Southwestern RV Trip – Days 13,14, &15 – San Antonio to Las Cruces, NM

Kathy and Keith left town on Tuesday morning so we had our last day in SA to ourselves and had planned to go to the Riverwalk but the girls were tired and shopped-out so we decided to pass - Bev and I had been before.  

Here are a few comments about the San Antonio KOA.  The campground was about what I expected of a older downtown KOA with tight paved roads, lots of trees, and gravel sites, but I was disappointed in the uneven dirt (mud) left at our site where they had been installing some new utilities.  The check-in process was friendly and efficient and we were guided to our site, which I always like.  They had good water pressure, cable TV with a very good selection of channel, and the WiFi was strong and pretty fast plus I liked the on-site breakfast service.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days12 – San Antonio (Fredericksburg)

Monday was designated as Fredericksburg day and we made the 1½ hour drive north to arrive around noon and while the girls went shopping, I went to the museum.  The town has obviously turned itself into a tourists Mecca as it has about four blocks of shops and restaurants.  Located in the Texas Hill Country, it is the seat of Gillespie County and has a population of 10,000+.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 10&11 – San Antonio

On Saturday, we had two different plans, Pat went out to lunch with her brother and his girl friend and Bev and I went to Keith’s with Kathy where we enjoyed some of his delicious baby back ribs, a few adult beverages and great conversation.  Forgot the camera.  Pat said she enjoyed her fajitas at Lupe Tortilla, which is a chain in Houston, Austin, and San Antonio.

Then on Sunday morning, Bev wanted to go to a nearby Mexican restaurant for breakfast and when we pulled in to the nearly full parking lot, we thought we might be in the right place.  The El Rodeo Mexican Grill is one of five locations in San Antonio and only about two miles from the campground.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 8&9 – Galveston to San Antonio

We stopped in Galveston just to eat at the Gypsy Joynt and in San Antonio because daughter, Kathy, and her three kids live there.  So on Thursday morning we readied the coach for departure to SA and when I tried to start the car for its pre-tow run, it did absolutely nothing – no lights, no bells, no clicking, nothing.  

But it’s a brand new battery, I say to myself, and when I connected the charger, it wouldn’t show charging.  After starting with jumpers, my neighbor suggested checking the battery with a volt meter and we discovered the negative connection was not even connected to the battery post - it had apparently vibrated off, since we’d been driving it for two days.  Upon closer inspection, I discovered that the positive terminal had also not been tightened by the girl at Auto Zone – now that everything is tight, I hope our battery problems are a thing of the past.

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 6&7 – Galveston

This was our first full day in Galveston and of course the girls wanted to check out the shopping on Strand Street while I puttered around the coach, fixed a couple of things, and rested up from four days of driving – oh to be young again.  Since I like to see trains and ships, after dropping them off, I drove to the north end of the island to see if any ships were about and I was not disappointed as there were several at anchor – riding high so likely empty. 

Southwestern RV Trip – Days 4&5 - Beaumont & Galveston

After our down day in Natchez, we headed further south to Beaumont, TX by driving US-84, LA-28, I-49, US-165, and I-10.  The roads were all good except US-84 which was concrete or paved-over concrete with bumpy joints.

After the 230 mile drive we got to Gulf Coast RV Resort about 3pm but I would call it a nice RV Park rather than a resort.  The park is very convenient to I-10 and a few miles south of downtown.  Check-in went fine and we easily made our way to our long pull-thru site #79. 

We used none of the amenities except the continental breakfast that was included in the price.  I never could get signed on to the WiFi so don’t know how well it worked.

Chicken Saltimbocca – Sorta Of

Since I use this blog as one of our recipe files, I thought I should take the time to interrupt or travel posts and get this meal documented before I forget it.

Southwestern RV Trip – Day 3, Natchez, MS

The third day of our trip was a down day in the Natchez area and we awoke to a pretty good rain that lasted until about noon at which time we caught the towboat, Frank Johnson, heading upstream through the mist pushing 21 barges.  The towboat is 180’ long x 50’ wide and is powered by three screws and a total of 9000 hp.

Heading To The Southwest – Days 1-2

Now that the holidays are over, we have hit the road for a long planned RV trip to the desert Southwest, spending most of our time in Arizona.  We departed Almost Heaven South at 10am on 1/10/19 and pointed the coach toward Tuscaloosa, Al – an area still in shock due to the recent blowout football loss to Clemson in the NCAA football championship game.   Our route took us down I-75, I-24, I-59, and I-459 and the road surfaces were mostly very good except for a few rough stretches and the traffic between Chattanooga and Birmingham was very light – I really like that road.

We pulled into Sunset RV ($32/nite) about 3:30 and secured a long pull through requiring no unhooking of the car, however when I went to start it for its required 5 minute post-tow running, the battery was pretty dead.  Not sure why, but this is why I travel with a battery charger and jumper cables – charger did the trick this time and now I need to figure out why.

On Friday, we left Tuscaloosa at 9:30 am and drove I-59 to Laurel, MS and the road was very good except form the MS border to the split of I-59 and I-20.  Since I had heard that both I-20 thru MS and I-10 thru La were pretty rough, I found an alternate that took us thru Natchez, MS, a place I had been wanting to go.  So we exited I-59 at Laurel, MS and traveled west on US-84 but I would not consider it as a smooth alternative to the interstates as only about a third of it was really good road and it had a lot of coach rattling sections.

We rolled into Riverview RV Park in Vidalia, LA about 3pm – it’s just across the river from Natchez with another dead car battery so my first solution did not work.

A Couple More Breakfast Casseroles

You may recall that I made a couple of casseroles to eat for breakfast while my girls were in Florida and I decided nuking a piece of casserole vs cooking something every morning was a good way to go for breakfast and now, I was ready for another one.  I searched through your recipes and settled on one from Dave at eRecipe Cards called Best Damn Cheesy Tater TotBacon Breakfast Casserole Ever.  Dave’s recipe makes two dishes so the first thing I did was cut it in half and then I amended the ingredients and directions a little to get this.

Surprise - Very Good Italian In Townsend, TN

One of my jobs in our FMCA RV club is to plan our June rally and since I have a fondness for the quiet side of the Smokies (other side is Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge), I wanted to check out campgrounds in Walland and Townsend, TN.  So we decided to make it a day trip, including lunch, and with a recommendation from a campground owner, we headed for Brianna’s Italian Restaurant and Cuisine.

2019’s First Meal – French (Toast) Cake

Happy New Year To Everyone

We had most of a cake left from our Christmas meal and Bev came up with the idea of cooking it like French Toast and I decided to call it French Cake.  The cake was provided by friend Kathy but we were not working through it quickly and this seemed like a good way to utilize it.