Got a good night's sleep in Marathon, and got an early start this morning. First thing I did was open the back blinds a little to see how light it was. The sun was well up, it being 8:15AM. First thing I saw was how much frost there was on Oor's windshield. Wow, I thought. Must be cold.
Well, yeah. I got dressed and fed the dogs, then ventured out to unhook everything. There was a very brisk wind. I went to unhook the water first and noticed that the hose connection was frozen to the spigot. Great. I opened the basement and took out the toolbox, and tried to get the connection off with a pair of pliers. Nope. By this time, I was freezing and had to go to the bathroom. Without a water source, I couldn't use the RV, so walked what seemed like a quarter mile to find the public restroom. Inside was a television with the weather station showing that the current temperature was 34 degrees F, with a wind chill of 26. No wonder I was cold. No wonder the connection was frozen.
I went to the office and borrowed a hair dryer to thaw the connection enough to get it off. Worked great, much to my surprise. Got the water hose off and stored it in the RV shower stall to thaw while we made our way up Hwy 90 to Alpine.
Found the Lost Alaskan RV Park in Alpine. Great place; very friendly, very funny, very efficient. These folks are the ones with the dog park. First thing I did after paying for a week's stay was to unhook Oor from Van Go and park the RV. While getting the only other key to Oor (the other one was in the ignition; it has to stay there while being towed), I dropped it somewhere while I was moving from the front door of the RV to the water/sewer connection area on the ground, not thirty feet away. I looked around for about ten minutes, then went to the office and asked them to call a locksmith to get Oor's door open, so I could move the car from the office parking area to the RV spot. While one of the park's guys was showing me how to connect to the water system, the locksmith showed up. He used a funny looking little bag, which he then inserted into a crack in the door, then inflated the bag which forced the door open just enough to slip a thick wire and hook thingy inside and spring the door open. Fantastic! I've got to get one of those.
Got everything hooked up (including free cable!) and took the dogs to the dog park. It's very tiny, no trees, no room to run, and no other dogs. Pretty disappointing. But I let them run (stroll, actually) free for about a half hour, so they could pee to their hearts content, and maybe tire out a little.
Got them in the car and went grocery shopping in downtown Alpine, about two miles away.
So now I'm settled, again, for a week. I'm going to try to get out and do some sightseeing, but Big Bend is at least a hundred miles away, and I doubt I'll go that far. I do like the topography here, tho'. Lots of mountains (not big ones) and lots of desert. I see that although the Mountain Cedar that I fought with in Hondo has finished blooming there, here in Alpine it's in full swing. Between the cedar and the pines, my allergies are killing me.
Alpine TX Elev: 4451'
1 comment:
I remember the frozen water connection happening to me in Deming, NM. I carry a very small portable hair dryer just for that reason. LOL! Also, just so you know..anytime your water hookup is frozen, you can still use your internal water pump and have water access. (I discovered that the hard way....a water freeze in Branson, MO that caught us all by surprise).
Glad to hear all is going so well...may be moving from motorcycle to car with the Blue Ox. Time will tell...glad to hear it's worked out so well for you.
You are in one of my favorite parts of Texas...can't wait to get back that way and see more of it. Be sure to visit Marathon...looked to be a fun, quirky little town when I went through there.
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