Nov. 5, 2011 A trip of 2000 miles starts with….

A trip of 2,000 miles starts with getting out of the driveway!

After five months in Livingston, it was time to return to California for doctor visits.

We planned on leaving on Nov. 3, but I didn’t get all the wrap-up work done, so we delayed our departure a day.  Late Thursday afternoon, we hooked up the car, pulled the camper electric, and we were ready to roll out of the driveway early Friday morning.  I called in reservations in Luling, TX, for Friday night.

I did a quick walk through the camper and just happened to notice the lights, working on camper house batteries, seemed a bit weak.  I tried the monitor and it showed “red” instead of a nice happy green indicating full batteries that had been charged for a few weeks.  Whoops!  “Larry!!”  

We plugged the camper back into the house electric and went to bed not knowing what was going on and when we could leave.  If it was just bad batteries, we had saved two when we junked the old golf cart.  We had replaced most of the six batteries in the past year, so held on to two---just in case.  The heat was brutal all summer and had already claimed the lives of the two truck batteries.  Maybe it also had killed off the camper batteries.

Well, after a sleepless night, Larry announced it was two more dead batteries.  Luckily we had two on reserve.  But, two oldsters had to move and lift two very heavy golf cart batteries up to face level.  Not an easy task for most, but desperation wins when all else fails!  With the help of a high rolling table, we got the two out and squeezed the new two back in—and we were on the road by 10:30!  Yippee!

We spent Friday night at RiverBend RV Park in Luling, TX.  They give a 50% discount to both Passport America and Escapees, so our night was just $15.

The park is located adjacent to the San Marcos river.  In a non-drought year, it might be fun to canoe on the river as the water is a beautiful green.  However, it is at least 10-15 feet lower this year.

I am standing about half way up the boat ramp that leads to a wide gravel bar.  The river is the little greenish streak at the bottom of the cliff.

Not very inviting, is it???  But, at least there is still some water left in the San Marcos river.  The drought is killing thousands of trees and bushes across Texas.  The “fall colors” aren’t due to the fall season, but the terrible toll the drought and summer took on the vegetation. 

In our travels today to Fort Stockton, TX, we drove past miles and miles of rust-brown colored pinion pines interspaced with some green one still holding on.  East Texas pines are dying at an alarming rate too.  If you pray, add a prayer for rain for Texas, please.

Tonight we are at Parkview RV Park in Fort Stockton.  It is a Passport America Park with a $10 rate.  It leaves a lot to be desired, but it meets our needs with electricity and a place off the Interstate.

The wind knocked us around from San Antonio to Ft. Stockton, sometimes on the side and sometimes behind us, but it just dropped in the last half hour.  Sweet silence!

We are heading to Deming, NM tomorrow.  We will probably stay two nights to allow the upcoming storm with rain to pass over us on Monday.  That should reduce the possibility of dust storms between Deming and Casa Grande.  The high winds were kicking up dust storms on I-10 between Quartzsite and Phoenix, AZ on Friday.  Hopefully we can dodge the strong storms and just enjoy this trip.

Until later—the weary travelers are at rest.