.... upon our arrival Saturday afternoon. Until breaking camp this morning I had no reason to venture back to that area and had been blissfully ignorant of my f-up. Why there is a single stake like this at the rear of an RV site, I can't figure. In fact, there was a work camper in a golf cart in the next site performing his morning chores who saw what had happened and remarked that he had asked management to take these things down on a couple occasions. Apparently I'm not the only one to have backed into them. It gouged up a small section of fiberglass near the car tow hitch - a small amount of damage, but I'm that guy who cleans parts of his motorcycle with a Q-tip. This sort of thing just bugs the sh%t outta me and I'll be obsessing about it for days. I'll end up sanding the area, filling the gouge, getting the paint code from Winnebago and doing my best to make the imperfection disappear. Most people would have a hard time finding the damage... but I know it's there. We have walkie-talkies that we occasionally use when backing into tight spots or when it's dark outside. I suppose we should use them even when I'm sure the coast is clear. Because sometimes it's not.
I should have taken a picture of the post and the damage it caused to include here but my heart just wasn't in it.
So that was the first dispiriting event of the day.
Before rolling I looked at a detailed map of the area and plotted a path from our location to I-10 to ensure we wouldn't encounter another obstacle like the one we encountered on our way in Saturday morning.
That part of our journey went off without a hitch and we were on I-10 west in about fifteen minutes.
About 30 minutes into our journey we came upon a traffic jam that, according to Aaron's Waze app, was the result of an accident and lane closures due to construction. For the next 45 minutes we crept along at a snail's pace covering a distance of just a few miles. There is a frontage road running along side this section of I-10 and about 100 feet ahead there was an exit leading to this frontage road and a controlled intersection about 200 feet further on. Vehicles were exiting for the obvious purpose of bypassing this final half mile of the snarled traffic and re-entering the highway a couple hundred yards beyond the interchange. I was going to stay the course but at the last minute decided to go for it. Vehicles on the frontage road were moving along at a much faster pace than those of us still on the highway.
I think it was Tamsen Donner who, before losing her life during that ill-fated Sierra Nevada crossing wrote:
"Remember, never take no cut-offs and hurry along as fast as you can."
I think I first heard that quote in a Ken Burns series a few decades ago... and it stuck with me. I've referenced it many times since. It didn't occur to me today, however. Well it did - but not until later on.
We exited the freeway leaving those other poor 'suckahs' behind to fend for themselves. Gliding along at 30 mph we rolled up to the traffic signal. I glanced over my left shoulder at I-10 and westbound traffic still at a standstill. The light changed green and we rolled though the intersection. Aaron said, "Good call, dad!".
A couple hundred yards past the interchange there was a ramp leading back onto the freeway. But we were not yet beyond the lane closure. That was another 100 yards further along I-10 and cars and trucks that had escaped the tie-up, as we had, were continuing along the frontage road to the next re-entry opportunity. Which never came.
Another half mile down the frontage road we came to a barricade and a big orange ROAD CLOSED sign. Cars were frantically making three point U-turns and heading back. There was an expansive mud-filled lot to the right (it's been raining pretty steadily for the past couple of days in this part of the world - heavily at times) where two tractor trailers were attempting an about face - one of which was stuck, buried to the hubs. A 4x4 pickup truck was also in the mud lot spinning all four wheels.
Entering the mud lot was not an option for us.
Aaron and I jumped out, ran to the back of the coach and proceeded to uncouple from the car. We had a line of cars and tractor trailers behind us but they were kind enough to allow us the time and space necessary to get ourselves out of this predicament.
This is the kind of situation I have nightmares about.
Aaron hopped in the car and scooted around me giving me room to complete my seven point U-turn. Once I got the coach pointed in the right direction we reattached the car and made our way back to the on-ramp we had bypassed fifteen minutes earlier. Before re-entering the freeway, however, we saw the semi hauling a wind turbine blade that we had been behind before exiting the freeway - pass us by.
"Remember, don't take no cut-offs..."
Our destination today was Sonora, Texas. Specifically, Sonora Caverns & RV park. You probably won't find much about it in the tourist literature and it wasn't a planned stop when we set out on our journey, but it's 180 miles from San Antonio and a convenient spot to overnight along a relatively desolate stretch of highway.
What a pleasant surprise!
It's a tiny little "RV park" with maybe half a dozen spaces (barely) suitable for big rigs. I say 'barely' because the radius of the loop one must negotiate in order to reach the 'pull-thru' sites is too tight and I had to uncouple the car before proceeding.
Additionaly, the site is very narrow with steel/concrete posts set in the ground on either side. It was a pretty tight squeeze with inches to spare. This time I DID have Suzanne step outside with a walkie-talkie.
Still, it's a charming little oasis with a cool gift shop/office. When I registered I also purchased three tickets for the 105 minute 3:00 cavern tour. We had little time to spare after parking, walking Travis and setting up the coach - but made it to the rendezvous point by 3:00.
We've been on other cavern tours, including Carlsbad, but these caverns were unlike any we've ever seen. They were really spectacular! If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend a visit to this lesser known gem of a cavern.
Ribeye steaks, baby red potatoes, green beans and margaritas were on the menu this evening. There was no picnic table on which to set my grill so this was my setup...
This timed contraption dispenses deer kibble at 8am and 5pm. The deer anticipate this event and begin appearing minutes prior to launch.
We're not sure where we'll end up tomorrow... somewhere in the vicinity of El Paso.
The adventure continues... with NO cut-offs!
Thanks for checking out my blog.
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