Saturday afternoon, I found myself sitting around the house and it was a beautiful day. I assume by then, cavers were lined up in the TCR food line.
I started procrastinating on whether I should drive 5 hours to TCR only to arrive there in the dark and after missing all the events. I wasn't looking forward to the drive in my little car, all alone with nobody to talk to. And my 3 year old daughter, was saying, "daddy, stay home and play with me." The ice-cream man drove by and I bought her a Tweety-bird fudge-cicle. I figured that was a sign from Oztotl, that I had made a faithful effort, and I was now free to go. Now, the problem was, all of my camping gear was on the other side of Houston. I was just going to have to go without it. Fortunately, the weather was perfect for car-camping. I left my house in Fort Bend county at nearly 5:00 p.m and it took me an hour just to get to Katy. I had to pull off there and stretch. ( Katy in the rear-view mirror; for me, means that I am finally out of Houston, and on the way to better places ) I drove almost non-stop to where I thought I would find a town called "Rio Medina." The route I took to Rio Medina ( Hwy. 211 ) didn't have gas stations, and I arrived there on fumes. I decided I better drive 6 miles to Castroville and get gas. That turned out to be a good decision. [ Running out of gas near Paradise Canyon at night would have been a real bummer. ] I arrived at TCR after 10:00 and there was still a taco left at the food table. I was able to say hello to a few people and watch a TCC slideshow, before turning in. I was wiped out and had a touch of car-sickness. Unfortunately, I didn't pack bug spray, and I was too tired to get out of my sleeping bag and go bum some off of somebody. But once it cooled off, I was sound asleep. The next morning, I was able to say hello to a bunch of friends who I hadn't seen in over a year or longer. Fortunately, Bob & Bob was still open, and I was able to get a new book and a t-shirt. And many of the other vendors were also open, and I was able to get some more stuff. And I even got to unload some old junk that had been laying around my house. This generated $ 93 for TCMA, and it was fun. I had to get back home to the realities of life. I didn't get to talk to many people, but I did say hello and goodbye to quite a few people, who I won't see again for several months if not a year. I would say it was 245 miles from my house to Paradise Canyon by the route I took ( Texas Research Parkway ). It may be a few miles shorter and faster, by the Stotzer Freeway ( State Highway 151 ). I would like to add that most of the cars on I-10 between San Antonio and Houston, appeared to be late model crew-cab trucks with diesel engines. Lots of Fords, a few Dodges and even a Chevy Duramax. I only noticed one hybrid - a Ford Escape. [ 2 of the Jeep dealers along the way, had diesel Cherokee's on their lots, but I still haven't found one with Quadra-Drive. ] It was an uneventful and boring drive - 10 hours out of a 27 hour trip. There appears to be a good restaurant - The Oasis," near the Lake Medina Dam. I didn't have time to stop and eat and just snacked on some Oma's turkey jerky till I got home. http://www.omaschoice.com/jerkey%20price%20list.htm David Locklear --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: texascavers-unsubscr...@texascavers.com For additional commands, e-mail: texascavers-h...@texascavers.com
