216 miles via I-10, US 83, US 87 and US 67. Cumulative distance: 2,875 miles.
GTW Hop 18: San Antonio TX to San Angelo TX
This was supposed to be a hop to Ozona, TX, which is little more than a couple of truck stops and an RV park. But the RV park was full, so Plan B was to go further north, to San Angelo. This was probably a more interesting trip as it was mostly on smaller roads, as opposed to 200 miles straight west on I-10. And San Angelo is a real city, with several RV park options. So, as Plan Bs go, not a bad one.
We are nearing the halfway point of the trip. The plan is for 35 hops, so we are over halfway there, hop-wise. And we will reach the halfway point tomorrow in terms of miles. But today I think we crossed an important geographical boundary: we entered the prairie. In just a few miles we transitioned from a landscape covered with trees to one almost entirely treeless. And we picked up the prairie winds too; I just about got blown over while refueling.
The prairie
We also climbed about 1,200 feet, to over 2,000′ altitude, which didn’t help with the gas mileage. By the time we get to Las Cruces on Saturday we will be above 3,000′.
We stopped for lunch in a little podunk town along the way, in the dusty parking lot of what appeared to be a boarded-up old saloon. But I believe that this was actually a functioning(?) business enterprise; just not open for lunch. I, for one, would not eat or drink there EVER.
The Branding Iron
We have had a few problems with Patience. Besides the snapped cable (which did not prevent us from bringing the slide in this morning or deploying it this evening), we also had difficulty deploying the rear stabilizers yesterday or the front landing jacks today. I managed to overcome both problems, but we are getting dangerously close to ding-a-day territory again.
Maybe it is just the season, but tonight Patience seems haunted. First the park was swarmed with hundreds of blackbirds at dusk (truly like a scene from The Birds). Then we started hearing banging noises, like a metal panel was being whipped about in the wind. But when I investigated (twice) I could find nothing loose, nothing flapping. No weird noises outside, just inside. The breeze wasn’t even blowing very hard. Very strange.
Spooky birds
Hopefully the spirits will let me get some sleep tonight because tomorrow is another travel day.