St Croix River Road Ramblings

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Friday, January 24, 2020

2020 Wisconsin to Texas





It is 6 am, January 24, 2020 and I have already been up half hour here at Garner State Park in SW Texas.   We got into the park about 7 pm, setup the camper and unloaded after dark – although with the car lights and then the camper lights once we got it rolled up, it wasn’t working in the dark.  However, the first setup after a year of it being parked is always complicated as we notice some mustiness and mildew.  This year when I put it away, it will be in the garage, well aired out and a couple of pillowcases with the silica gel dessicant kitty litter to keep it dry.
We were behind nearly 2 hours from our planned arrival at 5 pm.  Two things got in the way – a stop for grocery shopping to get the first week’s food before we arrived rather than the next day – as the local town of Leakey (pronounced Lakey) hasn’t much selection, and a tire blew on the camper about 4 pm, and that took time to change.

We left Wisconsin, Monday January 20th, and drove 120 miles south to our MN home in Pine Island where we got the snow-blower out and cleared the driveway, did a little maintenance and then Tuesday left just at light and drove 500 miles before finding a $64 overnight Motel in Kansas SE of Kansas City an hour or so.  We had driven out of the snow as we entered KS, but Wednesday morning it has slushed about an inch and at 32 could have been slippery, but the warmer pavement melted it and we cruised all day long putting in just under 400 miles to stay at a $44 motel in Oklahoma (just north of the TX border). 

Getting  up early on Thursday, with the intent of making 420 miles to the park – driving SW across much of Texas, we cruised along nicely and were on schedule to arrive at 5 pm when we heard some rumbling behind, the car started sort of surging and looking back through the mirror I saw a chunk of rubber fly up.  Now we were doing 70mph on a Farm to Market Road (like a county road) where the speed limit was 75 and folks were driving 80.  We pulled over to see the rear trailer tire shredded completely.  

I had a brand new spare on the back of the camper.  The tire that blew was the last of the 30 year old originals, and I figured just a short stop to swap tires.  Well, when I got out my wrenches, I found, like Goldilocks, one was too big and one was too small and none were just right.  And where was my 4 ended fast tire wrench? – at home on the truck seat where I left it to remind me to put it in the camper.  And where was my 13/16 socket?  Not along—I think Margo had borrowed it to repair the kitchen Mix Master and not put it back! 

So, after a thorough search, some self-condemnations, I unhooked the trailer and was about to drive 5 miles ahead to the next town and get a socket – buy, borrow, beg or steal. Just then an older pickup and a gentleman inside pulled across the lane and parked behind me and asked if I needed help.   “A 13/16 wrench is what I need!”

He had one of those 4 ended tire wrenches and helped us change the tire while visiting.  He said I could get a spare in town at the first gas station/tire shop.  I tried to give him $20 for his help, but although he wouldn’t take that, he did take a pint of maple syrup.  We have noticed in our years of traveling and tire troubles, that the folks who stop to help are those who undoubtedly have had the experience of driving on tires that are not as good as they should be; not those with nice cars or trucks and not those who can afford to call the road-side service to bail them out. 

I have had tire troubles on every trip taken for years, sometimes of my own making as in this old tire and letting Google maps gps take me through the shortest driving routes that put us on too many back roads – scenic, traffic free, fast, but probably more tire-flattening debris.   No tire in town, so drove the last hour into the park at 60 mph and got here after hours.  That way you just set up someplace empty (the park is mostly empty this time of year) and then register in the morning and hope the site is not reserved sometime in the future so you have to move everything.

Absolutely no cell phone signal and no wifi at the campsite –A36--we picked.  However, we will likely drive the 7 miles to the local town and either hit the laundromat, restaurant or library to post that we made it to our destination for the next few weeks.
The mileage counter says 1442 miles since the Farm.  The first day was 120 to Pine Island.  Then roughly 500, 400, 420.  The car mileage was about 17 mpg bucking a south wind of 10-15 the whole way—which means about 85 gallons of gas.  Gas ranged from 239 in WI and MN to 1.99 in one gas station in OK, but mostly 2.20 south of Iowa.  So with that estimate of about $190 for gas to drive here.  The motels add up to $108.  Meals on the road about $75.  We will have to buy a new tire for the camper – maybe $50.  So to get here totals about $425. We can guess that the return trip will be around $400.  So the travel cost is not too far under $1000. 

The next cost is two weeks of camping here at the Park.  Can’t remember the fee, but probably $20 per night – will find out later this morning. That would mean a 30-day stay in TX would cost about $600. And while here we will do some driving around, some shopping, etc., but that will be likely not a whole lot different than if we were back home—so won’t count that against the vacation.  My current estimate is that the whole month away will be about $2000.  There are a lot of things that the $2000 could have bought to make winter in WI and MN easy, but I just wouldn’t have spent it.  Now that we are here, I don’t have much choice!   For me, money was hard to come by the first 1/2 of my life, and so after I finally got a decent paying job, I never really felt like I should spend it on frivolities like travel.

 We also bought $75 of food for the week ahead, but that we would buy whether we were at home or not, so won’t count that against the vacation. 
Driving yesterday we had about 55F temperatures, sunny and pleasant.  Here in the Park we are supposed to see 60s to 70 with 40s overnight.  Last night and this morning the sky was absolutely clear and even with a few nearby lights from the bathroom and a handful of fellow campers, we could see the stars and constellations wonderfully. 
Today we look for a camper tire, look for a 13/16 deep socket, air out the camper, clean out the car and organize it and the camper as compactly and neatly as we can, and settle in for some day strolls, and begin vacation intently while spending frugally. 

Breakfast today is toasted bagels, coffee, and a banana, that is if I can find where the coffee maker is, where the coffee is, where the toaster is etc.  I have them packed in camper cubbyholes and the coffee in one of my clothes duffle bags.