Yesterday we looked at the weather report for the Denver area. It was 48 degrees, humid, and windy. That was the exact same weather we were having on our drive north to Port Aransas, except we were 50 degrees warmer! Then our weather turned into thunderstorms; off and on all night. Then the big weather hit here about 9am. Dark sky. Thunder. Lightning. Heavy rain. It wasn’t super-bad; it only rained a few inches. 20 miles away in Rockport however, it dumped 15inches in 24 hours. Tornado warnings. Wow. It’s almost calm here now and it’s clearing.
How hard could it be?
170 miles from Edinburg to Port Aransas. About a 3 hour drive. We got packed up and were on the road by 1. By 1:30, we were broken down along the side of the highway. Nothing wrong with the coach, the right front tire of the Jeep blew up. We didn’t even know there was anything wrong until a semi pulled up beside us, honked, and pointed back. We pulled over and didn’t find the right front tire of the Jeep in shreds, the tire was altogether gone! I could see the Jeep in my rearview camera while we were driving, but I couldn’t see that anything was wrong. I’ve had occasion to try to loosen lug-nuts on the Jeep (with the small tools provided in our jack kit) that have been tightened at the tire shop with impact wrenches. It just doesn’t work, so we used our towing insurance and called for help. After a bit of a wait, a crew of two arrived and did a fine job changing the tire for us and doing a temporary repair on the inside of the wheel-well where the blown tire had torn that up too. We didn’t even have to unhook the Jeep from the coach. By 3pm, we were back on the road. A brief stop at the immigration check-point. Another stop at the rest area just to make sure all the wheels were rolling properly. A complete stop on the highway in Kingsville because all the exits were closed and the police squeezed our traffic down to one lane. And here we are at Gulf Waters in Port Aransas after only a five hour drive. Almost an uneventful trip! We mean to be here for about a month before we go anywhere else. Here is our souvenir of today’s adventure:
We’ll need a new wheel.
We’ll need a new wheel. Old Hidalgo Pumphouse
There is an unexpected story to the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse.
They built it right on the Rio Grande in 1909 to pump water into the irrigation system for this giant flat agricultural valley. (Giant steam engines.) Everything was fine until 1933 when a hurricane pushed this far inland and the Rio Grande flooded. When the river water receded, the new path of the Rio Grande was half a mile away, leaving the pumphouse high and dry. They had to dig a canal from the rerouted river back to the pumphouse so they could continue to feed irrigation water to the valley.
They built it right on the Rio Grande in 1909 to pump water into the irrigation system for this giant flat agricultural valley. (Giant steam engines.) Everything was fine until 1933 when a hurricane pushed this far inland and the Rio Grande flooded. When the river water receded, the new path of the Rio Grande was half a mile away, leaving the pumphouse high and dry. They had to dig a canal from the rerouted river back to the pumphouse so they could continue to feed irrigation water to the valley. A 270 mile day
We were home at Sandpipers by 1pm. We meant to go north to Gulf Waters about April 1st. That didn’t work out. Now we’re determined to get there by April 15th. All we have to do is pack a few more things into the motorhome tomorrow, then drive up there on Sunday. How hard could *that* be? Here is a Google Map with our recent points on it:http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205131835882428706345.0004bd73a7044d60cc3b7&msa=0 Along the way:
A Wood Duck couple. Got home today in time to visit the walk-in clinic and talk to them about that burning sensation I’ve had for the last week. They found no evidence of a urinary tract infection, so it’s probably a kidney stone thing. (The lack of clues is a clue.) Earlier, I had accused Judy of giving me gonorrhea, but the physician ruled that out, so now I have to apologize. The P.A. thinks I might just be getting rid of a few small stones.
A Wood Duck couple. Got home today in time to visit the walk-in clinic and talk to them about that burning sensation I’ve had for the last week. They found no evidence of a urinary tract infection, so it’s probably a kidney stone thing. (The lack of clues is a clue.) Earlier, I had accused Judy of giving me gonorrhea, but the physician ruled that out, so now I have to apologize. The P.A. thinks I might just be getting rid of a few small stones. Thursday
The bus is done. The big front room slide doesn’t make that grinding noise anymore when we retract it. They replaced two torn slide awnings. They replaced some seriously corroded battery cables. The biggest job for them turned out to be replacing all the slide seals. That took all day today. It looks like they did a good job, but the funny thing is, I don’t think we’ll really know until the next big rainstorm. Who knows when that will be? We could be a thousand miles from here before we know. Now we’re free. We’re free to go wherever we want. So where are we spending the night tonight? We’re in the parking lot of the repair shop, Texas Custom Coach. It’s quiet, level, secure, and has a 50 amp hookup. Don’t need more than that! Tomorrow. Tomorrow, we’re off.