Twiddling

Yep. Twiddling. That's what I've been doing just about all week, waiting to get the tow plate installed on the car.

Took the dogs to a dog park in San Antonio on Monday, Feb. 25. It was a long drive, but the dogs were starting to get cabin fever, as am I. Drove through Lackland Air Force Base, which reminded me strongly of Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque. Only spent about thirty minutes at the park, 'tho, because Annie was attacked by another female dog. No damage done, but I didn't want to stay and have to follow Annie around to make sure the other dog left her alone.

While we were there, Sonny Wagner at Wagner RV called to say I could bring the car to his shop Thursday at 9:AM to have the tow plate installed on the car. Good news, finally!

One of the gals at the RV park followed me to Wagner RV Thursday morning, and we left the car there. Sonny said I could bring the RV the next day, and he'd get Van Go and Oor joined together. Bette and I left and went to breakfast, then walked around a local mall for a while, where I found new spring/summer shoes. I'd been looking ever since my arrival in Hondo. About an hour after we'd left Wagner RV, Sonny called to tell me that the tow plate he was going to install was the wrong one. Of course it was. He said he'd reordered the right one and was having it overnighted to the shop and would start work Friday morning as soon as the plate arrived.

I'm going to be here yet another weekend, and this time without Oor. I'm not happy, but at least I've got two new books to read while I'm twiddling again. Or still.

Nutz!

...and Other Calls

My oldest, dearest friend called today: Deb. She's still in Albuquerque. We made plans to see each other after the Life on Wheels Conference in Tucson in mid-March. I'll probably go visit there in April or so.

It was very good to touch base with someone I've known since I was 17. We have a lot of history together.

Mail Call

Got my most recent package of mail from Cynthia; thanks very much. Signed off on my tax return and sent it on to the good ol' Internal Revenue folks, just doing my part to help the country stay afloat.

Got three magazines and an Ann Tyler book. I'll probably spend the rest of the weekend reading and relaxing. The weather has turned warm, but the humidity has gone, so it's very pleasant. Yesterday we had a high of 84 deg. F, and had the AC going the whole day.

And then...

Sonny Wagner at Wagner RV Service Center called around noon. He had some bad news to reverse: it seems that the five-speed Sunfire with standard transmission needs no lube pump after all, saving me about $1000 in parts and labor. When he had asked Remco what we needed to tow the Sunfire, evidently Sonny had mistakenly told them the car has automatic transmission, which would require the lube pump.

Good things do happen now and again. My faith in human beings has been somewhat restored.

Good News, Bad News

(Click on photo for a better view)

The good news is: I bought a car to tow behind the RV. I had entered an internet used car search in the San Antonio area, and a local Ford dealer found a little 2001 Pontiac Sunfire: manual transmission, mileage 78,000, silver-colored, weighs about 2700 pounds. I called General Motors and they assured me that the car can be towed four-wheels-down, with no modifications.

Here's the bad news. I took the car to Wagner RV here in San Antonio to have them mount the tow plate on the car, and the hitch bar on the RV. Sonny, the owner, called Remco Towing (the ultimate tow experts here in the US), and, sure as hell, a lube pump must be added to ensure the transmission is protected. I should have called Remco myself before trusting the manufacturer of the car. Who knew, right? Another lesson taught; not necessarily learned, because "I should have..." is gonna be the title of my memoirs. I can't tell you how many times I should have (insert damn near anything here)....

Ok; I'll accept my punishment, which is gonna be about $800 worth of lube pump work. I'm going to smile every time I think of this and move on. What else can ya' do?

When I bought the RV back in November, Cindy and Kent were helping me with a name for it. Most RVers I know actually give their rigs names. I told them the RV is a Dutchmen Express, and Kent suggested a famous Dutch person. We were thinking about it when I blurted out "Van Gogh", then immediately realized what a perfect name it is for the RV. "Van GO"! I've named the toad (which is a play on the word "towed") "Oor", Dutch for "ear". As you can see by the photo above, Van GO has silver, black, bronze and gold "swooshes" on the design, and Oor is silver. They make a fine pair, don't they? And hey: look at that clear blue sky. Not exactly what I'm used to seeing in Houston.

So: I've ordered the lube pump, tow bar and tow plate and when they arrive, will have a friend from the Park follow me and Oor to Wagner RV to get the fuel pump and tow plate installed, which is about a two-day job. In the meantime, I'll leave Oor with Wagner and go back to the Park and stay in Van GO 'til Wagner's ready to install the tow bar. After everything's done, I should be ready to head west again.

On the domestic front, yesterday I made a big pot of stew. It's the first time I've done any big cooking, and it went well. Storage, however, of a big pot of stew is another matter entirely and called for some innovative thinking. Or so I thought. Come to find out, the pot fits in the tiny refrigerator just fine.

Maintenance

In talking (via forum) to some fellow RVers, I'm getting some information about my non-functional microwave oven.

As was suggested, I found the power cord plugged into its own power receptacle in the kitchen cupboard next to the microwave. I unplugged it from there and tried the other kitchen receptacle - yep, it's still tripping the breaker. I tried the bathroom receptacle, and, yes, it trips that breaker as well. So, despite all my observations of "Yeah, but how many times have you seen a microwave oven go bad? It's a perfected technology!", it seems my microwave oven has - yes - gone bad. Color me clueless, as usual.

Another poster suggested that, if I don't want to wait/sit in Camping World's waiting room (which is, by the way, 80 miles in the opposite direction of where I'm headed), I could go to Walmart and buy a similar (size being the important criteria) microwave and install it myself. I know I could do this. I can see how the frame around the oven is mounted: just pull it off, toss the old/bad oven, and replace the new one. There's no wiring to be done; looks pretty simple. However, this is a warranty issue. Why should I pay/do the work when it's Camping World's job? I'll wait 'til I reach New Mexico, where I plan to spend quite a little time, and have it done there.

I'm up early this morning, aroused by the incessant barking of the dogs down the road. They're there to guard the goats from coyotes. No one lives there, and I don't know if the dogs are fed/watered daily or what, but they sure make a racket. It is, however, a gorgeous day: bright blue sky and no humidity, although it's slowly making its way from the Gulf. I can feel it breathing down my neck, literally. The nape of my neck gets damp.

Speaking of maintenance, I'm off to do some laundry. A woman's work is never done, but, in my case, at least there's no one telling me what work to do. Ah, (retirement, as well as the single-) life is grand!

Late afternoon update: Took the indoor vent screen off the furnace to clean off all the dust. In the two months I've been using the RV fulltime, I've noticed an inordinate amount of white dust. I have several white or offwhite cotton rugs and I wonder if those are the source. While laundering them today I added fabric softener, in hopes that the rugs'll stop "shedding". When I finally got in the driver's seat after a month in Brookshire, the dashboard was covered with fine white dust. I noticed it's even inside the oven. (Note to self: Clean the oven before you light it. :))

I've also noticed that whatever the roads in the RV Park are made of, they're hell on the rugs. It looks like fine gravel covered with tar. It's throughout the Park. After I washed the rugs today, I stepped onto one of them after having taken the dogs for a walk and left a nice, dark footprint. Phooey! All that work for nought.

I'm not sure what today's high is, but I've had the air conditioner running ever since around 11:AM. The humidity's only 33%, but in the sun, it's hot out there! I notice no one's out walking around today. Smart folks.

Uvalde, Texas

Click on photo for a better view.

The dogs and I took a little trip west to Uvalde today. Nice little town. (Please do a Google search of Uvalde; I don't know how to post a link.) They've got SW Texas Jr. College, a Sul Ross University branch and one other school whose name escapes me. Uvalde's got every fast-food restaurant ever developed, I think, and they're all along Hwy. 90. I picked up burgers for us all and found Uvalde Memorial Park right across the street. The Leona River passes through Uvalde, and the city built Memorial Park around where the river crosses Hwy 90 (see at right). Nice little park, nice little walk; the water's crystal clear. The maintenance man I talked to said the river is fed by springs, but that it also has "recycled water" in it. I didn't ask, but I'm assuming maybe it's from the local water treatment plant. I asked him what the trees were. He said cypress, which I thought I recognized by the knobs around the trunk at water level, live oak and cedar. There was another tree, with sort of white-ish mottled bark that had hanging from its limbs what looked like sweetgum balls. Lack of leaves prohibited my identifying it, and the maintenance guy didn't know.

I could sense the elevation rising as we drove, hill after hill, each one higher than the one previous. We passed at least three rivers on the forty-odd-mile drive: the Frio and the Dry Frio, both of which were dry, and the Sabinal, which was running shallow but just as clear as...well, water. Went through several named creeks, too, all of which were bone dry.

This is pretty rugged, scrubby country. Lots of farming, still, but the farther west you go on Hwy. 90, the fewer the farms. (That's my opinion based on having gone only this far west on Hwy. 90; for all I know, the land farther west is even better farm country!)

All my mail from home arrived yesterday: a good day, indeed! My 1099s arrived, as did the mortgage interest statement, so I assembled and mailed all my tax stuff to the accountant in Houston. Also got a nice escrow overage check and a refund from Comcast Cable, so I located a branch of my bank in San Antonio (round trip: 80 miles +) and cashed the checks. Those will pay for a lot of gasoline when I head down the road in a few weeks.

Once Around the Park...

is a far-enough walk to let you know your new shoes are too-o-o small.

I had ordered two pair of Keds sneakers last December, in anticipation of doing a lot of walking with the dogs, which I'm doing, which is good. I ordered size 6's; I've always worn a size 6, sometimes even a 5 1/2. I put on my new lightweight white, thin socks and put the sneakers on this morning. Oh!, I thought. These are a little tight. Surely they'll loosen up as I walk.

My walk around the RV park is probably 3/4 of a mile. By the time I was halfway through the walk, the back of the left shoe was rubbing terribly. I had to pull off the back end of the shoe and fold it under my foot.

When I got back to the RV, I pulled both shoes off and took a look at my heel; yep, small blister. The shoes, both pair, are now residing in a bag to be dropped off in the recreation center's white elephant area. Anyone who can wear them is welcome to them

The dogs and I ran to Walmart to see if I could find replacements for the tennies; nope. I guess I'll continue to shop for shoes as I progress across the Western US. Sheesh.

Bad news on the RV front: my microwave oven tripped a breaker the other day. I reset it, reset its clock and tried again. Nope. I called and made an appointment for Friday to see what the hell's wrong with it. The guy at Camping World said "Sounds like a bad microwave, to me. Takes about two/three weeks to get in a new one." I said, "Oh, are you a technician?" He says, "No." I posted to the RV forum who's been a lot of help to me recently and did a search on microwaves. Most folks think it's probably an electrical problem. I'm tending to agree. Thing is, the microwave didn't misbehave until after the satellite dish/receiver were installed. I'm wondering if the receiver, plus any other electrical stuff I've got going at the time, plus the microwave kicking on is what's causing the trip. Anyway, I cancelled the appointment at Camping World. I can live without the microwave, and I'll get it fixed when I'm in a larger city, nearer than 70 miles from the nearest Camping World.

Made reservations to check in at the Lost Alaskan RV Park in Alpine, TX on February 25. Evidently, they're booked solid that week for the Cowboy Poetry (who knew?) event, and I can only stay two nights unless someone cancels. The weather there sounds great: no humidity, high 75, low 45. They're very near Big Bend National Park, so I might go there and see what's up. They've got some hiking trails where the dogs are permitted. The really good news is that the Lost Alaskan has a bark park! Yea! The dogs could use a good run.

The weather here in Hondo (D'Hanis, actually) has improved just this morning. We've got a cool front in from the north, and the humidity has died down significantly in just the last six hours. It got up to 84 here yesterday!

Flora/Fauna report: Male cardinal in the area building a nest; fat-looking hawk (probably just well-feathered) stays perched on the power line alongside Hwy 90 every day; three I-don't-believe-what-I'm-seeing wolves (no; not coyotes) one grey, two black, in a fenced enclosure in a homesite near here, probably about a half-mile away. I was skeptical when told about it and decided to go see for myself, and, sure enough, there they were. No local stories about it that I've heard but I have to wonder where they came from and why they're being kept there.

Flora include lots of live oaks, very old, very large; a few pine trees, some palm trees, lots of cactus, a few Crepe Myrtle bushes (bare, of course) and my Very First Orange Tree. Oh, and one lone pecan tree right here in the Park. I'm sure there are the dreaded Mountain Cedar, as well, but I wouldn't know one if it was standing next to me. They don't use St. Augustine grass here; probably not enough water. The Bermuda grass is all dead of course, so this is a pretty desert-y looking place. Not much growing locally (except for the cabbages mentioned earlier), but I'll bet in the summer it's pretty green. I've noticed the fields are all equipped with those huge irrigation thingies.

PM/PS: The manager at the Lost Alaskan called. They had a cancellation up in Alpine, so I now have reservations for a whole week. Outstanding!

A Little Exploration

Click on photo for a better view.
This is St. Dominic Catholic Church in D'Hanis, TX. Or, it used to be. These are its ruins. The church membership moved to another location after a diptheria epidemic in the late 1800s. They took the roof beams, and left everything else. There's a small cemetery and a historical marker located just to the north (left). The sign at lower left of the structure reads "Restoration Contemplated" and warns of taking the stones the church is made of. This is all located in the middle of ranching/farming country just outside Hondo. Our RV park is maybe a quarter-mile away, and the church is surrounded by small houses in what used to be D'Hanis. A local longtime resident came to the Park yesterday afternoon and gave a one-hour talk on the history of the town. The only thing it's got going for it now are a Chevron gas station/convenience store and a pretty good restaurant/honky tonk. I had lunch with some other single women in the Park yesterday and the food was very good and very cheap. I had grilled tilapia, potatoes au gratin, and squash.

The dogs and I took a long walk down a country road just alongside the Park after lunch. We had no real destination; just wanted a good walk. The dogs met their first horses and are properly awed, I think. Dogs and horses did a little nose-to-nose greeting and were pretty friendly. I've always been a little afraid of horses, so the stroking of their jaws was about as close as I was going to get. I'm thinking of taking them some apples this weekend. The road we were walking on led to endless farmland, growing I-don't-know-what, but I think it was corn, judging from the remains of the previous crops.

On Tuesday, the folks from DirecTV came to the Park and were all set to install my new satellite dish when it appeared that whomever wrote the work order forgot the tripod. I had taken pains to ensure that they knew I'd be living in a motor home, i.e., that I'd be moving around. Sure enough, the work order was written for a permanently-fixed dish (affixed to the chain link fence alongside the RV space! Duh!). They made arrangements to come back the next day with the tripod.

The dogs and I went to Bandera that afternoon, on a lark. I was actually headed for Bulverde, which the Enterprise Rental Car guy had said was a nice drive. Unfortunately, he gave me some bum directions, but it was nice to see Bandera again; I like the looks of that little town. It's truly hill country: there's a deep, craggy ravine where (name of river escapes me) falls, and even some shallow waterfalls. I saw acres and acres of green and purple cabbages on the farmland just outside Bandera. Could've taken a head if I'd wanted to; Hwy 173 from Hondo is a pretty, and not-much-used drive. Very little traffic.

I've got a nice little four-cylinder car from Enterprise; can't tell exactly what it is. The logo/icon look familiar (Plymouth, maybe?). It has awfully good gas mileage.

On Thursday, I took another drive in to Hondo's Walmart to get a few groceries and dog food. Found a couple of books that looked interesting: "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, and John Grisham's latest, "The Appeal". "Water for Elephants" was wonderful! I read it in about seven hours. I couldn't put it down, satellite tv or no. The protagonist is an elderly man who reminds me of Dad, so I'm going to send it to him; I think he'll like it. Haven't started the Grisham tome yet; must save it for a rainy day or some other time when I've nothing to see/do.

The weather here has gone from warm/near humid when I arrived a week ago to cold/dry all this week. The highs have been in the 50s and 60s, and the lows have been down to around 28 degrees F. The dogs and I are still comfy every night; sleeping well and warm. Winds have been a little strong and even blew the satellite dish over, necessitating a visit from the DirecTV tech to right the tripod and reprogram the dish's aim. Allergies have really taken over and I'm told it's the famous (or infamous) Mountain Cedar grown here. I must have acclimated myself to whatever grows in/near Houston, because my old allergies haven't really bothered me much 'til now. Guess I've got a new one. Someone recommended Chlortrimaton (sp?) as a replacement for Benadryl, which has been no use at all lately. The Chlortrimaton works very, very well and I'm able to enjoy being outside again. Today, a little heat/humidity is moving this way from the Gulf; I feel it already: the hair at the nape of my neck gets damp.

Am having no luck finding a small vehicle to act as toad. The Ford dealership has their eye out, as does the Saturn (Saturns were originally made to tow) guy, but no luck yet. I plan to stay here in Hondo 'til February 23. If I still don't have a toad by then, I'll continue to look in Deming, NM, then in AZ.