Arrival

We’re home.  After travel spanning 46 days and 4478 miles, we’re back to the same place we started, but with lots of good memories and a t-shirt gained along the way.

Today we made our final stop before arriving home: three stores in Shipshewana, Indiana.  In addition to picking up a bunch of food supplies, there’s always something unexpected that we come away with.  The last couple of visits, we have found a large hunk of “mystery meat”, some sort of beef for really cheap.  We have chunked it up and used it for fajitas or for soup.  This time it was a 25-pound bag of chocolate chip cookie mix for ten bucks.  If you want to make up the whole thing at once, you need to add nearly  four pounds of butter and 2.5 dozen eggs.  Reminds me of the recipes I saw on the *Lexington* where they were literally feeding an army.  We also found a box of bacon burger patties at Yoder’s Meats.  Probably highly caloric and highly good.

The trip home was mostly through the rain, with temperatures just above freezing.  It took a couple of tries to get the RV up the sloped driveway as I had to stop in the middle to dump the waste tanks into the sewer cleanout in the front lawn.  I had to back down and take a run at it because of the accumulation of snow, something we haven’t seen in many weeks (and haven’t really missed).  We spent the remainder of the day winterizing the RV and unloading anything that would freeze.  We also had a pile of laundry to deal with and an even bigger pile of accumulated mail.

Overall, this was a fantastic journey, one with lots of fond memories.  Kind of makes one want to just hop back in the RV and take another one.  But we’ll be home for a while.  Lots of things needing attention here at home.

Valentine's Day On the Road

Happy Valentine’s Day!  What a way to celebrate Valentine’s Day ... by driving all day.

Well, not quite all day.  We did make a couple of stops.

After loading up on fuel in Terra Haute, Indiana, we left the interstate to take the parallel US-40 towards Indianapolis.  Lower speed limit, went through some small towns, some with traffic lights, and, best of all, very few trucks.   We eventually ended up back on I-70 into Indianapolis and made our first stop at Ikea in Fishers on the northeast side of Indianapolis.

Ikea was the first Valentine’s day stop.  We stop whenever we can at Ikea and pick up dark chocolate.  Only this time we found out that the price nearly doubled.  We may have to find a new source for dark chocolate.  We came away with six chocolate bars instead of our usual dozen.  We did manage to get a good walk in, though.  It’s probably a couple miles to go through the entire Ikea maze.

Next Valentine’s Day stop was at Deb’s favorite shop in the Indianapolis area:  the Cake Bake Shop in Carmel, Indiana.  This is a high-end cake shop that we usually end up at when we travel through here.  Deb’s Valentine’s Day treat was a slice of Gwendolyn's Famous Earl's Court Chocolate Cake.  Mine was a Chocolate Chip Cookie with Fleur de Sel.

Always an experience driving through here in an RV, with the narrow streets and roundabouts.  Rather than try to find parking in front of the store, we parked in the parking lot of the Methodist Church a block away and walked to the store.  It was the right decision.  Quite a few people were here for Valentine’s Day and there was no place even for a small car.

We sampled our treats right there in the Methodist Church parking lot (OK, I ate the entire cookie), and then headed north on US-31, stopping at Jackson Morrow Park in Kokomo, Indiana, to walk the trails and to make dinner.  After another walk after dinner, we took the short drive to the Cracker Barrel in Kokomo to park for the night.

288 Miles today.  Not really a lot, but we did spend some time at Ikea and arrived fairly early in Kokomo.  Tomorrow it’s visiting a few stores in Shipshewana, Indiana, then home.  Then it’s the mad dash to winterize the RV and remove anything that can freeze before the temperature drops below freezing.

So Many Trucks

This is not going to be long.  We didn’t do much but drive.  And drive.  And drive.  We sorta planned on this, finishing up at Sherry’s and then coming home with very few stops.  Not my preferred mode of travel.  For one thing, it requires travel on the Interstates.  The one redeeming factor about the interstates is that it usually is the fastest way to get from point A to point B.  But that’s about it.  Other than that, the driving is usually quite boring, the speed limits are crazy fast, and there are so many trucks.  Interstate 30 between Little Rock and Memphis was terrible.  I normally feel like I’m in a large vehicle.  Here I felt like an ant, sometimes boxed in on all sides by semis in a hurry.

But we are not in slow-travel mode, so the interstates it is.  Yuck.

So it was Interstate 30.  Then Interstate 55.  Then Interstate 57.  Tomorrow it’s Interstate 70 to Indianapolis, then it’s on US-31, finally off the interstates.

408 miles covered today, just under 4000 miles total.  And the loop is coming closer to completion.  We stopped for the night at a Cracker Barrel in Mt. Vernon, Illinois.

The route and these stops are very much unplanned, in-the-moment.  It usually involves my saying how much longer I can last since I do all the driving, and then Deb looking on the map and the iPad for a place to park overnight.  It usually works pretty well.  I guess one other advantage of the interstates is that there are usually boondocker-friendly places near major cities on the Interstates.  Cracker Barrel.  Bass Pro Shops.  Cabelas.  And in a pinch, rest areas.  And if we’re really hard-up, Walmart.

Farewell, Texas

Today it’s time to head for home.  Texas has been great.  There is a lot to like about Texas.  Especially in January and February.  Even on the colder days like today, it’s warmer than the northern climes.  

I would probably be singing a very different tune in July.

We gathered up a surprising amount of stuff that we had brought into Sherry’s house and squirreled it all away again in the RV.  The last four days have been a delight and a lot of fun.  Thank you, Sherry, for your hospitality and opening up your home for our visit.  Our time here will truly be a lasting memory.

Just under two hours east, in Lindale, Texas, is the SOWER office. Stopping there probably added an hour or so to the total travel time but we figured it would be worth the extra time.  And it was.

We were greeted warmly by Wayne and Gail and, after some introductions, Wayne showed us around the office.  We got to see the map that shows all the locations of the projects and Wayne also gave us a preview of the new member web site that will be rolled out in a couple of months.

This location itself is a SOWER project and Daniel, our master plumber from our project in Palacios, was here for the month.  Good to see him and his wife again and he showed us around the newest project, a barndominium-style building behind the office which houses one apartment for temporary use, a storm shelter, and a meeting room.

Daniel is working in the plumbing for this building and he also ran a sewer line out to the parking lot for convenient RV dumps.  We were the first to use it.  When asked how it worked, I told him, “I opened the valve and all the stuff went down the pipe and didn’t come back, so I’m assuming it worked.”

When we had loaded up on fresh water and were ready to set out again, Wayne and Gail circled with us for prayer and then bade us farewell.  It was good to put a name with a face: Gail was the one who interviewed us a few years ago when we were applying for membership with SOWERs.

After that it was petal-to-the-metal northward.  We finally stopped for the night at a Cracker Barrel just south of Little Rock, Arkansas.

280 miles covered today.  Not bad for spending a couple hours at the SOWER office.

The path so far.

The SOWER complex from the air.  Office is on the right, new building in the middle, and several RV sites on the left

SOWER office with the Bass Lake retirement village in the background

Super Bowl Stars

Another gray day here in Central Texas.  Kinda reminds one of home.  Not a fond reminder, just a reminder.

We went to the worship service at Valley Creek Church in Flower Mound.  It’s always good to worship in person with a body of believers.

We did a little running around this afternoon and fixed a drafty exhaust vent for Sherry’s stove.  You wouldn’t think drafts would be a a problem in Texas, but we could definitely feel the cold coming in from the outside.

We went to Chris and Hannah’s for dinner and to watch the Super Bowl. This is another first for me, actually being in the same room as a TV with the Super Bowl on.  But what we really came to watch was the star of this Super Bowl party, Caden, Sherry’s grandson.  At 11 weeks old, he’s super cute and we got him to laugh a few times.  He even rolled over for the first time.  His great Aunt Deb and great Uncle Tim (emphasis on the “great”) were the only ones that witnessed it.

I thought the halftime show was a bust.  Perhaps it’s because I don’t know the performer, but it was a real yawner.  Lots of people tune into the Super Bowl for the halftime show, but I don’t know what the attraction is.  Our main attraction was being traded back and forth between Grandma Sherry, Great Aunt Deb, and Great Uncle Tim.

We left when the game was tied in the 4th quarter.  Sounds like we missed all the action.  By the time we arrived back at Sherry’s, Kansas City won in overtime and that was the end of this year’s Super Bowl.

Catching Up

It rained for most of the morning but we did see some peeks of sunshine later on in the afternoon. So, other than walking the dog in the rain, most of our time was spent indoors.

I set about taking care of some things that needed addressing in the house: weather stripping on a couple of the doors.  Looking at the brakes on the car.  Figuring out why a streaming stick was no longer working.  Helping set up an email account.

For the most part, this was a day about visiting.  Catching up with a sister who has lived far away from us for most of our adult lives.

We grilled some steaks for dinner and then went out and played a little pickleball.  It was a little embarrassing, and we can chalk it up to being newbies, but Deb and I played double against Sherry by herself and lost both games.  We drowned our sorrows in a bowl of ice cream with ganache.

Camping Out in Cowtown

We spent most of the day at the Fort Worth stockyards.  A fun place to go if you have any interest in the cowboy theme.  And even if you don’t.

Fort Worth, also known as Cowtown, still does a cattle drive through the streets by the stockyards on Fridays and Saturdays.  Not near what it used to be, when the cattle numbered in the thousands, but still an attraction as about a dozen prize longhorns are herded down the street while spectators line the streets.

We had lunch at Coopers Pit Barbecue and strolled the cowboy-themed shops in the area for a while.  In our wanderings we happened on the sign advertising the rodeo for later on this evening.  Wouldn’t that be fun!  I’ve never been to a real rodeo.  So we bought four tickets.

We went back and picked up Sophia from school and came back to Cowtown to have dinner at the Shake Shack and then go to the rodeo.  Lots of fun and I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

A Rodeo?  Great idea!

Dinner at the Shake Shack

Waiting for the rodeo to start

Siblings

National Anthem.  This is one of the few public events that I have been in a very long time that started out with prayer.

Lasso Demonstrations

Barrel Racing

Lasso competition

How long would you last?

Bull Riding

Family Ties

Our trek north will be delayed by a few days.  My sister, Sherry, lives in the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area and we will be staying with her for a bit.  She has graciously invited us to stay in her home so we will have a few day’s reprieve from living in a 100 square foot space, with its navy-style showers and it’s limited water and electricity supply.

Our first stop on the way to Sherry’s was the Buc-ee’s gas station just north of Fort Worth.  We were told that we had to stop at Buc-ee’s to experience it.  I’ve seen the signs along the freeway on just about every trip to the South, so we stopped here because we were encouraged to.

I didn’t get any fuel here because I didn’t really need any, but we strolled the store for a bit.  This is a massive store that would have done a mall proud.  And full of beaver-themed merchandise, particularly snacks.  We were told to get the beaver nuggets.

Not to be outdone by any other Texas-themed store, this place had lots of Texas kitsch that you could bring home.

We arrived at Sherry’s just before lunch, probably looking like some sort of trailer-trash, parking our RV on her street.  We spent the rest of the day catching up.

Wandering Through Waco

I was Magnolia-cool, long before Magnolia was even a thing. You’ll have to read to the bottom to find out how...

We arrived in Waco, Texas today.  Waco.  If you’re old enough, you will remember the 1993 standoff between federal agents and members of the Branch Davidian cult who were barricaded in their compound they called Mount Carmel.  It didn’t end well.  Several federal agents were killed, several more cult members were killed, and the standoff ended when fire erupted from the compound in several places, resulting in the deaths of most of the remaining cult members inside the compound.  The name Waco should have been pronounced Whacko based on the bizarre nature of the things that went on there.

We did not come to Waco to see Mount Carmel.

You won’t see or read any mention of these events anywhere.  Not in the literature, not in the guide books, not on the maps.  Nothing.  Nada.  

Instead, people come from all over to see the handiwork of Chip and Joanna Gaines, whose Magnolia brand springs up everywhere here and is a big part of this town. The investments they have poured into this area have been a big part of reinventing this city into a tourist destination, even being named the Number 2 travel destination for 2018 in TripAdvisor’s Choice awards for Destinations on the Rise.  It was second place only to Kapaa, Hawaii.

This is what we came to see.

First priority was to get something good to eat.  And they know this.  The bakery is the first building you see when entering the compound.  It worked on us.  We came away with a cupcake and a cinnamon roll.  Delicious delectable to be devoured without delay.

The main attraction is the Silos at Magnolia, a compound converted from the old Brazos Valley Cotton Oil Mill.  The iconic silos and accompanying buildings were converted into a retail space and bakery, with a lot of the old features of the mill remaining.  A courtyard in the compound houses several food trucks and there are several buildings featuring the Gaines’ curated stuff for sale.

They do have a knack for design and an eye for detail and, as we strolled around the stores, particularly the store offering home furnishings,  Deb was constantly telling me to take a picture of some design element that she found interesting.  I have a lot of pictures from today.

Joanna Gaines had an eye for decorating with simple things, things you may not think of as a decorating element.  Like dice in a bowl.  Or Dominoes in a bowl.

Another Thing-in-a-bowl was matchbooks.  Remember matchbooks?  These matchbooks were everywhere in this store: bowls, brass boxes, curio cabinets.

Deb looked at me and said, “I should have never made you get rid of your matchbook collection.”   Indeed I had a couple shopping bags full of matchbooks I had collected over several years, some of them very artistic in shape and size and color, each one telling a story.  So I was Magnolia-cool decades before Joanna Gaines thought to use matchbooks as a decorating element.  I had enough matchbooks to decorate a small city.

But I’m not cool any more.  I don’t have a single one left.

We had lunch from the food trucks in the courtyard.  Deb had Bulgogi Chicken, and I had a burger in which the patty was half ground beef and half ground bacon.  Wow, did that pack a punch!  Probably the most flavorful burger I have ever experienced.  And probably the most caloric.  And I was getting hungry by that time so I ordered a double.  That lasted me the rest of the day.

We went to check out the Waco Mammoth National Monument, where several fossils of Columbian Mammoths were unearthed.  We didn’t take the paid tour which goes by the fossil beds, but did some hiking around the park and we looked at the displays.  Lots of big bones, lots of conjecture about what they actually looked like and how they got here to Texas.  And that conjecture is shaped largely by your worldview.

We took bike ride over the dam which created Waco Lake.  This is a nearly 3-mile earthen dam which has a nice walking/biking trail on the top.  Great views of the lake and parts of the town, and even glimpses of some limestone cliffs at one edge of the town.

After a brief stop at Cameron Park, we ended up downtown again, along the Brazos River.  The city has done a nice job creating a river walk along both sides of the river, so we walked this for a while with the remaining daylight.

This walk includes the Waco Suspension Bridge. Built in 1870, it was the only path across the river for quite a number of years and it saw a wide variety of traffic, including regular cattle drives.  A sculpture on one side of the bridge commemorates this.

Finally, as darkness fell, we hit the road again, driving for another hour and a half and stopping for the night at a Cracker Barrel just south of Fort Worth, Texas.

Northbound on I-35

Today was another example of why I generally like to stick to the more minor roads.  We drove north through Austin on Interstate 35 and were stuck in a traffic slowdown through nearly the entire city.  Three lanes of impatient drivers averaging perhaps 20 miles per hour.  There were at least two rear-end collisions, probably caused by impatience, which slowed traffic even more.

Then, with no visible cause, speeds increased to the posted speed limit and beyond.  Now the problem is those same impatient drivers doing 10 to 20 over in a 75 mph zone.  It would be easy to dismiss this by saying ​only in Texas​, but this type of thing happens just about anywhere.

We stopped at McKinney State Park near Austin for a few hours and did some hiking and a little biking there.  We would have done some more biking as most of the trails allowed bicycles, however all of the longer trails involved crossing Onion Creek at a point just above Lower McKinney Falls.  The crossing was shallow enough, but the rock was very uneven and covered with super slippery moss, so there was a good likelihood that one or both of us would have ended up flat on our backs in the water.  So we didn’t attempt the crossing.

It was a beautiful day for a hike, sunny, around 70 degrees.  It felt good to enjoy the day outside for a few hours.

After some additional driving which took way too long due to the traffic in Austin, we stopped for the night in Temple, Texas, at a Cracker Barrel along I-35.  We only covered a little over 200 miles today.  It felt like about 500.  Our trajectory, however, now has a very northward vector to it.

A Run for the Border

Today we drove as far south as we could, to nearly the southernmost part of Texas.  We parked the RV in a gigantic parking lot next to the Progreso International Bridge and walked across the Rio Grande River into Mexico. 

Nuevo Progreso, the town on the Mexican side, is a lot like Los Algodones, which we visited a couple years ago: a dense tourist town packed with tourist shops, dental clinics, pharmacies, manicure shops, and others.  Both of us were due for a teeth cleaning, so we made an appointment at one of the many dental clinics.  Thirty dollars will get you a teeth cleaning, last I paid at our dentist was about $190.

We strolled the busy main street, stopping in at several of the stores and waving off many of the trinkets that were proffered to us by the vendors on foot.  These types of towns are noisy, crowded, colorful, busy, and just to walk around and observe everything is worth the trip. Deb bought a few spices and a few gifts.

When it came time for our appointment, we went to the place pinned on the map on the clinic’s web site, but it appeared to be in a section of town that had no stores on it.  After searching for a while, I called the clinic and told them where I was.  The guy asked me what I was wearing, so I stood in the middle of the intersection and told him I was wearing a red shirt.  I finally spotted him waving about two blocks away.  When we met up with him, he told us that this was the second time this week someone ended up at that location.

Maybe they should get the map on their web site fixed, ya think?

The clinic was on the second floor of a building with no apparent sign to mark it, so it’s good that this guy came out to get us.

Probably would not recommend this clinic.  I think they did a fairly decent job on my teeth, Deb is not convinced.  She thought they missed a couple areas and didn’t like the cleaning method.  It did feel somewhat like an angle grinder with water thrown in.  I had a cleaning in Los Algodones a couple years ago and they did a great job.  I guess for thirty bucks, your mileage may vary.  We’ll use Doctor X next time.

So now, with allegedly clean teeth, it was time to use them for lunch.  A recommended taco vendor was Taqueria Benny, situated in a whole row of taco stands. This one was bigger, had places to sit, and the waiter was friendly and spoke excellent English.

We had a great lunch of tacos and also tried the flautas.  Quite a bit of food for thirteen bucks.  While eating we were continually accosted by vendors on foot selling everything from Virgin Mary statues to hats.  We did buy a small bag of churros from a woman who came by, and they were probably some of the worst churros we have ever had.

A street band came in and played a song using the typical accordion, guitar, and bass fiddle.  This kind of music is played continually at high volumes wherever you go in this town, but it was rather cool to see it performed live right here in the taco stand.

After a couple more trips up and down the street, we walked back across the border and started driving north.  A rather fun day in Mexico, but now it’s time to start heading north.

We stopped for dinner and fuel in Alice, Texas, a rather desperate looking town in the middle of nowhere.  Lots of boarded up businesses.  We discovered that the bananas we had packed in the backpack when we walked into Mexico had migrated to the bottom and the weight of water bottles and all the other stuff we purchased made a mess of the bananas and the bottom of the pack.  So we took what was left and combined it with yogurt, frozen blueberries, and whatever other fruit we had left and made smoothies for dessert.  Turned out rather well.

We covered another 60 miles or so and stopped for the night in a rest area along Interstate 37 by Three Rivers.