Del Rio to Columbus

After we left Del Rio we fought the winds headed towards San Antonio. There was a huge storm coming and we wanted to get out of its way if we could. Friends had let us know they were close by so we checked our options as to where we could hunker down for a couple days. They were in Stonewall, which was too far north, and out of the way to take the rig so we wound up at Medina Lake Thousand Trails Park. The above picture was our sight.

I spotted this little creature rolling this mud ball around. It was comical watching it, it would position its rear legs on the ball and its front legs on the ground and start rolling it. Soon it would have to stop, climb up on top of the ball to look around. I guessed it was looking to see which way to go, and then it would start rolling the ball again, but the ball didn't always go the way the bug wanted it to so it would have to change directions after climbing up and looking around. You can always find something interesting if you slow down enough to look around.

This area of Texas is blessed, (or cursed if you a garden) with plenty of deer. The couple in the site across from us bought a bag of feed and would feed the deer. every time he left and returned in his jeep the deer would gather around. He almost had them eating out of his hand.

We hunkered down here while we waited on the storm to pass. It rained really hard, and a tornado hit about 50 miles south of us, but we were just fine hanging out with all the deer.

This is Medina Lake, or what was left of it at this end. You can see where the shore line used to be on the other side of the water that is there now. The day before I took this picture I could step across the water, but the rain the night before was filling the lake.

Here is Roger and Brenda, two of the greatest people we have met since we started full-timing. We took the jeep and drove to Stonewall to visit them on Wednesday. Roger drove us around showing us all the beautiful wild flowers. The blue bonnets that Texas is famous for were blooming, and since Roger spends a lot of time riding his motorcycle enjoying what ever area they are in he knew where some nice fields of blue bonnets were. We stopped at Coopers BBQ and had a terrific lunch, and when we got back to their rig Brenda had a very special desert waiting on us. Thanks Roger and Brenda for a great day.

This is one of the fancy gates we saw on the ride, and I don't know why I didn't take any pictures of the flowers. Oh well....

We couldn't get CBS on our batwing antenna at Medina Lake and the NCAA tournament was going to be on CBS so we decided to get closer to a larger city so I could watch the games. As most of you know I'm no sports fan, but I try not to miss any Kentucky football or basketball games, and since the cats are #1 ranked this year I am not going to miss watching them play.

We were passing through San Antonio and Marcia needed the stamp for the Alamo, (she is trying to get a stamp from all the National Parks) so a stop was planned. To our surprise we saw a sign to Mission Concepcion NP.

We got educated that day, The Alamo is NOT part of the National Parks. We were told it has so much meaning to Texas, it is a state park. The National Park around San Antonio is Mission Conception, a series of 4 or 5 missions in the area. We got Marcia's stamp and learned a little that day, (and we didn't have to go down town San Antonio in the rig.

We made it to the Thousand Trails Park in Columbus Texas. Close to the park some group was having  a big shooting event. These guys and gals were all dressed as they dressed in the 1890's. It was a 4 day event for them so we got to hear a lot of gun fire going off all weekend.

I had to go check it out. It was cool seeing everyone dress up in their era outfits, and the guns were awesome. One guy even had a Gatling gun, and for $20 he would let you pop off 20 rounds. (that didn't take long)

Here is one of the families attending the weekend festivities.

Tomorrow, (today really) we will be moving to Dickson TX so we can visit with Neiel and Sue, a couple we met in Knoxville several years ago. Neiel has had a bad winter health wise, (Yuma don't have the best doctors) after having heart problems all winter in Yuma, he found out when he got back to Houston he has more problems. we will spend a couple days there before heading to The Big Easy for the weekend.......