Texas Get-Away Jan 25-26
5:30 am on a Saturday here in Garner State Park, Texas. The park is more empty than full, although
maybe a dozen folks moved in last night – mostly families with Texas license
plates and a couple from Iowa, like us, escaping the cold.
Yesterday was sunny, 60Fs, a lovely day to work outside with
cleaning the car out completely and using a polish kit on the headlights. It turned out good, but I learned that with
patience I could likely have done it even better. The reviews say you should do it about every
year and so I may get another chance. In
the good old days, lights had glass sealed beams that although they broke
regularly from stones, were clear their whole life. The bulb in reflector plastic lasts longer
but yellows and gets a patina. It came
off fine and we should enjoy night driving now rather than dreading it.
The week ahead is supposed to be 60s and and 70s with
overnight 40s and mostly sunny. Our
camper has no furnace, so we use a small electric space heater that, in spite
of canvas walls, and side roofs keeps us comfortable overnight. Margo, who feels the cold more than I do,
uses the electric blanket and stays warm.
We depend on electricity for our camper.
We could camp without it but would not be very comfortable without our
appliances. We had a sink and counter
two burner gas stove, but removed it, the propane tank and prefer our Coleman
outdoor cooking. We have a small refrigerator,
coffee maker, microwave and toaster inside.
The camper cranks up and folds out two wings. One we use for sleeping and the other for
storage, refrigerator, etc. We have two
facing bench seats and a narrow table that goes between them. We took out the
wider table and made our own of an 18 inch white shelving plank with one end on
the camper end and the other a fold down leg.
Takes up less room and works OK.
We have a 4-drawer plastic cabinet for clothes and towels.
There are two inside drawers for miscellaneous, a few floor cabinets and under
the seat storage bins. Plenty of room
for the gear Outside we have a small
folding plastic cooking table next to the camper and a tub of cooking pots and
pans. I like cooking outside, probably a left over from Scouting days, and like
to have plenty of room and the cooking smells and air free to blow away.
We added an awning we can put over the doorway – really just
a plastic tarp that connects to eyebolts on the camper with two poles and guy
ropes so should it rain we can stick it up and still sit or cook outside. I don’t mind cooking in cold weather outside
either. I probably should get a small
electric oven too so I could bake too.
Generally speaking, if we are where it is mild enough to do
outdoor living (40F or above), we do that and the camper is for sleeping and
morning coffee. We don’t have a TV; do
have a clock radio, and at this park, no cell phone service nor internet. So I work on the computer on projects and
Margo reads a book.
She has “Notes from Little Lakes” by Mel Ellis from the
Milwaukee area. Ellis was a newspaper reporter who wrote a column about a small
wild pond area he built in the Milwaukee suburbs as a get-away from the
city. A few acres he turned screened
with shrubs and trees and a place to sit and muse about natures. I met Margo, from north of Milwaukee, back
in 1970 when we were *had worked as a linotype operator on the Milwaukee
Journal, knew Ellis, and as I helped him and his roommate get up he had his
morning paper and on column days turned to the notes column first. He got me reading it too, and a few years ago
I stumbled on to a book of the columns and bought it. The book reminded me of a friend I made, the
patient Herb who I helped get up most days for 2.5 years.
6:00 AM Sunday
January 26, 2020
We left Wisconsin on Monday, January 20th and
today is the 7th day of our vacation that is likely to last until
the end of February. The first 4 days if
I include the drive from the Farm to Pine our other home in Pine Island, MN,
was in almost trouble free travel to get the 1442 miles to this spot. Tuesday we check on the camper tire spare
replacement. We signed up for 2 weeks at
this park and may stay longer. Another
two weeks here would cost $360 plus $80 for the Texas Pass renewal. That is about $31 per day, twice what we
would pay in Arkansas where the parks are nicer, and we qualify for the
handicap rate. Depends on the weather.
Last year we moved to LA and regretted it because of the almost
continuous heavy rains that miss us in SW TX.
With fine mist and 60s yesterday, we decided to drive to
Uvalde, a town big enough to have all of the chain stores and specialty ones –
probably 10-20,000 folks (here I would have did a “Hey Google, what is the
population of Uvalde, Texas”). We were
looking for a Verizon cell phone signal so I could call the Mayo Clinic Credit
Union and put our card on travel mode as they had emailed us a fraud alert
saying our card had an attempt to use in a Walmart in Texas on Friday. I had to call the fraud division. When we got into Uvalde, the first bars on
the phone service showed up and about 10 blocks into town it peaked, and I made
the call and told them of our trip plans.
I did forget to say I might use it in Mexico, and so will take a few
$20s if we cross.
From Uvalde, it is about an hour drive to the border at Del
Rio or Eagle Pass. Monday, we have
decided to drive the 90 miles to whichever Google says is smaller and safer,
and see about a border crossing tour.
Back in the 1990s, while in southern California, we found a tourist bus
day trip, guided tour that was rather fun and simple and as a first try at anboother
border crossing 25 years later are interested in first trying it an easy
way.
Forty Five years ago, we drove over at Del Rio and a few
other crossings as we toured the whole US southern, western and northern
borders on a Florida to California, to Washington, into Canada and then back to
Wisconsin tent camping in April and May (1973).
Between then and now I think maybe less than half dozen border crossings
– mostly walk across and back. With
Margo not up to walking any distance, we need to think about a bus, taxi,
rowboat etc. A few hours west at Big
Bend National Park you can wade across if it hasn’t rained much or take a row
boat ride, but that is mostly a walking or burro ride, and we aren’t up to that
anymore.
So did we get anything accomplished Saturday? A few shopping items, a thorough car wash in
town, some reading, a little walking, fired up the repaired Coleman and
realized there is a slow leak around where we put in the tank regulator – used
tape and maybe pipe threads is needed.
It doesn’t stop the stove from working, just pools a little fuel around
the threaded area. Made skillet
hamburgers.
Today is starting cloudy and mild – forgot to buy a
thermometer and no hey googling, but probably 50s. Our campsite is nestled adjacent a small
mountain range to the west, and so we are free from Texas winds. Texas is pretty flat in much of the area, but
we are in “Hill country” which means there are limestone hills a few 100 feet
tall, that become mountains to those used to the flatlands. I suppose we are in the edges of the Rockies.
Surely today I will get to working on my Wolf Creek Cemetery
history book. Did some yesterday and
realized that, like all of these undertakings, it will be a lot more work than
I thought. Although I have much of the
information already, putting it together and editing will be pretty
tedious. My goal is Memorial Day, 2020,
to sell it at the program at the Cemetery.
I think it will cost about $10 to print and if we sell it for $20 each,
can make some money to pay for cemetery maintenance. I don’t want it to be an obituary collection,
but rather chapters on early pioneers to the area, some individuals and some
families that with the person or family we can explain a part of the history of
our part of the St Croix Valley.
For instance—the Lagoo family represents both Native
American and Canadian voyageurs. The
Blairs, the post Civil War veterans getting free land by homesteads. The Brenizers, the influx of Iowans about
1900 as what I could call “second growth” settlement. The Orrs and Rogers the early loggers from
Canada or out East. The Deneens, the
earliest business folks with the Wolf Creek Dam and mill. The Englins, the Scandinavian
homesteaders. Some of the se families
have already been part of my history collecting, and so putting them together
for early history and then looking at farmers, peace officers (George Booth as
sheriff shot a man), the odd fellows, the babies, the veterans of all the wars,
and so on. It is overwhelming but if I
put little pieces I have already, add some of the new research in the 9 months
I have been Sexton, and just get at it, I think it could be decent.
Of course, what sells books is if your family is mentioned,
and so we must do lots of that!!!
Spent a few hours renewing the Impala headlights. They were yellow and quite opague, making
night driving bad. I bought a $20 NuLens
kit and the battery drill along and
although didn’t do it perfectly, came out with a much brighter night driving
experience.
