"We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us"
First post since July 2021. Boy a lot has happened since then but none of it travel related. The only traveling we have done is to doctors appointments.. Hopefully that will begin to change very soon. Sad to say all those doctors visits have provided no answers to on going problems.
Time to get busy living or get busy dying. Perhaps then they can provide answers...
carpe diem
All good plans are just tentative at best. Plans called for us to depart Edinburg Monday the 26th for Mathis. Due to family emergency we departed on Sunday. Quickly thought up plan was to drive coach to home, unload then drive car to Mansfield. Ch ch changes..
When on west loop in San Antonio we detected sudden loss of pressure in one tire. We exited loop and found safe spot in Academy parking lot. Called roadside assistance, waited in que to be answered for ever. Finally got answered Told them did NOT have blowout, just airpressure drop. Ended up sitting in that lot for 2 plus hours. We were safe and sections of remaining trip did not offer safety. I kept investigating and determined problem was with valve stem extension. Excuses for non dispatch was didn't have tire (did not need). I was able to get sufficient air in tire so we decided to risk it. Made it home after 9pm, after having left at 10 am that Morning. It was after 10 by the time we unloaded the coach. Dead dog tired we wisely voted against driving to mansfield. Short, restless sleep but up at 5am heading to mansfield. Oh, and for good measure we had already paid for Motel room in Mansfield last night which went unused.
This trip is done...
carpe diem
For all those nerdy, fact needy readers i have some numbers for you. They are roughly right and directionally correct. I rounded off both gallons and cost. In addition I utilize a fleet diesel discount program that saves me money off the pump indicated price. And we started out with fuel so with those variables in mind, here are some figures
Total mileage to date 3638
Total gallons of diesel purchased 464
Total cost of fuel $1336
One cannot simply divide gallons by mileage to compute miles per gallon. The genset, which runs on diesel, uses about one gallon per hour. It was running anytime we were driving.
useless factoids in case you were curious...
carpe diem
After a wild, wet, crazy drive we arrived safely in Edinburg. We are back at our former home meeting up with friends. A lot of fun, food and fellowship over the next 4 days. However not much if any thing blog worthy From here we head to Lake Corpus Christi state park. It became our go to park when we lived down here. I will do some fishing for sure but we are killing time waiting on Mike and Cheryl to arrive in Rockport. There we have a couple of days fishing for trout and reds. Below is todays catch for a group. Hope we have the same luck
All good things must come to and end and so it is with our stay here in Bastrop. Has been relaxing and we got caught up on laundry and reprovisioned the coach. And in all truthfulness we ate out 2 of the 3 nights we were here. Tomorrow comes a 280 mile or so drive we know all too well. We head south for the mexican border to meet up with Tom and Diane. This little trip is down to its final two weeks, but more friends and fun before we are done.
Thought I would share a couple of photos with you. Let us refer to them as Mary thru the ages. One from April 2007, the other July 2021.
As previously stated we are in Bastrop State Park for 3 nights. Have been here at least 4 previous times and this will not be the last time. We discovered things today we had not seen before.
Some readers may be wondering about my mention of pre and post fire. I will try and explain and do your search for you.
The reason this park exist is because of pine trees. What you say?
They should not be here but they are.
Now about the fire. Read more H E R E
How about some before and after photos courtesy of Google Earth
One last perspective from this very blog that I posted 7 years ago. Click H E R E
Trees were the start but our heros, the Civilian Conservation Corp, are who we owe our enjoyment to.
The original plans, and indeed the existing park included a golf course. Sadly the concessionaire who ran it when out of business. You have heard of rails to trails, how about cart paths to trails?
These cabins, which you can rent, are a testament to the skill and efforts of the CCC's
I believe there are about 14 in total. I want to come back and stay in one of these beauties.
When I was checking in I noticed a cooking book I wanted. When we stopped to buy it we made a wonderful discovery, at least for us it is. When you see below you will agree it was a book that had to come home with us.
A couple of days ago I described our day from hell. Well we were blessed with a very pleasant drive south from El Dorado KS to Thackerville OK. Had dinner in the casino at a fast food place we liked in past. The meal was very enjoyable. Decided we would donate a few bucks so we walked around the casino. It was a freaking madhouse nightmare. So much so we both wanted to leave. Total contribution on our part $8
That brings us to Monday morning. It rained a little during the night but not much. This segment of our trip always concerned me because of construction in Fort Worth and Waco. I was not to be disappointed. The traffic was bad because of the construction but for added pleasure it poured and then it really rained. While it rained most of the trip, the heaviest downpours where were you would expect them. Construction delays/narrow lanes and road flooding during a torrential down pour will cause some stress.
Thankfully we are now at Bastrop State park. A shadow of it's former self. While forest restoration is underway, the virgin pine canopy is not to be found. We last visited in 2015. Since then growth outside the park has far exceeded that inside the park. No longer a sleepy little country town.
More later...
stop and smell the roses...
