2010-12-13
Again a cool morning, in the low 40’s. We stopped at the Texas welcome center on interstate 10 to get camping information and tourist pamphlets. In behind the center was a boardwalk over the swamp. It went quite a distance and every few feet there were boards describing vegetation and animals in the swamp. We had seen another couple who moved on ahead of us. Then we could hear the man’s voice yelling. I thought he was in a fight with his wife. We decided to investigate and found the wife several feet behind him laughing. I asked what was going on. They told us about this big racoon that had decided he liked it on this boardwalk and this man was trying to scare him off. We could see the animal below us but he was coming back up again. We all backed away, and the racoon came back up and was sniffing an area. Jim took some pictures.
When we went back into the building, I told the lady about the racoon. She said they had a real problem in the spring. There were 18 racoons, nesting in the vending machine alley and scaring the tourists away.
One of the stops we do when we are in is at Buck-ee’s. It has food, novelty Texas souvenirs, clothing, cast iron cook ware, smokers, unique BBQ’s and hunting apparel. The bathrooms are the best, private stalls; the walls go all the way from ceiling to the floor. The floors and walls are done in stone tiles with decorative trims. It’s the paintings with the Texan scenes and the furniture that’s displayed in the bathroom. There is animal hide on the chairs and hide also on the front of the dresser drawers.
We stayed at Sequin, Texas east of San Antonio at a Wal-Mart.
2010-12-14
San Antonio
The weather was now t-shirt weather, now at 70 degrees in the afternoon. We took in a stroll through the River Walk enjoying the sights, sounds and smells. I hope my pictures capture the enchanting lights hanging from the 100 foot tall cypress trees.
We took the river barge guided tour through the city canals. Alongside the river are lined stores and restaurants and with the holiday season the sidewalks were congested. One section of the town called La Villita was habitated by the last group of Germans a 100 years ago and now a tourist attraction with all its artsy shops in the small stone houses.
The restaurant we decided on was the Republic of Texas and the table was outside bordering the river walk. We had uninvited quests Frank and Ozzie and other duck members. They were looking for handouts and came up from river to our feet level. At one point my hand was draped on my thigh and must have looked like a french fry, I got nipped. We had a group of Mexican troubadours serenading us and to the surrounding tables. Also young children were on some of the barges singing Christmas carols.
The Alamo was established in 1718 as Mission San Antonio du Valero. 2011 is the 175th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. People worldwide remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle against impossible odds where men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom. For this reason the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the shrine of Texas liberty. We toured the Alamo 2 years ago, but I took pictures of the outside to capture the evening beauty.
All the horse drawn carriages were brightly decorated with lights. One final note was the street ambassadors that we encountered on street corners that helped us find our way. They wore yellow t-shirts and name tags and straw Texan hats. I’ve not seen this in other cities.
2010-12-15
Leaving San Antonio, temperature was 68 degrees in the am. Today I drove the first time as Jim points out 144 miles. The roads were good and not a lot of heavy traffic. When we reached Fort Stockton, temperature was 98 degrees F. We stopped in a small Texan town called Sonora off of the highway 10 to mail a parcel and some cards. Jim is keeping busy counting road kill.
You know you are in the west when just as we were ready to step off the sidewalk curb we found a used shell casing.
We stayed night at Balmorhea State Park, Texas in the foothills of the Davis Mountains. The focal point of this park is the large artesian spring pool that is fed by the San Solomon Springs. The pool is 1 ¾ acres and is 25 feet deep. The temperature is constant between 72 and 76 degrees. From 22 to 28 million gallons of water flow through the spring fed swimming pool each day. You can swim with the fish and great for scuba diving or just a mask. We didn’t need to leave the camp site till 2 pm. While Jim was getting RV ready I went for a swim. It was warmer than the St Laurence River back home and just a short while later Jim came and took some pictures.
2010-12-16
We’re heading for Casa Grande. Phoned the camp site to let them know we want to be there for the 18th so we’re in luck. I did drive about 150 miles today. Along this straight highway 10, we saw dried up river beds, straw coloured low shrubs, tumble weed and the occasional oil pump. We arrived at Deming in New Mexico, set up camp in a Wal-Mart parking lot. We played canasta and Jim beat me. The temperature did reach about 75 degrees mid afternoon.
2010-12-17
The terrain started to become more interesting as we approached the border of Arizona. The cacti started to become taller, the shrubbery was becoming greener and there were mountains nearby. Just after we passed the state line we saw an unusual arrangement of rocks. Many large rounded boulders sitting precariously on another rocks. These must have been made millions of years ago during the ice age. We started to see adobe homes in earthy colours. It was my first time seeing cotton fields and the harvesting of the cotton put into rectangular plastic wrapped packages. We were anxious to set up at our camp site which will be tomorrow. I drove 67 miles today which is 10 percent of our mileage.
20 °C
