Classic Westerns and other Taunts

Friday and Saturday January 29-30, 2010

It's been a real treat driving through towns with names attached to western lore. Sanderson - the town too mean for Judge Roy Bean, Langtry - named after a British actress that Judge Bean liked, Comstock - Comstock Lode by Louis L'amour, Del Rio, Hondo - a movie based on "The Gift of Cochise", and more.

I had carefully plotted a course around San Antonio to avoid 5 o'clock traffic and began searching for the exit to get on the loop around town. As I got on the exit EJ said something that caught me off guard. I asked her to repeat her comment and she said "You're a wuss!" I asked why. She said I was wimping out by not going straight through town. Taking offense at being called a wuss, I had to call her bluff and get back on Hwy 90. Sure enough, my fears about heavy traffic were unfounded and we sailed right through San Antonio with no problem. But at least I wasn't a "wuss".

On Saturday we stopped by Holiday World RV in Katy, Tx to look at some motorhomes and got hooked up with a "know it all" salesman. He and I were at odds immediately and I even put on my coat(it was 40 degrees outside)and started to walk out. EJ sat there with an "if I'm really still, I'll be invisible" look on her face. The salesman and I eventually made nice, but it put a damper on the whole experience. Once again we found out that there were almost no used motorhomes for sale. We did find a new unit, a Winnebago Sightseer 33C, that has a layout we like, but it's a gasser. I still have reservations about that.

Onward to Houston and another suprise. They don't tell you until after you're committed that I-10 eastbound is closed in downtown Houston. The only indication we had of the detour route was a tiny little sign at the exit you were supposed to take to avoid the blockage. Unfortunately, we were in the right hand lane of three lanes of standstill traffic and the detour sign was for a left hand exit. We had a few choice words for the traffic engineer responsible for that snafu. In the end our trusty GPS came to the rescue and found us a way around the mess and once again we were on the way.

We wanted to make it to Louisiana tonight, but we started running out of steam and light about 6:30pm. EJ went into research mode and found us a couple of likely campgrounds. But it was dark and we couldn't find them. So we stopped and took a little break to regroup. EJ came up with plan "B" and off we went, headed for Beaumont, Tx and the East Lucas Drive RV Park. We highly recommend this park to all RV'ers. Not only did they give a discount rate and put us close to the bath house, but they also let us use their internet pass code for free for the night. Oh, and I almost forgot. Their office was open late for us to check in. What a great experience and a great end to a less than optimum day.