Travelog - Day 15, Feb 15

An early start? Well, not quite as we slowly pull out of Oak Forest RV campground at roughly 6:45. In what is known as the souther corridor (between Austin and San Antonio) we have to pull off. Al has noticed something ‘not closed’ he says. Turns out to be the window over the chesterfield. Left open it would have been badly bent.

It’s now 8:21 and I’m looking forward to our first stop – gas of course. The dogs and I will have our breakfast before proceeding further. Having been down the I-35 several other times, I am not as attentive to the scenery.

I forgot tomention that I finally figured out the ‘code’ for FM969 which we kept seeing each time we turned off to the campground from Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. I believe that F.M. stands for Farm, so it’s a numbering system similar to County Rd. xx seen at home. Different. The use of the term ‘Lane’ around this area is vastly to contrary to ours. Here it is applied to 4-lane paved roads, as in Anderson Lane which is the exit I used yesterday to get to the restaurant, and not to be confused with Anderson Mill the previous exit I was not to take. Linda made sure I didn’t make that mistake.

10:08 We are well south of San Antonio following hghway I-37. Seldom Seen Ranch remains unseen by us. I count 6 cattle grazing in amongst the ‘weed’ cacti.

89.1 FM radio with the Diane ??? show and the slowest speaking radio personality I’ve ever heard. I’ve ever heard. Each word is measured out, at times, irritatingly so; at others, refreshing. “Little Big Minds” by Marieta McCarty is the book under discussion, exploring the idea that children are natural philosophers due to their natural curiosity and willingness to accept new ideas. She has been sharing philosophy (Plato, Camus, Socrates,…) with elementary students & their teachers for over 10 years.

Leaving I-37 and picking up 281we are now heading due south to the town of Three Rivers. At the main junction turning left takes you to the stadium; to the right, a federal penitentiary. The Valero, Three Rivers Refinery is a monster of smoking stacks attached to miles of pipes leading to storage tanks in a variety of shapes, all painted white.

George West is the next town, not large butwith gas stations galore. Prices range from $2.02 to 2.14 per gallon. This is clearly ranch country as indicated by the feed & supply stores. Next town – Alice, 40 miles away with nothing in between. What a contrast to the section of highway between Austin and San Antonio where you can’t tell where one place ends and the next begins. Up unitl now the land has been as flat as a pancake, the roadway visible for miles ahead. Now we have low hills. The ashphalt highway is very dippy with lots of rough & smooth patches and in places, in need of more patches. The countryside is greening with some early leafing of trees. Vegetation is low, trees no more than 20-30’ high. When the roadway tops a hill, the view of the landscape is mostly gray brush in amongst pale yellow/beige 3’grass clumps. The occasional ranch is indicated by a gravel path entrance barred with iron gates.

My first wellhead sighting. Most likely water as there are 3 tall cylindrical-shaped storage tanks. My first human sighting, two men walking along a lane toward a now defunct grocery store builging advertising showers. A ranch on the left is obviously very well-to-do. The limestone walls around the gateway are lined with lush vegetation – tall palms, cacti which are obviously the happy recipients of regular waterings. Green fields extend along the drive to – can’t see what. Elsewhere the land is arid and of a sandy, fine rock nature, not in the least fertile, except to cacti. I imagine lots of dust in the summer months and wonder what measures are in place to prevent the erosion of what soil is there. The occasional vulture flies over head; a small hawk appears to be napping in a leafless tree overlooking a rather bleak landscape.

My first ploughed and tilled field, then back to scrub & grass. An irrigation structure that travels in an arc. The field looks funny since it is round and not rectangular. Most of the trees are growing very erectly, no significant leans, bends, or one-sidedness. Many of the tall shrubs and trees are nicely rounded. There must be winds here, certainly there is little to protect the vegetation from winds. So either the winds are not that bad or I’v emissed something.

Two more hawks, one on an active hunt. Landscape colours are pretty bland, the most contrast being provided by, I’m sorry to say, a plethora (just had to use that word, didn’t I) of plastic bags of all colours. A rusty oil rig is slowly pumping.


We are now passing the city of Alice. From a distance it appears to be sizeable. Pity, American signs do not give populations. We should be entering King Ranch country soon. And if I think the landscape so far has beensomewhat uninteresting, I expect it shall get worse. A field on our right contains clumps of yellow flowers – not planted either since they occupy space in front of the cultivated area. The fields are very flat; the fields are very big. They seem to go for miles. I now see small, what I call, dust-twisters lifting the dry dirt up into the air and creating a moving, funnel-shaped cloud.

A residential community, each house facing the highway, lines the highway. The houses are also large, either brick or limestone faced. A yellow flashing light at one intersection announces the community of Ben Bolt with a school complex to be envied, complete with playing fields and stadium seating. And then it’s gone. Back to flat barren fields that have cultivation lines from the spring, but at the moment are just flat barren fields

Telephone poles line the Interstate. Power lines march down the centre of the fields. The poles themselves are taller than 98% of the trees. A watermelon packing plant tells me we may be in watermelon country. Watermelons are mostly water so I wonder where the water comes from.

The highway ahead now has a mirage, looks like water on the road, but isn’t. Tall clumps of yellow flowers dot the edges of the fields. Every few miles a colourfully decorated white cross has been planted up next to the fencing marking the location of some car or truck accident. Difficult to image ‘why there’ as this highway presents no obstacles. Perhaps it’s exactly because the road is so relentlessly straight and flat. Oil rigs are now quite common just outside Premont, a busy community with lots of people in town doing their errands.

Finally cattle and longhorn steers around a manmade waterhold. A herd of black cattle, and now brown ones. This is Falfurrias; Encino is next, 20 miles away.

Al pulls out to pass a vehicle pulling another vehicle. This is noteworthy because we rarely pass anyone, WE are the passed. Well we did pass one vehicle earlier, a mobile home pulling a car. There are 4 sets of cars – a wreck pulling a wreck. Al pulls over into the shade of a heavily treed reststop which advertises free wireless service. I can’t wait to open the door and step out. VB ugh! Fumes almost knock me over and I commence coughing. Al has chosen the ‘perfect’ spot – downwind and right in front of a large diesel oil spill on the blacktop. I quickly snap a picture of a rig for Carman, our friend and neighbour back home. The computer searches for the wireless and seems to connect, but the signal is too weak. We move on.

Back on the road and we pass El Ranchito, then El Pintor Ranch, each with 10’ high wire fencing, but no barbed wire this time. Lots of short trees giving shade, but the pickings look pretty sparse for them thar cattle which continue to hide from view. La Copa is next with many gates – main, south… Cleared areas both sides of the fencing reveal very sandy soil.

Aside For those who know me and my past history with coughing. I started coughing 2 weeks before we left, no new furniture, no cold, no flu, no nada to link the onset to. And a psychomatic cough is extremely rare, but is also connected to something physcial. Five days before we did leave, I knew that if I weren’t going away I would be making another appointment with the internist who had said to call whenever I started coughing again. When I finally got to see him the first time, he did extensive testing and various inducements to start me coughing. I feel like a radio with an intermittent problem which disappears when the experts are available. Just about anything sets me off, but most particularly going from cold to warm or vice versa and heavily scented products. If my theory is correct, I’ll be just fine when we get back.

Tiny flowers now cover the road side – pink, red and yellow. Another hawk looking for its midday meal. Rendon Rach has planted trees every 50 feet and then erected a wooden barrier around them to protect them from the cattle, the first planned planting we’ve seen.

The biggest mobile rig just passes us. The 40’+ bus is pulling a colour coordinated trailer that undoubtedly contains another vehicle.

Edinburg to Pharr is serviced by big city highways. Three year construction project is creating overhead routes. Should be good money in the cement production industry. When we turn east onto 83, my ‘lollipop’ signs are out in force dwarfing the now numerous tall palms. An enormous RV campground is right opposite a Walmart Superstore, which is not far from HEB groceries. Strip malls line the highway alternating with small communities of bungalows. If Rey’s Auto Parts doesn’t have what you need, then R & R probably does. Did I say that everything in Texas is hugh, massive or … I’m running out of different ways to say the same thing.

Our destination in Weslaco is Snow to Sun, an RV park dedicated to temporarily permanent 55+ who want amenities and activities and who love their puppies. It is very large with rental sites devoted mainly to immovable leasees. We get a map and eventually find out spot. Fortunately the folks opposite are not home, or at least their vehicles aren’t so we can use their parking spot to back in. Mission accomplished except ‘where is the sewer hookup’? Where Al has placed the trailer with my directions just happens to straddle the hookup. I honestly didn’t think that that was the ‘real’ thing. He pulls forward into the next driiveway/parking spot and backs up real good. Our water hose is barely long enough. No matter.

The door to our trailer is looking at another trailer backside unlike our place in Austin. “See I told you so It’s pretty ugly, but I suppose it could be worse. I’m feeling claustrophobic. There needs to be almost no discussion. We will not extend our reservation here which means we have 4 days. I suggest that our plan be: 2 days shopping to Mexico (one for me and one for him since we can’t take the dogs) and two days exploring the Gulf.

Oh BTW, wireless here is not free and even when you pay the signal is pitoyable. We are off to have dinner with Al’s military friend and his wife. Maybe Brian has Internet and I can hook up for a moment to get email and post this blog, text only. Weèll see how it goes and I will try to post pictures another day.

Meanwhile I am sitting her looking out the door at my neighbourès (Word is doing itès thing here. Do you suppose it understands Spanish ècause it sure looks like ..) back side, complete with sheet aluminum siding and rusting propane tank. Austin was sooooo nice.