New posts since we left San Antonio...

Friday...the road to Borger in the Texas Panhandle...

We left the Traveler’s World Campground around nine. We have a long day of driving the length of Texas today. We are hoping to get about 200 miles from Borger before we stop. Then the ride Saturday will be an easy one.
We programmed the GPS and off we went. We followed the directions until we found ourselves heading towards Corpus Christi….wrong way in my mind. We thought, heck the GPS knows what it’s doing…who are we to question the great satellite in the sky? Well, finally we decided to pull over and get out the map. We were SOUTH of San Antonio, and we obviously wanted to go north…well, duh…

I whip out the map of Texas…now this sucker is bigger than the windshield. I can hardly handle the damm thing so I start folding it and folding it and folding it to get to the center where we are. Forget the atlas…there’s pages of different parts of Texas and the sequence of the pages is asinine. I start to map out a route that will take us northwest. No main highway from San Antonio to Amarillo the closest city to Borger. Hmmmm. So we hit the big I10 and head west. We will be able to catch a “red road” (which is usually a four lane type road but they go thru small towns) which will take us to San Angelo and then we can hit another going up to Amarillo finally catching I40 to go back east. Thinking that would add hours and miles to the trip, I plot out a new course that will take us thru Abilene. It appears to be a staight route but all state roads which means small towns. *Sigh*. If we were herding stupid cows it would be an easier way to to across the countryside. I keep thinking of Abilene as a cow town and am thinking we will stop and take a look at any neat historical stuff we can find. (noted later...Yeah, right...the road we were on went on the outter edge and all we saw were gas stations and cows.) After getting off I10 we now head due north. We are in Texas Hill country. I have heard a lot about how beautiful it is with the bluebonnets blooming. It really was a nice drive, not as scenic as I thought but better than what I know is ahead as we go towards the panhandle. The bluebonnets were lovely and they went on forever. We drove right thru Fredericksburg which is a well known German town with really cool shops and cafes. Paul didn’t want to stop. Putz. There are BAKERIES there you fool! Real baked goods…not supermarket crap like they pass off as bakery for heaven’s sake! The GPS was not helpful…we didn’t know where it was gonna take us so we stayed with the map. So far I am NOT impressed with Garmin.

We drive thru the next 400 or so miles and all we see are a few cows, some stumpy tress and cactus. Then we didn’t even see that. No wonder General Santa Anna traded his life for this part of the Texas Republic…its pretty worthless looking to me too. (Now you know I am kidding right?)

We are noticing gas/diesel prices are jumping higher as we go farther north. We were looking at $3.09 for diesel. We paid $2.40 in Weslaco. Crap.
About 6, we pulled into a town called Childress. There is a brand new Super Wal Mart with a Murphy gas station. Diesel is $2.66 so with our discount it would be $2.63. Paulie pulls in and fills up. There are several trucks and a motorhome in the far side of the parking lot. I note a sign that states Truck and RV overnight parking HERE. Wow. Camp Wally World inviting us to spend the night. What a great sales tool for Wal Mart. They know RVer’s spend money so they invite them to spend the night.

Paul went into the store and picked up some tacitos for supper. We were both tired. We watched a bit of TV and were dismayed to hear that we were heading into 4 to 6 inches of freakin’ snow. Great. We went to bed hoping we didn’t wake up to a winter wonderland.

Saturday April 7

We were up early but decided to sleep a bit more. The anticipated snow had not arrived. We got up around 8 and got dressed and got back on the road. I had a taste for some eggs so we stopped in a little town café off route 287 and had some breakfast. I had called Aunt Karen earlier and told her where we were and it was about 100 miles from Borger. We arrived following her directions. By the way…the GPS broad was turned off…her voice is grating…but then I knew it would be.

We had a nice visit with Aunt Karen and then my cousin Kim and her son Cade stopped by. We had another nice visit, then Cade got a phone call that some friends wanted him to join them to watch a pay for view event of some type, so he and his mom left. We had a sandwich with Aunt Karen and then my cousin Sue, her husband Bobby, and their daughter Liz and her husband Darren arrived. We talked and laughed and visited for quite a while. We finally headed back to the Asylum to hit the sack. It was cold, and it had flurried a bit but no accumulation of snow thank goodness... We slept like rocks, nice and cozy in our rig with the heated mattress pad on full blast. Paul had dropped a line to Aunt Karen’s house so we had a bit of electric thereby avoiding running the generator all night. Aunt Karen made us biscuits and sausage for breakfast on Sunday. She had prepared ham, brisket and potato salad, along with a pecan pie to take to the Easter dinner. It would be at Kim’s brand new house, which we have heard was very beautiful. Kim and her husband Danny had only been moved in for three weeks. About noon, we all got gussied up and headed over to Kim’s. House was right out of Architectural Digest or House Beautiful. It was lovely and open, spacious and had very high ceilings. It had granite and marble, glass and crystal and some hardwood floors that were really beautiful. All the cabinetry was custom built and it had some really neat features. For example, they have two Chihuahuas and their own “room” has a heated floor. Then they have automated doggie doors where the dog stands in front of the door and the door automatically opens…the dog has an opener device in it’s collar. Too cool. They also had a lovely outdoor kitchen and a huge outdoor fireplace on the spacious patio. I told Danny when I decide to build my dream home; I would call him to design it. He and Kim picked out everything down to the light switch covers. Incredible.

Danny’s parents arrived from Amarillo and right at one we sat down to a delicious Easter dinner. Ham and brisket, mashed potatoes and potato salad, mac and cheese, rolls, baked beans and veggies. It was wonderful. We were so happy to be there to help share the holiday.

After dinner, we just sat around and talked, I showed a few pictures from the computer to Sue and Aunt Karen. I had put most of them on a disk, but there were still plenty for them to see.

After dessert (I passed…I was sooooooo good….) everyone began to pack up. We went back to Aunt Karen’s house, got jackets (it was freezing out) and then went out to the “ranch”. Uncle Wilbur had purchased 25 acres many years ago and had built a horse facility and roping corral there. Before he died, he and Aunt Karen had hosted roping competitions there. Bobby and Sue have taken it over and made a lot of improvements. They have done a lot of work and it shows. Bobby competes in Team Roping, and has won a national championship. They mainly use it for practice and there are several teams that practice there. I asked how they practiced….they rent Mexican bulls…I am NOT making this up…$30 a month per cow! After freezing our asses off, we headed over to Sue and Bobby’s place to visit for a while. Sue has just finished redecorating and the house is really pretty. They have a roping and cowboy theme which is really cute. We looked at pictures of both her girls and their husbands. Both girls are tall, dark haired and are beautiful. They have great jobs and lead exciting lives. Liz is a dental tech and her husband Darren is a lawyer. Julie and her husband Tommy both work for CareMark and travel a lot. They have just transferred to San Antonio and are having a house built. Tommy is already there and Julie was by herself, kinda bummed out being alone on the holiday, in Florida where their current house is for sale.

We left Sue’s around nine as Bobby has to start work at 5 a.m. (that’s just beastly) and we were all pretty tired. Talking nonstop can do that to a person I guess. Paul said he never know I could talk that much….hahahahaha….where has he been for the last twenty three years?

Monday, April 09, 2007

We were up and about at 7:30. We readied the rig for our trip leg to Aunt Avril’s house in Lebanon, MO. It will most likely be a 10 or 11 hour drive so we will see how it goes and what the weather has in store before we decide to drive it strait thru or not. Aunt Karen made us bacon sandwiches for breakfast and we talked for a while. I wish she was coming along with us, but it was too short a notice and there were some things she had planned or were in the works. Not many folks can just pickup and hit the road like we can. We said our goodbyes and were on the road by 9. The GPS broad is still giving bum directions so it’s back to the maps….gee that’s a toughie…take I40 to I44. It’s a no brainer….

Well, I have only a few minutes left on my battery so I will pick up later.

Hugs

Dee

Later Monday….evening in Carthage, MO

We decided to pull into a small RV park for the night. We need to dump the tanks and this way we can sleep in and shower before we get to Auntie Avril’s house. I called to let her know. We are like an hour and a half away, but I am not feeling too good, so it’s good that we can stop and have hook-ups.
We have some lunch meat we can make sandwiches with and just veg out.
We will have breakfast and then be off to Lebanon. I have free wifi for today…can you believe a $17 a night campground with FREE wifi? The KOA is $35 and you have to pay. There are no brats running around and the sites although small are adequate for an over night stop. Hmmmm.

Will catch up more with our visit to Aunt Avril’s and visit with Peggy and David out at the farm. We missed them on our Thanksgiving visit. Peg says she has three new baby goats. Can’t wait to see her menagerie.

I'll post more when I get wifi access again...maybe when we see Zack in Edwardsville later this week...

hugs

dee