Category Archives: Western RV/Alpine Coach

Birds and Birthdays

The weather has improved considerably over the last few days. We’ve had lots of sunshine and a lot less humidity. On Tuesday, we had a few sprinkles of rain, nothing measurable. Donna went to the community pool and swam laps on Tuesday morning. I puttered around at the RV park. I ventured out at one point to pick up a few things at the store.

My daughter Jamie and Francisco came up from Robstown a little after 3pm. We drove to the south side of Rockport to hit happy hour at Paradise Key Dockside Bar and Grill. The bar and grill used to be located on Key Allegro, which is an island on the north end of Rockport – it was called Paradise Key Island Grill at that time. The new location with the name changed is on a cove off Aransas Bay.

I can hear Jimmy Buffet

I can hear Jimmy Buffet

The coastal bend area of Texas is home to the Great Texas Birding Trail. At any time of the year, over 100 species of birds can be found here. In the winter, it’s home to the endangered whooping crane. Whooping cranes are the tallest North American bird. By 1941, unregulated hunting and loss of habitat had the whooping crane on the brink of extinction. There were just 21 wild birds and two in captivity at that time. Today, more than 200 whooping cranes winter in the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge from November to April. Then they migrate north to their breeding grounds in Canada. Sandhill cranes, which are almost as large as whooping cranes, are also found here.

At the Paradise Key Dockside Bar and Grill, there is a bird watching platform at the end of the parking lot. It’s one of many bird viewing areas we’ve seen around here, but the first we’ve visited.

Bird watching platform

Bird watching platform

We stood on the platform for a few minutes and saw egrets, herons, gulls and pelicans. The pelicans we saw were smaller brown pelicans. The pelicans along the California coast are a larger sub-species. White pelicans can also be found along the Texas coastal bend, but we didn’t see any.

Brown pelican soaring past the platform

Brown pelican soaring past the platform

We watched the birds soaring on the wind currents, hunting for fish before we made our way inside. We sat out back on the deck. The deck overlooks a slough off the cove. There’s a marina in the distance. Boats cruised to the dock below and the occupants tied up there while they came in for a drink or bite to eat. On the weekends, there is live music on the deck.

View from the deck

View from the deck

We enjoyed a platter of tortilla chips with artichoke-crab dip and a couple of drinks while we took in the view and talked. Jamie and Francisco wanted to treat us to dinner. We thought about ordering dinner there, but decided to try another place that Donna’s friend, Dina Martin, another full-time RVer had suggested. She and her husband are from The Woodlands, Texas and spent a lot of time in Rockport.

We drove back into town and went to The Boiling Pot near Fulton. This is a funky, casual Cajun-style place. Once you’re seated, they cover your table with butcher paper and tie a plastic bib around your neck. Most of the items on the menu, such as crab, crawfish or sausage is served (dumped) on the butcher paper without a plate! Their signature entree is a combination plate featuring blue crab – but they were out of blue crab. We weren’t very hungry after the chips and dip, so three of us settled for gumbo and Jamie ordered red beans and rice with half a pound of boudin sausage. The food was good and the gumbo was enough for Donna and me. I don’t know if Francisco had enough to eat, but he didn’t complain.

We came back to our place and talked into the night. Jamie had brought two bottles of Tavel she found in Corpus Christi. Donna opened one. Jamie also picked up four large chocolate truffles that we enjoyed for dessert.

Wednesday was Donna’s birthday. She went to the community pool and swam a mile to celebrate her birthday. She hung out for a while at the pool afterward. She met a woman there and they sat in the sun and talked. Donna’s sporting a bit of sunburn today.

We went out for her birthday dinner. Donna chose Latitude 28°-02′. This is an upscale restaurant in Rockport. It’s also an art gallery. During the day, half of the building houses the art gallery. In the evening, the art gallery is used for dining. There’s another dining area that’s not part of the gallery. They serve seafood and steaks.

We both went for the seafood. Donna had blackened grouper with chipotle crawfish cream sauce. I had fish oscar which was made with the catch of the day – fresh red snapper – with crab meat, asparagus and hollandaise sauce on top. Both dishes were served with green beans and orzo on the side. My snapper was slightly overcooked, but otherwise delicious. The portions were larger than they appeared – Donna brought half of her fish home.

Happy birthday Donna

Happy birthday, Donna!

After dinner, we came home and watched a couple of episodes of Homeland. We enjoy the series although I have trouble sometimes with the unrealistic premise of the plot. That’s TV though – sometimes you have to overlook things since most shows can be picked apart.

Yesterday was also my youngest daughter Shauna’s birthday. She couldn’t enjoy her birthday much last year as it was her first day working as an intern at the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C. This year finds her back in D.C. studying for her bar exam. Happy birthday, Shauna.

Texas Flood

In yesterday’s post, I wrote about heavy rains overnight and standing water. I should have said how thankful I am. The brunt of the storm hit along a corridor running from San Antonio to Austin, Texas. I mentioned Donna’s friend, Kathy Palmer, being evacuated from the RV park they were staying at in San Marcos, Texas.

The RV park was the Pecan Park Riverside RV and Cabins. It’s on the bank of the Blanco River. The Blanco River was about five feet deep last week. It’s considered to be at flood stage when it reaches 13 feet. On Sunday night, the river crested at 40 feet. It flooded the RV park. Everything in the park was destroyed – the cabins, RVs left there, the site infrastructure and the park owner’s home. I lifted a few pictures of Pecan Park Riverside RV from this site.

RVs tossed aside by flood water

RVs tossed aside by flood water

5_26PcnRV2

5_26PcnRV3

Thankfully no one was injured as everyone was evacuated in time. That can’t be said for everyone along the storm path.

Two families were reported to be staying in a vacation home on the Blanco River. The home was lifted off its foundation by the flood water and the house smashed into a bridge, completely obliterating it. Twelve people are missing and presumed dead.

Foundation and debris are all that's left of this vacation home

Foundation and debris are all that’s left of this vacation home

The wind, tornados and flooding damaged or destroyed more than 1,000 homes. Four people were confirmed dead, killed by the storm. Our thoughts go out to those who’ve suffered from this storm.

Fulton Crawfish Boil

After I wrote yesterday’s post, I took a walk through the RV park. The soil here usually drains quickly. But hours after the storm passed through, we still had standing water. Overnight, 1.52″ of rain fell, bringing the month-to-date total up to 6.66″, more than double the average rainfall for the month of May.

Standing water several hours after the storm

Standing water several hours after the storm

When I hand washed our coach last week, the hard water left water spots from mineral deposits. One benefit of the storm was the low PH of the rain water. Around here, the average rain water PH is 4.9, meaning the water is acidic – a PH of 7 is neutral, higher is alkaline and lower is acidic. The slightly acidic rain water washed the mineral deposits from the coach. We don’t have any water spots on the glass or paint after the storm. I’ll still go over the coach with waterless cleaner as it leaves a protective film on the paint.

Today is Memorial Day, a day to give thanks to all who served our country. We went to a charity fundraiser crawfish boil yesterday to support a group called the Coastal Bend Troop Support. They send care packages to troops deployed overseas and assist troops returning from combat with post traumatic stress syndrome.

The crawfish boil was similar to the event we attended a year ago in Heber City, Utah, but not as fancy. For $20 each, we got a crawfish flat, which is a cardboard soda case (flat) filled with crawfish, five jumbo shrimp, potatoes, corn and andouille sausage.

Crawfish flat

Crawfish flat

It seemed like a lot of food, but it takes a lot of crawfish to supply a small amount of meat. After picking up your flat, everyone was seated cafeteria style in the Fulton Convention Center Paws and Taws. The convention center title seems to be a little ambitious – it’s more of a community center or auditorium.

The convention center was created by a group of square dancers from Rockport, the Paws and Taws square dance club. They incorporated the club, raised funds, leased the property from the town of Fulton and began building the center in November of 1964. The grand opening dance was July 10, 1965 and 340 square dancers attended.

For this event, the Coastal Bend Troop Support organization had the walls covered with Memorial Day posters and displays.

Display at the back of the stage

Display at the back of the stage

Wall poster

Wall poster

Display commemorating local veterans

Display commemorating local veterans

We found a table and sat with a couple from the area. They spent three years living on a 44′ sport fishing boat. They cruised from Rockport to the Bahamas and south Florida before coming back and moving into a conventional house. Now they spend January and February in The Keys and the hot summer months in Taos, New Mexico. We had an interesting conversation, but we never got their names before they left.

Another couple joined our table. He is the publisher of the Rockport Pilot, a local Aransas County newspaper. She is the president of the Rockport-Fulton Chamber of Commerce. They’ve lived in Rockport for 30 years and take frequent weekend getaways, often flying to the west coast. We enjoyed conversation with them as we finished eating.

After we finished our lunch, we took a walk out on the Fulton fishing pier. The pier is constructed from wood and is about a quarter of a mile long.

A laughing gull on the rail as we head out on the pier

A laughing gull on the rail as we head out on the pier

We walked to the end of the pier and saw a few people fishing. A woman reeled in a small catfish as we approached.

View of the Fulton Convention Center from the end of the pier

View of the Fulton Convention Center from the end of the pier

Then we rode the scooter on Fulton Beach Road until it became Broadway in Rockport. This was a scenic ride and we found shops and restaurants along the way. There are many nice houses along the waterfront. We hadn’t been to this part of town before. Donna has a 25-mile bike ride mapped out that includes this stretch of highway. Now that we’ve driven it though, she’s not sure about cycling it as the road is narrow and there is no shoulder. Perhaps the road will be quiet enough after the holiday weekend.

By the time we returned to the RV park, the skies had cleared. Although it was windy, it was the nicest weather we’ve had since we’ve been in Texas. The forecast calls for a chance of thundershowers every day for the foreseeable future. We’ll be here for another week and hope for the best.

Aransas Pass

Flexibility is a good trait when you live in an RV. Right now, our daily plans change from hour to hour depending on the weather. I don’t particularly like planning my activities around thunderstorms, but that’s the lot we drew when we booked time here in Rockport, Texas.

I expected more thunderstorms in the afternoon yesterday. We wanted to get out and explore the area. At 11am, we rode the scooter into the historic downtown Rockport neighborhood. One of the things we had in mind was a visit to the aquarium. Admission is free, but we found out that the museum hours are 1pm to 4pm daily except for Tuesday and Wednesday when they’re closed.

We kicked around downtown and shopped at a health food store. It was housed in half of a duplex, I’m assuming the proprietors live in the other half. There are a few funky little shops along six blocks or so of Austin Street. We took a look around the marina which had just about every type of boat imaginable docked there.

Then we decided to blast down the TX35 business route to Aransas Pass, about 12 miles south of Rockport. I thought Aransas Pass was a larger town than Rockport, but it really isn’t. Aransas Pass has about 500 fewer people than the population of 8,700 in Rockport. There wasn’t anything too exciting to see in Aransas Pass. We did find a couple of fish mongers with fresh seafood from the gulf. We stopped for lunch at the Bakery Cafe on the recommendation of a woman at one fish market.

The Bakery Cafe is a historic diner. It first opened in 1929. A short video of this small-town Texas diner can be found here. Donna and I both ordered the fried whitefish. I had mine with fries making it a fish and chips plate while Donna had a baked potato and salad with hers. The batter was fried to a nice crispy outer coating with moist, tender fish inside. It was a good choice for lunch.

After dining, we headed back to Rockport. We needed to do a little grocery shopping at HEB and I wanted to be back at the RV park by 2pm. The weather forecast called for thundershowers around that time. On the way back, we stopped at a little community on Aransas Bay on the east side of the highway south of Rockport. This community reminded me of Florida. The houses next to the bay are elevated on stilts. The rows of houses on roads perpendicular to the waterfront are separated by canals. Each home has its own boat dock in back on the canal. Some of the homes are large and obviously very expensive.

Aransas Bay near Estes Cove

Aransas Bay near Estes Cove

House on stilts next to the bay

House on stilts next to the bay

Canals separate the streets

Canals separate the streets

It was an interesting neighborhood. I think some of the houses are seasonal second homes while others are occupied year-round.

We made it back to the park around 2pm. I covered the scooter and by 2:30pm we had raindrops. It wasn’t anything too big, just a passing shower. By 5pm, the skies were only partly cloudy, but we knew a big storm was coming. We originally planned to grill a pork tenderloin, but with the iffy weather, Donna put it in the slow cooker with salsa earlier in the day and made a taco casserole with it.

We watched a few episodes of Homeland before we called it a night. We’re almost through season one and we are both really enjoying this Showtime series. At 2am, the storm woke me up. There was so much lightning that it was light outside with flashes of darkness. The rain was pouring down, mixed with hail for a while. The wind rocked our coach. I got up and looked everything over. It was a big storm but we were secure and dry.

Weather radar app with alerts and warnings

Weather radar app with alerts and warnings

This morning the rain has stopped, but there’s a lot of standing water in the area. Donna’s friend, Kathy Palmer, and her husband were in an RV park in San Marcos, Texas – between San Antonio and Austin. Late last night, they were told to prepare for evacuation and ended up having to leave around midnight because the river was expected to flood their park. They were relocated to a Walmart parking lot along with about 50 other RVs. This morning, the Walmart lot is flooded and rigs are stranded there with water up to the axles.

The forecast says we’ll stay dry until the early afternoon today. If it pans out, we might head over to Fulton for a crawfish boil. We had a great time when we went to the crawfish festival in Heber City, Utah on Memorial Day weekend last year. We don’t know what this one will be like, but if it’s anything like Heber City, it will be fun.

Family Picnic

Donna took her bike out to battle the wind, heat and humidity on Wednesday. In the end, the 89-degree temperature with humidity over 70% nearly did her in. She wasn’t feeling well after an hour on the bike and called it quits after 15 miles.

I kicked back and read a book. Later, I scootered into town to pick up a couple of things. First, I wanted to see if I could find a bottle of wine – Tavel wine. Tavel is a rosé from the southern Rhone region of France. I enjoyed it on summer afternoons when I traveled through south France in 2004. After I met Donna in Arizona, I introduced her to Tavel. Served chilled, it’s a refreshing drink on a hot afternoon. Donna had a hankering for Tavel so I went in search of a bottle.

No luck finding Tavel in Rockport, Texas. I checked the grocery store on Tuesday and yesterday, I tried Spanky’s Liquor. The clerk asked me what I was looking for, then she entered it into her computer which was linked to 11 liquor stores. None of them stocked Tavel. I’ll keep an eye out for it as we travel.

I stopped at HEB and bought a watermelon and some ice cream. Donna was cooking all afternoon. She prepared smoky baked beans (a new recipe she wanted to try), coleslaw, cornbread and a cucumber, tomato and feta salad. She also made a big batch of guacamole and cut up some jicama for fresh fries. We were having guests over for dinner.

My middle daughter Jamie lives in Robstown – about 50 miles south of Rockport. She drove up with her significant other, Francisco and his four children – Jennalee, Trey, Rayleen, and Ariana. They arrived around 5pm. After a tour of the coach, we walked down to the pavilion by the dock and had appetizers.

Snacks at the picnic pavillion by the bay

Snacks at the picnic pavilion by the bay

Another view of our group at the pavillion

Another view of our group at the pavilion

Trey and Ariana cooled off with a dip in the pool. It was our first time meeting Francisco and the kids and we enjoyed getting to know each other. We just saw Jamie a few weeks ago in San Diego, but it was good to see her again with her family.

After a while, Donna and Jamie walked back to our site and brought our picnic dinner fixings back to the pavilion. We sat and talked for a while before heading back to our site to have some watermelon and ice cream at the picnic table there. That’s when the mosquitos started eating me alive. There are large black mosquitos here that have a stinging bite. My ankles and arms are covered with mosquito bites. We were so spoiled in San Diego – I didn’t see any mosquitos or biting insects there. No bugs in Arizona either!

Texas sized mosquito

Texas sized mosquito

About the time the mosquitos were were starting to drive me mad, our guests were ready to hit the road and head home.

Donna and I capped the night off by watching a new to us series called Homeland. The first episode was interesting and we plan to watch the entire series – we have four seasons on the hard drive that Joel Myaer loaded with video for us.

Jamie and Francisco may come back today. If so, we’ll go into town and poke around – maybe go to the aquarium.

The Road to Copano

I mentioned in my last post that we had a plan to back the coach out of our tight site and hook up the trailer. The plan worked perfectly and Donna had me lined up exactly where I wanted to be to connect the trailer to the coach. Pre-planning maneuvers like this is a good idea. Communication is important. Donna understood what I wanted to do and was able to direct me into position with a handheld Cobra CB radio.

I had programmed our GPS to route us from north Houston to Rockport and avoid tolls. I didn’t want to repeat the situation in Austin where we were on a toll road that didn’t have toll booths. You needed a TxTag pass or know how to pay via mail on that road.

The slog through Houston wasn’t much fun, but at least the rain had stopped. Large urban areas are never fun to drive through in a big rig. Houston is the fourth largest city in the USA and has the traffic to prove it. After about an hour, we we were on US59 and heading out of the city. From there it became rural and we rolled along on Texas highways. The traffic was light. The speed limits are a little over the top on some of these two-lane Texas highways. A 70mph speed limit with gas station and restaurant driveways and no slow down lane to exit the highway or acceleration lane to enter the highway doesn’t seem too good to me.

Unlike west Texas, the highways have few rest areas or roadside tables to stop at in this area. I drove for more than two hours before pulling over in the town of Palacios for a comfort break. That’s the nice thing about motorhome travel – if you need a restroom break, just pull over and walk back to the restroom!

We made our way 200 miles to the Copano Bay RV Resort and pulled in. The entrance is poorly marked without any directional signs telling you which way to go to stop and check-in. There are two roads into the park, one to the right of the entrance and one to the left with a building in the middle. I saw the office to the right and cranked the wheel hard right at the entrance, but there was a stone planter in front of the building in the center that made it too tight to complete the turn. I started to back up but was mindful of the trailer jack-knifing and also needed to know if the road was clear.

A man and a woman came out of the office and signaled us to go to the left. Donna got out of the coach to check if the trailer was in danger of jack-knifing against the right rear corner of the coach. The man told Donna he would direct me, so Donna didn’t signal me. The man also didn’t give me any signal, so I didn’t move. The guy looked irritated by my lack of movement. Donna could see this wasn’t working, so she came back inside and picked up her handheld CB radio. Aha – communication. She told me to back up slowly and stopped me when the trailer was close to touching the corner of the coach. At that point I had enough room to crank a hard left and enter the park on the left side of the building.

We walked to the office to check in and the lady asked if I would like to be moved into a long pull-through site instead of the back-in site that was reserved for us. I said that would be perfect. She set us up in what is essentially two back-to-back sites on a continuous concrete pad. She told us both sites were ours for the next two weeks and no one would move-in behind us. Nice!

Our double pull-through site

Our double pull-through site

It was nearly 90 degrees out with high humidity. I hooked up our power so Donna could start the air conditioners and we were set up in no time. Later we took a walk to the west end of the park where there’s a small (very small) swimming pool and a fishing pier. We saw a number of jellyfish in the Salt Lake, which is really a cove off Copano Bay.

On Tuesday morning, it was time to remove 1,500 miles worth of grime from the coach. Traveling in rainy weather left a real mess on the coach, not to mention all the bugs on the front cap. I went to the office and paid $10 for the privilege of washing my own coach. I can understand RV parks not wanting everyone to pull in and wash their coach – it takes a lot of water. But I don’t think it takes $10 worth of water. I think they charge that much to discourage people from washing in the park. We really needed a wash though. Donna went for a 5-mile walk and then hit the exercise room to do strength training while I worked on the coach.

I spent the next 135 minutes hand washing the coach with car wash soap and water. It looks much better but the hard water left spots. I’ll go over it again in a few days with a waterless product. I use a product from Super Seal called The Solution. It works really well – it will remove the water spots and leave a nice shine. With the coach clean, I installed the front window shades and tire covers.

Donna made a salad for lunch and served it with a soup she made Monday night. The soup is a carrot-ginger soup with dollop of coconut cream. It was delicious – you wouldn’t know it was carrot-based. It tasted like something you would get in a Thai restaurant. She got the recipe from her mother.

Carrot-ginger soup

Carrot-ginger soup

After a shower and lunch, I rode the scooter into town for a look around. I bought a case of water at Walmart. Later, Donna and I took another scooter ride and checked out the funky downtown area and waterfront in Rockport. We stopped for groceries at HEB and found it to be a nicely stocked, large store. Much nicer than the HEB in Austin. Donna bought New York strip steaks that I grilled for dinner.

New York strips hot off the grill

New York strips hot off the grill

Donna served it smothered in sauteed mushrooms and onions, a baked potato with crumbled bacon on top and steamed asparagus on the side.

There's a steak under those mushrooms and onions

There’s a steak under those mushrooms and onions

We’ve had mostly cloudy skies with 70% humidity and temperatures in the mid 80s. The skies are supposed to clear up this afternoon but there’s always a chance of a thundershower around here. Since I just washed the coach, I’m guessing we’ll see a thundershower soon.

 

 

Those Dreaded Struvites

After I posted to the blog on Sunday morning, Donna went outside to complete her exercise challenges and walk laps of the RV park. I was still thinking about the Ironman announcer the day before saying, “Allen Hutchinson from Royal Oak, Michigan, you are an Ironman!” as he crossed the finish line. That was the sixth time Allen heard that announcement. What an amazing accomplishment.

On Saturday evening, after the Ironman event, we stopped at the HEB store (a Texas grocery/pharmacy chain) and picked up a few items. One of the things I bought was a can of white corn. The guy at RV park office told me that white corn was a very effective bait for fishing in the stocked lake. I’d never heard of using corn before. He cautioned that white corn was the choice, not yellow corn.

I broke out my fishing rod Sunday morning and tried fishing the lake right in front of our site. The white corn was extremely effective – but it was also problematic. It comes off the hook easily and smaller fish can steal the bait. I had hits as soon as my rig hit the water, but sometimes it was small fish stealing the bait. The trick was to place the bait in the right spot in the water. The pond had a lot of algae and aquatic vegetation. I found if I could place my bait near deeper water right on the edge of the vegetation, I would find the larger fish.

I caught a few fish at our site – one was a really good sized bluegill. I moved to another part of the lake and caught and released a few more. Later, I caught a couple more bluegill at our site and Donna snapped a photo of a typical bluegill – some of the fish I caught were bigger and some smaller.

Average size bluegill from the stocked pond

Average size bluegill from the stocked pond

I rode the scooter over to the store to get eggs (something we forgot the day before), then stowed it in the trailer. I was just in time. The wind kicked up and rain drops started falling just as I locked the trailer doors.

Yep, more nasty weather

Yep, more nasty weather

We’re not supposed to spend this much time in bad weather – we’re mobile after all. We’ve had rain 9 out of the last 10 days. This is the most rain we’ve seen since we were in Great Falls, Montana last summer.

While it was storming, I watched the Moto GP race from Le Mans, France that I recorded earlier. By the time the race was over, it had stopped raining. This was timely as it allowed me to grill boneless chicken thighs that Donna had prepared by brushing them with olive oil and fresh herbs. She served the chicken with lemon jasmine brown rice and fresh green beans topped with chopped kalamata olives.

Excellent fare on the picnic table

Excellent fare on the picnic table

I felt groggy when I got out of bed Monday morning. The overnight thunderstorms with endless bolts of lightning and cracks of thunder interrupted my sleep. The storm continued through breakfast.

At 10am, I donned a hat and told Donna I needed to go outside and start prepping for travel. As I disconnected our water line, the rain stopped. I had everything put away and fired up the Cummins ISL diesel powerplant before 11am. We had a plan for getting out of our site and hooking up the trailer and it worked perfectly.

I must digress before I continue to chronicle our travels. Our full-time RV living over the last 22 months has provided many learning experiences. One of the things I’m always learning about is something most people don’t want to think about. I’m talking about our holding tanks and dealing with waste water. I’ve tried many tank treatments with mixed results. I reported about it in this post.

Although I thought Happy Camper was the best I’d tried, I always remember the old motorcycle racing mantra – the best you’ve tried is the best you know (meaning there may be something better out there you’ve yet to try).  I was still somewhat disappointed in a couple of areas with Happy Camper. One – although all of the treatments claim to lubricate and enhance the seals in the system, I always found that the chemicals used tended to leave deposits on the toilet seal and it would start to leak after a few weeks. Having the water leak out of the toilet meant it was no longer sealed from the sewage system. I would mitigate this by putting a few ounces of vegetable oil in the toilet for a couple of days every two or three weeks.

The other issue was odor. All the treatments claim they eliminate odor. But the truth is, when you are in an area with high ambient temperatures, after five to seven days, the odor is present when you flush the toilet. So you’re left with the option of dumping the tank every five to seven days.

I’m going to tell you about a product that I have no affiliation with. Their success does nothing for me (other than I’d like to see their product become more easily available). When we were in Casa Grande in January, I met a guy in the RV park who had an alternative tank additive that he sold. I was skeptical (people used to call me Skeptical Mike).

This product is marketed by a company called Tank Techs. They specialize in high-pressure flushing of holding tanks. The thing that caught my eye about their approach was the mention of struvites. Their core business is the mechanical removal of struvites from holding tanks.

Then they worked with a probiotic firm to develop a new treatment. The mention of probiotics and other buzz words heightened my skepticism. It’s chemical-free and uses enzymes and bacterial action to treat the tank. This product not only controls odors and breaks down solids – including paper – it can break down struvites.

As always, I wanted proof. Our holding tank sensors have never worked right since we bought the coach. This isn’t uncommon. Conventional wisdom says paper is contaminating the sensors.

The guy who sold me the treatment called Tank Techs RX  told me I could see if I had struvites and if the product was working by watching the discharge. If I saw a white or gray sandy discharge from the gray tank, struvites were breaking up. I saw this within two treatments.

Before we left the Northlake RV Resort, I checked the tank levels on our control panels. Shazzam! The gray water and black water sensors were working after four and half months of using Tank Techs RX. Those dreaded struvites had broken down and the sensors were working.

There may be other products that work as well, but I can only say this is an unsolicited testimonial and I’m totally sold on this product. I’m also glad to see our tank sensors working.

I’ll add more about our trip to Rockport, Texas in my next post. Here’s a photo from our new location with the sun setting over water to the west. Not a very dramatic photo, but it’s nice to be parked next to a body of water. The sunset here is over the Salt Lake which isn’t Utah’s Great Salt Lake but an inlet off  Copano Bay in southeast Texas.

5_18saltlk

It’s not raining

The Woodlands

Our plan Friday was to go to The Woodlands and meet Allen and Crystal Hutchinson for lunch at the Olive Garden. Allen is here to compete in the Ironman Texas triathlon. Ironman triathlons are grueling endurance contests. The total distance raced is 140.6 miles – 2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles bicycling and a marathon distance 26.2-mile run.

We thought about taking the scooter, but the weather forecast called for a thunderstorm. I could see severe weather to the west of us on the weather radar. It looked like it would hit the area around 2pm. We decided to take an Uber ride 12 miles up the highway to The Woodlands.

The Woodlands is an upscale master planned community 28 miles north of downtown Houston on I-45. It’s heavily forested and its subdivisions and shopping areas are mostly hidden from the main roads by trees. It has an area of about 44 square miles, most of which is land. There’s a lake (Woodlands Lake) and a canal connecting the lake with a smaller body of water called The Woodlands Waterway.

The Uber car dropped us off at the Olive Garden at 12:35pm – we were a few minutes late. I had texted Allen and thought they were in the restaurant waiting for us. Donna and I walked through the restaurant searching for them but didn’t find them. We came back to the lobby and wondered if there was more than one Olive Garden in the area. I sent another message to Allen just as he and Crystal walked in the door. Since I told him we were running late, they had decided to go fill up at a nearby gas station.

We ordered our lunch and talked for over an hour while we dined. Allen eats a very controlled diet before the race. He ordered spaghetti with tomato marinara – he avoids meat the day before a race. This will be his fifth Ironman event. We saw him compete in his first Ironman triathlon in Lake Placid, then we saw him last summer in Couer d’Alene. He also competed in Florida and Louisville.

After lunch, we all rode in Allen’s VW Tiguan as he gave us a tour of the area. There are many high-end shops in The Woodlands – it’s all very upscale. The neighborhoods are home base for many professional athletes from the NFL, MLB and the PGA.

We stopped at the Northshore Park where the Ironman event will start. They begin the 2.4-mile swim heading south along the west side of the lake for nearly a mile. Then they turn around and come back along the east side of the lake.

View of the lake from the starting area - yellow buoys mark the first leg

View of the lake from the starting area – yellow buoys mark the first leg

After they turn around and come back, they enter the canal and continue swimming to the transition area where they switch to bicycles. The canal is lined with shops and restaurants and has walking paths alongside, much like the Riverwalk in San Antonio.

the yellow boat is at the canal entrance

Orange buoys mark the return course up the lake, the yellow boat is at the canal entrance

The bicycle course is one lap and doesn’t offer much opportunity for spectators to cheer on their favorite competitors.

The running portion goes along the canal paths and makes three loops. This will be the best place to see the competitors. The canal is lower than the surrounding terrain and is lined with buildings. There isn’t likely to be much air circulation. The humidity along the canal will be stifling. At that point of the competition, I think Allen will already have nearly seven hours of exertion behind him. The 26- mile run will be brutal.

A thunderstorm hit as Allen was giving us the driving tour. He drove Donna and me back to the Northlake RV Resort and dropped us off. By then the storm had passed, but I was glad we left the scooter in the trailer.

Allen’s wife Crystal posted a few pictures on Facebook this morning. Allen finished the swim a little after 8am after one hour and 16 minutes in the water. I took the liberty of lifting her photos from Facebook.

Allen finishing the swim

Allen finishing the swim

Transitioning to the bike

Transitioning to the bike

We’ll scooter over to The Woodlands to see Allen finish the bike and transition to run. We plan to hang out until he finishes. I expect a thundershower to pass through at some point, but we’ll manage it.

Stormin’ in Texas

Man I’m standin’ out in the rain
Yeah flood water keep a rollin’
Man it’s about to drive poor me insane

My last post said we were determined to see Austin, Texas. We had hoped to see some sights, like the Texas Museum and the capitol building, then check out some of the restaurants and clubs. The music scene is obviously very active in Austin.

Mother Nature dashed our plans. On Wednesday morning, we started receiving weather alerts. There were warnings of severe thunderstorms with winds up to 50mph. A tornado watch was in effect (a tornado warning means a funnel cloud has been spotted and you should take cover, a tornado watch is a lower level alert).

By 11:30am, rain was falling, the wind was picking up and I was making plans to deal with severe weather. Our thoughts of heading downtown evaporated. It seemed prudent to stay put and deal with whatever weather challenges were ahead of us. Not to mention that it wasn’t exactly good weather for sightseeing.

It became very dark outside. It seemed like it was dusk after sunset at noon. The wind was whipping the trees and I was concerned about branches or even trees blowing down. I closed the bedroom slide on the passenger side – this was the windward side of the coach – to prevent water ingress. After a couple of hours with no catastrophic events, the rain lessened. Eventually we had periods of drizzle mixed with sudden thundershowers and downpours. Austin, Texas averages about four and half inches of rain during the month of May. This year, they had their four and half inches by May 12th. Maybe this is good news for the drought that’s been affecting the southwest.

Although we gave up on the idea of going downtown and seeing the sites, Donna and I took advantage of a lull in the rain and walked to HEB – a local grocery/pharmacy store – just under a mile from the RV park. We picked up a few items, including a beer resupply, and walked back before the next thundershower hit us.

The day was spent mostly indoors, reading. The rain kept falling and I could see the sites around us flooding. I snapped a picture of our neighbor’s site through the window. It doesn’t really capture how much standing water was on the ground. An Airstream trailer across from us had several inches of water in its site but I couldn’t capture a photo through the wet windshield. We ordered a pizza, watched TV in the evening and called it a night.

Sites flooding

Sites flooding

Under different circumstances, we probably would have stayed another day in Austin. But we had committed to being in North Houston by the 14th to see our friend Allen Hutchinson compete in the Ironman Triathlon in The Woodlands. Austin seemed like a good stopping point – the drive from Buchanan Lake to Houston would’ve been a long day on the road.

Anyway, on Thursday morning, I wanted to get going while we had a window of fairly clear weather. The forecast called for more thunderstorms in the early afternoon. We had about 170 miles ahead of us to North Houston. I wanted to get to the North Lake RV Resort and set up before the storms hit us.

While I was preparing for travel, Donna walked back to HEB for a few more groceries. I had some unexpected challenges getting us ready to roll. First up, I started to flush and drain the black water tank. I connected a hose to a faucet at our site and started the flush, then I pulled the black water drain blade valve. I saw the waste water begin to drain, then it seemed like it slowed and stopped draining. I couldn’t understand what was happening. The wastewater in the clear elbow at the drain valve wasn’t moving. I closed the valve and the water was still not draining. I quickly shut off the faucet for the flushing system – I was adding more water than was coming out. I lifted the hose in the hope that gravity was the issue – maybe the sewer hook up was higher than it seemed and was causing a loss of flow. Or maybe the black water tank had a vent problem causing a vacuum and stoppage of flow.

After a few minutes I was able to get the hose to drain. I opened the gray water valve to flush the hose and had the same issue. It started draining fine, then the flow stopped. I closed the gray water drain valve. It wasn’t an issue with the black water tank. The issue was in the park’s sewer system. Austin Lone Star Carefree RV Resort has two sewer hook ups in each site. I thought maybe there was something wrong with the sewer drain I was hooked up to. I started to open the other sewer drain at our site and water began to flow out of it. Oh no! About then a park worker rolled up in a golf cart and asked if I was having trouble with the sewer. I told him it was backed up. He said he thought our neighbor had caused a blockage – everyone upstream from his site had a problem. I left the sewer hose and began disconnecting the power and fresh water.

I hit another snag with the fresh water. I discovered our plastic dual filter canisters were trapped under the coach. When we set up, I connected the water hoses and filters and pushed the filter canisters underneath the coach. After I had everything hooked up, I ran the auto level on the HWH leveling system. This lowered the coach and unbeknownst to me, it was resting on top of the filter assemblies! I needed to raise the coach to get the filters out, and hoped they would not be damaged.

I decided to retract the slides while the coach was still level, then raise the coach on the jacks. I pulled the bedrooms slides in with no problem but the living room slide didn’t come in right. I could see the bottom of the slide was in while the top wasn’t properly seated. I immediately opened the slide about six inches. I knew what happened. There was too much water on the slide topper causing it to sag. With the topper sagging, the metal shield was caught between the slide and the side of the coach, binding the slide. I went outside to check for damage and thankfully it all looked okay. The water ran off the topper and I retracted again. It worked fine. Lesson learned – when there’s a lot of water on the slide toppers, partially retract and let the water run off before fully retracting. Then I raised the driver’s side of the coach with the hydraulic jacks and retrieved the water filters – they were undamaged.

By then, the only thing I had left to do was the stow the sewer hose. It still wasn’t completely empty. The RV park workers were at the back of our site trying to clear the sewer line. They told me to just run the gray water out of my hose on the grass and move on. With so much back up in the system running out, a couple of  gallons or so from my hose wasn’t going to make a difference.

We were on the road by 10:30am. The drive on I-35 through Austin is no fun. Traffic is terrible. Drivers don’t seem to understand how to merge. Merging traffic from on-ramps or junctions caused stoppages time and again. What I saw was people in the right lane closing up on a vehicle ahead to prevent merging traffic from coming in front of them. People coming onto the Interstate from on-ramps don’t accelerate sufficiently to merge causing drivers in the right lane to brake as the merging traffic enters at insufficient speed. It’s what I call low-performance driving.

Nally, our GPS directed us onto US290. This became confusing. There are two US 290s heading east. One is a toll road and the other is a frontage road. The frontage road had stop lights every mile or so, so I took the toll road. However, there weren’t any toll booths, just signs to pay the toll by mail or with a TxTag pass. I guess I’ll have to wait and see if I get a bill since I don’t have a TxTag pass and don’t know how to pay by mail.

We rolled all the way to Houston without stopping. The traffic on the Sam Houston Tollway (where they have a toll booth) was harrowing at times but we managed to make it to the Flying J station at Richey Road and took on 72 gallons of diesel fuel. This worked out to be 7.6 miles per gallon – not bad when you consider the amount of generator run time we had at Buchanan Dam. Our diesel generator runs off the same tank as our engine. From there, it was only a few miles to the North Lake RV Resort where we’ll stay until next Monday. This is an upscale park and we have an excellent site where we’re parked nose in, looking at the lake.

Donna's herb garden on our picnic table

Donna’s herb garden on our picnic table

Getting into our site was a little tougher than I anticipated. We dropped the trailer and had a few false attempts before we could line up the coach properly. Once we were situated, I completed the dumping and flushing of our holding tanks while I got us set up. Meanwhile, Donna did her exercise challenges and power walked a couple of laps around the park. I’m looking forward to some catch-and-release fishing in the lake and attending the Ironman event over the weekend.

Trailer on the right and tree on the left made tight quarters

Trailer on the right and tree on the left made for tricky parking

Donna pan fried cumin-cayenne crusted tilapia with sauteed peppers and onions with zucchini and cherry tomatoes for dinner. She found fresh tilapia sourced from Mexico at HEB and it was delicious.

Cumin- cayenne crusted tilapia dinner plate

Cumin- cayenne crusted tilapia dinner plate

Sunset out our windshield

Sunset out our windshield

The weather forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms this afternoon. We plan to ride the scooter to The Woodlands to meet Allen and Crystal Hutchinson for lunch.

Rainy Day #5

Rain showers woke me up a few times and I felt tired when I woke up Monday morning. I’m not used to hearing rain after the great weather we’ve experienced over the winter. We had intermittent showers and mist in the morning with a stiff wind from the northwest. The weather radar looked like heavier rainfall would arrive in the afternoon, so Donna decided to brave the wind and go for a walk before lunch.

I thought it was a good day to lie low and read a book. I went up on the deck while Donna was out, but the wind chased me back indoors. Donna took several snapshots on her hike – here are a few of them.

More wildflowers along the lake

More wildflowers along the lake

She spied a turtle crossing the path

She spied a turtle crossing the path

She spied a turtle crossing the path

The turtle takes a defensive posture

This nice home had a boat ramp to the lake - when the lake was full of water

This nice home had a boat ramp to the lake – when the lake was full of water

Now the boat ramp leads to a trail down to the lake

Now the boat ramp leads to a trail down to the lake

Donna really enjoyed her hikes and loves this area. She said it reminds her of Cape Cod minus the dunes. We want to come back some time and have a longer stay – hopefully at a time when Dave can join us at his beach house. I’d like to talk to him more about his time here in Texas. He was involved in the music and club scene in the ’80s and has stories and photos of Stevie Ray and Jimmy Vaughn from back in the day hung up in his beach house.

When Donna returned, I took a container of leftovers into the house and reheated it in the microwave for lunch. Although we’re parked at Dave’s beach house, we still sleep and play on our computers in our coach – it’s our home after all. But I didn’t want to turn on the generator just to reheat leftovers in the microwave.

After lunch, I was sitting at my laptop looking for information on the turtle Donna photographed. I couldn’t come up with a positive identification. Maybe a reader can help? While I was sitting there, a house finch flew up and perched on the living room window sill. He appeared to be peeping through the window. I realized the solar coatings on our windows effectively make them mirrors from the outside and the bird was studying his own reflection.

We’ve seen a variety of birds here in Texas – from bobwhite quail to red-tailed hawks. One of the most interesting birds we’ve seen is the scissor-tailed flycatcher. We saw them at San Angelo State Park (another place we’d like to visit again) and also at Buchanan Dam. On the way to Buchanan Dam, we saw a hawk flying across the road in front of us with a live snake in its talons.

Something else I saw that don’t recall seeing before is armadillo road kill. I saw two dead armadillos on the side of the road.

On Monday evening, Donna made lemon chicken with broccoli on the side for dinner.

Lemon chicken and broccoli

Lemon chicken and broccoli

After dinner, for a change of pace, we went into the Dave’s beach house and watched a classic movie, Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief starring Cary Grant and Grace Kelly on Dave’s big screen TV.

On Tuesday morning, we went about business as usual. Donna is working on two exercise challenges – a 30-day upper body challenge and a five-day squat challenge. After completing her daily challenges, she prepared omelets for breakfast and then we started preparing to relocate to Austin. We hit the road at about 11am.

The 80-mile drive to Austin was mostly on scenic two-lane highways. As we got closer to the city, traffic volumes started building. Rain and construction didn’t help matters much and the short drive took more energy than I imagined. We found our way to the Austin Lone Star Carefree RV Resort by 1pm. At the entrance, a park attendant asked our name, checked his list and said, “Follow me,” as he climbed into a golf cart. He led us to our site and went over the hook-ups and trash collection procedures. Then he told us we would have until 4:30pm to go to the office to complete our check-in. It was a very efficient way to arrive and set up at an RV park in my opinion.

Austin traffic in the rain through a construction zone

Austin traffic in the rain through a construction zone

So we’re back in a full hook-up RV park. We’ve been able to average our RV park costs down over the six nights since we left San Diego by boondocking and taking advantage of courtesy parking. Our average cost per overnight site is $11 at this point. This helps to offset the fuel costs we’ve incurred while covering 1,200+ miles in a week. Here at the Austin Lone Star Carefree RV Resort, our Passport America rate gave us two nights for $45.

Our nightly site costs will go up over the next 18 days as we’ll be in RV parks, but our fuel costs will diminish. This is one of the beauties of the RV lifestyle – we can adjust our variable costs as we choose. Stay in a nice place and pay for it while not burning fuel or travel and burn fuel while keeping overnight rates low.

We like mixing it up like this – it’s what will probably keep us on the road for a long time. We know people who boondock almost exclusively and we also know people who rarely if ever boondock. There’s no right or wrong way – you just go with the flow and do what works for you.

Donna had pork tenderloin and salsa verde in the slow cooker all afternoon. She fixed a southern style dinner with pulled pork, kale sauteed with onions and dried chorizo and fried cornmeal mush. Delicious!

Texas style dinner plate

Southern style dinner plate

The sky is overcast this morning, but it isn’t raining at the moment. The forecast calls for rain and thunderstorms. We’ll take our chances and take a cab ride into town later. We’re here and dang it, we want to see Austin.