hill country to gulf coast & all the adventures between

recapping our week of fun!

saturday

Just before we had to check out of the hotel, we got a call from the Texas mechanic that they’d finished their 3 hours of diagnosis but could not determine the exact location of the oil leak, other than that it was coming from the part of the engine that had just been rebuilt by the mechanics in San Diego. Since the San Diego shop isn’t open on weekends, all we could do was pick up the RV and wait until Monday to see what they wanted us to do. In the meantime, the Texas mechanic said if we took it easy and watched the oil level, we should be ok to continue on our journey. So, we headed out and arrived (uneventfully) at a really pretty RV park in Kerrville.

sunday

Whenever we’re out of the RV for a night or more, there’s lots of stuff to do when we get back. So we spent Sunday morning getting some chores done, then went out and explored the cute little town of Kerrville (including wandering through Stonehenge II), and the Guadalupe River, where we got to drive across a dam, and even through the river itself at some points. We made sure to stop at a post office to drop off our official request for a reservation at The Lost Kitchen, then we parked at a riverfront Starbucks to use their Wi-Fi (the only drawback to our current RV park is the cell reception is terrible, so there was no way to watch the Foothills Church service there).

monday

After hearing from the San Diego mechanic (he is arranging warranty-covered repairs for us when we get to Red Bay, Alabama (the mecca of RV mechanics)), we took off to check out San Antonio, which is about an hour from Kerrville. We had lunch at a cute restaurant called Mash’d, then wandered around the River Walk which is a super cool area full of restaurants and shops on the banks of the San Antonio River. We took advantage of the “big city” to stock up at Trader Joe’s and Costco before we made our way back to Kerrville.

tuesday

We got on the road to Luling as soon as we could, to boondock at the Austrian Farms of Texas Distillery. As soon as we arrived and got set up (in a lovely spot on a grassy ridge under a tree), we took off to visit Bill and Dawn Deyling at their house in nearby Seguin. They toured us around their beautiful property in their newly rebuilt side-by-side. Unfortunately, we couldn’t stay long because we had a tour scheduled at the distillery, which is a Harvest Host location (which means we’re obligated to patronize the business in exchange for our stay on their grounds). The Deylings joined us for the long but really interesting tour and tasting – it was so fun! Afterwards Bill and Deron picked up some Mexican food and we enjoyed dinner together outside the RV. It was so great to catch up with them!

wednesday

After a hot, sweaty day in Luling, we were so ready to get to our next stop on Galveston Island. Such a great RV park! Though we still haven’t seen any armadillos, we did discover another Texas oddity – a weird bird called the Great-Tailed Grackle. The first time I saw one I thought it was injured because it looks so strange when it flies. Since then, we’ve seen tons of them – apparently, they are all over the Gulf Coast area. On a sad note, on the way to Galveston, Deron started hearing extra noise in the engine, so when we arrived, he contacted the San Diego mechanic again, who said we’d better not wait to get to Alabama to get the leak repaired – which will most likely put a damper on our future plans.

thursday

Deron spent the morning trying to locate a nearby CAT authorized repair shop that could see us in the near future. Turns out the closest places are in Houston, and as usual they’re backed up and can’t see us immediately. So we decided we’ll keep our RV park reservations in Livingston (which isn’t much further from Houston than Galveston is) and wait there for a repair appointment. Once that was settled, we spent some time walking on the beach and driving around town. We (including the dogs) put our feet in the Gulf of Mexico for the first time! I really like Galveston! All the cute houses and businesses are built on stilts because of the storm surge, and the beach goes on forever.

friday

After a fun lunch at the Tipsy Turtle, we took the ferry over to Bolivar and then drove around – including right onto the beach! We rode the ferry back across and explored the historic downtown area of Galveston. I’m sad we have to head out tomorrow – I’m loving this sunny, blustery weather! Praying we make it to Livingston without untoward events.

praise

Sometimes it’s tempting to feel overwhelmed by circumstances – but we have seen the truth of God’s goodness over and over again, and we know He is for us. No matter where we go or where we’re stuck, He’s right there with us. We are so grateful!

prayer

A good friend (our pre-marriage counselor) has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer – please join us in praying that peace, joy, hope, and God’s healing power would flood over him!