San Angelo & Colorado City, TX 4-18 to 5-10-2018
We arrived back in San Angelo after a peaceful week at Ft. Davis. It was really special seeing all the wildlife and the observatory.
Dad was waiting for us when we got back and this time there was no one blocking the power pole where we park. We used our combiner and plugged into 2-30 amp receptacles and then hooked our 50 amp cord to that. It’s just an electric hookup (No water or sewer) but we can last close to 2 weeks here without having to dump the tanks. We use the facilities in Dad’s apartment to minimize the usage of our tanks.
Dad had a few more projects he wanted help with. For instance he was not happy with the screen on his desktop computer, so we found a 32 inch LCD tv with an HDMI connection that allowed us to directly connect to his PC. This worked perfect. Larger screen means larger print which makes it easier for him to read.
Dad has always been ahead of us technologically speaking. He had a smart phone before we did, he has an Amazon Echo and we don’t, and now he has hearing aids that answer when his phone rings. Hopefully it will be a while before we catch up to that last one.
But the point is, that he was having trouble with the volume when using the smart phone. Well we drug out the manual and went through step by step with no success. We finally gave up and went to the hearing specialist shop and within 10 minutes it was fixed, but we don’t klnow how. Well, at least he knows where to go now to get it fixed.
It was also time for Sunny (the Explorer) to get an oil change. Well the local San Angelo Ford is close by, but in his commercials he drones on and on about how great he is. Since he was the only dealer within 30 miles we thought this was curious since you are the only Ford dealer in the area why do you have to tell everyone you’re the best Ford dealer?
So we decided to go to that dealer that was 30 miles away in Robert Lee, Tx. It was a small dealer and we figured he had to work harder to keep his customers happy. After all, the “BIG” Ford dealer was only 30 miles away.
While Ivey Motors changed the oil in Sunny, we took a walk around town. Pretty deserted wouldn’t you say?
Back to Ivey Motors, we found Sunny almost ready to go, but first we had to receive the bad news. One of the rear shocks was leaking oil and should be replaced. I asked for a price to replace both rear shocks and got shocked (pun intended). We negotiated back a forth a bit and agreed on a lower price. Of course this meant another trip back to Robert Lee as the parts were not in stock.
This time Dad returned to Ivy Motors with me and we made a morning outing of it. Both shocks were replaced and the price ended up being lower than the agreed price. And Dad and I ended up back at Rio Concho in time for lunch.
Pretty soon another week had gone by and EJ and I decided it was time to take off for another short trip. This time we had Colorado City, TX in our sights. It’s an out of the way place and it gave us another chance to use our Texas State Park Pass.
Best of all, it wasn’t very crowded and because it was slowly getting warmer day by day which meant the 50 amp connection at the state park was greatly appreciated.
And we always like having a water front site, so we reserved a “Premium Site”. We keep forgetting that west Texas lakes are in pretty sad shape.
Yep, lots of vegetation and real estate between us and the waters edge.
We ended up going to Snyder, TX to stock up at Walmart. In downtown Snyder we stopped at a Pub that had just opened up for dinner.
Back at the Phaeton we discovered a worn out Gabby.
Abilene had a brewery that had been recommended to us by the Casual Pint in San Angelo. Naturally, since we were now only 70 miles away this just shouted “Road Trip!”.
So we hopped in the Explorer and headed to Abilene. We don’t normally like going to big cities on the weekend, but the brewery we were visiting is only open on Saturadays. First our journey takes us on a side track through Sweetwater, TX which on this particular day is pretty dead.
Our first stop in Abilene was the “Frontier Museum” where we saw buffalo dancing in the sky and a giant skull.
Next stop was Pappy Slokum’s Brwerey. We had been told that this was one of the better breweries in this part of Texas so we were eager to try their offerings.
Unfortunately, their beers were just so-so. Nothing really outstanding as they were rather bland. But using our phones we discovered there was another brewery mere blocks away.
It wasn’t nearly as crowded as Pappy Slockum’s and the brews were much better. I enjoyed a stout and a porter while EJ had the blonde ale.
Plus there was lot’s of room to sit outside and there was even a food truck for the hungry drinkers.
We don’t care to drive in the dark anymore so before long it was time to head back to the rig. The kitties were very glad to see us even though they were complaining that they were treated cruely and were near starving. But a few spoonfuls of canned food took care of that.
While we were at Colorado City Lake State Park there were some chores that needed down. EJ created created this delicate piece of art that whirled freely in the wind.
For the readers that are going “Whaaat?” at the artwork, those are the filters in the return air vents for the Phaeton’s air conditioning.
And wildlife was limited, but these little fellows entertained us frequently.
And this one even took a liking to our covered patio. Chilling during the heat of the day.
A week has gone by already and its time to head back to San Angelo to see how Dad is doing.
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