Texas

We had been pretty lucky with the weather in the previous states prior to getting to Texas….. Arkansas was blue, cloudless skies; Alabama, and Mississippi were hot and dry, and Louisiana was enjoying much of the same, but Texas has been rainy, chilly, cloudy and overcast. Not only that!! Tornadoes in sight!! (more of this in a minute or so).. For now, grab a “cupatea” and enjoy this long but interesting chapter… the Lone Star State -Texas –

5 states so far… 44 to go!! Plus Canada

We left Shreveport in Louisiana and a short 4 hr drive would take us to Dallas. Nice road, decent rest area (as usual) and we would be in Dallas soon. We had made reservations to stay 4 days at the beautiful Lakeshore RV Resort and we had all the intentions to enjoy the swimming pool, have fun with our new foldable bike (just one for now), do some walks by the lake, etc…

So, as we prepare the swimming gear after a good breakfast, we were bombarded by news on TV and social media about a severe weather alert in the area… torrential rain, golf ball size hailstones, high winds and to top it off, something we RVers fear… tornadoes!!

We could’ve stayed put and do nothing or we could flee the area and find safer grounds as most people do in these cases. The weather system was coming from the west making its way towards the east gaining power gradually, so at 9 PM we decided to disconnect lines, get slide-outs in, connect the tow car and flee west…. we concluded that if we drove 120 miles west, we could eventually avoid the monster in the making!!

Here we are taking a break in a truck station – approaching midnight!

We finally made it to a camping park in a very small town named Ranger, Tx, kind of ghost town but the camping park is even more interesting. As you approach the office ( which of course was closed at the time of our arrival), there is a piece of paper on the wall that says ” welcome, put the cash in an envelope, leave it inside the box, pick the site you want, get comfortable and come in the morning to say hello”… quite funny really.

We certainly had a good night at the camping park in Ranger assuming that the outcome back in Dallas was of complete disaster. Well, nothing happened!! We came back to Dallas and all was good thank goodness !!

I had been to Dallas a couple of times in the past mainly for work but also as a stopover at the DFW airport in the early 2000s. DFW has always been a pretty busy airport and a hub for many flights landing and departing. Some minutes prior to arrival the flight attendant would take the microphone and would announce the gates corresponding to departing flights…. it stayed in my mind when they said….. Cleveland, A-9, Chicago D-7, Miami E-3, San Francisco F-5, etc… pretty neat!! You don’t hear them saying that anymore…

So, I promised Claudia I was going to take her for dinner to the revolving restaurant at the Hyatt in Dallas downtown. Sadly the restaurant has been in renovation for the past 2 years BUT the observation deck was open at least!!

Reunion Tower

Time to leave Dallas behind and point the compass to Austin, the capital of Texas

Still enjoying good weather, we arrive in Austin, city of music and a nice capitol. May I say something about my years with Schlumberger? Back in the day our office in Austin had won a prize for the most environmentally friendly facility… spectacular. I went to visit that office and it is hidden in the middle of the forest; you only notice its presence as you approach the car park from the woods…

This time it wasn’t about a visit to any office but to admire the Capitol and enjoy a good drink in a music bar

We had made reservations in a camping park pretty well located in the city. It used to be managed by KOA but now it is a privately owned property, not as efficient as a well-recognized KOA.

Lone Star RV resort in Austin

It was a Tuesday, not too many places were open in the evening as most start opening doors late at night, so we found a nice bar to enjoy some drinks!

Next day it was time to visit the Capitol! Mid Term Election Day happened a couple of days ago by the way.

This chandelier hangs on the roof of the Congress. Can you see the T-E-X-A-S lights embedded in the decoration?

Austin gave us also a good opportunity to do some maintenance on the coach. The TV of the living room wasn’t working or in other words, it required us to subscribe to Direct TV which it wouldn’t work for us, so we ended up installing a digital antenna and put TV cable provided by most campgrounds to work. There was also an old but in good condition Home Cinema Theater which shows us DVD movies when the signal outside is poor.

From this

To this

Time to say bye bye to Austin and hit the road and visit San Antonio for a few days…. I’ve seen pictures of a canal in downtown which reminds me of Amsterdam …. let’s see how nice it is!!

Taking a break on a rainy day. The Class C motorhome in front of us comes from New York City

San Antonio happened to be a city with immense Mexican heritage; let’s remember that actually Texas belonged to Mexico from 1,821 to 1,836. Part of the tradition is of course Mexican food, and Mexican food restaurants abound. Time to try some Quesadillas (Mexican) accompanied with some BBQ ribs ( very Texan!!)

And here’s River Walk, the result of the vision of a young architect back in the 1,940s who presented a project for the government to consider… it’d help prevent flooding in the city, give some entertainment to locals and affluence of tourists, help create many permanent jobs and help the city to get extra income.

After the cruise on the River Walk, it was time to have some ” flautas mexicanas”

I haven’t posted a picture of my Blackstone griddle in a while so here’s me cooking fish and the adorable soy sauce potatoes and vegetables 🙂

And sometimes it is always good to cook inside the RV

Travelling on a rainy day… on the highway from San Antonio to Corpus Christi

We decided to spend a few days in Corpus Christi as it was midway between San Antonio and Houston. We had made reservations at a campground that we had not much information from, and it happened to be very very nice!! New, very clean, great RVers and excellent staff. Rudy and Paula who manage the site, very excellent people, always looking to help you in every possible way and also, they do something that we have not seen in any campground before; they plan daily activities!! One day Bingo, another day Line Dancing classes, or breakfast, or card games, etc. Cool!!! So this is Reel Chill RV Resort

Breakfast with fellow RVers

Bingo game (didn’t win a single game by the way)

Corpus Christi is also home to the USS Lexington Museum (aircraft carrier). It was a great visit. This ship is leaving behind a logbook full of adventures especially in the Pacific Ocean!

All in all, it was a visit we wanted to do; naval ships (and all boats for that matter) are one of my passions, so why not!! The day was cold and windy but that didn’t ruin the day.

Tree number 5!!

It was Texas’ turn, and we had to find a beautiful tree for this great state to remember our journey through. We found a lovely oak and it was planted at the Reel Chill campground itself!! Rudy and Paula were kind enough to find a protected corner for me to dig the hole and let it grow.

Corpus Christi will be remembered as the place where we made more friends, great friends ! Bob and Helen who drive a Prevost and were headed to Phoenix a few days after our departure; Betty and Curt who own a beautiful Newmar Dutch Star who left back to San Antonio a few minutes after we had left for Houston, and of course Rudy and Paula who were great hosts.

This is Bob’s and Helen’s Prevost Marathon coach; beautiful inside and out! They left Western Canada, travelled across the country towards Quebec and made their way to the south to spend winter in Texas and Arizona.

To Houston!!

It was time to drive the final leg of the first journey that included 5 states; so it was time to head to Houston!!. Probably the city I’ve visited the most on business.

As we have visited many touristic attractions in the city, it was really time to see friends, work on the RV, getting ready for the 2 vehicles going for storage and for us to prepare our journey back to Spain…. it’s been 3 months since we decided to fly to the US and find Scotty!!! I just can’t imagine how the garden and the house in Spain is….

The Houston area has been battling with rain and rain during the first few days of our arrival…

And with rain, fog makes its appearance at night and early hours of next days… Ok, I admit, it looks like streets in London or Aberdeen back in the UK!!

It was time for a good wash for Scotty…. I confess, I love washing cars!! Back in the UK I can say that almost every Saturday I was washing my car in the driveway waving at my neighbors doing the same thing… nothing nicer than taking the family on a Sunday ride with a shiny car.

Well, I’d take 2 hours maybe but guess how long it took me to wash Mister Scotty, the 40 ft bus???? 8 hours!!! It is so massive that I have to split the surface in 8 different areas, and do a meticulous procedure of rinsing, washing with soapy water, rinsing again, drying up and continuing with a water repellent treatment. You need to do this 8 times !! The results are great though, but be careful!!! A sunny day is NOT a good day to wash a vehicle, especially if it is colored black… Don’t ask me why I am saying this LOL. You need to add another treatment to get rid of the dry minerals left by warm water from the pipe. Again, don’t ask me why I know it!!

It was time to socialize and what better way than celebrating it with a Thanksgiving lunch at the campground with Lance and Melinda Fielder, couple whom we know for more than 20 years and Lance whom I had the pleasure to work with as my manager. The chef would of course be the man here and the dish would have to be a delicious grilled salmon, vegetables and potatoes and white wine.

It was also time to spend Thanksgiving dinner just the two of us, a moment to express our gratitude to God really; to say a big THANK YOU!! for how good HE has been to us all as family.

The restaurant we chose for the celebration was a Cracker Barrel branch in Baytown, TX…. a typical, ranch style venue, great for the occasion and of course, Turkey was the main the order!

After the fun, I need to go back to work on the camper, and there are a few things that are bothering me as I really want everything to work on the coach, so it is time to repair the heating system of the back of the coach ( the bedroom and bathroom section), the suspension system, a few things on the Ford Escape, etc…

Something that I had to do from the beginning was to protect the tires from the adverse effect of the UV rays on the rubber of the tires., and for this I had to buy tire protectors. Cool!!

Any electronic / refrigeration engineer out there???

During the oil and filter change, I had the opportunity to get under Scotty at the maintenance shop and make a visual inspection and surprise!! I found an air suspension bag with “intentions to let us down in the middle of the road one of these days” so it was time to take a decision and replace it, or at least order the part; the air bag works great but who knows….. I prefer doing the repair now that we are in a city rather than calling for help on the highway. The part has been ordered and installed at our return.

Another repair, from this foggy headlight assembly

To this brand new unit; much better look and visibility at night

Time to check and top up hydraulic fluids!

Remember the BBQ ribs in San Antonio? Well, you can’t visit Houston and miss a local restaurant that offers succulent pork BBQ ribs and there is a restaurant that makes it just right, Barbeque Hall of Flame on Kirby Dr, Houston.

But not all is work! Time to spend doing what I like as much as RVing…. golf!! We had a great round at the Black Hawk golf club in Sugar Land, Tx.

I can’t say I am the greatest fan of football (soccer) but one can only enjoy a World Cup match whenever there is a chance and here we are watching it from the recently repaired TV on the living room.

Blackstone is so happy when it is being used and this time it was chicken, potatoes and rice for lunch LOL ( note the large and more efficient – and cheaper- LP cylinder that replaces the small canisters used initially).

End of Trip number 1

It took us one month preparing the beginning of this adventure ( from finding Scotty to departing for the first night at a campground) and two months of travel and being on the road and staying at camping parks. This has definitely been a portfolio of lessons learned, people we have met, planned and unplanned actions, etc…. but in one word we could say it has been FANTASTIC. Scotty has been behaving really well, and we have been taking care of it as best as we can. Ford can’t complain!! It has been also well spoiled.

For now both of them are going to spend the next few months resting in “hibernation mode” and getting ready for the trip number 2. So far we have been in mostly flat terrain; but what comes next is wonderful…. mountains!! I know Scotty can’t wait to take us to high altitudes, cold winds, high grade roads, beautiful sceneries and closer clouds.

Come on!!! They are so spoiled…. MANY RVs would do anything to be treated like this… enclosed units for themselves… and this is us before heading to the airport.

Oh!! before I forget; meet the couple that we left responsible to look after Scotty and its companion while we are away in Europe….. Mr Arkansas bear and Ms Texas bear

It is time to wrap up this fascinating chapter, head back home, take some fresh air and charge batteries for the second episode of this adventure!!. But for now I will charge batteries of one of the models I have abandoned during the past three months

Merry Christmas everyone!!