Waco to San Antonio

Tuesday December 21, 2010

We shook off the dust of Waco and headed for San Antonio. My GPS failed me again in trying to get to a Camping World store near New Braunfels. It told me to get off at the wrong exit and took me to the frontage road on the wrong side of I-35. So we ended up getting back on I-35 and then saw it in the next mile. It was a pretty quick stop, just to pick up some trailer parts like window knobs and a little latch for the converter compartment. We got to the San Antonio KOA, where we had stayed before, about 4pm so we had plenty of time to get set up before dark and of course it gets easier every time you do it.

The weather continued to be unusually warm. I think the high today was 77 though I think tomorrow is supposed to be a little cooler.

Waco

Monday December 20, 2010

We had planned to head for San Antonio today but winds were gusting to 30mph and I decided we would spend the day here rather than fight the wind on the highway. Cathey went to pay for another night's stay and got info about the local places to eat and shop. The recommended breakfast place was the 'Coffee Shop Cafe' in McGregor. It was apparently a place visited regularly by the Bushes since they had pictures of the Bushes and sold Presidential memoribilia of the 'Western White House.' The former President was not there on this particular day so they let me use his coffee cup. (Well it had his name, the presidential seal and his signature - it must have been his.)

Next stop was Waco to do some grocery shopping, then back to the trailer for some relaxation. Even though the wind was blowing it was very pleasant outside with the temperature in the high 70's.

But the highlight of the Waco experience was yet to come; yes even better than drinking from George Bush's coffee cup! For supper we went to 'Rudy's BBQ' in Waco. We had both seen Rudy's featured on The Food Channel as a very highly rated BBQ/Smokehouse Restaurant. It's based on a meat market, in that you buy the meat entree by the pound and buy whatever sides that you want, as well as drinks selected from large ice filled coolers. The food was great we had ribs, beans and coleslaw and some beef brisket to go.

Arkadelphia to Waco

Sunday December 19, 2010

Got an early start despite taking the time to boil some water in the trailer and heat up the suction cups for the aux mirrors and finally - it worked! The breakfast at the motel was less than adequate so we stopped for an early lunch in Mt Pleasant, TX. Then on to Dallas; I had worried about driving through Dallas but it turned out to be a non event. We stuck to the farthest out ring road and everything went OK.

We decided Waco was as far as we would go today, so Cathey called and made a reservation at the Quail Crossing RV Park near Waco. It turned out to be about 10 miles NW of Waco and not very far from George W. Bush's Crawford, TX ranch. It took awhile to get setup for the first time on this trip but everything worked ok, even the new TV that we had bought just before we left. We tested the TV by watching the Packer game, as it turned out the TV got a higher rating than the Packers.

St Louis to Arkadelphia

Saturday December 18, 2010

At this point I hadn't made the decision whether to go SW on I-44 or S on I-55. I wanted to visit Archer City, TX site of Larry McMurtry's book town but I delayed the final decision until I could make sure the weather would be favorable for I-44 to Wichita Falls, TX. The weather looked good so I said we were heading there, then at the last minute I decided to look at the web page for "Booked Up;" they are closed on Sunday - that meant that we would have to spend a portion of a day waiting. Ok we will head south to West Memphis and then W on I-40 to Little Rock and then SW on I-30 to Dallas and south on I-35.

We made poor progress through Missouri; spent half an hour or more finding a gas station when we REALLY needed one. Then at the lunch stop I spent too much time shopping at the travel store. The bottom line, for all this misbehavior, was that we only got as far as Arkadelphia, Arkansas. We had just stopped for supper and then decided to stay at the motel right next to the restaurant. I had hoped to get to Texarkana but we were tired and decided this was as far as we were going today.

2010 Trip to South Texas

Friday December 17, 2010

We were up early doing last minute packing and trying to think of what we hadn't thought of before. It was kind of a chore packing our clothes in the trailer since the temperature was about 10F, and I didn't dare put out the slide-outs for fear of breaking something. Each time I put something in the closet I had to climb over the bed and putting clothes into the dresser was also a challenge since the top two drawers would only open about 4 inches with the bed in the way. We only took a few grocery items since we didn't know how long we would be dealing with freezing temperatures. I even left the Linenkuegels behind; I figured they have beer in Texas too.

I thought I had all the outdoor stuff done but once the trailer was hooked up I decided I had better put more air in the rear tires of the truck. The electric cable was frozen stiff and made for a tough job to get it shoved into its storage compartment. Then there was the auxillary mirrors; I learned, in 2009 that they don't work well in cold temperatures, so I heated the truck mirrors with a hair dryer and warmed up the suction pads. The left one stayed on the second try but the right one, after multiple tries, only stayed on for about 5 minutes.

Finally we pulled out at about 10:30, not quite the crack of dawn but not bad for us. It was 17F when we left and the truck thermometer didn't vary by more than one or two degrees all the way to St Louis, where we spent the first night. They had had snow in northern IL on Thursday but there was no evidence of it on the roads by the time we got there. All the highways were clear and dry, with a little salt blowing around. We got to St Louis about 9pm and stayed at a motel near the junction of I-55 and I-255.