Here's a current blog to say we safely made it home on Tuesday, October 10, with no major breakdowns in our three months on the road. Our vacation ended on Sunday, October 8, after a walking weekend in Palo Duro Canyon State Park with the West Texas Trail Walkers. Their walks are mostly hard hikes. I generally do the shorter, gentler walks and hikes. We spent Sunday night in Canyon, Texas, to recuperate, instead of heading out after the last hike.
It's nice not to rush home on a long, ten- or twelve-hour day. We like to stop at a picnic or rest area and give the cats a respite from the rolling 5th wheel. We eat our lunch and take a break. The cats get fed, have time to use the cat box, and get lovies. Sometimes, they get special crunchy treats for being good traveling cats.
On Monday morning, October 9, we left Canyon at 7:00 a.m. for our 225-mile, seven-hour drive to the Bar J Hitchin' Post RV park in Sweetwater, Texas. Bob had a business phone call scheduled for the afternoon and we wanted to be set up on our RV site by that time.
At Bar J Hitchin' Post RV Park in Sweetwater, Texas, we were in an RV park with generously sized sites. It is adjacent to I-20, separated only by an access road and a Freddy's Steakburger fast food restaurant. There is a constant hum from traffic and semi-trucks on the interstate. It doesn't bother me because when I take my hearing aids out at night, I can't hear any highway noise.
Across the road from the RV park is a Love's Truck Stop. There is a brand new Love's RV park there. I didn't see it, but Bob thought it looked nice because it was new, but it didn't have any trees.
Here are photos of Bar J Hitchin' Post RV Park.
 |
| Our site for one night at Bar J Hitchin' Post RV Park is just off I-20 in Sweetwater, Texas. |
Our view out the back window was the park office and the Love's Truck Stop neon sign. We had a pretty sunset to the west. We couldn't see it from our site, so it's good that I went out to take photos!
 |
| Bar J Hitchin' Post RV Park, Sweetwater, TX. |
 |
| Sunset at Bar J Hitchin' Post RV Park, Sweetwater, TX. |
On Tuesday, October 10, we once again left at 7:00 a.m. for our 270-mile ride back to San Antonio. The advantages of leaving early were a gorgeous sunrise and very light traffic. Here are photos of the sunrise. [Please forgive the reflection in the car windshield and any bug streaks.]
 |
| Sunrise south of Sweetwater, TX. |
 | |
|
 | |
|
 | |
|
Today, we drove through one of the largest concentrations of wind turbines in the United States. Based on data from WindExchange, Texas is the leading state in number of wind turbines with the highest installed capacity measured in megawatts. Installed capacity is the amount of electricity a wind turbine can generate. The more wind turbines a state has, the higher its installed capacity will be. Texas's installed capacity was 6,775MW in August 2022. The second highest was Oklahoma at 2,329MW. (from a report on January 13, 2023, by saveonenergy.com website).
We made it back to our home park at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, October 11, picked up our heap of mail and spent the rest of the day unpacking almost everything out of the RV and returning it back to our home. Our phones recorded three miles of schlepping our belongings across the interior RV park street.
AND THEN, Bob spent a few hours steam cleaning all the dirt out of our carpets. What a guy! Thank you, Titanium Man. We put fans and heaters in our RV to get the carpets dry. [NOTE: No matter how much we tried to get the carpets dry, with San Antonio's humidity, they were still damp Wednesday night. We put both our fans on high where the carpets were the wettest. We also turned on the heat in the 5th wheel. By morning, the carpets were drier.]
Meanwhile, I did 12 loads of laundry and unpacked all the stuff we brought back into the house. We put the clean throw rugs, bedding, and towels back into the RV in the evening. From 10 p.m. to midnight, I cleaned the RV kitchen and the bathroom, including mopping.
Thursday morning, October 12, we put the slides in and drove the 5th wheel to the storage lot. We had to shoehorn our 5th wheel into a narrow spot between two other trailers. Bob did an excellent job!
Bob went back to work with his clients at 10 a.m. and spent the day out of the house. I had my doctor's appointment to schedule carpal tunnel surgery and sign the consent forms. (I had put off having the surgery for the duration of our Northwest trip.) I will have surgery Monday morning, November 6. It is an outpatient surgery with sedation and I should be there for approximately three to four hours. I will not be able to drive for 3-7 days. Then I shopped at Costco to replenish food in the house.
Friday, October 13, included more chores and shopping at Walmart. I also got my Jeep washed. It was filthy after sitting for three months under the huge oak tree. I had a cover on it, but dirt got under it anyway.
Today, Saturday, October 14, is AVA: America's Walking Club's "Tribute to Freedom Walk" which included the annular eclipse. Normally, our South Texas clubs start their walks early in the morning for the cooler temperatures. Today's walk started at 10:00 a.m. so we would be walking during the eclipse. Believe it or not, it was cloudy and a cold wind was blowing this morning at 10:00 a.m. I'm glad I wore a sweater!
The heavy cloud cover begged the question, "Will we be able to see the eclipse?" This is a brand new walk for our area so, eclipse or not, we will be seeing new sights.
The walk started at New Life Christian Church Center just outside Lackland Air Force Base off U.S. 90 in San Antonio, Texas. Our first point of interest was the Galilee Prayer Garden. We wandered around through the different sections of the church's outdoor exhibits including a pond, a replica of the Western Wall in Israel, Biblical quotes throughout the garden, and the San Antonio 9/11 Memorial Garden with its Eternal Flame.
 |
| Memorial Park at New Life Christian Church Center, San Antonio, TX. |
 |
| The Pond in the Prayer Garden. |
 |
| Information on the Western Wall (replica pictured in the photo below). |
 |
| Western Wall replica. |
What is the difference between the Western Wall and the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem? According to www.TouristIsrael.com, the Western Wall, also known as "The Wailing Wall" or the "Kotel," is the most religious site in the world for the Jewish people. Located in the Old City in Jerusalem, its significance lies in the fact that it is the last remnant of the original retaining wall that surrounded the Second Temple, which was built over 2,000 years ago, and an incredibly important site of modern Israeli history.
From the Galilee Prayer Garden, we crossed a road to get to the San Antonio 9/11 Memorial and its Eternal Flame.
 |
| San Antonio's 9/11 Memorial Wall (in back) and Eternal Flame tower (in front). |
 |
| San Antonio's 9/11 Memorial Wall. |
We continued around the 9/11 Memorial Wall to the Leon Creek New Life Trailhead. At this point, we followed along the outer fence of Lackland Air Force Base. Signs on the fence warned of trained guard dogs inside the fence. Our first checkpoint was just before the Tribute to Freedom sculpture.
While we walked this stretch of trail, we saw two trail maintenance workers cleaning up trash in the woods. One of them suddenly yelled and jumped back about three feet. He just missed stepping on a Coral Snake! Yikes! The second worker tried to capture the snake, but when we walked on they were still looking for it.
 |
| Joint Base San Antonio, Lackland Air Force Base. |
 |
| The 75-ft. tall "Tribute to Freedom" sculpture by San Antonio artist George Schroeder. |
 |
| "Tribute to Freedom" sculpture by George Schroeder. |
 |
| "Tribute to Freedom" sculpture by George Schroeder. |
 |
| "Tribute to Freedom" sculpture by George Schroeder. |
 |
| Heavy cloud cover at 10:15 a.m. |
 |
| The fuselage of a C-130 Hercules Air Force plane. |
 |
| Silly Susan came out to play. |
 |
| An Air Force jet practicing take-offs and landings. |
 |
| Cautions on the trailhead sign. |
 |
| Other eclipse walkers coming toward us. |
 |
| We went under the Old Highway 90 Bridge. |
 |
| Leon Creek Greenway Trail to Rodriguez Park. |
 |
| If you were driving into the park, this is the sign you would see. |
 |
| Eclipse shadows on the sidewalk! |
While on this walk, we met a new walker named Carmen. She was with us while we watched the eclipse. On the way back to the finish table, we chatted with her. She is Dutch and loves to walk! Her happiness was evident that she had found our group and she will be walking with AVA a lot more in the future. We hope to walk with her at more of our events!
