Goodbye sunshine, hello rain

Thursday, March 12

Everyone has been talking about it the last few day. Many people started to prepare for the worst, by retracting their canopies of their RVs, removing outdoor items, covering up boats and other recreation toys. Some even moved their RV right out of the bay area.
Today, according to the weatherman will be a big difference. The weather is changing, NO MORE SUNSHINE. No more bikinis. NO more walks on the beach.
The wind returned after midnight, but twice as strong as what it has been over the last few days. We close all windows and try to sleep through the noise from the wind banging against the RV.

I pack our shorts, sandals and summer tops away and bring out the socks (yes, really, socks), and some warmer clothes. We’re down 15 degrees Celsius from yesterday. It is actually a lot better driving in this kind of weather as long as the wind does not blow us off the road.


At 9:00 am we’re on the road, direction San Antonio. We’ll see how far we get before we find an RV park.
There is hardly any traffic, but interestingly, we have seen more accidents on the road over the last four days in the US than we have seen during our two months in Mexico. I think we saw one in Mexico, and it was US.

It rains off and on as we work our way north. There are quite a number of RVs from various states on the road, heading the same direction.

There is absolutely nothing interesting to write about this long drive, because it is totally flat and brown in most places. The trees are just starting to show some green from the new sprouts.
All the towns are away from the main road, with access to them laid out in such a way that it is a smooth exit or entrance from and to the Interstate.

We listen to country music. Very fitting, but after a while you get so tired of the same whining, that I’m glad that we reach San Antonio city limits. Here we have to pay attention and make sure we take the right artery. So the radio is turned off. It’s a maze of roads as in any major American city. We continue for another half hour to Boerne and fill up with diesel.
Something weird happens: Ramiro is outside to fill the tank. He wants to use his credit card, but because we do not have a US postal code (which the machine asks for) he has to go into the office to get the card to work. Meanwhile I stay inside, with the door locked. I see a small old pick up truck pull up in front of us, and a young couple looking inside. They can’t see me, but I can see them. They look and look and turn their truck around and come even closer. I go to the window and when they see me they take off.
My intelligent imagination tells me, that these people are checking to see if anyone is still inside the RV, when they see Ramiro leave, they may expect that the door is unlocked, this would be a good opportunity for them to go inside and grab whatever they can get their hands on or worse, hide inside and hijack the RV.
In all our time in Mexico we never felt unsafe, we often left the door unlocked when we went to the pool or laundry room, but here in the US we are constantly checking over our shoulder and making sure everything is locked at all times.

Alamo Fiesta RV Park is where we decide to spend the night. We were here for five days in 2000, during the Rotary International Convention. There are well over 200 sites and every service you can imagine. It is a popular place for Winter Texans. Those are the people who come to Texas for the winter months only to get away from the cold weather, just like we do.

The park is almost full and we are lucky that we have a spot. One after another RV pulls in after us. We hook up our power, water and sewer lines and for the first time in months we have steady internet.
While the rain comes down on the roof of the RV, I work on my e-mails and complete a few more small projects with deadlines.

Friday, March 13
Another Cold, rainy day.

When the bed is nice and warm, and all you hear is the rain coming down in buckets, you know it’s miserable outside. Then why on earth would you want to get up?
Yes, we know we need to get moving, but it just happens to be, that there is a Rotary meeting at noon, only 5 minutes away. So we have a good excuse to hang around a bit longer.
The Geocaches I had looked up on line will not be done, due to the cold and wet weather. Too bad, I am anxious to go for a walk but it is not all that appealing.

Instead we do some more paperwork, pay bills on line and answer a few more e-mails before we head out for the meeting. The venue is right along our route, so it works out perfect.



We receive a warm Texas welcome and are given an opportunity to exchange club banners. When I am invited to talk about the Stony Plain Club, of which, of course I am very proud, I always mention something about the town itself and about the Sherriff who chained the train to the railroad, because taxes were not paid. This always brings laughter and a reply such as: “We too have ways to chain down people who do not pay their taxes”.
The speakers today talk about a program called Emotional Intelligence. I program for young students who are being tought how to make the right decisions in life and to become leaders.

As we leave the meeting it is still pouring. Funny, every single person we talk to is very happy about the rain. “We need the moisture, all of February has been very dry and warm”. They all say. Yes, rub it in!!!

The afternoon in the road is not much different from yesterday. Texas is the largest state in the US. There is so much developed as well as undeveloped land and I think we get to see it all. We stay on the Interstate for some time. Nice smooth four lane, divided highway with plenty of room to pass. The speed limit is 80 miles per hour. That’s close to 130 km. Ramiro is not allowed to go that fast of course and I have to keep an eye on him. Luckily, the GPS indicates how fast we are going and he does keep it under 100 km.
Before Ramiro falls asleep of boredom, we decide to take a different road, which we hope is a bit more interesting. US 83 North will take us across several states, all the way north into Canada. We pass all sorts of enormous ranches and also some little ghost towns, where it looks like time stood still for the past 50 years. Meanwhile we listen to Roger Miller’s, “King of the Road”. Well, we do feel like the King of the road, because there is hardly any traffic.
This road too is excellent and the intersections built in such way that they are safe.
Since we wasted our time in bed this morning, we need to catch up and continue until 6:00 pm. As we drive past Abilene, we sing the song. “Abilene, Abilene. The prettiest girl I’ve ever seen...............my Abilene, sweet Abilene”.
We have a difficult time keeping it warm inside. Can’t have the heater too high, that makes Ramiro sleepy. the only solution is to I put on something warm.
We did not do too bad today with another 377 km on the odometer.
We ask permission to park at a Gas station just north of Abilene and relax for the rest of the evening. No big trucks here luckily. Just lots of bright lights.