On the road again...

Unless someone in our group of 10 RVs going to Copper Canyon has a wifi and is willing to share, this is probably the last entry until we get back into the States November 26.

We're still at the Lone Star Corral Escapee park until tomorrow morning when we set off to meet
Cathy at the San Antonio airport and start driving to Presidio to meet the rest of the Vagabundos.

Don't know yet if today's temp will meet the new record, but yesterday's at 88F was one degree short of the all time high for this date. And humidity to match. A cold front is supposed to come through around dinner time; that will be a pleasure.

We are concerned that Cathy will be able to get here because of the awful weather in the Northwest; floods, more floods and another storm due this weekend. Plan B will to catch up with the tour if we have to wait here for her. Hope not.

We are primed for take-off. Propane, fresh water, pesos, full fridge and freezer etc. We wouldn't be bringing food with us into Mexico normally because the fresh fruit, vegetables and meat are generally better quality than what is available in U.S. supermarkets, but we won't have a chance to shop before we get on the train for five nights. Better quality because the produce is picked when ripe and is mostly local and the meat and poultry are essentially organic; not shot up with growth hormones and antibiotics and not grain finished to add fat. The beef is so lean it requires some oil or fat added during cooking.

So...maybe hasta la vista for a few days.

The ten day celebration of the sausage

We didn't miss the Wurstfest after all. Jim found a brochure for it at the RV dealers, so we went early, 2:30, to the park and were able to use our handicap tag to park right next to the gate but had to wait til 5 pm to go in. Jim got in line then and by the time I got across the street, the people behind him in line had given him a free pass, so admission was 8 rather than $16.

We ate our way down the food aisle: kartoffel krispen (potato pancakes) fried pickles, fried parmesan olives ( really good!) mushrooms in gravy, and a very phallic sausage on a stick. We passed on the entouffee, kolaches, other wursts, some usual fair food such as corn dogs, funnel cakes and cotton candy.

Then we bought a 64 oz pitcher of dark beer and settled in the biergarten to enjoy the oompah bands, dancing and general noise of about 1,500 people having a fine time.

We left at 7:30 because we had been up since 5:30 in hopes of getting the 80 miles to the RV dealer by 8:30, but dense fog and hazardous weather warnings kept us back til almost nine. There was no sense dealing with commuter traffic in such a condition. But by the time we got 'home' to the Lone Star Corral at 9:30, it had been a long day

Huh?

So, just for giggles I tried to get on the park wifi while I was doing the Tripmaker route to the RV guy tomorrow and the page came up. I don't get it.

Love your public library

I wish I knew how to reconfigure my laptop so that I can connect to the various wi-fi networks...it works once in a while but not in the last couple of days...screen says it can't load the page because of a server problem. And all the dial up numbers for the area that my ISP gave me don't work either ("You cannot complete your call as dialed. Please hang up and check the number...") My helpful ISP guy says it must be particular phone I'm using. I don't have access here to another wired phone. I hesitate to ask any of the savvy guys at the RV park because if they screw up my settings or whatever, we will be truly screwed since next week we head into a remote area of Mexico. Bah!

So, here we are in the Hondo TX public library which is, first of all, COOL and secondly has a strong wi-fi signal that quickly told me I was connected and then wouldn't load the page.
The solution, which is temporary at best is to sit in the lovely air-conditioned library and use one of their very fast computers.

This is helpful because we needed to find an RV dealer to fix a couple of problems: the poorly designed range hood switch doesn't work and the panel on the storage door needs to be properly installed. Just looking for Four Winds as the model doesn't cut it. Apparently the motor homes are a different species from the travel trailers and 5th wheels. When I asked one dealer what was the big deal because the appliances are the same, he said he didn't have a license to work on anything with an engine. Can't argue with that logic.

We have however made contact with the right dealer(Hopefully!!) and will be at his door when it opens at 8 tomorrow morning, though he said the men don't usually get working til 8:30. New Braunfels is northeast of San Antonio and we are some 40 miles west, so it will be an early start.

New Braunfels has a strong German immigrant history. We were there a few years ago for the Wurstfest, a famous version of Octoberfest. Lots of sausages, beer, strudel, oompah bands (the tuba player could have fitted into his huge horn) accordians, lederhosen, and fun. And of course the volksdanzen Chicken Dance as performed by enthusiastic beer drinkers.

Unfortunately, this year's Wurstfest was last weekend, so we missed it.

The citizens of the park cleared out their storage sheds for Saturday's flea market and we scored some neat stuff for which we have no room: a new Belgian wafflemaker, stick mixer, little 12v heater, a small singing Santa and an almost new English folding bike. The bike will go on the back bumper rack along with my scooter, a five gallon gas can and three folding director's chairs. Happily I have an spouse/engineer who is responsible for that outside stuff. I have already paid him off in waffles and some of our hoard of Vermont maple syrup.

Hey, this library computer business is great. Jim does the Sudoku in the local paper while I lose some of my frustrations at a computer that likes me.

Still in Texas

We're at the Escapees Park near San Antonio , enjoying good company and nice weather but I am am really frustrated with the wifi and am about to give up trying to get the blog published because after I write another piece of deathless prose and go to post it, I am kicked off. I may just give up and start up again when we get to San Felipe and I can hitch onto our friend Susie's broadband.