And you know what that means? Yeah, it's still hot in Texas. ;-) Today was the first time in several months that I opened the door and felt the heat when I first stepped outside in the morning. It was already in the upper 70s when I took Rufus for a morning outing.
It isn't a surprise; we knew we'd have "another summer" when we left the Black Hills. For the two months that we were at Hart Ranch, I think there was only 2 or 3 days when it got to the 90s. That will be the normal here for a while.
The current plan: spend some time in Fredericksburg before we head further south for home. We'll play tourist for a week or so.
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Rolling. No fun tailwind like yesterday - a quartering crosswind most of our drive today, but it was single digit speeds... not hard to drive in, just cuts the fuel mileage a bit.
Interstate to start our drive...
On to the two-lane, hills and curves...
You may be familiar with the highway in Nevada that has the name "the Loneliest Road in America"... this road must be a close second. In 50 miles of this road, I could count the number of cars that went by the other direction, and only two that passed us (going the same direction). And, of course, no cell service. Yep, lonely. Really hoping we didn't have any kind of vehicle problem out here... might get eaten by the buzzards.
The terrain has changed, too: the farm fields and oil wells have given way to short trees...
The road wasn't perfectly smooth, but it wasn't awful (are you listening, Oklahoma??)...
I got some lap time with Rufus...
We could see evidence of game ranches (tall fences) and some interesting plants...
The only animals we saw weren't "game" - some miniature horses, long-hair goats, and something laying under a shadetree that looked like it might be a water-buffalo. It was into the low 90s at this point, so I'd be laying under a shadetree if I didn't have the air conditioning in the coach.
As lunch time approached, Joan said, "I think this town coming up might have a McDonalds - how does that sound to you?" I am always up for their french fries and an apple pie, and willing to eat a burger to get those. Joan is generally not a fan, so this question had my attention.
I asked, "Do you think there's a McDonalds out here?"
She said, "I think we've stopped at one before at the next town." I wasn't sure...
Yep. While she went for food, I fed Rufus and walked around the rig, checking tires, etc. A good stop, and as you can see in the above photo, room to park the rig just past Mickey D's.
You can tell we are approaching the Texas Hill Country: more hills, trees, and the sandstone type rock... and then, a vineyard...
As we discovered in our stay in the area last year, there are a lot of wineries in the area. And, trees...
We pulled into the RV park, and I went in to register while Joan unhooked the CR-V from the coach. Apparently the lady at the office was listening when Joan made the reservation; she said, "Oh, you're the people with a cat that walks on a leash."
It was 92º when we were getting set up for a week's stay. Yep, I remember how to sweat. It took us a while since we had to move the cargo trailer and car around in the site. And, set up all the utilities (if just overnighting, we often just plug in electricity so we can have air conditioning; maybe cable. But, we always travel with at least 2/3 in the fresh water tank and empty holding tanks. Easy.
We will get to play tourist for a while and start to acclimate to the heat before we head for home. Obvious that we are not on a schedule: after 5 days of driving, we have covered about 1,300 miles. It looks like this week will be warm and dry here. At some point, I am sure I will need ice cream. Joan will want some wine. Probably not because of me. Probably.
We are both looking forward to looking around the area. It was chilly and rainy for much of the week we spent here last year.
Rufus peeked his head out the door, felt the heat, and said, "Oh, hell no." He will acclimate, too.
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After 5 days of driving and not re-supplying, we felt the need to hit up a grocery store... it so happens that there is one of the best HEB stores we've ever been in right here. "What's HEB?" you ask. You have never been to Texas, huh? HEB is a grocery chain based out of San Antonio. Texans tend to be quite loyal to Texas institutions like HEB and Whataburger. We have an HEB in our small town, but it is much smaller and less full-featured than this store. A huge produce department, in store bakery, a well-stocked wine department, an impressive deli section, a great selection of "pre-prepared fresh meals" (yes, that's what we're having tonight), a huge frozen food section (really, I have never seen so many different kinds of frozen pizza), a great artisan cheese selection. I could spend hours in there.
But, not this afternoon - we had to get back for Rufus's suppertime. ;-)
Produce...
A small portion of the pre-prepared meal choices...
A wine tasting machine...
A pretty Blonde checking out some wine...
Yes, it is starting to feel like we are home. :-)
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