San Antonio to Sanderson

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blog 03-02-19 from San Antonio to Sanderson

I have to start with Friday night because there was an unexpected event. During the day Watson had been bothered by an itchy butt, something that has happened before but this seemed to warrant my attention. He has a problem with his anal gland not evacuating when it should so the pressure builds up. He doesn't complain too much I could tell he was getting uncomfortable and since we were heading to West Texas with nothing but scenery and rattlesnakes it was time to do something. There was an emergency vet clinic open 24 hrs about 20 min from me so I called them and they said bring him right in, it was 8:30 pm. We were there at 9 and all checked in and were told there was one person in front of me and they would call us soon. He only needed to see a tech not the DR.

Well 2 hrs later I went to the desk and they said oh there was a shift change and we got lost in the shuffle. Sure enough about 10 min later they took Watson and about 10 min after that he came back wagging his tail, a happy camper.

I really didn't mind waiting all that much at first, it was like going to Walmart and observing the customers, try it sometime, it's a trip. There was a nice man next to me who talked about Big Bend and thing to see, his cat, the dealership he worked for and dog stories from his youth. Very entertaining.

Back home about midnight, we both collapsed.

This morning we had to leave San Antonio so the packing up that didn't get done last night got done this morning. The weather was foggy with drizzle and 57 degrees. No sunny days while I was here at all. The gps had us on the right road and we were west of town by 10;10 and on Rt 90 heading west-south-west toward Del Rio. 90 is a 4 lane divided highway with a speed limit of 70 then later 75. We went through a few small towns which was fun and just getting a chance to see the real country side was perfect. One town had a sign that said "This is God's country, please don't drive through it like hell." This was in Hondo, TX. Another sign advertised dove hunts, then another said "don't drive in the river beds"

The traffic thinned as did the road as we got further west ending up on a 2 lane road with a speed limit of 75, still on 90. There was a road side picnic area that I stopped to have lunch and it turned out to be a view of the Pecos River and the tallest bridge in Texas. What a surprise! Pictures.

A little was past Del Rio there was a mandatory stop where you had to pull off the road into a huge building with border guards and signs said to have documentation ready. What happened, did I miss the road and end up in Mexico? No the guard explained, they were just checking for illegals trying to cross the border. I had to wait til the nice dog smelled all around my camper. Can he smell Mexicans or was he a drug dog, I didn't ask.

It was at this stop I decided to check out the rattle that had developed somewhere on the passenger side of the camper. It turned out to be a cap off one of the bolts that hold the wheel on. Picture. I couldn't and didn't want to believe it was serious, like the tire falling off, so I continued with the window rolled up and the music on. Denial..

.A little way past Del Rio there was a mandatory stop where you had to pull off the road into a huge building with border guards and signs said to have documentation ready. What happened, did I miss the road and end up in Mexico? No the guard explained, they were just checking for illegals trying to cross the border. I had to wait til the nice dog smelled all around my camper. Can he smell Mexicans or was he a drug dog, I didn't ask.

When I got to the campground I asked the owner if there was a service station in town and he said no, it's Saturday afternoon, everything is closed. He investigated further and it turned out to be the screw that holds the hub cap on so the worst that will happen is the hub cap will fall off. Hopefully I can get it fixed Monday. It was just one of many screws so I'm hoping they will hold.

We walked around the little deserted park, took some cactus pictures then settled in my chair outside to read my book. The temp was 68 with a little sun so we both enjoyed it.

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