As of April 25th - At Lake Medina and San Antonio, Texas

Here are some photos from Mary’s input on the April 24, 2016 posting, of the Texas A&M ‘Muster’ Reunion of the Villages Texas A&M Club, and of our stay in Wildwood while our coach was getting last minute warranty work done to it:

 

April 30, 2016

After a few eventualities, such as losing our wiper function in the middle of a pouring rainstorm on I-10, we managed to make it safely to the Thousand Trails Lake Medina RV Campground in Lakehills, TX by April 26th, where we will be until May 2, 2016... so far. Alternatively we may need to rearrange our itinerary as we are working with the RV manufacturer to find us a dealer that will make the necessary repairs of the wipers and hydraulic jacks ASAP. 

This campground is on the middle edge of Medina Lake (Reservoir) with beautiful lakeside views in the Texas hill country just outside of San Antonio. Here the local deer (mostly does though we did spot a few young 2 and 4 point bucks) wander freely around the campsites and even let the campers feed and even pet them when they feel at ease with someone.

On April27 we drove into San Antonio where we visited the Alamo and had lunch at a restaurant along the River Walk. The Alamo is a bit of a disappointment being surrounded by so many tall and modern buildings, but the history of what happened there is wonderful. In 1836, 189 defenders  died at the Alamo fighting the Mexican Army under the General Santa Ana. There is another ‘Alamo’ (a movie set and tourist attraction called ‘Alamo Village’) north of Brackettville TX (about 100+ miles away from the real one), which some say is more realistic of what the Alamo was really like. It was the first movie set built in Texas, originally constructed for and best known as the setting for ‘The Alamo’ (a 1960 movie directed by and starring John Wayne, as Davy Crocket, and other great actors like Richard Widmark, Lawrence Harvey and Frankie Avalon. Due to the distance, however, we did not go there, settling for the historical evidence instead. About a third of a mile away and almost across the street is another famous San Antonio landmark, River Walk. It is a beautiful and refreshing network of walkways along the banks of the San Antonio River, one story beneath the streets of downtown San Antonio, lined with restaurants, hotels and even a CVS store. Naturally we had a Mexican lunch. 

The rest of the time we spent at the campground hiking various trails and feeding the deer, as well as taking a bottle of wine and our cameras to the water’s edge to witness beautiful sunsets and observe the local wildlife.

Last night we had a fierce thunderstorm from a system which caused 5 deaths in Palestine TX, due to flooding, but for the record, it just grazed us here in Lake Medina with the outer edges of the storm literally passing within 5 miles of us, according to the radar, and really did not affect us any, other than giving us a chorus of thunder and pouring hard rain, which sounded wonderfully soothing on the fiberglass roof of the RV.

Here are some photos of our stay at the

Thousand Trails Lake Medina Campground

on Medina Lake in Lakehills, TX:

 

 

And of our visit to San Antonio (The Alamo and River Walk):

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Finally on the road, we think!

Hi, everyone.  Mary’s writing today’s blog while Bill drives.  This is our second day on the road.  It was supposed to be our third, but as usual with RV’ing, there is a story!  When we left Lazydays last week, after the coach had been there 2 weeks for some warranty work (over a week was waiting for a part), an issue developed with the electrical system.  Being very pressed for time, we called a dealer in Wildwood, to have the issue diagnosed and corrected while we were in the area for a couple of social functions.

We had been invited to a block party with Bill’s former neighbors in The Villages, so we had made plans to attend that on Wednesday evening.  The second was an event called "Muster" that Texas A & M Alumni have every year on April 21^st to gather wherever they are to honor their school heritage, their past days at Texas A&M and their former classmates who have fallen during the previous year. This was originally an all-military university and continues its long-steeped military traditions. Muster was formally made a tradition when the A&M Alumni serving in battle in Corregedor risked their lives to celebrate the tradition from their foxholes and trenches, even knowing that they may not make it past that day. That day is still celebrated every April 21st with Aggies within 100 miles of another gathering together in celebration of the Aggie Spirit which lives on and with it every past member (Alum) is remembered symbolically as an Aggie present responds "Here!" when the names of the fallen alumnus is called at Muster. Bill helped charter the Texas A&M Club in The Villages which has grown tremendously since he left so he was glad to meet with them again to continue to share in Spirit, that which makes all Aggies... Brothers and Sisters.It was a great time.  One of the men there graduated from A & M the year I was born!  Finally, someone waaaaaaaaaaay older than me!

But I digress.  The issue with the electrical system was one that had the Technician, Senior Technical Advisor and the Manufacturer’s Technical person flummoxed.  After a day of poking and prodding on the coach, they identified that one of the coach’s four house batteries had a bad cell and was wreaking havoc with the entire system.  In the meantime we had determined that the faucet in the shower leaked and needed repair, of course the part had to be ordered.  So we had to wait a day for it to come in (Note: 1 day, not 8 like the previous dealer!).  The Dealer has a small campground that we stayed in while waiting for the part and we had access to the Technician who was very willing to answer our questions about how some of the coach’s systems work.  That access combined with our many last minute errands provided us with the ability to make good use of the wait time.  Finally, on Friday afternoon, the coach was pronounced in perfect running condition.  And it seemed to be true, the house batteries were charging and we relied on them overnight with no issues.  So, we left Wildwood on Saturday morning to begin our journey.

 

But wait, there is MORE!  When we stopped for the night and turned on the generator to run the air conditioning, the breaker on the generator kept tripping.  We finally gave up on air conditioning.  Fortunately, it was cool and the vent fans and room fan were able to keep us cool and we were able to get some sleep.  This morning Bill had an epiphany about what was causing to breaker on the generator to trip.  We NOW know, that we can charge the house batteries or run the air conditioning, but not both at the same time.  The things one learns the hard way! Now, as we begin day 2, we are wiser and are bit by frustrating bit, learning all of the ins and outs of how our coach works.  Well, it is 8:30am here in Alabama, so we shall see what this day has in store for 'roughingitgently'. Here are some photos from these last few days.
    

Last Minute Outfitting

We took both the motor home and "Edith" (Mary's Ford Explorer) to LazyDays RV Center in Tampa to finish putting on all the featurs that will make the trips more pleasurable and safe... things like the tow plates on 'Edith', the Brake Buddy Stealth auxiliary braking system (to keep Edith behind us, instead of pushing us while on a down-slope in the mountains), a portable and interchangeable macerator for the heads, vent covers to allow us to leave the vents open (to ventilate the interior without rain coming in), etc. We opted against getting Satellite TV for now until seeing how much we might actually miss it, if at all, as with the UHF/VHF antenna we can always get as many as 58 (so far) channels from within 40 miles away. Edith was done in 2 days so we returned to the house leaving the motor home there until after Easter. It is now March 29th and we are still awaiting the call that we can go pick up the motor home. But as they say... "Good things come to those who wait, so we'll wait.
Here are some photos of this part of our preparing the motorhome and Toad. (PS 'Toad' is what/how the 'towed' vehicle is referred to. 

 

Speaking of "Edith" here's how 'she' came to her name. During Mary's previous trip out West, in the Fall of 2015 with her new 2015 Ford Explorer as her recreational vehicle of choice while travelling alone, she spent so much time on the road talking to the car (so as not to say that she was talking to herself) that she wanted to find a name for her car to make the conversation more personal. Then, at the Pioneer Homestead in South Dakota, she read about this pioneer woman named Edith Eudora (Ammons) Kohl, featured in the book "Land of the Burnt Thigh" (1938, reprinted St. Paul Minnesota Historical Society, 1986)who along with her sister (Ida Mary Ammons) were Explorers of the West... so Edith became the chosen name. Happily, though 'Edith' will travel with us as well (as a Toad), Mary's new recreational vehicle is slightly bigger and more comfortable.      

The beginning... Selecting the right motor home and preparing for our odyssey.

Actually Bill already had a 2013 Coachmen Encounter 36KS and a 2015 Ford Focus SE TOAD, but it was more a single man's pad, so we opted to trade it in for a new motor home that was more what the both of us wanted in terms of closet/drawer space, kitchen facilities, washer and dryer, residential refrigerator, king size bed and even a bath and a half (which also includes an extra 40 gals of black and 40 gals of gray water capacity. Technically the new coach is only 6" longer in length, but has much more room and livability, partly due to a full side slide-out, plus the bedroom slide (opposite). Bill's Focus was also small for him as he is a tall guy, so since Mary has 'Edith' (her 2015 Ford Explorer) which has already explored 15 States and had over 14,000 miles in such trips, Bill also traded-in his Focus, and we will take 'Edith' with us, as she is much more comfortable for us both and can also serve as a tent for short camping trips as well.

We selected a 2016 Thor Challenger 37LX (Gas) as our motor home of choice and even found the perfect one at Independence RV, but even at the Orlando (Citrus Bowl) RV Show they were unwilling to meet our price by a  $10,000 difference. Then looking through the Internet at RV dealers outside of Florida, we found the exact same coach (minus 'double-pane windows') for $12,000 less than the Independence RV one. So we decided that such savings merited the drive to Ringgold, VA, and we drove up there with the Coachmen Encounter and Ford Focus to trade.

When we got there, the problems began, as usually happens with new motor homes. In this case among other less critical things the furnace and water heater did not work... in 28 degree (F) temperatures. To make a long story short it took us about 6 days to resolve but we did resolve it and opted to make an appointment at Lazydays in Tampa to get the rest of the Warranty work done, which will be done this week.

So then started the Getting Ready Phase. We have added a macerator, tow plates on Edith, and a Brake Buddy (Stealth) and obtained just the right bins and baskets with strict measurements for perfect fits and comfortable living. Unfortunately Mary's subdivision (Wekiva Run) like many, does not allow a motor home to park in front of the house for more than 4 hours (and apparently the neighbors will complain), so we have to run back and forth every 2-3 days to take stuff to get ready, but it is a fun and exciting part  of the getting ready for our upcoming trip.

Here are a few photos of our NEW HOME on the road: