Thursday, November 17, 2011

Texas RV Trip – Our First Big One – Day 1


After a couple of weekend trips and having to cancel our original big trip thru the Northern US for family issues, we’re ready to head out on a shorter southern trip.  We really wanted to go RVing before winter sets in and we have to winterize it, so a little trip down to Texas worked out.

We’re taking five days to drive down to San Marcos, TX (between Austin and San Antonio - SA),  with a couple of nights in Hot Springs, Ark.  San Marcos is just north of our daughter’s home, which is just north of SA, and in the Hill Country known for BBQ and German food, including chicken fried steak.  We’ll be there the weekend before and early Thanksgiving week, so the grandkids are out of school for our entire visit.  We’ll come back the southern route through LA (Louisiana) and LA (lower Alabama) taking several more days to get home.

We wanted to pull our little Honda hybrid, which required getting a tow dolly, and here we are loaded up and ready to pull out.
We’re taking the two little dogs along and the house sitter will look after Cody and Kitty, so hopefully that will all work well.

When we ride in the car, I generally have Sweetie on my left leg and Coco rides with Bev - I won’t do that in the RV (at least yet), but they both still want a lap, so this is how Bev gets to ride.
I’ve divided the trip into about 300 mile increments so I would only be driving 5-6 hours per day, with the first one on I-40 West to Nachez Trace State Park.  We arrived there without incident, in good weather, where we got a nice pull through spot overlooking the lake and relaxed with a glass of wine and watched the sunset – which is by 5pm on the eastern side of the central time zone.

While I was relaxing and Bev went in to fix our dinner of warmed up pepperoni buns with sauce and cheese, I heard this loud, and pretty long, crash and went running to the RV.  As it turned out, when she opened the fridge, the top plastic hinge broke and the door fell off – and it was only day one.  We used some duct tape to secure it (Bev’s universal fix-all) and spent the next  couple of hours out in the cool dark talking about stuff – that was different – no TV, no computer, just us and the two little dogs enjoying the night air under the stars and the jet contrails.

So much for day one and I’ll keep you posted as we go along and weave a couple of pre-trip posts in as well.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.



Larry

17 comments:

  1. When you mentioned big rumbling I first thought It had to do with thunderstorm:)
    Lucky it was not;))

    p.s. On my blog nice giveaway till 23rd November'
    Everyone si welcome to join in:)

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  2. Duct tape is great stuff!

    Wishing you safe travels and a very happy time, Michelle and Zebby Cat

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  3. Keep us posted and have a safe and happy trip!!

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  4. 5-6 hours a day sounds like the perfect amount of driving! Not so much that it'll drive you crazy but still super efficient. Thank god for duct tape! That stuff is magical.

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  5. Bev and the dogs look so happy in their seats. The refrig door sounds like quite an experience. Duck tape and WD40 fix everything.

    I'm envious of your lovely evening without the usual noises. That's what our evenings were like when we moved to the islands. I was so amazed to realize that your ears can hear the quiet.

    Watch out for the Natchez Trace. Further south in Vicksburg I'm sure I felt ghosts behind the trees early one morning ready to rob us in the spooky Mississippi fog on the Trace.
    Sam

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  6. That sucks that the fridge door fell off, but at least you had duct tape to save the moment :) Hope that's the worse thing that happens on your trip!! Enjoy :)

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  7. I love how you knew about LA (lower Alabama) and it sounds like a lovely trip. I love riding the Trace. Have a good, safe trip.

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  8. Hi Larry and Bev, Sounds like a good trip for you all... We have only been on the Nathez Trace once --and when we were there, of course, we just had to visit two nearby waterfalls!!!

    Hope you enjoy Hot Springs... Visit Garvin Gardens if you have time. There is also a neat chapel beside the gardens...
    Betsy

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  9. What fun! I love when you post your travels Larry because we all get to live vicariously through you! I must say you seemed to have very wisely planned your retirement. Have a safe trip!!

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  10. Need I point out that Sweetie looks happy as can be about the new seating situation and CoCo looks a little disgruntled? I don't think CoCo likes to share. And way to blame Bev on the duct tape fix it all. I do hope you have time to keep us posted about the trip.

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  11. What a bummer about the fridge door! I love it when we head out in our RV... talking under the stars, no computers or tv. It's the best!

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  12. Hi Larry & Bev, That was certainly a mixed start to the trip! Good & Bad... At least you had a way to 'fix' the fridge door. Happy Trails! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave & Laurie

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  13. Thank God for duct tape! It's required for all travel emergencies, isn't it? Good luck with the rest of the trip. Your week sounds great to me!

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  14. Sounds like a great trip! Bon voyage!

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  15. Camping is peaceful and fun. Well usually. Sometimes doors fall off, tires pop, and......

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