Not my best effort. About ten steps into the planned “We’re doing all the trails north of the river!” hike, I knew I didn’t have it in me after all.
We started up there in the parking area on the left, and managed to complete the entire Bamberger Trail, Golden-cheeked Warbler Trail, Little Bluestem Loop, and part of the Bauer Trail, for a total of about 5.5 miles. Another day, Hofheinz Trail. Another day.
I tried everything I knew to try. I drank more water, I ate my trail mix, I rested, I slowed my pace. I even tried to pep-talk myself out of it. “Come on, Emily. On this day 21 years ago, you gave birth to your first baby after 36 hours of labor. Now that was an endurance test. This is nothing. Wimp.”
Nope. Butt dragged the entire time. I’m blaming the fact that we haven’t hiked in Texas sun and heat like this (86 degrees today, and not a cloud in the sky) for several months, and haven’t hiked at all in weeks.
But I got pictures of a bird carcass and a cute little frog, and it turns out that if you hike for an hour, you get to a part of the river where there are no other humans. Worth it.
Bird partsTeensy tiny froglet!And the primordial ooze from whence it came?UnspoiledAnd quiet. Just the way we like it.
The problem, in the simplest possible terms — the only ones I understand, really — is that the RV battery wouldn’t hold a charge. It would charge up while we were driving, as it’s supposed to, but then drop dead after we lowered the stabilizers and/or extended the slides. This becomes a big problem when dry camping or otherwise not being hooked up to a power source.
Tim (and a host of online RV enthusiasts who have been there and done that) to the troubleshooting rescue!
You know it’s gonna be a day when there’s a drill next to your dish drainer.And then you see what it must have been used for…… and then you step outside and find even more mayhem.
The culprit seems to have been the control switch for the front landing gear. It was drinking more battery juice than it should have been. My understanding, anyway.
Tadaaaa! New switch. May that bring an end to this particular problem…… which we realized was not exactly new. This text exchange is from last January, on an occasion when Tim went out to move the RV from point A to point B, and I stayed home. It’s all making more sense now. And yes, there’s some other landing gear related stuff on the way, to go with that new switch.When not performing my usual duties as the “Hold This, Fetch That” Chick, I finally labeled all seven plastic storage bins in the basement. No more guessing!Our supervisor, as usual, enjoyed taking in the sunshine and the breeze while we worked.
Saturday, January 30:
Today, we humans took full advantage of sunny skies and breezy uh… breezes, here at Guadalupe River State Park. Unfortunately, Lola’s leg injury (tore her ACL in December) now keeps her from exploring with us. We miss that. A lot. And we know she does too.
It’s not hiking if I don’t wear my boots. Today we just walked a few nature trails, and I broke in my new tennies.The Guadalupe River“I need a better foot rest, and there’s a stick poking my ass. But other than that, this is a perfect seat!”
Today I learned two things: 1. I’m terrible at skipping rocks, and 2. It doesn’t matter if you’re terrible at skipping rocks. That shit’s good therapy.Discovery center at the park. Maybe define “kids.”Wait. I’ve got a driver’s license. I’m going back for one of these!We saw tracks. RaccoonDeerDogDude
Tomorrow we plan to hit some of the longer trails in the back country section of the park. Stay tuned for a real hike, boots and all!
