Day 36, Monday, December 5, 2016, Lonesome Dove RV Ranch, Del Rio, TX

Site 28

Monday, December 5, 2016, Lonesome Dove RV Ranch, Del Rio, TX, 209.1 Miles, 2,513.2 Miles For the Trip

It rained most of the night, but stopped in time for me to pack up the trailer for travel. No interstates today, with most of the driving on 70MPH 2 lane roads. Lots of oil wells along the drive. I don't know if it was the gaining of 1000' of altitude or headwinds, but today's mileage was only 11.1. I'm at the Lonesome Dove RV Ranch, just off US 90 in Del Rio, TX, Site 28, a full service site for $26.00. The place is a long term park, but they have a few sites for travelers. They also have a huge library where I traded a bunch of books.

After setting up the trailer I called the Del Rio Toyota dealership to see if I could get my 10,000 mile service. I'm a few miles short of the 10K, but won't be near another dealer for many miles. They did the service & a TSB that adjusts the transmission shift points - it has been hanging in lower gears after down shifting longer than necessary, particularly when not towing.

No picnic table at the site, so I set up my roll up table to grill a steak for dinner (along with peaches & a salad).

Until Tomorrow -

Day 35, Sunday, December 4, 2016, Choke Canyon State Park, Calliham, TX

Site 119, Choke Canyon State Park

Sunday, December 4, 2016, Choke Canyon State Park, Calliham, TX, 199 Miles, 2,304.1 Miles For the Trip

Well, it is finally time to move on. The Matagorda Madness is pretty much over. It rained off & on all night, and into the morning. I disconnected the utilities & got the trailer ready between rain bursts, staying mostly dry. I headed out around 8:30, taking mostly 2 lane Texas roads (with 75MPH speed limits) poking along at 60MPH and stopped for the afternoon at Choke Canyon State Park.

Speaking of Texas, I talked with more than one fiberglass trailer owner here that felt there was no reason to tow their trailer out of the state. At first glance, that seems to be a bit narrow, but when you think about it, Texas is large enough and varied enough that you can get just about any scenery, weather, temperatures, etc without leaving the state. It is one of the few places where the road signs that label the exits by mileage has exit numbers close to 1000! Actually, you can get all the seasons (well, except for snow this year - they had it in the past) here at Matagorda in December. In any case, I enjoyed my stay and the rally.

I was concerned that I might have a problem getting into Choke Canyon State Park without a reservation since it is near San Antonio. No problem, there are only 3 trailers in the RV loop. I'm in site 119, a water & electric site for $22.00 + a $5.00 park entry fee. The 30 amp connection was dead, but I carry a 50 to 30 amp adapter, so I still have electricity.  The campground is on a lake that is currently 19' below normal so while I'm on a site that borders the lake, you can barely see it.

I asked if the showers were heated, and people at the office checked with the rangers to see. The ranger said he would drive over & turn on the heat. Now that's service! Between the Texas State parks and the LCRA organization running Matagorda Bay Nature Center, Texas has the most helpful staff I've ever seen in a RV park or campground.

While Verizon shows a 4G LTE connection, it is the slowest one I've found on the trip. I couldn't load the large version of the campsite photo after 3 tries to 1&1, the ISP for my LakeshoreImages site although it did manage to load here. We will see if the page makes it. Even AT&T has faster service. Too bad I can't tether my laptop to the AT&T iPhone. To do that I would have to give up my unlimited $40.00 per month data connection - it isn't going to happen!

I stopped by a Walmart on the way, and picked up a couple of NY strip steaks. While I was hoping for one for dinner, the rain hasn't let up enough to get out the grill & cook one. I suspect dinner will be a microwaved buritto & a salad.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 34, Saturday, December 3, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 14

Group Photo #2

Saturday, December 3, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 14, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

Another rainy day. I spent most of the morning reading forums, blogs & a bit of my current book. During the afternoon I stopped over at the tent and sat around for a bit, and, since it was raining, did the group photo in the tent rather than at the Nature Center. We actually took 4 of them since someone arrived late & I had to get in at least one of them. There were a number of people missing; some went home early because of the weather, and some were hanging out in their trailers.

After a bit I headed to the Waterfront Restaurant for a flounder dinner. Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I'd hoped. While their chicken fried steak was great, the flounder was a bit overcooked & mushy. At least the baked potato was good.

There was an impromptu pot luck dinner at the tent hoping to use up leftovers. I stopped by for some photos & hung out for a bit before heading back to the trailer.  More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 33, Friday, December1 2, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 13

Rafting on the Colorado River

Friday, December1 2, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 13, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

I woke up early this morning, at least for me, at 7:00. The refrigerator was running too warm, so I decided it was time to defrost it. It is amazing how much frost builds up on the coils here at a humid part of the country. After defrosting, the temperature went down quickly.

I didn't do much today. Too dreary to spend much time outside, although I did a short walk around the campground loop, and took a couple of photos of the group that went rafting on the Colorado River. The tide was running out & the wind was in the same direction, so what was usually a 1 hour trip was over in 10 minutes. To make up for the fast trip, they collected the raft & hauled it back to do the trip a second time.

We sat around in the tent the campground set up for us since there is a wedding this weekend that is using the meeting rooms. The tent is nice - heaters, tables, lights, the whole works. It is a little loud because of the wind. Sorry about the photo quality - they were shot with my iPad.  More photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Around 5:00 a bunch of us headed to the Waterfront Restaurant in Matagorda for dinner. I had an excellent chicken fried steak.

Until Tomorrow -

Day 32, Thursday, December 1, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 12

The Pot Luck Dinner

Thursday, December 1, 2016, Matagorda Bay Nature Park, TX, Day 12, 0 Miles, 2,105.1 Miles For the Trip

It was one of the coolest nights here at Matagorda; down to 52°F. Still fairly windy. After breakfast I made my traditional blueberry pie. It had warmed up enough that I decided to set the toaster oven outside on the picnic table. I discovered that was a mistake. The wind was strong enough that it cooled the oven so much that the heating element stayed on longer than normal, resulting an a toasted top pie crust. About 1/2 way through baking, I moved the oven inside the trailer. I guess it couldn't have been too bad - they ate the whole thing.

After that I made a lap around the campground with the camera for some photos, then did my bills. I discovered that AT&T billed me for an international roaming call. Finally found the call - it was an incoming call that went through a Gulf of Mexico tower in Louisiana made last Sunday. I called & they apologized, then removed the call from my bill.

I thought I still had international roaming turned off on the phone (I can't do it on my phone, but AT&T can do it). They must have turned it back on when I traveled through Canada on the way to Alaska and bought one of their Canada packages, and didn't turn it off after the Canada deal expired. That deal was also interesting - I am probably the only person on the AT&T system that doesn't have a messaging plan - I pay for each message. When I bought the Canadian package it included unlimited messaging so we used it quite a bit on the trip. After getting my bill I discovered that they still charged me for each message since only the Canadian roaming was unlimited. They also removed the charge when I complained, so I can't fault AT&T's customer service. I still have better luck with them than Verizon.

After that it was time to put together a Matagorda Madness page, then head out to the pot luck dinner. As usual, plenty of excellent food. I even had the luck of being first in line - they started at the back tables. Lots of photos at today's LakeshoreImages page.

Dinner was, of course, the pot luck.

Until Tomorrow -