Day 106 – Thursday, October 10, 2013

The Oakwood RV Park we stayed at near Fredericksburg is not nearly as nice as our San Antonio RV Park. It had full hook-ups but it was not as well maintained, the sites were much closer together, and just not our kind of place but was OK for one night.

Having said that, we still didn’t rush away too early. We putzed around until 11ish and then headed out.

Julie notes “We were ready to leave but Brad’s tablet was in the midst of a very long update on a very slow wiffy. So we had to wait for the technology to catch up with us for a change. During this time we heard of the passing of Harry Hambrook, who was the dad of Kathy, my bestest friend growing up. More tears as I recalled all the adventures we had had, with my other mom and dad, Jean and Harry, in the background, doing all those things parents do but with wonderful English accents and a haunted house to boot. They also took Kathy and me, two teenagers if you can imagine, for my first trip from Ontario to BC, camping along the way in their tent trailer. Mr. Hambrook, who kept insisting I could now call him Harry, reminisced with me at Mom’s funeral about how Kathy and I played badminton across the country at each campsite in hopes of attracting the attention of the young camp rangers. If any young people are reading, this proved futile but we got pretty good at badminton. He was a master craftsman in carpentry and was sought after for projects large and small. We have a beautiful recipe box that we cherish, received as a wedding present. The little village of Moscow will miss the outspoken sensibility and sense of humour of a good neighbour and friend. His family will miss a smart and caring husband, dad and granddad. Our thoughts are with them.”

Our first stop was a local BBQ joint called Cranky Frank’s. It was really the name that attracted us and not its Trip Advisor rating. It reminded us of one of our Grande Prairie friends who I share a certain outlook on life with and we have been known to solve quite a few world problems if we have enough beer. I had a brisket sandwich and Julie got the pulled pork sandwich. It was good, but not Cal-Bob good. Julie notes “Mine was a bit on the dry side. Cal-Bob would never allow that.”

We then trekked north to Enchanted Rock State Recreation Area and did the summit trail hike to the top. That helped burn off some of the sandwiches. Julie notes “I certainly sweated off my sandwich or at least sweated my buns off trying to keep up with the long legged Windmill man. I was expecting to see a beer parlor or another BBQ joint at the summit by the speed he was heading up those rocks.”

After the hike, we headed north and west along some secondary highways to San Angelo State Park where we are camped for the night. There should be a very large lake here but as far as we can tell it is completely dry. It was another beautiful afternoon and evening. We relaxed outside and watched a parade of vehicles head to the group area for some type of celebration. My sister Janet wasn’t here to tell us what was happening so we had to ask our friend Lola. She thought it might be a group of Moonies having a Unification Church gathering and we should be careful considering we are still in Texas. haha It turns out it was the State workers of this area having a BBQ. Julie notes “Or so they say…”

Our site #11 at Oakwood RV Park with our neighbours from the Netherlands, a young couple with 2 small children, who had shipped their unique looking RV to Halifax, traveled across Canada and then south into the US. Julie notes ‘Marrika and Petri and Monkey, the little girl’s cuddle toy. The kids were too shy to tell us their names but liked to peek around the camper at us. We are pretty strange looking.”

Crazy er uh Cranky Frank’s place

A brisket fresh from the smoker

Another chicken for Melodie. Julie notes “Better not ‘steel’ this one.”

Texas hill country

Approaching Enchanted Rock Julie notes “Where did all of that nice cloud cover go when we did our climb?

On the trail to the summit

At the summit. We tried to take a “jump in the air with the camera on time delay” photo. We were not coordinated enough and tired out before we got a picture with our feet off the ground. You will just have to live with this one.

…or this one

…believe me, there are more but I will stop here

Julie notes “Brad yells out ‘nice boulders!’ A girl can’t hear that too often.”

The view from our site in San Angelo State Park. Julie notes “I tried to buffalo Brad into thinking these were the real deal. But unless it’s on a BBQ pit he is no longer interested in wild game.”

..over and out, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “I purchased some real glasses before this trip, progressive lenses on the suggestion of the eyeball specialist. Up to then I had been pretending that the reading glasses were doing the trick and the distant world was just naturally becoming blurrier and blurrier. I picked these new glasses up the day before we started this trek. Since I’m prone to losing or breaking my reading glasses I attached them to the lanyard you see dangling around my neck in most every picture. I had heard mixed reviews on progressive lenses but from the first minute I started wearing them I loved them. My world was in focus again far away and close up. Amazing! That was until our first hike to the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings. There is a reason you don’t see any hieroglyphic pictures of the ancestors wearing bi-focals. They all perished over the edge of the cliff because looking down through the lens made them take those big exaggerated steps and plunk, next thing you know old 4 eyes is plunging into the canyon and was today’s human sacrifice. (I don’t think the Anasazi actually had human sacrifices. They didn’t have to because of all the people with glasses like mine getting dizzy and high stepping over the edge.) Lesson #106 ‘Dangerous places to wear progressive lenses are;

• Mesa Verde cliff dwellings (as explained above);
• skinny fort steps where you have to angle your hips one way and your feet the other, those must’ve been miniature soldiers or contortionists;
• unevenly staggered Mexican stair cases, especially after an unevenly poured Mexican margarita;
• darkly lit movie theatres where you walk up the steps to your seat, with popcorn and a drink and the sign that says ‘watch your step’ is in Spanish;
• the edge of a volcano, active or not, one high step too many and you are volcano burps;
• slippery mossy path ways, which are usually near a falls or a fast flowing river unless you’re a strong swimmer or a loud screamer;
• any climb up a Mayan ruin can become a tumble down a Mayan ruin, they were built this way hundreds of years ago so that the bespectacled tourists of today will continue to fall and appease the gods, those Mayans knew what they were doing, they had that calendar that predicted exactly this scenario;
• the San Antonio river walk, which is fairly flat but the motion of the river flowing past plus the 3 bottles of wine you just shared with the Campbells flowing through your veins plus those danged distorting lenses could just put you over the edge and flowing with the ducks;
• and finally as proven today, hiking rock strewn mountainsides with progressives can make you look like you are high stepping over rattlesnake dens when you are really just trying to gauge the next step, this is all fun and games (and lots of extra exercise) until you twist an ankle, high step into a cactus or get made fun of by hikers not wearing glasses (and believe me this one hurts as much as the other two).”

Day 105 – Wednesday, October 9, 2013

We relaxed around the Kerrville State Park this morning until the noon check out time. Julie notes “I waited until just the right song came on the iTunes before I was able to drag myself out of bed. Cat Stevens singing ‘Morning has broken’ inspired me.” I wanted to hit the #1 rated restaurant in Kerrville, a BBQ joint call Cal-Bob’s. It was a few miles north of Kerrville on the highway we were taking to Fredericksburg; our next destination. We were not disappointed and Cal-Bob is one person. I asked the guy there if he was Cal or Bob and he replied that he was both. J He loves what he does and his passion comes through in his customer service and food. Julie notes “I bet you can hear the giddiness in his description above. I’m surprised he could sleep last night after he had told me this was our planned lunch spot for today. Almost like Christmas Eve and Cal-Bob does resemble Santa a bit. We also met a nice couple from France who were working in Austin teaching Spanish at a French school. Now that I type that out it seems very suspect and it may be possible they were just French culinary spies trying to find out the BBQ brisket secrets and take them back to France. The French have always had trouble trying to get people to like their food. Except for poutine of course.”

After lunch, we headed on to Fredericksburg and found an RV park. Once we had a site booked, we headed off to Luckenbach, TX thanks to Debbie and Gord’s recommendation. We spent an hour or so at Luckenbach, population 3, listening to some country music, having an ice cold Lone Star, (Julie notes “A cold Mike’s Hard Margarita for me, thanks.) and meeting some other visitors. We made a connection with Peterborough, ON where Julie’s brother, Quentin and wife and family live, and also race horses with my sister Janet and brother-in-law Rick and niece Jenny. They have a nephew in Peterborough who has race horses. Plus the nephew’s last name was Casselman, the same as Julie’s grandmother. Yes, it’s complicated but it all made sense over a beer. Julie notes “It was like we were long lost family. But as the Luckenbach motto says ‘Everyone’s someone in Luckenbach’ and they were right. Wonderful Texans some turned Arizonians. They were 2 sisters and husbands, the one couple celebrating their 59^th anniversary trying to catch up to the other couple who would soon be celebrating their 64^th. And a lovely daughter who was taking them around to all of their favourite haunts. They were on their way to another dance hall and then it was to a bar for 3 hours because they couldn’t miss ‘the baseball game’. It was a fun encounter in a very nice little spot. And now you should be all singing the Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings’ song ‘Take me back to Luckenbach, Texas.’ I would go back again for sure!”

We then went to Wildseed Farms, as recommended by our new friends. It was a large, expensive gardening centre. They sold gardening decorations, souvenirs, food, and wine. Julie notes “I know he really tried to mask it in his comments above but this was not Brad’s favourite kind of place but it was beautifully laid out full of all kinds of things and gorgeous displays. It is also touted as being one of the largest producers of wildflower seed in the nation. At different times of the year, (we’re assuming) there are tours of the wildflower fields and butterfly gardens etc. There was just the one large field of cosmos that we could see, but it was very pretty. Brad even said so. But all he could see was the mark up on the Mexican goods we could’ve loaded up on and sold across the border, making our fortune.”

We headed back into Fredericksburg and toured the town a bit before driving back to the RV Park.

Everything is bigger in Texas, even the chickens. Julie notes “I hope he’s not out in the streets playing chicken!”

The highlight of my day!

Not much from the outside but the food was outstanding.

The pitmaster, Cal-Bob. Julie notes “And Brad’s new hero!”

…and he shared some of his tips with the muleskinner. Julie notes “This is what hero worship looks like.”

…and even took me in the back to explain his custom made smoker. Julie notes “This is the picture he took after recovering from fainting with glee.”

Downtown Fredericksburg. Julie notes “The town has solid German roots and many wineries where you can taste their wares. Just ask Gord and Debbie. (One of them had to sleep off a few ‘samples’ on the tour ride back to their hotel.)

Lukenbach, TX

The old counter in the store was exactly the same design as my dad’s general store counter that we had refinished and use in our dining room. Their wood panels had been replaced with lexan but the design and materials is an exact match. Lukenbach, TX and Camborne, ON – another connection.

A rooster and chicken for Melodie.

David Harris performing. Great voice and very talented.

The washrooms at Lukenbach. Julie notes “Dang that Mikes Hard Margarita! But these were nicer on the inside than I had imagined. But my 105 days on the road have pretty much prepared me for anything.”

Wildseed Farms. Julie notes “Brad says ‘These are pretty!’ See I wasn’t lying. He did say that.”

And finally, Gourd Campbell was only here for a day and they’ve already named a festival after him. Julie notes “Unfortunately we’ll be gone next weekend and will miss this. Good thing we got to spend time with the real Gourd and his little Pumpkin the other night.”

…over and out, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Day 104 – Tuesday, October 8, 2013

We packed up the RV this morning, left Traveler’s World, and headed for Kerrville, TX. It is only 120 or so kilometres so we didn’t leave until 11:00 AM. It was really hard to leave this place, for me anyways. I could spend a few weeks to a month here but I am not allowed to make any more vacation plans, just yet. I told Julie that just because I wasn’t telling her my plans out loud, that didn’t mean that I wasn’t secretly making more plans. J Julie notes “Luckily for me his brain to lips filter is broken (probably jarred a wire loose on all those bumpy roads we were on) and I hear most things he is thinking so I can keep abreast of most of his new schemes. It’s just like a kid though, when he is quiet then I start getting worried.” Before leaving, I walked around the RV park and took some pictures. There are about 14 miles of trails along the San Antonio River accessible from the park and the beautiful Riverside Golf Course next door. Julie notes “My pants are telling me I should’ve walked a few of those miles and eaten less tortillas. Oh well, next time.”

We just had coffee this morning, so once we were on the road we were both getting hungry. Once we got out of San Antonio on the freeways, we started looking for a breakfast place. By the way, for a large city, San Antonio is a really easy place to drive. Even so, I did miss our freeway exit but it didn’t take long to get back on track. Julie notes “This was done in mostly a calm organized fashion. Our apologies to the woman resting or eating or hiding in her car in the abandoned hotel parking lot we pulled off in to get our bearings. I think our loud truck manoeuvers made her nervous and she started making a move to the exit.” We picked Denny’s mainly because we know they serve breakfast all day. Julie notes “Our waitress Lauren was great, funny and smart and good at what she does. The cooks should aspire to be her. My food was not great. Lesson #104 ‘Don’t order the NEW exotic avocado and bacon omelette. It will NOT look like the picture and will not be a burst of flavour in your mouth as advertised.’ The real Lesson #104a is ‘Just don’t go to Dennys. Period.’ But I cleaned my plate, as my mother taught me, and thanked them all for the great service.” We were in the little town of Boerne, TX. After breakfast we headed to the H-E-B grocery store to pick up some supplies. Julie was also looking for a US Post Office but it wasn’t easily accessible from where we were. I found a few more post offices on our GPS on the route we planned so we moved on.

We pulled into the little town of Center Point, TX and promptly found the Post Office. Unfortunately, they were closed for lunch. Julie notes “I could hear them in their but refrained from yelling through the mail slots that I had important post cards to get urgently mailed to Canada.” Onward to Kerrville where there was another Post Office. They had a very large postal facility and they were open.

Some final pictures of the RV Park and area.

This bird stayed up on this branch every day we were here. He stayed in exactly the same spot for most of the day. Julie notes ‘Here is your next quiz. What is the name of our little mascot? We have been calling it ‘Our Little Feathered Friend’ and want to thank Denise for the bird book she gave me on my 50^th a few years back. It has really helped us pinpoint these identifications with the accuracy you readers are now accustomed to. In this park there is a lot of birdsong happening and one bird that we had thought was a cross between a Catbird-Chicadee-Robin is actually a Mockingbird. Go figure. Now for those of you who have read the Hunger Games books, this is NOT a Mocking Jay. Believe me, I sat outside the camper whistling and singing, hoping they would take up my song and deliver the message across the country in chorus. I was only successful in getting the yappy dog in the trailer across the street all riled up. We also have seen many flocks overhead of Gucks or Deese (don’t call them Geeks, they hate that) in the traditional V formation, heading somewhere and what better place for snowbirds than San Antonio!”

Leaving San Antone – as we now affectionately call it. Julie notes “There are songs about San Antonio but I don’t have any on my iTunes believe it or not. So feel free to hum one if you know one. Maybe Charlie Pride’s ‘Is Anyone Goin’ to San Antone?'”

Texas Hill Country.

Although not too many hills in this picture.

Julie finds her US Post Office in Kerrville, TX. Julie notes “I do not have hopes of these cards getting to where they’re supposed to be going if poor Anne has anything to do with the sorting. It was a good 20 minute process for her to count out the stamps I needed. 17 international stamps for the cards and 10 more stamps for my purse at $1.10 per stamp. Nephew Isaac probably has that all figured out in his head right now. She was possibly having a menopause moment and the more she tried the more flustered she got and so on. She told me she felt she COULD manage to pop the mail into basket once I had stamped them all. But then she disappeared. I think she went to lie down or maybe just went home for a glass of wine. So I pushed them through the mail slot with fingers crossed. Hopefully her cobwebs have lifted.”

Our campsite in the Kerrville-Schreiner State Park. Julie is trying to hold up the sun shade gazebo. Julie notes “Hurry up! This is heavy!”

The Gaudalupe River (Kerrville Lake) that runs alongside the park.

We had picked up a roast chicken at HEB and had a great salad with blue cheese and roast chicken for a late supper. Julie notes “Nice! It is great gallivanting from restaurant to eating establishment to taqueria but it is always nice to eat in our own little home.”

…over and out folks, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “Just sending some kudos out to Jaime as she was very close with her guesses on the order of ‘Messiest to Messy’. I am thinking she has some firsthand experience. Her answers came in just prior to us posting the updated list and her prize is an all-expense paid trip to her own fridge for a Thrill of the Spill adventure!”

Day 103 – Monday, October 7, 2013

We are staying one more day in San Antonio at the Traveler’s World RV Park. We found out that our good friends, Debbie and Gord Campbell, from Grande Prairie are in San Antonio. We made contact with them, after our other friend Lola from Grande Prairie, helped us technically challenged people. We made arrangements to meet them for drinks and dinner. Julie notes “In this day and age this should be as simple as a well placed text but if you recall we have this fancy, smancy unlocked cell phone with very few contact numbers in it. Also as we mentioned before we are not really sure how to answer it if on the very rare occasion someone calls. We had success once but it turned out to be a fluke. We punch the phone shaped lights and swipe and shake and yell into it WTF? What’s The Fluke? So in the meantime we tried email and FaceBook to try to make contact with the elusive Campbells but then figured they didn’t want to be ringing up their phone bill checking that kind of stuff on holiday. Besides I am sure they had ‘better’ things to do with their time. So back at the ranch an increasingly frustrated Lola, who is listening to our non-progress but rooting for us to make contact says ‘Hey remember that thing called a phone call? Why don’t you try making one to the hotel they are staying at?’ Simple enough solution for those of you who know how to answer your cell phones. But I bravely called the hotel and left a message. Almost immediately, before we had a chance to practise our WTF (What’s the Fluke) routine, our cell phone rings and I toss it like a hot potato to Brad who starts punching and swiping and hello-ing to beat the band but to no avail. So we do the only thing a person could do in this situation. We accept that the phone has beaten us and google ‘how does a person answer a phone call one of these crazy freaking android phones’. The answer was there so we’re not the only ones doing the WTF phone call dance. And the rest is history as you’ll read below.”

We got some chores done today in preparation for moving on tomorrow. Julie cleaned the inside of the camper, did some laundry, and got things organized. Julie notes “One of the things I did was clean out the fridge so I now have a much more detailed answer to the little spill quiz I sent out the other day. It is actually quite complicated so I can see why no-one attempted to answer it. I scrubbed the bathroom and vacuumed. Brad had already washed the floor inadvertently yesterday when he made a miscalculation on where the water flow was diverted while he was changing the filter. It worked out nicely for me. And last but not least I unloaded everything under the kitchen table. If you recall that is where our little toad friend escaped to. I am not sure what I was hoping to find but I found nothing. No toad, no toad carcass and definitely no Prince Charming. (He of course was out cleaning oil filters.) Not sure what happened to the little fellow. Hope he didn’t croak! (Sorry couldn’t resist.)”

I finished cleaning and oiling my S&B air filter, re-organized the stuff in the back of the truck (including the firewood we’ve carried across 13 borders) and we both did some blogging. I had a swim in the pool as it was around 30C again today with blue skies and a nice breeze. It will be hard to leave this place. Julie notes “Brad pointed out some bundles of mesquite for sale down the road. I told him no!”

We caught the bus downtown to meet up with the Campbell’s at their hotel, the luxurious Omni La Mansion del Rio. They have a beautiful room with a small balcony overlooking the River Walk. Julie notes “OOOooo lah lah. The only thing missing was a butler and they could’ve used one as they were enjoying the view from their balcony and didn’t hear us knocking, so we took a seat in the comfy ‘waiting area’ outside their suite and texted them to answer their door. We were thinking they may have set us up for a Gord style practical joke and we were actually at someone else’s room. But it was a good reunion though when they ‘finally’ let us in.” Deb and Gord had made a reservation for us at the hotel restaurant, Las Canarias (ranked #4 of 3,726 on Trip Advisor). After a few drinks and getting caught up with each other, we headed down to the restaurant.

We all tried the fixed price 3 course menu. Each course had a choice of 2 or three items. For an appetizer, Julie and I had the crispy and smoked Lockhart quail, Gord had the hearts of romaine lettuce and charred corn salad, Debbie had the warm spinach salad. For the main course Debbie ordered the Patagonia salmon and the rest of us had the braised beef short ribs. For desert we all tried the Caramel Popcorn Crémeux. Oh yeah, and we shared 3 bottles of Ruta 22 Malbec.

I can’t speak for the Campbells but it was a great evening, and a great dinner with great friends. But wait, the night wasn’t over. Gord wanted to take us to a surprise location.

Debbie and Gord on the patio along the River Walk at the Las Cararias restaurant. Julie notes “Gord, as I said is a joker and kept the poor waiting staff on their toes but they rose to the occasion. He did almost get our bottle of wine taken away as he pretended it was substandard but we were quick to not let that happen!”

The view from our table looking up as the sun was going down.

The blurry hearts of romaine lettuce and charred corn salad. And we were only on the first bottle of wine; well for Julie and me at least. Debbie and Gord had done a wine tour that day in Fredricksburg.

The crispy and smoked Lockhart quail. Julie notes “This was sooooo yummy. Col. Sanders eat your heart out!”

The warm spinach salad.

Main course.

The two Julies. Julie notes “We invited this lovely lady to join us as she waited for her husband. She’d been listening to our conversation and joined in and then realized that my name was Julie the same as her’s. We Julie’s have to stick together. There aren’t a lot of us. She was named after Julie Ann Nixon on the day that President Kennedy was inaugurated. I was supposed to be named Gem, an ancient spelling of Jim, my dad’s name, but then the fairies that found me in the forest decided to go with the Gaelic spelling Jewel or Julie. It’s also very possible I was named after the long row of Jewels in my family tree but I know for a fact there was a pumpkin patch and magic of some kind involved. I’m the one on the left and by the way my eyes are up here!”

The two lab techs. Julie notes “Practically twins. I am the one with the ‘Navarro St. halo.”

They asked me to join their 5 piece band but I wasn’t ready to come out of retirement just yet. Julie notes “These guys (sans Brad) were awesome. You can’t see the fiddler here but hey played an amazing rendition of ‘The Devil Went Down To Georgia.’ Even snapped a string on his bow. We gave them a nice tip and they gave Brad a good tip ‘Don’t give up your day job, buddy!’

Third bottle of wine and desert.

Gord wanted a second helping of desert.

Finally, we headed to Coyote Ugly where we actually got ID’d. We did show our age though by only staying for one drink. Julie notes “Interesting premise where the paid dancers don’t strip but the hope is that the patrons will. Debbie said she was game in the best interest of you bloggers out there. But despite Gord volunteering us, we were not chosen. I blame myself as most of these people had probably already seen me topless on the ‘misleading’ bus tour the other day. And they were probably looking for something new(er). Sorry about that Deb.”

One thing is for sure; you will always have a good time when you go out with Debbie an Gord. Julie notes “Ditto that! So glad we worked through our electronic handicaps and made contact. It was a taste of home away from home. Enjoy the rest of your vacation guys. You deserve it. And because we were so intent on meeting with you we now know how to answer our phone. Probably will be a few more months before someone calls us again so I hope Brad wrote down the instructions.”

…over and out the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “As mentioned above, scrubbing out the fridge gave me a whole new insight on my messiest to messy quiz as you’ll see below. This list doesn’t not include the stuck cardboard and stains and other sludge that seems to dwell in the dampness of RV fridge. It was not a pretty sight. Some soap, bleach, pot scrubber and elbow grease and it is much nicer in there. Until our next explosion.”

Place in order of messiest to least messy the following spilled items that you found after a bumpy day on the road where the vibration can actually unscrew lids off of jars and plugs out of water bottles and crack eggs and bottoms of yogurt containers and…

• Marmalade – Worst! You wouldn’t think so but it starts to harden on contact. I am still chipping it out of crevices and those little pieces of orange keep showing up stuck in the weirdest places. Don’t tell TerriLynne, my marmalade buddy, but it almost made me hate marmalade.
• Nacho cheese sauce – YesYo Cheese. What a mess! – Seemed to liquefy on contact with other items and take on a life of its own.
• Salsa – messy but much better contained in a fridge than dropped lidless on the floor which has been done other trips. But what is cheese sauce without salsa as these 2 spills happened at the same time! Woohoo! Break out the nachos and gather around the fridge.
• Orange flavoured water – very long lasting and sneaky – couldn’t figure out where it was all hiding – finally found it a couple days later in the plastic egg carton. All the egg shells were died orange. Almost felt like Easter. But then saw that 3 out of the dozen were broken and spoiled and most of the rest were cracked. But they were all contained in their orange loveliness. No egg messes, yet.
• Sour cream – Not bad – Gloopy and gloppy but generally stays in one place
• More sour cream (remember we kept buying it thinking it was coffee cream) Worse than the other time – Stayed mostly on the container on the shelf below, but that container fell out on the carpet when the border guard was checking our fridge. Not on his shoes luckily.
• Blueberry yogurt – sneakiest – kept finding little dribbles here and there sporadically, not really knowing what it was. Then finally realized that the bottoms of all of the individual containers had dribbly cracks in their bottoms, but then who doesn’t?
• Horseradish sauce – probably was the easiest – it was on the bottom shelf so no drip through, but did not try to salvage it. I think it had old marmalade stuck in it.

   

• Large 20 L jug of water that we didn’t secure because we thought it was too heavy to fall over – Category all its own – BIG flood but the floor got washed, along with the rug, clothes and other things that had fallen into the flood as we were bouncing along but it answered Brad’s question at a gas station stop of ‘why is there water running down out of the truck’. We were drying out towels and clothes and rugs for days in the humid climate. Lesson #103 “If it might fall over then it WILL fall over. Especially if there is a chance of making a big mess when it falls.”

   

Day 102 – Sunday, October 6, 2013

Today we had some fresh coffee and relaxed in the morning sunshine before heading downtown to pick up our souvenir we forgot yesterday. We had a bit of a storm last night with some rain, lightning, and thunder but it cleared up and is another beautiful day although a bit cooler (again, not complaining).

We drove downtown and circled a few streets until we found the Alamo and our street side vendor. Julie notes “He makes it sound like a calm little jaunt, now doesn’t he? But let me tell you a secret, it wasn’t. He likes to shout out questions like ‘Is this the street? Did we turn here? Is this one way? Is that policeman waving at us? Is that parking?’ Trust me he doesn’t really want answers. It’s the driver brain trying to make contact with navigator brain. If you speak, you just mess with the system. But if you don’t speak then that causes trouble too. It’s not easy being the princess, just saying. PS he has no memory of this because these 2 brains have to wipe clear to be ready for the next challenge.” The traffic was very light on a Sunday morning so I was able to pull over to the curb, put on the 4-way flashers, while Julie made a deal with the lady out the side window. She said the piece was on sale for $25 less than we had planned to offer. Sometimes things just go your way. I hopped out and helped her put it in the backseat for the ride home and off we went. Julie notes “I was just about to say ‘But we have this much more money already counted out for you, are you sure you won’t take it?’ But Brad gave me the wide eyeball look just in time. Hope she didn’t see us high fiving and yeehawing down the street. Brad couldn’t click his heels though because he was driving.”

Once back at the park, I cooked up some eggs with leftover steak, vegetable skewers, and toast. Yummy brunch. We relaxed around the park, I went for a swim, we blogged some more, and visited with new folks who arrived in the park. They are from Coronach, Saskatchewan and they have heard of our friend Denise’s family from Rockglen. Small world. Julie notes “Oh we got the goods on Denise and family, that’s for sure. They asked if Denise is the one who calls the River Walk, the canals? We couldn’t lie.”

I also changed out our water filter cartridge today as we were approaching the end of the old one’s useful life. It was quite dramatic to see what it had cleaned from the supposedly clean drinking water we had been filling the tank with and probably even more dramatic on what it cleaned that we could not see. The Seagull IV by General Ecology is a high-end water filter we had purchased specifically for this trip and I guess it worked as we never worried about the quality of our drinking water. Julie notes “Blech! Thank you filter.”

For dinner, we wandered across the street to the Taqueria Guadalajara (Jalisco Style) Mexican Restaurant.

This is how Julie looked after eating her dinner. I’m not sure why, as the food was actually quite good but their Margaritas need some work. Rule #102A; don’t listen to the lady in the pool who tells you the Margaritas at the place across the road are really good. Maybe she just hasn’t had a good Margarita. Julie notes “That is not a good face and it was not a good margarita so yes maybe they go together OR maybe I thought the photographer was just snapping a shot of the empty plate as asked so instead of smiling pretty for the camera and giving you my glamour pose, my thoughts reverted back to that yucky margarita. So as a public warning, if you don’t want to see this face, make good margaritas. My apologies to everyone who had to witness this.”

Rule #102B; Look on the walls of the restaurant BEFORE you order. If you see this machine, be wary, be very wary, be very very wary. Julie notes “We figure the staff probably tap into this occasionally as it seems like a busy family eating spot and if the 2 screaming toddlers were any indictor, it can be very noisy.”

Or maybe they seated me here because they saw I was with Julie “the-record-holder-for-the-longest-Alamo-visit-ever” Emond. Julie notes “Oh hardy, har har. I didn’t wear my sash to the restaurant so how would they even have known.”

…over and out for today folks, carry on, the muleskinner and his sidekick

PS: Sorry about the picture quality today (or maybe you didn’t even notice) but these are mostly phone pictures.

Julie notes “Trailer parks are interesting places. We’ve done a lot of people watching over the past few days but cannot figure out what the heck is going on at one of the more permanent RVs. We need Brad’s sister Janet here to decipher all the relationships; who’s married to whom and who is working and how many people live there and why is that guy covered in bandages, and so on. It’s driving us crazy. When can you be here Janet? Start checking the train schedules.”

Day 101 – Saturday, October 5, 2013

We are still enjoying our San Antonio stay in the Traveler’s World RV Park. Today, after we had our coffee and breakfast, some more blogging, and just relaxing around the park, we headed downtown again. This time we planned to grab some lunch and then visit the Alamo and do some more River Walk exploring. The weather has been just about perfect; sunny, around 30C, no humidity, and a nice breeze.

The first stop was Schilo’s Delicatessen, a San Antonio institution, for lunch. First though, we had to find it. It is not on the River Walk but on street level above the River Walk. After following our GPS and asking an information attendant we found the place right where it was supposed to be. Julie notes “Lesson #101 in the better wives club handbook ‘Don’t make innocent suggestions or ask any questions at all when your husband is in GPS mode. The anger he feels for the GPS, which is having difficulty deciphering between the 2 street levels, and taking you on a circuitous route in the heat of the day, may be transferred on to you.’ Can you spell CRABBY?”

Lunch was excellent and the atmosphere and service was top notch. Julie notes “The cool air temperatures and cold drinks soon cooled our tempers as well.”

After lunch, we headed over to the Alamo. The Alamo is free but we purchased the audio tour “wands” to help us understand the exhibits a little better. Touring a museum is one of those things that tests a marriage. (Julie notes “Well it tests OUR marriage. Can’t speak for other couples but I bet they walk hand in hand reading each exhibit together.”) I completed the tour in the recommended allotted time of 45 minutes. Julie, on the other hand, spent at least 2+ hours reading every placard and inspecting every display. Julie notes “The fellow who told us it would take about 45 minutes was a big fat liar. The only way to complete that tour in 45 minutes is by running from spot to spot, pushing down old people and mothers with babies, leaping displays and security ropes and screaming ‘Oh MY GOD are there still 18 more tour stops before I can get out of here? Which pretty much describes how Brad tours.” Being the patient husband that I am, I waited for her across the street under a beautiful old oak in the Alamo square plaza with nary a complaint. This is something we have understood about each other since visiting the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto on our honeymoon. Again, I accept our differences with complete grace and understanding. Julie notes “I should also mention at this point that his exact words were as we entered the building ‘You take your time Honey Bunches of Oats and I will just wait for you in the square where I will welcome you with open arms after you’ve sated your inquisitive mind with knowledge.’ This is not how things played out when I returned to the square, thinking I had really made good time as there were plenty more displays that I hadn’t even glanced at, let alone read thoroughly. There was a whole display on belt buckles and another on bullets that I will never read about so that I can forget immediately. The guy waiting on the bench under the lovely oak tree was almost the same guy that was angry at the GPS. Again can we spell crabby? (small letters this time because he was trying to pretend he wasn’t.”

After my snide comments to her when she finally exited the Alamo, we decided to wander around the River Walk some more. Earlier in the day, we spied a street vendor with a Mexican souvenir we liked and planned on picking it up on our way back to the bus. Needless to say that we forgot and merrily hopped on the bus back to the RV Park. Oh well, maybe we will drive back tomorrow and pick it up.

Our Schilo’s experience. We both ordered ruebens; one of their specialties. I had the homemade split pea soup and Julie had the red cabbage. I also sampled one of their dark German beers, Spaten Optimator, and Julie had a root beer. Julie notes “Homemade root beer which is also one of their specialities. No A&W rootbear in sight though. The spicy red cabbage was good too but it was missing the magic ingredient, bacon, how Maria makes it for the lab luncheons. Bacon makes everything better.”

Then it was on to the Alamo. We’re excited to learn all this new stuff that we will promptly forget if you ask us later. Julie notes “I will remember the Alamo. Or at least enough of the history to really distort the facts if someone is crazy enough to ask me about it. If I have the dates correct I was just a teenager when all of these events really took place so you know how teenagers are. They just don’t pay attention to current events. I’ve got my listening ears on now though. But first I have to go and get this audio device changed from French to English. Which I forgot to mention up above, is one of the reasons I got a little behind on the tour schedule compared to the Windmill tourist.”

An old very large oak tree, well, and squirrel in the Alamo courtyard. Julie notes “Not the only squirrely thing in this courtyard.”

After our 2+ hours (not complaining) at the Alamo we needed a drink. I’m not sure why she needed a drink but I sure did. We found Joe’s Crab Shack and had some appetizers and drinks. Julie notes “One more time, can you spell CRABBY? I thought Brad would fit right in at Joe’s CRAB shack considering his mood. I deserved that drink. And I even resisted buying him the t-shirt that said ‘Bite Me’. It was a nice way to end the afternoon and immediately wash away any knowledge I’d acquired with that jar of marguerite. We are really enjoying the great restaurants around here and are eating and drinking too much but who cares, really?

…over and out from the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “I’m surprised but none of the pictures we took included the many fine young men and women walking about in their air force blues. We heard it was a graduation weekend for them and there were hundreds enjoying the city with their families. Fit and trim and tidy in their uniforms a slight contrast to the rest of us ambling from ale house to restaurant. Cheers to the youth!”

“And speaking of youth, a good way to get banned from the Alamo forever, apparently, is urinating in or around the grounds. Not that we know anyone, like a younger brother, who would do such a thing, right Alison?”

Day 100 – Friday, October 4, 2013

San Antonio is a great tourist city and we wanted to make sure we took in some of the things it has to offer. The people in the office gave us a bus schedule, directions to the river walk (or canal as Denise likes to call it) and the explanation to only take route 42 unless we wanted a 3 hour tour of the city. Off we went with our empty backpack carrying only our DSLR camera and a couple of guides and maps. Julie notes “‘Guides’ as in the written kind not as in the ‘Norman’ kind. And as predicted by the time we were headed home, the backpack was full of great stuff, that we ‘really’ needed. Lesson #100A Don’t take a backpack if you suffer from ‘fill the backpack with souvenirs and stuff syndrome.”

The bus driver welcomed us to San Antonio and asked where we were from. When we told him Alberta, Canada he said the ride was free. A good guy and a good ambassador. He made sure we got off at the correct location and pointed us in the right direction. We walked the river walk for a bit and found Casa Rio for lunch (rated #236 of 3,710). After a 15 minute wait for a table, we were seated right along the river (or canal for Denise). We both had the taco salad and it was a good choice. I also sampled the locally brewed Alamo beer. Julie ordered a sangria. Julie notes “The staff are all dressed in the traditional Mexican dress and we found use again for our ‘por favours’ and ‘gracias’.”

We then headed off for a boat tour on the river, er, canal to try and get our bearings. The tour takes about 45 minutes as the driver/guide explains various sites along the way. I found it difficult to get my sense of direction because everything on the river walk is a storey below street level. Julie notes “It was also odd for us to be driving through a tourist area and not getting stuck in crazy street traffic or just stuck in a crazy street, period. Not once did the boat driver ask me to get out and ask all the other boats to back up the river, er’ canal, while he made a manoeuver.”

After the boat tour we wandered around until we found the IMAX theatre in the Rivercenter mall that the guide had mentioned. There was a feature on the history of the Alamo. The next show was at 4:00 PM. That gave us some time to wander the mall. I was able to finally find a good fitting hat for my giant cranium. Julie notes “ladies, don’t be fooled by his giant head size!”

After learning the history of the Alamo, we decided to take a topless, hop-on, hop-off, bus tour of different city sites. I was especially looking forward to the topless part! Julie notes “So embarrassing! Sorry folks of San Antonio for having to witness that! Lesson #100B ‘Don’t take advertising at face value.’ And Lesson #100C ‘Carry sun screen with you if there is the slightest chance you’re going to expose those tender areas.’ Plus don’t take any wooden nipples. We breast move on, Brad’s getting a tit nervous about what I might say next.”

The Alamo. Julie notes “Are you sure? I don’t remember the Alamo? (oh I may get kicked out of Texas for that.)”

Street scene. Julie notes “Sure I can’t go topless but these guys can erect a rather phallic looking tower and brag about it. Typical!”

It was then back to the canals, or river walk if you prefer, to find a “nice” place for dinner; this time using Trip Advisor. We decided on Boudro’s on the Riverwalk – ranked #21 of 3,710. The service, atmosphere, and food were all great. We both tried their specialty prickly pear margarita and we both had the mixed shellfish plate; an excellent choice even if we’re not on the ocean. Julie notes “This is my almost truly happy face. My truly happy face was after the first sip.”

We had a great day today with lots of walking, touring, site seeing, and great food. I really like San Antonio. Julie notes “Day 100 made the previous 99 days all seem worthwhile!”

…over and out, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “A little exercise for those of you who enjoy brain teasers or who have ever had a spill in their camper or anywhere.”

Place in order of messiest to least messy the following spilled items that you found after a bumpy day on the road where the vibration can actually unscrew lids off of jars and plugs out of water bottles and crack eggs and bottoms of yogurt containers and…

• Sour cream
• Nacho cheese sauce
• Marmalade
• More sour cream (remember we kept buying it thinking it was coffee cream)
• Salsa
• Horseradish sauce
• Orange flavoured water
• Blueberry yogurt
• Large 20 L jug of water that we didn’t secure because we thought it was too heavy to fall over

Day 99 – Thursday, October 3, 2013

This started out to be a really lazy day and it ended the same way. What a treat! The weather is fantastic here this week. It is in the low 30C’s and very little humidity. The sun shone all day and there was a perfect breeze blowing. This is the good life. We had fresh fruit and yogurt for breakfast (Julie notes “I had purchased cottage cheese yesterday and was almost as excited when I opened the lid to find the creamy white goodness I was hoping for as Brad was about his McDonald’s coffee – I know my sister Susan doesn’t understand this delight over cottage cheese but Mom did, and would sneak my bowl away from me for extra nibbles when I wasn’t looking”) and I grilled up a couple of nice thick ribeye steaks for supper along with vegetable skewers and potatoes. Good eats. Julie notes “I second that!”

I went for a swim twice today in the outdoor pool. Julie notes “In case you were all wondering if I took that shower I promised yesterday, well I did and it was delightful. Not near as fun as showering while standing on an ant hill or under a mango tree in a Bombero’s parking lot but good none the less. I also took a dip in the pool. It was clean and a delightful bathwater temperature. And no clear and present danger of sharks or other aquatic life, if you don’t count Brad and a few other residents of the park.” I also walked the loops in the RV Park looking at the wide variety of RV’s people are driving from the highest end motorhomes to tent trailers and everything in between. We are the only truck camper. Julie notes “No one has come right out and complimented him on his unit but I bet they are admiring it from behind their closed blinds.” We just enjoyed the sunshine and relaxing in the warm dry air and visiting with a few of the folks staying here. Oh yeah, we also worked diligently on updating the blog and trying to get caught up. 😉 Julie notes “He is a real blog task master. ‘Aren’t you done yet? What more could you have to say? Hurry up! Quit calling me the Windmill Man.’ And so on. But my duty is to you the readers so I just let him windmill away while I get the facts to you no matter the cost to me personally.”

I unloaded the camper from the truck so that we would have a vehicle to run around town in and I also need to get some basic servicing done before we head out again.

Our next door neighbours were mother Doris, and daughters Laurie and Linda, from upstate New York on their annual adventure. They were easy to talk to and great neighbours. We had many good visits with them during their stay and shared a lot of laughs. They had a great sense of humour and took everything in stride. Julie notes “We sent them off downtown on the city bus to check things out for us. If they didn’t return they had willed us their deluxe Class B travel van with all the bells and whistles and bathroom and TV and kitchen unit and and and…”

I think Julie is much happier to be here than she looks in this picture; in fact I know it. Julie notes “WTF? (Why The Face?) this time you ask? I think he is probably saying ‘Hurry up it’s your turn to blog!’ Either that or all of this reading in peace and quiet is getting tedious and I am wishing my personal book reader Karen S. would hurry up and arrive.”

Julie working diligently on updating the blog. Julie notes “Nice form eh? Or at least that is what all the guys here are yelling at me as they drive past in their scooters.”

One of the streets in the RV Park. Nice place, if I haven’t said that already.

…that’s all for today folks, over and out, the muleskinner and his sidekick

PS: Kelly, We don’t know what those structures are either so you let us down. We think they are the Mexican equivalent of a teepee or a jungle gym for King Kong, or… Julie notes “or a giant umbrella style clothes line, you would need some industrial sized clothes pins though.”

Day 98 – Wednesday, October 2, 2013

We woke up this morning in the Laredo, TX Walmart parking lot. YeeHaw! After a brief goodbye to Norm and declining a Denny’s breakfast invitation we were on our way (Julie notes “Our guide really seemed to be having some separation anxiety.”); first to find a GIANT cup of coffee with real cream, and then to San Antonio, TX. There was no Tim Horton’s but McDonald’s sell large coffee and real cream and it is quite good. YeeHaw! Julie notes “He actually jumped up and clicked his heels. And managed to not spill a drop of his precious liquid gold.”

It was an easy drive of 250 kilometres, more or less, following I-35 directly from Laredo to San Antonio. Julie notes “As we faced the highway with no backend of an ancient motor home in our range of vision, the iTunes were celebrating right along with us as it pumped out some WTF (Wow That’s Freaky) music related to our new found freedom. Right off the bat ABBA was telling us ‘Well it’s time to go, Breaking up is never easy I know, But I had to go, Knowing me, knowing you, it’s the best I could do.’ Roy Orbison followed up with his heart felt ‘it’s over, it’s OVER, it’s OOOOO-VERRRRRR!!! – budumpbump – IT’S OOOOOOOO-VEEERRRRRR!!!!!’ Then Mary Chapin Carpenter expressed our feelings perfectly when she sang ‘I feel lucky, Oh Ya, I feel lucky today’. Now the iTune shuffle isn’t always perfect. We accepted that Gordie Lightfoot was on the right track when he said ‘Alberta bound, it’s good to be Alberta bound.’ But we beg to differ with the Cowboy Junkies who sang as we pulled into San Antonio ‘This ain’t no long journey home.’ The iTunes shuffle gods were probably just checking to see if we were still paying attention.”

This proves we are back in the USA, specifically Laredo, TX.

We passed by the World Trade Bridge on the way to McAllen and now we were passing it on the way to San Antonio.

We were pulled over by the sheriff just as we arrived at Travelers World RV Park. Julie notes “Wouldn’t you know it! We had just been saying how we had passed through Mexico without any stops from law enforcement this time.”

We registered at the office and got our site and then headed out for the afternoon to run some much needed errands. Julie notes “Someone forgot to mention the part about the clean laundry fairy arriving just in the nick of time so that we could wear clean nickers whilst doing all of the chores listed below. The laundry mat here is very nice and clean and air conditioned and had a TV with CNN playing. I was able to hear over and over and over again, in the couple hours I was there, about the US Government shutdown. Many people affected, least of which us and our quest for national parks and monuments. Just a little wrinkle compared to what we’ve overcome these past few months. We don’t need no stinkin’ parks. We are parking lot warriors now! (Although parks would be nice and we know that the State parks are still open.) And we hope for the benefit all those affected that an agreement is reached soon.”

We found an AT&T outlet and bought a US phone card; had a terrible lunch at the Longhorn Café (Lesson #98A: Use TripAdvisor; Do not rely on the advice of a young phone card salesman to pick a lunch spot.) Julie notes “Right after we received our cell phone card, a survey came in by text regarding the customer service we had received at the outlet. Is it wrong of me to say that Jesse might know about phones but his restaurant recommendations really suck? Let me know because I haven’t filled the survey in yet.”; found the H-E-B grocery store and picked up some food; and found an ATM to get some US cash (Lesson #98B: Do not believe your GPS when trying to find a Bank of America (the bank associated with Scotiabank) – this is the third time we have followed our GPS to a supposed Bank of America location only to find it closed, moved, or never really there. And finally, we found a truck wash to remove a few months of road grime, bugs, and ocean salt from the truck and camper. It was very much needed.

We headed back to the RV Park and had some sandwiches and leftovers. I went for a soak in the outdoor hot tub and a swim in the outdoor pool and enjoyed a real shower. Julie notes “Everyone was happy about that. I am pretty sure I still smell like a princess so will enjoy the shower experience tomorrow.”

We are really glad to be back on our own. It is a relief to be at a nice, clean, well-kept, full service RV Park where we can regroup for a few days and make plans for our next leg of this adventure. I will try to not speak of our guide in future posts until I complete a summary of our experience, once we are back in Grande Prairie. The summary will be mainly for other travelers who are thinking of using Adventuretours and Norman Yelland as a guide. I will try to be objective and point out both the good and bad. Julie notes “Just a warning, the 2 sides of the list may not be equal. I’ll let you presume which one will be longer than the other.”

…carry on folks, the muleskinner and his sidekick

Julie notes “It is very nice here. There are a few restrictions of course and one of them being that I can’t string a line of Brad’s underwear across the lot so that I can get my daily clothes line picture. Another thing missing is a fire pit. I am not sure if you remember back to a campsite near Yellowstone Park where we bought firewood but watched the fireflies and lightening show instead of making a fire. Well we have carried that wood since then, across 13 border crossings and all the mountains, cities and parking lots in between. No-one raised an eyebrow about the Windmill Gringo and his backseat box of wood. I kept saying ‘We need to get rid of that stupid wood. Why are we hauling this stupid wood? Blah, blah, blah wood blahblah blahblah.’ As we are on our last border crossing back into the US, the customs fellow opens our back door, after we’ve answered all of the pertinent questions of what we are carrying and what do we have to claim, etc. He stands up straight and says sternly ‘Where is this wood from?’ I figure ‘Here we go!’ We are going to be stopped at the US border because of this stupid wood. But Brad, still using his windmill actions even though he was speaking English, explained to the young man about purchasing it in the US and never having used it and now returning it to its homeland. The young fellow seemed to think that was a reasonable thing to do. Must be a guy thing and he let us pass the border with the backseat woodpile. So my plan now is to swing by the campground where we bought it, dump it off and see if they’ll give us a $6.00 refund since we didn’t use their product. Might not be doable as we no longer have the original packaging. If that doesn’t work we’ll take it to Walmart. You can return pretty much anything there.”

Day 97 – Tuesday, October 1, 2013

We awoke this morning and departed the Victoria area around 8:00 AM after a little calmer discussion in the morning. Norm let us know how he has seen dead bodies and horror and we have not and therefore somehow our safety was his utmost concern. Hopefully, only one more day with this guy. Julie notes “He told us ‘Even if he doesn’t like us and Brad isn’t a gentleman in his books, he is still going to look out for us’ (like we’ve paid him to). What a saint.”

With that ugly episode behind us and the hopes of being in or near the US today, we were on our way. We travelled from Victoria through Monterey and on to Nuevo Laredo and finally crossed the border into Laredo, TX. Julie notes “I still can’t believe it myself!”

The school was just getting ready to open when we were departing the Victoria area. Julie notes “Well today seemed to be ‘more casual Tuesday’ after the ‘full uniform Monday’ so no shots of the beautiful plaid outfits that the girls were wearing yesterday. A few of the boys in this shot are wearing the red shirts and beige pants or shorts. Up the street behind our camper was a kindergarten on one side and a high school on the other side. Different uniforms for each of those as well. Definitely an easy way to know who was supposed to be where. After travelling and seeing so many kids working when it appeared to be school hours for others I was happy to see all these kids eagerly waiting to get into their school grounds.”

We were greeted with a beautiful sunrise.

Twelve or more guys on their way to work. Julie notes “One of my other obsessions – Modes of human transport. Often hard to get a good snap when we’re rushing down the highway but these fellas (and gal who was the lucky passenger seat traveler this morning) were stopped getting a few snacks for the day. Two or three more fellas climbed into the back and off they went.”

The Red Cross were moving supplies somewhere. We’re not really sure what, where, or why. Julie notes “Maybe our guide hired them in case we needed medical attention. He was very concerned about our safety, pointing out every police car that we encountered yesterday and today, in validation of his choice of routes. We had no problem with his choice of routes. It was well patrolled and the scenery amongst the South Sierra Madres was beautiful. Just quit stalling and get us to the border.”

Some more scenery from northern Mexico. Julie notes “The scenery was beautiful but there were very few chances to get a shot without a power line in it. I think my photographer bother Corrie once told me though, on a trip up to Aylen Lake, ‘those things are part of the scenery too’ so I will try to live by that.”

Our McDonalds lunch stop in Monterey. It appears to be a fairly large modern city with more influence from the US than what you see further south. Julie notes “Nice spot for a city, mountains everywhere you look. (Once you look past the McDonalds, Starbucks and iHop signs, I know Corrie ‘They are part of the scenery too!’ This new mantra is harder than I thought it would be.) Our camera battery died just as we were getting close to the famous Monterrey Saddle Mountain so you can imagine what that looks like or google it.”

North of Monterey to the border is mostly desert.

We can see Laredo across the Rio Grande!

Are we going to have to swim or will we be able to out-smart our guide and get him to cross the border? We indicated that we were OK staying on the Mexico side for the night and then it was his idea to cross into the US. YES! Julie notes “Yes a mix of reverse psychology and several failed attempts to find a parking lot that would let us stay Mexico side for the night. Norm comes up with this great idea that since it is only 4 in the afternoon, let’s cross over into the states. He is a genius! As it turns out his US car insurance doesn’t come into effect until tomorrow so that is possibly why he was trying to hold us hostage one more day in Mexico.”

Approaching the US border Julie notes “Get ready to see the end of ‘the end’ of this motorhome in front of us.”

…and then a complete scan and we were cleared to enter the US of A. Julie notes “I had to disembark as Brad drove through the scanner. I was not allowed to take pictures of the process but again using your imagination, as Brad passes the truck through the machine you could see the whole truck glowing bright orange and then green with puffs of smoke and then I could actually see Brad’s skeletal outline and all his fillings. Well actually I looked the other way so that they couldn’t scan my brainwaves and know what I was thinking so I am not really sure what the whole process looked like. But I bet that that was fairly accurate. I hope it didn’t zap Brad too badly. Emily is still hoping for a little baby sibling. I would need the help of those many Virgin Mary shrines we’ve passed by with perhaps a Mayan fertility idol thrown in for good measure.”

Our guide invited us to join him at a buffet place and we accepted. We thanked him for getting us back to the US safely which he did. We then found the Walmart parking lot for the night. Julie notes “Well we again followed Norm’s lead and parked beside him for the LAST time! We got all comfy and set up and relaxed and security comes and asks us to move. So yes I know what you are all saying, ‘Have they not learned anything in these past 2 months? Why are we still listening to Norm?’ I think we might need some deprogramming.”

Julie kisses the ground showing her thankfulness for being north of the border. Julie notes “It was a symbolic gesture. My lips never touched the asphalt. It was very yucky. And I mean no disrespect to the countries we travelled through. Most of our relief is from finally completing our contract with a certain person and not having that hanging over us anymore. It has caused us much anxiety and many sleepless nights. The other relief is that Brad can finally find a place to order a large coffee and quit whining (a relief to me).”

…over and out, the happy muleskinner and his happy sidekick

Julie notes “Trying to sum up how I feel about our whirlwind journey through Mexico and Central America is hard. I have regrets about what I didn’t do to prepare and how things panned out for us but have no regrets about going on this adventure. We have seen spectacular things, learned from amazing historical sites and fabulous cultural experiences, met wonderful people, laughed with families and gasped at the some of the living conditions we saw, driving past, unable to help the situation even if we stopped. Many smiling faces waved at us as we went past but for every one of those there were the tired and hot people, trying to go about their daily lives, as we roared past them in our air conditioned unit. I don’t blame them at all for not jumping up and down with joy when they saw us coming. From what we saw the people work hard. Everything from getting water to getting wood for the cooking fire to working the fields to getting around in a big city is hard. They love their children and walk or ride or drive them to and from school, holding their hands with their other babes in arms, no fancy strollers. The children often work as well, carrying the empty water jugs, loads of wood, smaller siblings or wares for sale. I have come down with what I think must be photographer’s remorse. Not sure there really is such a thing but I felt it in the pictures that ‘I just missed’ and some that I did take that I felt may have made the subject feel uncomfortable. What we saw was interesting and different to us but we tried not to make people feel like an oddity but there were a couple times that I wished I’d kept my big camera nose to myself. And of course again I must say that I had the princess role in this journey. Brad sweated, lugged, worried, drove both frontwards and backwards and sometimes sideways and managed to get us out of whatever jam we encountered. I can’t thank him enough for that. (Don’t tell him that though as I plan to hold this misadventure over his head for years to come.) We seem to attract misadventures so please stay tuned to our blog as we try to decide ‘what happens in the afterNorm’.”