We’re Home!

Home is where we park it and we are now home at Amarillo Ranch RV in Amarillo, TX, way up North in the Texas Panhandle. Elevation is 3605 feet. In fact we are closer to Albuquerque, NM (287 miles), Colorado Spring, CO (365 miles), Hot Springs, AR (563 miles), Branson, MO (578 miles), than Corpus Christi (656 miles) and Sugar Land, TX (603). We are parked in a temporary site until the 10th, when our permanent site will be ready for us.

Our first stop from Corpus Christi was Potter’s Creek where we had a relaxing evening and a chance to have dinner with Carol’s brother at Italian Garden. Next we headed north to San Angelo where we spent the night at Spring Creek Marina and RV Park. Price was a little high but the location was good. We had a great TexMex dinner at Henry’s. The place reminded us of Kiko’s in Corpus Christi. Next stop was KOA in Lubbock where we had dinner with our friend Donald and Raye Nell Hanna. I worked with them at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi. Final stop was Amarillo Ranch RV.

When we pulled into KOA in Lubbock we were greeted with a hard but quick cold shower from the north. Of course that made things a bit muddy around the RV. We also notice our right rear stabilizer did not extend. We had the stabilizers worked on back in September ’13 in Moscow, Iowa. The replace the solenoid that controls the right rear stabilizer so it should be a warranty repair. The we notice the right front also would not retract. That could have been a problem had we not been able to get it retracted on Friday AM. We got on the road Friday AM for our final destination.

We met our managers and a couple of other workampers. They were all very friendly like we experienced at Mark Twain Landing in Monroe City, MO in 2013. We are looking forward to getting to know them better. Building relationships is so important when working in a new environment.

Something in the air caused Carol to have an allergy reaction when we arrived. Saturday AM we drove to a walk in clinic so she could be treated. With meds in hand we came back to a pretty warm motor home. The AC was not working at all. SHEESH! The air handler fan came on when I switched it from Auto to On. That told me the compressor shut down. After turning off the unit for a few minutes, i turned it back on and everything came back alive. Sunday I will need to give the condenser coil a good rinsing since it looks pretty dirty. The humidity is low up here but we still have temperatures in the mid to high 90’s. I am guessing the compressor overheated due to poor air flow through the condenser. Hope that does the trick since replacing our A/C would be expensive.

Our managers took us to dinner at The Big Texan last night. We had a chance to get acquainted even though the restaurant was very noise. We got our paper work and schedule. Monday we will be ready to get back to work. Meanwhile, today I will give our rig a good washing while Carol takes care of laundry.

Driving along the highways we often come across small towns. Most of these towns sprung up when a few folks decide they want to band together and perhaps enjoy the benefits of a structured community. Many of these small towns never incorporated so they remain an unincorporated community. Farm and ranch operations that required large acreage meant these families lived far apart. Often times, they joined together to form a church or school. As the communities grew, next came banks and general store, blacksmith and saloons. Some of the communities grew and prospered but in many, that never happened. As we passed these small towns, I often wondered about their history and more importantly why they did not flourish. Here are just a few that caught my attention as we drove.

• Whitsett, (pop. 98) on US 281 just a few miles west of I-37. Construction of Choke Canyon Dam in 1986 was supposed to increase the population of Whitsett but that never happened. Whitsett is best known as being the setting for the 2008 horror film The Wild Man of the Navidad.
• Oakville, (pop. 260) on  I-73 exit 65 is home to Van’s BBQ. Van’s has some of the best BBQ you can find and delivers it’s brisket plate on butcher paper to your table. After finishing what is served, they will step by to ask if you would like a second helping.
• Lukenbach (pop. 3) located on US 290 a few miles north of Fredricksburg, the town was made famous in 1973 when Jerry Jeff Walker recorded the album Viva Terlingua  live at the dance hall. Later, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson memorialized Lukenbach with the song “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love),” Today, the dance hall still hosts a variety of musical events.
• Cherry Springs (pop. 75) located on US 87 between Fredricksburg and Mason, this small town is home to the infamous Cherry Springs Dance Hall. This dance hall has hosted many of the greatest legends of country music such as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Buck Owens, Webb Pierce, Ernest Tubb, and George Jones, It was here on October 9, 1955, that the Louisiana Hayride Tour played, with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Wanda Jackson and Porter Wagoner.
• Grit (pop. 30) located on TX29 just north of Mason. The community was probably named Grit because of the area’s gritty soil. Originally settled in 1889, Grit grew to a whopping 63 people by 1968. Not sure why it never grew.
• Van Court (pop. 125) located on US 87 Southeast of San Angelo and is the county seat of Tom Green County. Not much is known about this small community other than it is the county seat.
• Posey (pop. ?) located on US 84 between Slaton and Lubbock. About all that is left in town is a Lutheran Church and a grain elevator. The railroad does not stop in town any longer. The town is now considered a dispersed rural community.

I am sure there may be other small communities that we passed along the way. Sorry I did not post photos, since I did not have but a few. Thanks for stopping by – y’all come back now.