Update 3: Texas or Bust! (but, please don’t bust!)

 

Hello!  I wanted to post earlier, but we haven’t had internet access at our current campground (which is a good sign because we made it to another campground!).

So you want an update on the truck situation? We extended one extra night at the KOA in Baton Rouge so we could take the truck to the diesel shop on Monday, with the hopes of finally getting it fixed.  It was just one part replaced and a mere $500 later (this is after an expensive tire replacement a couple days prior), and we were ready for a test drive.  Pete and I contemplated just waiting until the next day when we were planning on hitting the road to Galveston.  I thought it would be worth it to do the extra work to completely disconnect, pack up, hitch up, and test drive.  We needed a “win” for this trip, and we needed to know if we would have to extend our stay in BR, or if we could finally relax and start to enjoy the fact that the trip would be on.  So Pete and I disconnected and packed up the RV.  At this point, we are starting to get good at the process…I am able to unhook water and cable, while Pete works on setting up the chocks and raises the jacks to get ready to hitch up.  A little moving things around inside, and we can pull the slides in.  We always unhook electric last, cause you never know when you will need it.  So we nervously hit the road, unsure of what our afternoon and next few days might hold if this thing wouldn’t work.  We took the same route that I lovingly termed “The Site”…the place where we broke down a couple days prior, and did about ten loops around to get to the exit past the site to be on the correct side of the interstate to change tires and get the 5^th wheel off the road.  We were on our way, and the first trip up the onramp onto I12, Pete gunned it to simulate when the truck stalled on the way in.  The truck accelerated and the motor didn’t seem too stressed and we made it!  But more testing was needed.  We both felt a little relief knowing the first test wasn’t a failure.  BR is very flat, so Pete tried a flat open road acceleration.  Once again, no problems.  The ride felt smoother to me, and I’m sure the new all-terrain tires helped.  Last test was up at the turnaround exit and up the bridge.  It was fairly steep and we knew this would be the ultimate test.  We were both anxious but ready to know.  Once again Pete gunned it up the hill and I held my breath.  The truck accelerated and pulled us right up the hill!  “IT’S FIXED!” screamed Pete!  We felt confident that the truck could handle what we were about to do, although I was in disbelief that this major problem could be solved by switching out one simple part.  But I went with it, and really appreciated that things were looking up.

This part of the trip was really challenging, but really we were so fortunate for this to happen in BR where Pete’s family could help us so much.  They watched Evelyn, made meals, and let us borrow their car.  Without their help, I am not sure how we would have gotten everything done.  It was nice to catch up with everyone, and Evelyn loved staying with Granny and Pa Pa.

While in BR, we went to Duke’s Seafood restaurant near our campground with the family.  I was looking forward to some Cajun food, so I got the combo meal with jambalaya, gumbo, and crawfish pie.  Pete got an oyster po boy.  Evelyn got her restaurant staple food: a cheeseburger.  Everything was really good!  I have never had a crawfish pie before; the crust reminds me of a pot pie.  Pete’s sister, Stephanie, commented that it is a lot like “the meat pies that people eat at weddings”.  I gave her a questioning look and laughed.  I have never heard of meat pies at weddings!  Stephanie asked her mom, and they concluded that it must be a regional thing.  We all had a good laugh.

Tuesday morning, we all woke up and got packed up, ready to leave by 9am.  We were very excited and got in the truck, and started the 6 hour drive to Galveston.

There were a lot of bridges on the way, and the truck worked great.

I discovered on this trip my true appreciation for asphalt.  Compared to the crappy concrete roads in Louisiana (you know it’s true!), when we got the wheels on asphalt, the drive was a dream.  Then we started making asphalt jokes where we extended the beginning of the word asphalt for effect…you get the idea.  Sweet, sweet asphalt!

Crossing the Texas border was very exciting!

We got to Galveston without complications, and went to the Galveston Island State Park office.  I told the woman about our reservation, excited to get going to our site.  Welllll that didn’t work out so well.  Everything is a learning opportunity, right?  Since we didn’t make it to the first day of our reservation the night before, they assumed we weren’t coming at all and cancelled our reservation.  I asked if they had anything open for tonight, and she looked at her computer, not answering me.  So I was patient and let her look, especially with her smug smirk I knew she was in charge, and we just wanted a spot.  After a few anxious minutes, she found a spot for us on the beach!  We had wanted a beach spot before, but only a bay side spot was open.  Whew!  And we got to be right on the beach!  We parked and went about our work to get set up.  I was excited to head over to the beach to take a look, and of course, so was Evelyn.  We got our suits on and walked over.  The water here was super muddy brown, and you could see the fish jumping, so I was totally fine just sitting on the sand for a bit.  The sun was blazing hot, and we didn’t last long out there (nor should we).

We walked the short walk to the RV to wash up and get ready to meet friends, James and Elena, for dinner.  Pete used to work with James, and they just moved to Houston in January, and recently had a baby.  They were so nice to make the drive to the pier in Galveston, and we met at the Fish Tales restaurant.  We got a table on the second floor patio, and with the evening breeze by the water, it was quite pleasant.  James and Elena got a babysitter and this was their first big outing since their son was born, so everyone was in good spirits.  Pete and I ordered shrimp po boys, and Evelyn, of course, got the cheeseburger.

We decided that $12 per person just to walk on the pier was way too excessive, so we walked around through some of the shops and looked around.

We were tired from the trip, and knew that we were making another 6 hour drive the next morning, so we said our goodbyes and headed back to the RV.

Wednesday morning, Pete and Evelyn woke up at 6am and went treasure hunting.  Yes, Pete brought his metal detector.  Pete has hopes of paying for all this with his findings.  That would be nice!  They found a couple crab shells.

We started packing up and were on the road by about 10:30.  Another lesson learned: all utilities for the RV are on the driver’s side!  We learned that when we went to the dump station and pulled up on the wrong side.  That was interesting but we worked together and made it work.  After a good bit of hand sanitizer, we were on our way to San Antonio!  We got better about knowing our gas usage and capacity, and planned a gas stop about 2 ½ hours in.  We also packed some food to eat, and stopped at a rest stop on the way so we could sit at a picnic table and have a nice lunch.  There was a family near us with a cat on a leash!  The cat did not seem amused, as you might assume, but was definitely entertaining for us to watch them try to keep him calm.

There were a lot of windy roads to the campground, which was a new driving challenge hauling the RV.  Pete did a great job, and I did my best as navigator so there weren’t any surprises.  After about 6 hours of driving, we made it to the Medina Lake Thousand Trails campground.  This place was a little unusual, in that you check in and then you go out to find your spot.  All of the 50 amp spots were taken, unfortunately, so we would only be able to hook up to 30 amps.  We have been lucky enough to have 50amp spots up until this point, so we knew this would be a little bit of a challenge.  We picked out a shady spot and started setting up camp.  Driving around, we saw a deer or two, then more and more deer.  The camp office sells deer corn, so it was obvious we had some domesticated deer out here.

It was really cool to see deer up close, especially the eight-point buck.

Later that evening, we also saw 2 huge turkeys.  Pete quickly texted pictures to make his Louisiana family jealous!

But there is a reason it is a bad idea to domesticate wild animals.  I present…”Walter”:

We walked to see Medina Lake.  Scorching hot outside, but worth the quick view before we headed back to figure out dinner.

 

We stay at Medina Lake campground near San Antonio for four nights.  Updates on our San Antonio visit and Riverwalk coming soon!

Thanks for reading!!