February 10, 2005

February 10, 2005

Laredo to Hondo, Texas

DAY 237

 

Happy Birthday to my sister, Sharon.

 

Welcome to "The Wild Wild West". Today was cloudy and warm.

Joanne said she felt really safe staying overnight at the Texas Travel Information Centre, protected by all those armed Border Patrol Agents. The Travel Information Centre is like a donut shop for the Border Patrol.

We left this morning heading north on Interstate 35. The landscape has become endless Prickly Pear Cacti and Mesquite trees, with occasional Desert Palms, Yuccas, and Aloe Veras. Every few hours, we see a Falcon sitting on a utility pole or wire. The ranch gates are very interesting. Every ranch has an elaborate gateway. Think "South Fork" on the old TV show "Dallas". Grazing on all this scruffy desert are Texas Longhorn and Brahma cattle.

At Devine, we turned northeast onto Hwy. 173 for 21 miles to Hwy. 90 at Hondo. At Hondo we headed west for about 8 miles on Hwy. 90 to the Lone Star Corral Escapees RV Park. This is an Escapees Co-op Park. The lots all belong to members who make them available to a rental pool when they're not occupying the lot themselves. This is a really nice place. I could see myself spending winters in a place like this some day.

I barbecued tonight for the first time in about 2 weeks. Joanne prepared the nopales ... the Prickly Pear Cactus chopped up leaves, boiling them with onions, as per the package directions. They weren't very good. Especially since they secrete a stringy, slimy goo when cooked. Sort of like eating green beans in slime.

We're just west of San Antonio, which is sort of the beginning of the true "wild west". We might stay here a couple of days and go to a cowboy museum nearby.

At social hour tonight, after introducing ourselves as new arrivals, we were approached by Jim Shelton. He's a friend of our YMCA Of The Ozarks WorkCamping friend, Julie Hazlett. Jim knew who we were from Julie's e-mails to him. Jim is a middle aged single man, paralyzed, and in a wheelchair after breaking his spine in a bicycling accident some years ago. We've been told that we're admired for the courage it took to sell everything and live the lifestyle of full time RV'ing. We admire Julie for the courage it takes to be full time RV'ing as a single. Julie admires Jim for the courage it takes to be full time RV'ing not only as a single, but disabled, in a wheelchair. Hear hear !

DSK