Another Extremely Windy Day

March 21, 2010.

The wind continued to howl all day.  The sun was out but it was still cold with temps in the 50’s.  According to the weather service the wind was steady at 25 m.p.h. with gusts up to 40 m.p.h.  I took another picture of the white caps on the lake out our rear window.

Joyce woke up with a migraine so any thoughts of braving the strong winds to do some sight seeing were quickly dashed.  We stayed home.  Joyce stayed in bed till about 6 p.m.  Then she felt well enough to go for a walk.  By then the winds were beginning to die down.

Tomorrow is a travel day. So we will be moving somewhere around Austin, Texas.  It’s a shame the weather didn’t cooperate much while we were here as it’s a beautiful area.

Foul Weather and Cabin Fever

March 20, 2010.

We awoke to very strong winds and driving rain. The wind and rain was out of the Northwest blowing off Somerville Lake right at us.  We could see white caps on the lake.  A little info about the lake: Somerville Lake boasts one of the highest attendance records in the US Army Corps of Engineers Fort Worth District, which is comprised of 25 Central and North Texas lakes. The lake is located in the south central part of Burleson County and the north central part of Washington County, with the upper reaches of the lake extending into Lee County. The dam site is located on Yegua Creek, 20 river miles upstream from its confluence with the Brazos River. The normal lake pool elevation is 238.0 feet (above mean sea level) which encompasses 11,460 acres. There is approximately 85 miles of shoreline. The total length of the dam, including dike and spillway, is 26,175 feet.

We are at the bottom of a hill with other campsites above us.  Well, naturally the rain water was running down the street and pooling under our rig making a mess right outside our door.

The rain stopped about noon and we were able to get outside and straighten up. Eventually the pools of water drained. However, the wind according to the weather service was steady at about 25 mph and gusting to 30 or 40 mph.  Needless to say we can feel the gusts shaking our rig a bit.

Rico was wanting to stay outside.  I’m not sure if he understood that it was too nasty out.

I tried to explain to him that he wouldn’t like being out there in the strong wind not to mention the temps were in the 40’s.  I’m sure the windchill was in the 30’s.

Later on they both settled down for a long afternoon nap.

Joyce and I finished up our taxes and prepared them for mailing. We watched hours and hours of news most of it regarding the national health care and education bill. This prompted us to not put off registering to vote in our new “home” county of Escambia, Fl.  So we downloaded the forms on-line and took care of that. Later we watched a DVD, Meet Joe Black.

We had plans to do some exploring of a local winery and lavender farm, but the weather was not cooperating.  It was bone chilling cold just taking the dogs out for a walk.  So we stayed home and fought off cabin fever!  Tomorrow is expected to also be windy in fact, a high wind advisory has been issued till Sunday at 7 p.m.

Brenham, Texas Historic District

March 19, 2010.

We awoke to a sunny but windy day.  It quickly warmed to the mid 70’s.  I worked on the blog and then called Schoppes Auto Repair to check on the status of our car.  The owner reported that they were working on it and he would call me back when it’s done.

We decided to take a trip out to Brenham, Texas and the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory.  We pulled up near the front of the factory and saw lines and lines of people with small children.  We decided not to stop and headed for the historic district.  Apparently during Spring Break, the factory is a big draw!

Brenham, Texas is renowned as the heart of the bluebonnet region in Central Texas.   Brenham is also known for a German heritage festival that takes place each May called Maifest, similar to Volksfest.

As the county seat for Washington County, the county is also home of the "Birthplace of Texas," the site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836 in the town of Washington.

We walked through the historic district after finding a place to park our truck.  There were a lot of historic and old buildings with character.

We got hungry walking around and we were drawn to the smell of grill smoke.  We came across the Capital Grill part of the Ant Street Inn another historic building.  

Just before stopping for lunch, Mr. Schoppe called me and told me the thermostat had fixed our problem and our car was ready to be picked up.  After that good news, I was ready for lunch!  We entered the Ant Street Inn via the beautifully restored hotel lobby that leads to the Capital Grill.

We each ordered off the south of the border menu.  I had tostadas and Joyce had quesadillas.

After lunch, we continued walking around and came across the railroad station.  We can hear a train in the distance from our campsite.  It seems to run pretty regularly.  In fact a train pulled into town while we were there.

After we finished our walking tour around the Historic District of Brenham, we drove the 15 miles or more to Somerville to pick up our car.  The bill was $161 for replacing the thermostat with included removing the plenum and other parts of the engine just to get to the thermostat.  We were glad to have it back and fixed.

As much as I like my truck, I don’t like driving it around for sight seeing.  Especially in towns and cities with narrow streets and parking.  My truck does an excellent job of towing our rig and hauling stuff.  But, for everyday use, it’s not that type of truck in my opinion.  I’m glad we have the car for short trips, errands and sight seeing.

Back at home, Rico and I felt a nap coming on.  Joyce sat outside trying to get some sun.  The wind was really strong so Rico and I didn’t really sleep.

By evening the wind died down and we took Maggie and Rico for a long walk around the entire park.  We got back home just in time to enjoy the sunset.

Somerville, Car Repair, Somerville Lake

 March 18, 2010.

We got up late, about 8:30.  It was a beautiful sunny day and temps warmed to the lower 70’s.

We needed to take Joyce’s car into town to have the cooling system checked out.  We got going about 10:00 and drove separately into the town of Somerville.  It’s a small town with one traffic light. 

One of the volunteers at our park had recommended a repair shop called Shoppes.  We found it and spoke with the owner regarding the problem.  He checked it out with a temperature gun and didn’t think it was overheating, yet something was going on. He suggested a place for breakfast in town and said to come back after he had the mechanic check it out.  This small town restaurant was pretty good!

They didn’t have a prognosis when we got back, so we took a ride around Somerville Lake.

Below, we are driving on the two lane road built on top of a levee.

There are a number of campgrounds around the lake.  Surprisingly, they all look basically the same as the Army Corp or Engineers parks.  None appear to have sewer hook-ups.  The bath houses all look the same.  Yet except for Yaqua Creek and Rocky Creek the other parks are privately run.

After a few hours of testing to include a pressure check at the shop, they decided the prudent thing would be to try replacing the thermostat and see if that would fix it.  Of course they don’t have one so perhaps tomorrow we will know if it’s fixed.

Below, a field of wild flowers

Later after dinner, from our rig we could see about 40-50 deer in large groups in the fields around the park.  We took Maggie and Rico for a walk and a closer look.  The deer were not at all concerned about us getting closer, though we didn’t want to get too close and scare them off.

Travel Day to Yequa Creek C.O.E. Park

March 17, 2010.

We woke to an overcast morning, ready to get an early start on our travel day.  Temps were in the 50’s and expected to warm to the upper 60’s.  We noticed a lot of pollen in the street that had been gathered by water run-off from the light rain over night.  Tree pollen is at an extreme level right now, and we are feeling it.  

We hit the road about 9:00 and we were in Beaumont, Texas by 10:00.  We continued through Houston taking I-610 to Highway 290 towards Austin.  Traffic was a nightmare through Houston with traffic jams caused by construction.  The roads through the cities and overpasses were rough but generally the highways were smooth.  We did experience some steady strong wind on the road.

Once we were clear of Houston we stopped at a truck stop off Highway 290    to fuel up, give Maggie and Rico a break and to eat some lunch as it was about 12:30

As we got back on the road headed west, I was amazed at the bright green grasses.  We haven’t seen such bright green grass in a long time!  It was certainly a beautiful day for traveling.

We were about 5 miles from the our destination, the Somerville Lake Corps of Engineers campgrounds, when Joyce using her walkie informed me that her car was running hot, the gage was in the red and the idiot light came on.  I pulled over and checked it out.  We were in the middle of nowhere.  She said it was cooling off and the light had gone out.  I had her run ahead of me to look for a garage or public parking lot.  As she continued to drive she radioed it was cooling down.  

Subsequently, we ended up driving to the campground because we didn’t pass anything along the way.  Her car cooled down and we’ll address the issue tomorrow.

We are at a Corps of Engineers park, Yequa Creek which is on Lake Somerville near the town of Somerville and North of Brenham, Texas.  Immediately after entering the gate house operated by volunteers, we saw two or three deer grazing.

Yequa Creek has about 47 Rv Campsites that are 30 amp with water for $20 a day.  There is a dump station in the park.  Rocky Creek is a little further up the road (we didn’t make it there yet) it has 50 amp. service.  However, when I called, the person I spoke with couldn’t tell me the difference between the two campgrounds and in fact said they are both the same.

Anyway, we are fine with 30 amp service and were able to pick out a nice long site with a view of the lake out the back window. Both of these campgrounds are first come, first serve and currently don't take reservations.

I had to rearrange our vehicle after taking the above pic.  It looked like we were in a parade.  A view out the front of our site.

Tomorrow, we will take Joyce’s car into town and see about getting it fixed.  I suspect it may be the water pump.  Then we will try and do some exploring of the campgrounds.