showed up as a future event. I was excited. I watched the news and something else until close to the time for the game to start. I went back to the app, and the game wasn't listed. It is blacked out here even though the servers are housed in Castroville. I got my new deluxe CC Radio out and got the game tuned in. I spent the evening surfing the net and listening to the game. At half time, I went to the bathhouse. When I finally got back, I expected to have missed some of the game. Fortunately, they had some kind of rim problem that caused them to totally replace it. That took almost half an hour. Anyway, the Spurs won the game. It was too early for bed so I hooked my Kindle up to the TV with the HDMI cable I bought recently and watched a movie off of Amazon Prime. It was in some middle eastern language with subtitles, but I enjoyed it anyway. I was about to nod off by the end, so I went to bed as soon as it was over.

I slept soundly all night and woke up at 8:00am sharp. I started a cup of coffee brewing and hiked to the bathhouse. When I got back, I drank my coffee and ate an Atkins bar for breakfast before heading off for the first hike of the day. I carried my Bloggie camera with me and took about sixty shots. Everything looked so different in the morning light. It was such a beautiful sunny day with a bright blue sky full of feathery clouds. It made all the wonderful earthy winter colors pop. I saw lots of deer again and more cardinals than I have ever seen in one day. As I got back to the Colby T, I noticed the new gate that I had totally missed seeing on the way in. It is beautiful. I hiked across the street and out into the cornfield to get a good shot of it. As I passed the office, I ran into one of the managers. They tell me their names every time I come, but I think I have dysnomia. I can not recall their names. Anyway, we must have chatted for at least thirty minutes. I learned all about the history of the park. The people here are really nice and treat me like I am some kind of celebrity guest. I guess they can tell how much I love it here.

I went over to the bathhouse for a few minutes. When I got back to the Colby T, Ann Cameron had called, so I called her back and chatted for a few minutes. Then I sat down and read some of my book. I was hungry and realized it was lunch time, so I ate a lunch of chicken salad on tortillas before heading out for another walk. As I was leaving, the owner of the park came and asked if I had any trash. They pick it up right at your camper every day. I only had half a bag full, but figured I might as well give it to him instead of letting the canned chicken cans smell up the camper. We ended up talking for quite awhile. It was a really pleasant conversation. Once again- the people here are awesome!

I went ahead with my walk. It was a long one. I looped around a couple of times. About mid way, I sat at a picnic table in a shady grove and read my book on my iPhone. I almost finished it, but I wanted to get back on the trail. I hiked some more and was feeling it all in my feet as I hiked back up to the camper. I was amazed at how hot it was in the Colby T. I heard other air conditioners running, but didn't want to use mine. Instead, I opened all of the windows, including the screen door. It was awesome. So light and fresh inside.

I suddenly had a hankering for pork rinds, which I had purposefully avoiding buying before the trip. I get addicted to them occasionally, and the bag count gets too high. There was nothing I could do but go to the store to get some. The convenience store I went to first didn't carry them, so I ended up running to the HEB in Lytle, about ten miles away. While I was there, I bought some precooked shredded chicken for dinner. I had planned on an Atkins bar. What can I say? I saw a Twin Liquor store and bought a bottle of cheap scotch and some diet ginger-ale. I don't usually buy cheap scotch, but this time I am on a budget (big trip to Austing coming up) and planned on mixing it with diet ginger-ale anyway. Before hitting the highway, I even considered a trip to Bill Millers for some ribs, but enough is enough!!!!

I dropped everything off in the camper and headed for walk number three. This time, I planned to use the Charity Miles app. I had forgotten about using it until I saw my friend Kristina posting about it today on Facebook. Unfortunately, it didn't work! When I went to save what should have been about a two and a half mile hike, it said, “The minimum distance for a workout is 0.1 mi. Please try again! I was not a happy camper. (I love that phrase!). I decided that I would continue to use Map My Run and just write a check for Autism Speaks!

I went ahead and got my dinner ready. Another Spurs game was coming on at 6:00. I tried the app again, but it wouldn't refresh to today's listings. I went into the League Pass support chat, but it updated all of a sudden. I guess I was logged in too early. Once again, the Spurs were blacked out. I got the radio out and plugged it in only to find out it didn't work! I kept trying to fiddle with it getting more and more annoyed. I was having trouble seeing the dial, so I turned the light on and SNAP it started working. I turned the light off and it stopped. I have no explanation. A few minutes later, I discovered that the radio has its own light. I would have probably given up on the game, if I had use it. Anyway, all is well. I am listening to the game, writing this blog, and sipping scotch and ginger, which is surprisingly good. Who would have thought a $9.00 bottle of scotch would be good. Mom's friend Marion taught me to appreciate scotch. I usually drink it neat, but occasionally I like with ginger-ale or milk. Yes, I said milk. Marion taught me that one, too. Pure heaven in a glass. Well, not if you don't like milk.

The Spurs won the game. I put a movie on called Super 8. It was one of those citizen sees the alien-army tries to stop the word from getting out. It wasn't all that good. I was surprised to learn that it was done by Steven Spielberg. I guess even he can have an off day. After the movie, I was ready to sleep. Actually, I think I was sleeping through some of it, which may be why I didn't think it was all that great.

This morning I did my usual morning things: coffee, bathhouse, breakfast, and tidy up the bed. Then I went ahead and stowed the heater, coffee pot, and television, since I knew I was done with them for this trip. I decided to go ahead and finish this blog post up and get it on the site so I can do other things when I get home. Saturdays are my house cleaning days. I was here at the park, so I guess that will take up my Sunday afternoon today. That will free up my Monday off for whatever comes up. I would like to take the dogs to the park for a nice long walk, but I can't handle the two of them that well. Maybe N2S will go this time. He always says he will then backs out.

Anyway, my next adventure in the Colby T will be my longest ever. I am going to the TCEA conference and will stay at the Lonestar RV Resort. It is almost incomprehensible that I was in the popup last year! I barely remember what being inside it was like. Last year, I only stayed in Austin for three nights. This time it will be four. I made a mistake when I was registering for sessions and booked a full lineup for Tuesday. I planned on going up on Tuesday after work. Since the sessions start at 8:00, and I have to park the Colby T at Lonestar as soon as I hit Austin, I had to book another night. That's fine with me. I will get another evening to relax or hang out with N1S.

Anyway, that's it for this trip. If anything unusual happens on the way home, I will come back in and add it.

You can see all of my photos from this trip here:  My Photobucket Album