Heading West

Well we have left Matagorda Bay and Magnolia Beach in our rear view mirror and headed west. Our route only hit San Antonio with a glancing blow but the freeway system there reminded me of my Great Grandpa's description of the old traffic circles in Edmonton, designed by Dante himself. I swear there is no rhyme nor reason to them in fact at one point we were whirling around a corner from one freeway to another and I thought, there goes a rig just like ours, then it dawned on me that I had just about passed myself going the other way.

One of the small towns we transited on our way in towards San Antonio had a lot of low hanging branches over the streets and one of those branches knocked the antenna for our cell booster for a loop so we have another on the way to a friends place in Thunderbird Farms.

Last night we stopped at a familiar spot, the Circle Bar Truck Stop, near Ozona, Texas. We stopped there on our way east and woke up with about 100 trucks parked in close quarters. While walking the dogs I had noticed a back corner that the big fellows couldn't access so last night we wiggled our way back into that corner and slept like babies while the big CATS and Cummins purred away at a distance. We noticed that the trucks start slipping in off the highway about sundown and don't leave till daylight. Not sure why so many leave the road at night, back home the truckers seem to like those less busy dark hours, but it could be the hundreds of dead deer we pass along the highway in West Texas give them a little incentive to get a good night's rest.

We were on the road early this morning and that put us into El Paso just over the noon hour. I am not sure if it was a normal day or maybe the federal holiday honouring George H.W. Bush brought more folks out onto the freeway but it was exciting. I have always said Salt Lake City is a city built along an interstate and is 100 miles long and a 1/4 mile wide. The traffic there is legendary, in fact many go a long ways out of their way just to miss SLC.

Well, El Paso is about the same, a city jammed between a mountain and a Wall and the I-10 is everything I-15 is to Salt Lake with a little Mexican spice added for effect. My strategy of picking a semi going the right speed and then just following along behind him worked pretty well and kept that oh so precious space in front of us so we don't have to hover over the brakes. The little fellows don't seem to like following those semi's and leave a good amount of space behind them.

We are in Las Cruces at the KOA tonight and plan on staying here tomorrow and getting those tanks that need emptying empty and fill those that need filling filled as well as catching up on our laundry before we head back out to an old favourite boondocking spot.

West Texas has some wonderful vista's in fact maybe to many vistas as we crossed that vast wasteland but I didn't get the camera out so I will leave you with one last sunrise shot from Matagorda Bay.

River Walking

We have enjoyed a week with our old friends Deb and Rod Kendall, ate at some great restaurants, told a lot of stories and re-lived some good times we have had in the past. We had a great Country Fried Steak at the 54 Street Grill & Bar, probably the best we have ever eaten. Everyone else had leftovers to take home, but I must have got a small portion cause my plate looked like I had licked it clean by the time we were leaving. Almost had to order another one just so I would have a doggy bag.

Last night we headed off to San Antonio's big attraction the Riverwalk to have a look around and once again fill our bellies. It is always nice to enjoy a stroll along this tourist spot in downtown San Antonio.

San Antonio Riverwalk

All good things have to come to an end and today we bid farewell to Rod and Deb and hit the road. We had a plan to scout out a new boondocking site we had heard about over on the Gulf of Mexico. This spot called Magnolia Beach has a beach hard enough for the biggest of rigs to find a waterfront spot. Although it looks like we are pretty near in the water we are probably 20-30 feet away and about 3 feet above the sea level when we got here. For the first time in our RVing life I consulted the tide tables and it seems like tomorrow at 4:19AM will be high tide and it should only be about a foot higher than it is right now so we should be OK.

Magnolia Beach

But just in case anything happens this lady is passing by and can probably throw us a rope. Stay tuned.

The Linda Taylor

San Antonio

We wandered our way across Texas and found our friends Deb and Rod Kendall here in the Blazing Star RV Park. We haven't done much since we got here except catching up with them. It is always good to see old friends and this park they are calling home for the time being is pretty nice. Lots of trees and not to busy. Although it is a little closer quarters than we are used to the folks with the rigs on either side of us don't appear to be in residence so it is really pretty quiet here. The dogs are learning all about being tied up and enjoying their visits to the dog park a few times a day. They have even made some buddies down there. This morning we headed over to Pet Smart early in the day and they both got the Black Friday weekend Pedicure special. Those folks over there have it all figured out they were in and out in pretty quick time and didn't even seem to be stressed. In fact I think they enjoyed their first trip into a store. For a couple of old country dogs they are dealing with all these changes pretty well.

Last night we went to Red Robin for their gourmet burgers and although they were good I actually think Brenda and I can do better here at Dogpound Anywhere, but the girls had Fish/Shrimp and Chips and that is not a specialty around DPA.

Early Morning at the Dog Park

Texas Road Trip

We left Las Cruces to begin our journey across the "vast wasteland" of West Texas, it is beautiful in its own stark way, stunning vistas, and the best part, not many folks cluttering up the landscape. As we moved farther east we started seeing lots of oil patch activity, every RV park jammed full of working folks rigs and every service companies yard with a few rigs set up there. Rumours has it they can even get pipelines built in this country without it being a ten year process doomed to failure.

We got to Ozona, Texas and tried to get into the local RV Parks but as I said they were jammed full of working stiffs so we headed just east of town to the Circle Bar Truck Stop. We found a spot there away over in a corner, out of the way and got set up. The place was empty when we arrived but by the middle of the night we were joined by about 50 purring Cats, all keeping their drivers warm while they slept away the night. Brenda had a hard time sleeping but my old camp habits kicked in and I slept like a baby. If I just had of had a few guys slamming doors it would have been perfect. Not many places have 50 odd white noise machines to help you drift off.

We got going yesterday morning and headed for our penultimate destination, the Blazing Star RV Park in San Antonio, where we are going to spend a week or so visiting with our friends Deb and Rod Kendall. They have come by Dogpound North a couple of times on their triennial visits to the Salmon streams of Alaska so it was time we returned the pleasure. We spent the afternoon chewing the fat and then headed out to one of their favourite Mexican restaurants in the area, Las Palapas Alamo Ranch, for some good Mexican food. Always good breaking bread with old friends, and even better if you can score a whole bag of bunuelos on the way out of the restaurant. But now it is time for me to wander off and find myself a feed of Huevos Rancheros or maybe just another couple of the bunuelos. Stay tuned.