Back in the Saddle Again - May 2006

There's no doubt that "Back in the Saddle" and "On the Road Again" are two great travel songs, but I have to share a verse from another song that always reminds me of getting back on the road. It's from the song "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues." The version I like is by Doc Watson and he sings....

My bag is packed to travel
I'll soon be scratchin' gravel

While our "bags" are always packed, it's great to be scratchin' gravel again. We were beginning to get a serious case of "hitch itch" and the longing to get on the road and see new places and enjoy new adventures was powerful, although it barely beat out the need to escape the heat and humidity of San Antonio's sweltering spring.

That said, we thoroughly enjoyed the five months we spent in and around Central Texas -- especially getting plenty of time to visit with our family and friends in San Antonio. We're sending lots of love, a big hug and tons of thanks to Mom for putting up with us and letting us use your home as a comfortable place to hang out. In addition to your company, we loved having the elbow room and the dogs loved having a back yard where they could play. We're also sending love and hugs to all the other members of our family -- we hope you know how special you are and how precious was our time together. We're really going to miss all of you and are already counting the days until we're back.

After saying numerous goodbyes, we packed up and hit the road on Wednesday morning -- fitting right back into our familiar routines of breaking camp, hitching up the toad, me navigating and Frank driving. Even the dogs know their roles on travel days and they too have their chores. Scotty's job is to hold down the pillow that's on my lap, catch up on his sleep and try not to puke. Rudy's responsibility is to make sure our hands don't lay idle. He does that by insisting that we pay attention to him for the entire drive -- imagine 4 to 5 hours of ear scratching, back massaging and tummy rubbing! It's no wonder that Rudy loves travel days. Between the two dogs, they make sure I don't waste my time doing things like reading, working Sudoku puzzles and playing computer games.

Wednesday's travel took us to Seminole Canyon State Park -- just outside of Del Rio, TX. It was a nearly perfect travel day -- good weather and less than 200 miles on a lightly traveled, two-lane divided road with large shoulders and wide open spaces. Hwy 90 is so much nicer than the truck-infested, speed-demon zone of Interstate 10. We were able to amble along at a comfortable pace of 60 mph and did not feel like we were impeding traffic.

We arrived at the campground in the early afternoon and were dismayed to find that our westward travel had still not gotten us out of the steaming humidity, so we cranked on the a/c and escaped inside until the late afternoon breezes made it tolerable outside.

The campground sat up on a plateau and had about 25 sites -- all of them fairly widely spaced from each other. The landscape consisted of sage brush and cactus and the prickly pears and ocotillos were in full bloom. The 360° vista went out across the plains to the surrounding canyons and even to the mountains in Mexico. The views would have been spectacular if it weren't for the haze. The air was thick with the smoke from the crop fires burning in Mexico and made for a very gray and overcast sky.

All afternoon, we were the only ones in park, but by sundown a few road weary folks had pulled in. At sunset, the smoky air made the sun glow red and made for a pretty picture. We walked around the campground and enjoyed the view and were amused by the very large jack rabbits dashing about the park. Those bunnies were huge and they had the longest ears I've ever seen. While walking the dogs, the rabbits would dart across the road in front of us causing the dogs to go nuts.

That night, we had a real doozy of a storm. It began around sunset with distant flashes of lightening. We took a walk up to the hillrise to watch the sunset and high-tailed it back home when the first thunderboomer crashed overhead. Over the next 3 hours it intensified until the sky was a mass of flashes and bolts rivaling the best disco stobe light. Then the rain started and it poured for almost an hour and occasionally we heard the ping of small hail stones. Around 1:00 am, it quieted down and we were able to get some sleep.

Early the next morning, while walking the dogs, I spotted a millipede crawling across the road. Not knowing for sure if it was a centipede or millipede, I returned to the RV and looked it up in my "Guide to Texas Critters" book. I then went back to get another look and when the little guy curled up into a colorful, perfect geometric spiral -- I had to take his picture.

Eager to be on our way to the cooler temps of the Davis Mountains, we did not get to tour any of the canyon, but as always, we like to leave something left undone so that we have a reason to return.