Mar 26, 2012

03/25/2012

On Sunday the 19th we packed up and hit the road to the Triple T RV Park in Kerrville, TX.  Our plans were to just stay there one night then drive on to Fort Stockton and on up north to Roswell, NM.  Well, all those plans changed in a hurry.

The weather forecast for the Fort Stockton area was for high winds with gusts up to 50 mph with the same on I-10 all the way there.  The weather guesser's were calling for rain and thunderstorms for south Texas so we made the decision to stay put in Kerrville.  That turned out to be a mistake in a big way.  Buy the time we discovered that the forecasted winds were not as bad as predicted, it was much too late to move.

As the afternoon went on we saw that the forecast's went from rain and thunderstorms to severe thunderstorms with rain amounts in the 3 to 8 inch range and possibility of tornados.  Not good folks!

At 6 PM we decided to close up the rig and ride out the storms in the parks clubhouse.  After we settled in and got the TV tuned to the Weather Channel, several other folks came up as well.  So we all sat around watching the TV and keeping up with the weather on our smart phones and my iPad.

Around 7 PM, the sky unloaded with torrential rains like we haven't seen in a very long time, accompanied but lightening and some small hail.  To make the evening more interesting, we went into tornado warning mode three times, raising the "pucker factor" a few notches.  There were several reports of tornados touching down to the south of us  but fortunately we didn't get one in our area.

Around 1 AM things settled down some so we all headed back to our rigs to get some sleep.  When we extended our slides and going up to the bedroom we noticed that our carpet on both sides of the bed was wet and some water was dripping down through the bat-wing antenna crank tube.  We just sopped up what we could and then went to bed at that point and deal with the leak in the morning.

Around 2:30, we heard a tremendous crack from some lightening that shook the rig.  We immediately knew there was a strike somewhere close to us but we didn't how close until in the morning.  When talking to the park owner in the morning, he asked me if I heard that crack.  He told me that the lightening strike hit his neighbor's house and the resulting fire burned their house to the ground.  Those homes are only a mile from the park!

The source of our leak was the wire tube for our antenna.  The calking was gone completely and since the rains were so hard, water ran down the tube, onto the top of our bedroom slide and then ran down onto the floor.  Got 'er fixed.

So, we had a very interesting and eventful time in Kerrville but something we hope to never see again.  We really dodged a bullet there!  Learn more about the storms here:  http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&ved=0CFYQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.srh.noaa.gov%2Fimages%2Fewx%2Fwxevent%2F2012_0319_event_writeup.pdf&ei=uoJwT7zbA-SOiALpt4n7Dg&usg=AFQjCNHwf1QYN5ymvIAwVUlGofkdHTW1Yg

On the 21st we finally got on the road, spending one night in Fort Stockton, TX and then one night in Roswell, NM before arriving here at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, one of our regular stops when traveling on I-40.  The Famcamp here is huge with very large pull-through sites that is always welcome when your pulling a 43 foot rig.  Kirtland has all the amenities including diesel fuel at the gas station...at $4.09 a gallon.

Yesterday we made a visit to the Unser Racing Museum and has turned into the highlight of our stay here in Albuquerque.  The museum's displays tell the story of one of the most celebrated racing families in America, from Louis, Joe and Jerry, down through Bobby and Al Sr., to Bobby Jr. and Al. Jr.

Then there are the race cars.  The collection includes cars that were raced on Pikes Peak, AROC, dirt tracks and of course, Indy.

The Unser Museum is actually two in one.  In another building there are displays of art and the Unser collection of vintage automobiles.  Also housed here is the extensive trophy collection.

03/26/2012

Yesterday we went out to the Petroglyph National Monument.

After checking in at the visitor center, we took a hike in Boca Negra Canyon and climbed to the top of the mesa.  Some of the petroglyphs date back at least 700 years and it's believed some may be up to 3000 years old.

This is our last day at Kirtland.  Next stop, Winslow, AZ.

March 19, 2012

03/04/2012

Good Mornin' San Antonio!

Well, our time here at Hidden Valley RV Park is over.  I can't believe that four months have gone by so fast!

We have enjoyed our stay here but both Joyce and I are getting "hitch itch" and are ready for more adventures.  After leaving San Antonio we'll head east to Goliad for a couple of days.  You may remember that we hosted at the State Historical Park there last year for two months last year.  The Goliad County Fair and Rodeo is going on and The Scott Taylor Band, our favorite Texas band, is going to be playing.  That will be a great way to kick off a forty-five days of traveling!  We hope to see some of the friends we made there last year again as well.

This past week we got to know Denny and Sheri Sejkora from Marion, Iowa.  They came to Hidden Valley from the Rio Grande Valley where the spent a month and now are working their way home.  Denny and Sheri are farmer's who grow corn, soy beans, hay and lambs and we found it fascinating to learn about their business.

We had supper with Denny and Sheri at their beautiful 38-foot Montana the a few nights ago and then we had them to our house on Friday evening.  Fantastic food and a bottle of good wine with new friends makes for a great time.

03/06/2012

Yesterday was a kick-back day for me.  I worked on our itinerary for the trip to the right coast, watched a little TV and greeted three couples from Medford, OR area.

The trip to Massachusetts and then down to Florida this summer is under revision.  The price of fuel is heading north with no end in sight so we may have to cut out some of the stops we wanted to make.  If fuel comes down to below $3.25 a gallon we could do everything but I don't see that anytime soon.

It has been quite awhile since Joyce has made a donation to the local economy so Joyce drove over to the Kickapoo Lucy Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass.  Ok, that's done.

03/09/2012

Yesterday was a very productive day for us.

First we drove up to the MAC TLC store and had an additional 4 gigs of RAM installed in my computer.  I have always believed in "mo Ram, mo betta" and even though MAC's are much more efficient in using RAM that a Windows PC, I was getting a lot of disk swaps.  I typically have eight to ten programs running at one time, some of them being very graphic's intensive so the additional 4 gigs will prevent a lot of disk searching.  Right now I have eight applications running and everything is running smoothly.

While we were there Joyce inquired about putting more memory in her MAC Book Pro and found out that the costs would be the same as mine.  However, the gal at the desk said that the old memory sticks in my 'puter will work in her's so we had the tech install them.

After that we found a Toys 'R Us store and got Abigail's birthday presents which we will need to mail off today.

After a very quick stop at Wally-Mart, we went out to the BX at Lackland so that I could get a haircut.  While I was doing that, Joyce did some browsing in the BX and discovered iHome had come out with a Blue Tooth keyboard for the iPad.

If you have an iPad you know that the virtual keyboard is somewhat of a pain to use, especially when you want to do a lot of typing.  This new keyboard, although small, will help.

All-in-all, a very good day.  We are off work again today and have are going up to San Marcos to visit friends.

03/16/2012

We are now at Goliad State Historical Park in Goliad, TX.  Came over here for the Goliad Rodeo and the dance after the show featuring The Scott Taylor Band.  We need a fix of our favorite Texas band one more time before leaving for the left coast.

The last week at Hidden Valley was pretty much tied up with getting everything ready to travel.  Rv'ers end to put stuff away for connivence rather than for traveling, especially when sitting for a long as we did this winter.  So, it usually takes a couple of days to put everything away properly before hitting the road.  Also, I waxed the front cap on our rig, lubed the slide-outs, the leveling jacks and generally cleaned up in the basement.

I had an issue with my iPad 2 the other day.  Without going into detail with what caused the problem which I think was my fault, I took it to the Apple Store in San Antonio.  After explaining what the problem was and what I had done to correct it, the Genius replaced it immediately.  He didn't even bat an eye about it.  Now that is service!

After getting the rig hooked up, we headed up I-35 to a truck repair shop to get our tires on the trailer balanced.  Most, if not all, trailer manufacturers don't balance your new rigs tires before delivery and that should be one of your first stops after taking delivery.  Yep, we had net done that and we have some wear issues on our tires which we think will be corrected with balancing.  After getting that done, we headed down I-37 to US 181 through Floresville and Kenedy then on TX 239 into Goliad, arriving at the State Park about 2:30 PM.
After checking in at the office and pulling into the camping loop, we noticed a familiar rig parked in one of the sites.  It belongs to Gerry and Linda Moss who we hosted with here last year!  We visited for a while and made plans to go to supper out in Weesatche on Saturday night.

Today Joyce and I are going to check out the rodeo and then do a little dancing.  Gonna be a good one!

03/17/2012

Yesterday Joyce and I walked to downtown Goliad for the County Fair and Rodeo Parade.  As you would expect in a small Texas town, the parade consisted of a lot of fire engines, sheriff cars, local town floats and horses.

The Cactus Tree

Trail To Goliad From The Park

Outside The Trailer

I have said this before, but at the risk of sounding repetitious, this small town has more going for it that most large cities anywhere in the country.  The folks that live here are friendly, God fearing, hard working people that sure know how to have a good time.  The gentlemen still tip their hat to the ladies and the younger folks say "yes sir and no mam".    And, what really stands out is that they love Goliad!

Rodeo Parade:

Last years high school auto shop project

The girl driving along with the the three girls on the railing restored this tractor this year.

There are places in the US that would not allow this float in a parade.

Everybody havin' fun!

This was built by a 12 year old student as his first Ag Mechanic project.

 

 

Spring has sprung in TX!

Last night we went to supper at the Corner Cafe And Saloon in Weesatche with Gerry and Linda Moss.  Now this is our kind of joint!  Old, rickety, an old hardwood floor that isn't quite level and galvanized buckets for light fixtures.  Oh, but what great food!

Check out the light fixtures.

I'm not going to say what Joyce and I had to eat since you can be sure that it wasn't very healthy but, man was it good!  Washed down with a cold Lone Star beer mad it even better.

Today we are leaving Goliad and heading to Kerrville.  Our plan was to just stay there one night and then drive on to Fort Stockton but that may change.  The weather guesser's are calling for very high winds in that area and then even high winds up in the Roswell, NM area.  We might just hunker down in Kerrville for a couple of days.  We have no desire or need to go to a place that might have winds up to 60 mph.

March 4, 2012

02/19/12

On Friday night we had a lot of rain in the south central Texas area.  During the day, the weather services we're reporting heavy rain with some predictions up to five inches.  Later in the afternoon NOAA issued a flood watch for the San Antonio area which included Von Ormy.

In the past, the Medio Creek, which runs through Hidden Valley RV Park has flooded.  A few years ago the flood was severe causing a lot of damage, washing away a couple of buildings.

With the predictions of that much rain in the forecast coupled with the ground being saturated in this area, there was a high potential of the creek overflowing it's banks and flooding the RV park. So, with all of that knowledge, Joyce and I got our rig ready to move up to the top of the hill, just short of hooking up to out truck.

Around midnight it started raining sometimes very heavy when a thunderstorm passed through.  We were up watching the weather reports and the local radar channel and the forecast was for much more of the same.  So, around 2 AM while there was a lull in the storms, we pulled the slides in and hooked up the rig.  I took a look at the creek and at that time all looked good so we finally got a little sleep.

When I got up around 6 AM the creek was starting to rise but at that time, it was no where near flood stage.  At about noon it had crested at just below spilling over it's banks and then slowly started receding and by 3 PM, we felt comfortable unhooking the rig.

I think we dodged a bullet on this one.  We do have some more rain in the forecast for this week, hopefully nothing like the stuff on Friday night.

02/27/12

It's been several days since I last wrote anything so I'll bring everyone up-to-date on our activities.

On the 23rd we made our second trip to the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo.  Since parking is at a premium at the AT&T Center and very expensive, we carpooled with Dennis and Carol from Alberta, Canada.  After the rodeo we saw Alan Jackson perform.  Alan does more "traditional" country these days which we enjoyed very much.

When we pulled into the parking lot, one of the parking attendants saw our license plate and asked what part of Oregon we were from.  When I told him Oakridge, his face lit up and he told us that he used to drive truck in that area in the early 60's.  He said he used to have breakfast at the Sportsman's Cafe there and he was sad to learn that it has been closed for a couple of years now.

On the 25th, we again went back to the AT&T Center to see the Extreme Bulls competition and were again joined by Dennis and Carol.

On the way into the grounds, we asked the fellow at the information booth where we might get some breakfast.  He pointed us to the Ag Barn where they were serving free burritos. 

Since Dennis is a fan of anything machinery, we decided to walk around and check out the equipment.  After a few minutes we realized that all of the implements in the barn were made by high school Future Farmers of America students.

This tractor was completely restored by one of the Ag mechanic's.  He did all the work himself including rebuilding the motor, transmission and paint.

The girls built this trailer from scratch.  Beautiful!

 

Joyce and I have been to a lot of rodeo's but this was the first time we have been to a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Extreme Bulls show and what a show it was.

Kanin Asay out of Powell, Wyoming dominated the event buy not only willing all the money but he took bot go-rounds as well.  By the way, the score of the competition was:
Bulls - 55, Cowboys - 7.  The stock that is used for Extreme Bulls is the biggest and meanest around!

After the bull riding Trace Adkins put on a great show.

Yesterday Joyce and I went to the Alamo Dome from the San Antonio Home and Garden Show.  Even though we don't have a "real" home anymore, it is fun to look at all of the new stuff out on the market and do a little dreaming as well.

During the show, Bob Guiney who was a contestant on the first season of The Bachelorette and then the bachelor on season four of The Bachelor talked about the housing market.  Of course he gave us some tidbits about being on the television show as well.  Bob is busy these days with his own show on HGTV and performing as a singer in The Band From TV.  In addition to Bob, one of the other band members is Hugh Laurie, star of the TV show, "House".  The band's web site is at:  http://www.bandfromtv.org/

03/03/12

On Tuesday, Joyce and I along with Terri, the manager of Hidden Valley and two other couples went on a walking tour of the King William District of San Antonio.

This neighborhood of large, beautiful houses is located just south of downtown along the San Antonio River. Many Germans immigrants began to settle in this area by the 1870s and it became known as "Sauerkraut Bend" to the rest of San Antonio. In 1967 the King William District was designated the first Historic Neighborhood District in Texas.

The District developed into an idyllic neighborhood of large, impressive houses shaded by enormous pecan and cypress trees. The main entry street into the area was given the name King Wilhelm in honor of King Wilhelm I, King of Prussia in the 1870s. During World War I, when America was at war with Germany, the name was changed to Pershing Avenue. A few years after the war was over the original name was restored, but this time it was given the English version of the name, King William, and it has remained so since.

After meeting Gary, of San Antonio Walks across from The Guenther House, and began the tour.  Gary is highly versed in the different styles of architectural styles in the area, which includes Greek Revival, Victorian and Italianate.  He also has a wealth of knowledge about the history of San Antonio and during the tour, he told us several stories that enhanced out tour experience.

The homes in the King William District were built by some of San Antonio's most prominent citizens.  Karl Harnisch, who was in the confectionery business, brought the first soda fountain to San Antonio.  The Edward Steves homestead is an elegant three-story mansion that was built in 1876, was the founder of the Steves Lumber Company.  The family still owns the oldest cabinet making company in the country.  John J. Stevens, who brought the first Hereford cattle to Texas also built his home here.

This one is Joyce's favorite.  Simple but very elegant.

After our tour we all went to The Guenther House for lunch.  This is the the former home of Carl Hilmer Guenther, founder of Guenther Mill, which was renamed Pioneer Flour Mills in 1898 and is still in operation today.  The Guenther is now a museum, store and an outstanding restaurant.  The food was great!