"Please, don't stand so close to the road." This came from Gabe as he lay under the truck working on the jack to lift the truck so we could change out the flat tire. We were on a barren stretch of road between Austin and San Angelo, Texas. "Holy Shit" was the next thing that came out of his mouth."What?"
"The other tire is about to go. It's down to the steel mesh. I hope we can make it into the next town."
We changed the tire and gingerly made our way towards town, about 18 miles away. Half way there, we realized that it was Sunday and that there wouldn't necessarily be a tire shop open. Luckily we found a Wal-mart Supercenter that had a tire shop. Turns out that when Gabe and Johnny replaced tie-rod ends, they didn't think to do an alignment. And after 4000 miles on unaligned tires, they blew. That was one of two mishaps on the road in West Texas. We also got our first speeding ticket out there in the middle of nowhere. The two young highway patrolmen were nice and probably bored so they tailed us for awhile before they pulled us over. One of them was really quite nice. He was a chatty-kathy and wanted to know what kind of dogs we had and where we were going. Were we going to Hobbs? to the dog races? "...How long have you been traveling? You're really from Chicago? How many miles to the gallon do you get? Where have you been?"
We had just come from 3 nights in Austin, Texas visiting Tiff and Dave. Tiff is my stepsister and Dave is her husband. But to me, they are old friends. Funny thing is that, when I was in high school, they were my friends and my high school boyfriend (who was out of high school) lived at their house. Our parents weren't married, or even dating at that time. Then, when I was in college, my dad starting dating Pat and happened to be at Tiff and Dave's wedding. How cool that my friends became my family. We were considering Austin as a potential city to build our home. Austin, as the corporate home of Whole Foods, has the most beautiful grocery store I have ever seen. Aisles of gluten-free pizza and beer. Acres of bulk goods. Produce that goes on forever, albeit expensively. Austin also has a toast colored landscape right now because this is the hottest summer they've had on record.
Gabe took some pictures of the Umlauf Sculpture Garden in the blazing heat while I stayed in the air-conditioned truck with the dogs. We had some nice respite from driving while hanging out with Tiff and Dave and their two dogs, Bus and Simon.
Bus is a HUGE pit bull and Simon is chubby, football sized Pug.
All four dogs ran in herds and scarfed down food and played chase and slept on the couch. Poor Baloo was lowest on the totem pole even though he was second largest in size. But he's a mommy's boy. Unfortunately, his defensiveness made him snap out at all the dogs so we had to chastise him often. Gabe and Dave went driving around, finding sculptures and taking pictures and checking out Dave's shop. He works at Austin Speed Shop, partly owned by Jessie James of Monster Garage fame. Gabe got some great pictures of some sculptures that really needed some work at University of Texas. Tiff and I went shopping. I got some lovely items: vintage necklace and matching earrings, an apron dress, turquoise colored costume jewelry, and a prettily embroidered peasant-style sundress. It was nice to walk around and chat with Tiff and get on the ground floor with Austin. Later that evening, Dave took us to a great restaurant called Kerry Lane and I had a much craved-for veggieburger and mashed potatoes.
Though we had a really nice time and the dogs got worn out from all that play time, it was nice to get back on the road. We stayed in San Angelo at a nice and clean but rather nondescript KOA. Purely a functional stay. And boring. The most interesting thing about that place was the bizarre amount of rain that fell. I was walking the dogs around the perimeter of the park when it started to sprinkle. Within 2 and half minutes, it was a torrential downpour. But not like the downpour I'm used to in the upper mid-west. Instead of little sprinkles that turn into big drops and dark clouds, this was consistently little sprinkles that were just denser in volume. I couldn't really see the rain, but I was invisibly soaked in 10 feet of walking. The dogs and I ran back to the truck, fumbled with the lock and dove inside. Gabe came running shortly after me from the office with sloshy, increasingly watered down cup of coffee in his hand. We waited out the rain and then got on the road to New Mexico.
We stayed last night in Roswell, New Mexico. Besides its abundance of aliens, there were some really nice people, too. We stayed in the cutest RV park I've seen yet called the Red Barn RV Park. I highly recommend it. It was tiny and mostly filled with permanent mobile-homers. Our neighbor came out to chat with us when we got there and she said that she had lived there for 4 years. She works in Roswell and lives in her 5Th-wheel camper during the week and drives 2 hours to her real home on the weekends. We met another couple this morning who are full time RVer's. They sold their house and all their belongings 3 years ago, bought a 5Th-wheel, a Ford diesel pickup, and a Harley, and set out on the road. They winter in Arizona where 12 hours of volunteer work a week lets them live for free in a RV park and set out on the road during the summer. They love it and wouldn't have anything different. Chad and Jo are their names. Jo gave me a tour of their home and holy crap, it is nicer than our apartment. It has sleeping room for up to 7 people and three times the storage of our apartment. Their 5Th-wheel is what is called a "toy hauler" and includes a garage of sorts that carries their Harley and a large ATV with a dump body. Can we say excessive? But hey, that's their home. They were cool people to meet and gave us some advice and told some great stories. People like that can really lift your spirits and energize your continuing trip. We lunched at a coffee shop called Not of This World and set out again. Tonight we are staying at a touristy RV park right on Route 66 that has a vintage theme. Gotta add some hokey to our trip. The climate here is wonderful. I could totally do this dry heat thing. We set up our camper, put the dogs on leads, set out our chairs and grill in the shade and lo and behold, we are in the most comfortable atmosphere yet. It is dry and dusty but I own lotion. Not a problem. And now that it's after dark, it's quite cool. Great sleeping weather, as they say.
Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" blaring on the stereo, this incredible panorama of land before us, and it feels free. Red dirt and low sparse shrubs and cacti, cows, goats, sheep and these small, wild, horned deer-like animals populating this flat area. You can literally see down the road until your vision fails. One can actually see the curve of the earth. A bend in the road will present you with surprise mesa or a distant mountain that was before unseen. 50 miles between towns, don't want to get a flat out here.
All four dogs ran in herds and scarfed down food and played chase and slept on the couch. Poor Baloo was lowest on the totem pole even though he was second largest in size. But he's a mommy's boy. Unfortunately, his defensiveness made him snap out at all the dogs so we had to chastise him often. Gabe and Dave went driving around, finding sculptures and taking pictures and checking out Dave's shop. He works at Austin Speed Shop, partly owned by Jessie James of Monster Garage fame. Gabe got some great pictures of some sculptures that really needed some work at University of Texas. Tiff and I went shopping. I got some lovely items: vintage necklace and matching earrings, an apron dress, turquoise colored costume jewelry, and a prettily embroidered peasant-style sundress. It was nice to walk around and chat with Tiff and get on the ground floor with Austin. Later that evening, Dave took us to a great restaurant called Kerry Lane and I had a much craved-for veggieburger and mashed potatoes.Though we had a really nice time and the dogs got worn out from all that play time, it was nice to get back on the road. We stayed in San Angelo at a nice and clean but rather nondescript KOA. Purely a functional stay. And boring. The most interesting thing about that place was the bizarre amount of rain that fell. I was walking the dogs around the perimeter of the park when it started to sprinkle. Within 2 and half minutes, it was a torrential downpour. But not like the downpour I'm used to in the upper mid-west. Instead of little sprinkles that turn into big drops and dark clouds, this was consistently little sprinkles that were just denser in volume. I couldn't really see the rain, but I was invisibly soaked in 10 feet of walking. The dogs and I ran back to the truck, fumbled with the lock and dove inside. Gabe came running shortly after me from the office with sloshy, increasingly watered down cup of coffee in his hand. We waited out the rain and then got on the road to New Mexico.
We stayed last night in Roswell, New Mexico. Besides its abundance of aliens, there were some really nice people, too. We stayed in the cutest RV park I've seen yet called the Red Barn RV Park. I highly recommend it. It was tiny and mostly filled with permanent mobile-homers. Our neighbor came out to chat with us when we got there and she said that she had lived there for 4 years. She works in Roswell and lives in her 5Th-wheel camper during the week and drives 2 hours to her real home on the weekends. We met another couple this morning who are full time RVer's. They sold their house and all their belongings 3 years ago, bought a 5Th-wheel, a Ford diesel pickup, and a Harley, and set out on the road. They winter in Arizona where 12 hours of volunteer work a week lets them live for free in a RV park and set out on the road during the summer. They love it and wouldn't have anything different. Chad and Jo are their names. Jo gave me a tour of their home and holy crap, it is nicer than our apartment. It has sleeping room for up to 7 people and three times the storage of our apartment. Their 5Th-wheel is what is called a "toy hauler" and includes a garage of sorts that carries their Harley and a large ATV with a dump body. Can we say excessive? But hey, that's their home. They were cool people to meet and gave us some advice and told some great stories. People like that can really lift your spirits and energize your continuing trip. We lunched at a coffee shop called Not of This World and set out again. Tonight we are staying at a touristy RV park right on Route 66 that has a vintage theme. Gotta add some hokey to our trip. The climate here is wonderful. I could totally do this dry heat thing. We set up our camper, put the dogs on leads, set out our chairs and grill in the shade and lo and behold, we are in the most comfortable atmosphere yet. It is dry and dusty but I own lotion. Not a problem. And now that it's after dark, it's quite cool. Great sleeping weather, as they say.Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" blaring on the stereo, this incredible panorama of land before us, and it feels free. Red dirt and low sparse shrubs and cacti, cows, goats, sheep and these small, wild, horned deer-like animals populating this flat area. You can literally see down the road until your vision fails. One can actually see the curve of the earth. A bend in the road will present you with surprise mesa or a distant mountain that was before unseen. 50 miles between towns, don't want to get a flat out here.
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