Saturday - March 24 - Wow, did a storm ever blow up last night about the time we went to bed, lots of thunder and lightning, and the wind was vicious, but not a lot of rain. It was blowing so hard that John had to run out and put up the little awnings over the bedroom windows

This morning was cloudy when we headed out, we had a good drive but went through lots of small towns, large towns, and some in between. At Eagle’s Pass we missed the truck route so ended up going right through town, the only problem was that there was a parade and they had the main highway blocked so we ended going around a couple of residential blocks then returning to the truck route - an interesting detour. At one point we saw a fellow on a horse crossing at an intersection where we were stopped and he was talking on a cell phone - I guess you call that progress!!! During our drive today (500+ miles) we had cloudy skies, rain, sunny skies and cloud again - a real gamut of weather,.

So far in Texas we have traveled the Texas Mountain Trail, the Pecos Trail and the Tropical Trail, wonder if there are any more trails to travel.

We arrived at Victoria Palms in Donna about 6, it was a long day, and we managed to get a site but we are not impressed with the sites considering they are $30/night. We were getting set up when George and Marion walked by so talked to them for a few mintues, then a couple from East Caledon, who have a 25’ Airstream Safari, stopped by and chatted so needless to say we had a very late dinner. We were truly surprised when we turned on the TV tonight, we get both CBC and CTV - wow, now I can watch Canada Am Monday morning! I noticed Bev Thompson was doing the news tonight so will have to watch Canada AM to see who is co-hosting it.

Friday - March 23 - John was off shortly after 10 to Mr. Dodge to get the truck done, he arrived back shortly after 2. I did some cleaning, made salsa, checked the internet, etc and next thing I knew he was back.

We drove back to the Amistad Dam but couldn’t cross it as it was a crossing into Mexico, we then went into Del Rio and got fuel and groceries, not a real exciting day. Today was mainly overcast but the sun came out about 3 so it was nice for a while. We came back and had dinner and a quiet evening.

Thursday - March 22 - Today was overcast but warm, we had a brief shower which is the first rain we have seen in over 3 months - can’t say I have missed it!

John was off first thing this morning to Mr. Dodge to have the truck looked at, it turns out the transmission fluid was leaking and the culprit was a bent transmission pan - guess that happened in Yuma when they worked on the transmission. Anyways, to make a long story short they have to order a new pan so John agreed to pay to have it expressed here for tomorrow, so it should be here around 10:30 tomorrow morning. We went to the office when he got back this afternoon and booked another night here, hopefully the truck will be fixed tomorrow and we can be on our way on Saturday.

This afternoon we took a tour of Del Rio and got groceries and when we got back I did laundry. Because it looked like rain all day, and with the wind we can’t get the awning out, we bought a cooked chicken at HEB and had chicken and salad for dinner. Not an exciting day but relaxing.

Wednesday - March 21 - Last night about 9:30 the fellow across from us knocked on the door and said the javelinas were around the trailer. We went out and walked to the back of the trailer and all of a sudden I heard a snort, rustling and smelled a bad smell and there was one right beside me. They are ugly creatures! John tried to get a picture but it was too hard to get it in the light of the flashlight then take the picture.

Today was a beautiful day, it was about 11 by the time we got away and we had a wonderful drive. We took a back highway from Fort Davis to Del Rio but it was a wonderful road, and in over 300 km we only had 3 cars pass us - certainly not a busy road. There was a bit of traffic coming the other way but mostly we had the road to ourselves, so it was an easy day for John. We came through a variety of landscapes, mountains, plains, hills and it was all pretty. We went through about 6 small towns, two were quite bustling but the rest were pretty well ghost towns now, sad. There were lots of picnic areas along the way so no problem for stopping. We passed Judge Roy Bean’s saloon but didn’t stop!

Tonight we are in Del Rio, we are right across the road from Lake Amistad which is a large lake and quite a large recreation area, it has been a long time since we have seen so much blue water!! We have booked here for 2 nights but John has found all kinds of oil all over the bottom of the truck so tomorrow morning it is off to see Mr. Dodge and see what is happening - hopefully nothing serious so that we have to stay longer.

Country Side Around Fort Davis

Some Interesting Peaks

Tuesday - March 20 - Today was another beautiful day, sunny and warm but it sure got cold overnight, it was only 50 at 9:00 this morning. We went to the office to see if we could renew for one more night but they are full so today was our only day here.

We took a scenic drive which was very pretty, we went from high altitudes with lots of trees (we haven’t seen that much green since last year at home) to lower altitudes with lots of cacti etc., quite a pretty drive. We stopped at the Visitor Centre for the McDonald Observatory and would have liked to take the tour but just didn’t have the time, it looked interesting so hopefully sometime we will be back here again and be able to take a tour.

We came back and vegged out, a good afternoon for John. We were sitting outside when a fellow stopped by, it turns out they are from Pine Meadows at Lake Belwood, how many times have I said it is a small world!!

The fellow beside us said we had 5 or 6 javelinas (the j is prounced as h and they are wild boar) around our trailer last night so tonight we will be watching to see if we can see them. We enjoy watching the deer when they come out and wander around.

Our Site at Davis Mtn. Lodge State Park

More Deer

One of the Deer (Notice the Growth by It's Fore Leg)

Monday - March 19 - Today was another nice, sunny day but the temperature only got to the mid 80’s so it was quite pleasant. We are at Fort Davis State Park and what a beautiful park, we are surrounded by mountains and it is very quiet. We booked in for 2 nights but we are going to go down tomorrow morning and see if we can book one more night. We were sitting out at the picnic shelter before dinner and all of a sudden there were a couple of deer wandering around, they are very tame and not afraid of people.

We lost our other hour today but the bonus is that we are now only one hour difference from home. We have no phone signal here but hopefully we can get one in town if we need the phone.

We had just finished the dishes when a couple stopped by, they were each one half of two couples travelling together and both have Airstreams so stopped to chat.

There is no internet connection here so it will be a few days before I can get this posted.

Sunday - March 18 - Today was another hot, sunny day, the high in the truck was 85, a bit more pleasant than yesterday! We got to just south of El Paso today so it was a good day’s drive. We thought we would lose two hours today - one for daylight saving and one when we left Mountain time, but we are still on Mountain time here so only lost one hour. We passed quite a few cattle stations coming into El Paso, thousands of cows and the stench was terrible - I sure would hate to live anywhere near there!

We are staying at a gas station, RV park, nothing special but it will do for an overnight. There is no internet here so I don’t know what the weather forecast for tomorrow is, we will have to wait and be surprised!

Sunset on our Airstream

Sunset at Benson