We did have a quiet night in that dumpy place last night, so we slept well. We were out of there before 9am. Rog had to pretty much do a U-turn to get out of the place which is hard on the RV - more on that later...
Saturday morning traffic on the loop road around San Antonio was very busy but no hassles. We couldn't believe the amount of steady traffic on the road, but at least it was moving.
Stopped for lunch in a place called Flatonia. We found a spot to park behind a McDonald's and a Shell station and sat in our chairs outside while we ate. At the edge of the parking lot was what was once a couple of trees is now just a kudzu blob. As we were pulling out of the driveway, which was pretty steep, the back bumper scraped on the cement. Our license plate which was being held on by bungee cords ended up in the street as the bungees broke from being dragged on the cement. We had to pull into a gas station across the street and Rog had to go back and get the plate and find some new bungees. (It is attached with bungees because the license plate holder broke last year and this was the only way to attach it.) The landscape between San Antonio and Houston is flat and there doesn't seem to be much open space. There are businesses and some farms all along the highway. Saw a few cattle but that was about it. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
About 15 miles east of Houston we ran into some major traffic. It really got bad when a funeral procession came up from behind us with a motorcycle police escort blocking two travel lanes. The cops would come up behind a car and motion it over or they would slow down so people would move over on their own. All this in the middle of Houston traffic - which was heavy to start with. There's several major roads coming and leaving I-10, so merging became an issue - especially those who had to get over and around the funeral procession. It was pretty ugly. Got slowed down to a crawl in a couple places but never had to stop. Rog says it was worse than driving through Denver.
After last night's RV park fiasco we were delighted when we pulled into this one. Grass, trees, a locked gate with a passcode, friendly staff, and we got a super spot on the end of the row with trees on both sides for shade. We will be quite comfortable here for our rest day tomorrow. It's super clean and well maintained. Only negative we can see so far is that it is off the frontage road of I-10 and we can hear traffic noise in the background. Tomorrow I'll use the laundry room as we've used up our week's worth of underwear and short sleeved t-shirts! We also need some fresh produce and plan on a stop for lunch at a pizza place advertised in the park's brochure.
Our site's not level, so we have to put some "legos" under the tires on the driver's side. I align them, Rog drives up onto them. Well, I noticed a nail sticking out of one of our brand new tires - they have 2,000 miles on them - which is how far we have come so far. The head was on the inside and sticking out towards us. Of course this called for a few ugly words and then some serious thinking about how this could happen and what to do about it. Rog managed to pull the nail out with some effort and it looked as if it was just in the tread and not into the "air space." He did the bubble test with soap and the tire doesn't seem to be leaking, so we hope we've dodged a bullet here. Roger figures the only way that could happen was this morning when he did the tight U-turn to get out of the RV park. The back tires do this weird thing when there's a tight turn - the part that is in contact with the ground pushes out while the top of the tire is pushed in. It's the only way he can figure a nail would go in sideways instead of into the interior of the tire itself. He'll monitor the pressure tomorrow and hope we don't have to find a tire store, but at the moment it looks as if it will be OK. This park, as the last several have been, seems to be made up of workers. I keep thinking "working poor" as they are living in trailers and fifth wheels (you don't find any motor homes). I have met and talked to two women - one in Fort Stockton and one here. Neither have teeth. They are young and would be pretty otherwise. They have a whole section of trailers lined up on the cement side by side. There must be jobs here that are being filled by folks who go from job site to job site where ever they can find work. We live in a working class neighborhood at home, but to see so many people living in travel trailers because they have to is disheartening. At least, though, it's a nice place with rules about keeping your site clean and we see no indication of "trailer trash."
More tomorrow on the park.
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