San Antonio and Spring, Texas

Another trip was south through Waco and Austin to San Antonio and then up to Spring, Texas just outside Houston and then home – another 7 day trip.

This was our first trip with the TSX on the tow dolly – stress just doesn’t cover it. We’d finally worked out how to handle and store the tow dolly. Instead of bringing ‘Arvey to the house and attaching the dolly and car, we decided to put a tow hitch on the TSX, load up the car and tow the dolly behind the TSX to the storage place, much more room there to work – and less advertising that we’re going to be away for a while.

So, hook up the tow dolly and drive to the storage. Once there unhook from the car and attach the dolly to ‘Arvey – then for the interesting bit and this is where the 2 guys from NIRVC really helped this novice. It took a while for me to line up the car and then use some wooden ramps to raise the TSX enough to clear the dolly – it’s really low at the front and can be damaged when loading/unloading if you take it too quickly. Then slowly, very slowly, drive onto the tow dolly. Attaching the webbing straps is a chore and again I got a lot of help from the guys at NIRVC.

All loaded, Randy programmed – OK need to explain – the Rand McNally RV GPS has been christened ‘Randy’, and the storage bays are now ‘downstairs’ – what can I say we have an imagination. So we’re off on our next adventure. The tow dolly is as wide as ‘Arvey and adds over 20 feet to the overall length of what already seemed a behemoth – oh joy.

Joy was short lived once we got to the I35/45/30 intersections with 5-6 lanes of traffic and cars coming at us from all sides, I have a lot more respect for truck drivers since we started – a lot more. Out in the clear, south of the Trinity River and it’s the open road – sort of, we’re as wide as the lanes, well almost. It was fairly uneventful until we arrive at Austin – in the start of the rush hour on a Friday afternoon, solid, manic traffic. It took over an hour to get through Austin. Finally we arrived at the San Antonio KOA, our home for the next 4 nights.

Initial impressions were not ‘comforting’, reception was a very impersonal and cold welcome, some would say professional – I don’t. We were guided to our site and it was a little cramped, lengthways – just about managed to get the tow dolly and car in – only just. Level, hook up the utilities and get the car off the dolly – that took a while, then the satellite and ice and other essentials when camping The sewer hookup was too far away for our 25 foot hose so on Saturday we had to take a quick trip to Camping World just north of New Braunfels – an 80 mile round trip, not something we’d planned on. The next day, Sunday, we went into San Antonio – the River Walk and The Alamo. We were actually amazed at how Rusty took to the crowds – or should I say ignored them. We stopped at Rita’s on the River for lunch, they are one of the few dog friendly places there, and we sat outside enjoying the food, drink and people watching. Next was The Alamo for a photo, dogs are not allowed inside so we wandered around outside for a short while and then back to the car via The River Walk, back to ‘Arvey. The next 2 days we just lazed around – bliss.

On Tuesday morning we left for the next stop, but before we cover that I have something to confess. I decided that I would load the TSX onto the dolly myself, can’t be that hard. Tilt the ramps, get the wooden ramps I’d made and drive the car to the ramps. Get out check it’s lined up, make a couple of minor corrections and the check again – lined up perfectly. Slowly drive onto the ramp – apply the parking brake, get out check again – all looks great. Back in the car, release the brake and drive a little further, mmmm – need a little more gas to get on the dolly – oops. Remember the Independence Day movie when Will Smith said ‘oops’ when he reversed the alien space ship – similar. I’d just driven the car over the edge of the dolly and it was ‘beached’ with the front wheels hanging over the front in midair. I’m still red-faced as I type this. To cut a long story short and save some more embarrassment – thank heavens we’d joined AAA a few weeks earlier. They came out within an hour, the tow truck driver jacked up the front of the car so we could put some large wooden blocks under the wheels and then reverse it back onto the dolly. Also thanks to one of the other campers who suggested this as an alternative to just dragging the car backwards. Thankfully there was no damage – just my self-respect and ego.

The next interesting part was driving through the Houston freeways and the toll booths they have. In Dallas we let people from Houston use their toll tag, no reciprocal agreement in Houston – they have the EZ Tag. So we had to go through the toll booths each time. The second time I chose the wrong, AKA car, lane – I think we had about 3-4 inches to spare each side – bit like threading a needle, the lady in the toll booth was a little surprised.

Rayford Crossing RV Resort in Spring was our home for the next 3 nights. Unlike the San Antonio KOA, the welcome was pure Texan, friendly, smiling, welcoming and informative. They guided us to the site, made sure we were in position then sprayed the water connection with a diluted bleach solution to clean it before we hooked up. The site was very new, a flat concrete pad with a nice picnic table and a gas grill – luxury. They could be considered dog friendly as there is a dog walk and a dog area. The dog walk was along the side of the site, about 2 feet wide and separated from the fields by a barbed wire fence, doggy bags provided.

The next day we decided to take a trip to Galveston Island, Rusty sort of liked the beach. We found a restaurant that had a patio and asked if we could eat out there with Rusty. I think it may have been a city ordinance and the question was a polite no – but you can leave the dog the other side of the fence while you sit at the patio – huh? So McDonalds in the car was for lunch. We did a slight detour on the way back to the site, via the Kemah Boardwalk thinking it would be nice to walk through the marina and shoreline – sorry – no dogs allowed. We took a trip to Spring Old Town the next day, what a wonderful old town, lots of folksy and souvenir shops and some restaurants. We walked for an hour or so, again Rusty on his best behavior. Stopped at a BBQ place and asked if we could sit outside with Rusty – of course you can – what a difference. So with cold beer and pulled pork BBQ for lunch we relaxed for another hour or so before wending our way back to ‘Arvey.

Next day we set off for home, another experience and some good memories behind us, and looking forward to the next trip. And this time Connie guided me on the dolly – it wasn’t the hand signals that caused me to stop – it was the frightened look on her face