MARSHALL, WACO & AUSTIN, TX

MARSHALL, WACO & AUSTIN, TX

Because of the issues we had with the slideout and ice it took us longer than we expected to get packed and out of Tinker AFB. Once we hit Dallas with all the construction turning the highways to two lanes, arriving before night fall did not look good. After getting pass Dallas the sun started to set and we still had two hours drive ahead of us. We decided to spend the night at a rest stop. In the morning it was COLD. We sat up front with the heater on high with the stove on make hot water for our morning coffee and tea (just in case you did not know, I HATE coffee).

A tornado hit North Texas a few day earlier and this is what we saw when we woke up. Or it could have been a big rig that hit the light pole and it has never been fixed yet.

Before heading to Austin, TX we were invited to meet friends we made at Amazon this season in their home in Marshall, TX. We spent three days with Paul & Penny bringing in the new year. We had a good time while eating out and visited Marshall's annual Wonderland of Lights. We took a horse and buggy ride around town. Hiromi and Penny made owl ornaments from alpaca hair. Had a great home cook dinner. We did not want to out stay our welcome so after a good breakfast we where back on the road and headed to Austin, TX. Thank you Paul and Penny for your hospitality and looking forward to seeing you on the road or the next time we are in your area.

We made it to Waco and visited my favorite soft drink museum... Dr Pepper!

I have never seen any gas station like Buc-ee's before. I'm guessing they are a local Texas company as I have only seen them in Dallas, San Antonio and Huston areas. They are a travels dream stop. There is over 100 pumps with the lowest gas price anywhere. Parking spaces for over 1,000 cars. The store is the size of a Wal Mart with clean bathrooms and showers. When you see a sign board for Buc-ees's gas station, even if you don't need gas make the stop and check one out for yourself.

We drove straight to Austin in the dark of the night in a downpour rain until we arrived at the Wal Mart in Austin just ten minutes from the Capitol Building to spend the night. The Capitol Building has a free parking garage for two hours, but meter street parking. Our RV and tow car took up three parking spots, but luckily for us street parking is free on Sundays. The Capitol Building website stated that they open at noon on Sundays, but that must have been for the visitors building. We were walking around the Capitol Building waiting for noon, but saw other people walking in so we followed and got in.

We still had plenty of daylight left and arrived at LBJ National Park to see the exhibit and his childhood home. Unfortunately, time was not on our side to drive down the road to see the LBJ Ranch without a rush tour. Next time!

UP NEXT:
NAS Corpus Christi, TX.

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK

After our commitment to Amazon came to an end we head North to OKC to see some Japanese friend from our days stationed in San Diego, CA. We stayed at Tinker AFB FAMCAMP. When we arrived it was nice and sunny, but the weather wound change to below freezing for about 3 days in a row leading us to experience ice and snow for the first time since we started RVing. When the weather broke to hit 35 degrees we decided it was our only chance to see OKC and head to the city to do some sightseeing. Oklahoma is full of famous athletes; Joe Cater, Johnny Bench, Warren Spawn even Jim Thorpe but none BIG than Mickey Mantle.

This was the first time we have camped with the weather in the teen's at night night and high 20's in the day. I learned some valuable lessons first hand. 1) Our water hose insulation was not enough and our line froze. Before, the coldest was high 20's at night, but the day time everything would melt and be in the high 40's during the day. We had to use our portable water storage. We had to bring our hose in the inside the RV and put in the shower to melt the ice.2)When packing up to leave our slideout would not close. I thought that the ice froze our slide rails, but it was the rain water that froze on the slideout cover was the real problem. I had to climb on the RV ice roof to chip away the ice block until it was all cleaned to try and bring the slide in.

LESSON LEARNED: When camping in below freezing weather turn off the water hose and use only our portable water tank and keep our slide in. Oh one more thing, the space heater alone is not enough to keep the RV warm. Good thing we filled up our LP tank before arriving as we ran the central heater set at 70 degrees for 24 hours.

After being lock in the RV and base because of the weather a long with bad road conduction the weather finally broke we had our only shoot to see OKC on this trip and we would take advantage of our luck. First we would stop at The OKC Memorial. The site of the Oklahoma bombing. The memorial is under the control of the city museum, but the National park helps out. The national park is trying to make it part of the National Park system, but  there is a long process to make that happen. We'll see what happens in the future.

We then headed further into town to visit yet another State Capitol Building. I have to say Oklahoma is not afraid to let the world know that their state was built by the oil. Old oil pumps line the center of the street leading up to the Capitol Building.

One final stop was at the corner of Mickey Mantle, Johnny Bench and Joe Cater the stadium of OKC Dodger stadium. The weather made it perfect for the stadium to turn it's field into a inter tub sled for their winterfest event. I had to stop and get the 2015 team set and mini bat. 

Our last night in a town we like to eat out and this time was no different. We told ourselves that we would treat ourselves to a high price dinner for completing our work at Amazon. We wanted steak so we stop at Mickey Mantles. Why is it that the only the high end restaurants know how to cook a steak Med Raw the correct way. Maybe it's because the steaks are so thick. The dinner came with the steak and salad or soup NO sides we had to order that separate. Needless to say that the dinner was one of the best we have had in a long time... it better have been with the price tag of $122.00.

UP NEXT

Friend in Marshall, TX then to Texas Capitol Building, LBJ NP and my favorite soft drink museum.