On the road with Rear View

Ahhhhh .... back on the road again. We left Austin on Thursday, headed for Las Cruces New Mexico and then on to Casa Grande Arizona. It's a straight shot on Interstate 10 all the way. We've learned a lot about Interstate highways. Did you know that the even numbered highways are east/west and the odd-numbered are north/south? The ones that end in 5 are the major N/S roads. And the numbers get higher as you go north or west. Here's my rough rendition of the east west highways I-10, as you can see, is the southernmost: And, just because I'm on the topic, here's my take on the major north/south highways: Here's what I-10 looks like in West Texas. This picture was taken while we were at a rest area. Miles and miles of Texas. I love rest areas. There's no doubt that you're 'on the road' when you're using a rest area. Here we are: We did a record 450 miles that day! And, Jim was so happy that he had installed the backup camera and rearview mirror that he bought in Fort Lauderdale. You may have noticed in some of our photos that our motorhome has no window in the back. So, that means you have no way of seeing behind you. New motorhomes come standard with backup cameras, but ours didn't have one. It still had a rearview mirror. In the beginning I would find myself glancing at that rearview mirror all the time and being so surprised that all I could see was the bedroom! Why did they leave the stupid mirror there if it couldn't do it's job? Well, Jim found a backup camera that uses an attachment over the rear view mirror as it's display. Cool. Here's the little bitty camera that he mounted on the back of the rig. Then, the tricky part was getting the wiring inside the rig (he used a 'fishing wire' ... or maybe it's called a 'wire-fish' I'm not sure!) and stringing it all the way up to the front to attach to the monitor. The monitor is the size and shape of the rearview mirror and it attaches right over the existing rearview mirror. Way Cool! Now, when I glance at that rearview mirror - I see the view behind the motorhome. What a difference. It makes it so much easier to change lanes. And, we really know that the car and the kayaks are still there! Pictures of it don't come out so good, but maybe you can see what I mean in this one. If you look carefully on the left side, you can see the top of our yellow and blue kayaks (which are on top of the car) and a car coming up to pass us on the left. We drove till way past dark that first night, so we just slept in a rest area. Doesn't matter where you are when you close the doors, turn on the generator, raise the satellite dish. We can have our wine, cook and eat dinner, sit down at the computer to check some email. Then go to bed.

Austin Night Life

Thanx to Frank and his folks, Frank Sr and Carol, for taking us out on the town for my birthday and our 'farewell to Austin'. Here's our Austin family! The Austin night skyline is dominated by the Frost building. Actually, the daytime skyline is dominated by it too - but it's extra pretty lit-up at night. And, the capitol building is a classic beauty: I had been talking about how we couldn't leave Austin without seeing some of the famous night life and entertainment. So, we drove down 6th street where you can hear live music coming out of every doorway. And we visited a couple authentic old-time bars: Donn's Depot and Mean-Eyed Cat. Probably the most amazing thing about these bars was ... NO SMOKING ... I didn't think that was actually possible, but Austin has proven it can be done. They actually enforce the no smoking rule, even in bars! What a treat. y'know - if only there was an ocean nearby, Austin would be a pretty nice place to live. There's still some things we wanted to do while we were here - paddle kayaks in Town Lake and walk the entire trail on the Barton Springs greenbelt - but, it's time to go. Arizona is calling us! We're back on the road today.

San Antonio Tourists

It looks like we'll be heading west and leaving Austin sometime this week - so this weekend was a deadline for doing any 'tourist' stuff. Probably the biggest tourist attraction in Texas, The Alamo, is in San Antonio - about an hour and a half away. And, I've been wanting to see the Riverwalk, also in San Antonio. It was pretty easy to find the Alamo - just follow the crowds. Yep, it looks just like it's pictures! And, there's a pretty courtyard too. For those of you who don't know, or have forgotten (like me) the story of the Alamo - it is not the scene of victory. It is the scene of a devastating defeat for the Texas revolution. Every one of the nearly 200 'defenders' lost their lives against Santa Ana's Mexican army. I put 'defenders' in quotes because they weren't all army - many of them were volunteers. They fought enormous odds, taking 600 of Santa Ana's men with them. It may have remained a defeat but for the fact that Santa Ana allowed the slaves, women and children go free to tell the tale. They told the story of these 200 brave men, including the likes of Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, fighting for freedom against 4 - 5,000 Mexican army forces. The story provided inspiration for those who followed to win their revolution with the cry, "Remember the Alamo". Ok, on to the fun stuff - the Riverwalk. Basically, it's one big party place and mall. It is really pretty though. I've wanted to see Riverwalk for years because, when Fort Lauderdale decided to develop it's downtown with a riverwalk, it was supposed to emulate San Antonio. I am mostly familiar with Fort Lauderdale's river area by being a boater. San Antonio's Riverwalk is much different. The river is not a navigable waterway. But, they do have a little boat tour - it takes about a half hour and you get the overview of the area. One of the things our tour guide told us was where to get the best Margarita. Hey, you don't have to tell us twice! And, speak of the devil! There's our tourguide now. In a way, the Riverwalk reminds me of Atlanta's underground. It's kinda hard to find because it's at a lower level than the rest of the city. There's stairways to get up and down from the river-level to the street-level. Then there's the upper level with all the high-rises! Did you know that San Antonio is the 7th largest city in the country?!

Allergies

I had a little cold a few weeks ago - Jim didn't get the cold, he just sneezed a little. .... And, he's been sneezing ever since. I know what allergies are like. I used to have asthma. One year, about 12 years ago, I slept at the office many a night because my asthma was so bad at my house. I never did figure out what that was, but I started on a series of homeopathic allergy treatments that completely cured me. I haven't had asthma for years. I also used to sneeze and sniffle ALL the time. No more. Apparently, now it's Jim's turn. Come to find out that Austin is known for bad allergies. And this is the season for Ragweed and Cedar. Jim sounds like he's in the middle of a really bad cold, but cold remedies don't help (neither do allergy remedies). Just another good reason for having a house on wheels! We're not leaving yet, but we know there will be an end in sight. Bless You! or ... maybe he's just allergic to work. y'think?

Texas Wine Country

y'know ... I've decided I kinda like Texas! Check it out, there is a major wine region in these Texas hills. On our way back from Kerrville to Austin, we stopped at Torre di Pietra winery. They even provide a beautiful courtyard where you can enjoy a bottle of their finest, while taking in the beautiful surroundings ... and delightful weather too! It just made us feel so 'Texas-friendly' that we had to call Lynne and John and tell them all about it. Ok, so maybe it was the wine that got me feelin' artsy-fartsy-tipsy.