Next stop, Austin!   The journey of a thousand miles begins with a first destination!

It only took me five and a half hours to go 200 miles.  I took my time…..driving slooowwww…Just kept reminding myself, “I paid my taxes just like everyone else on the road!”   I rolled into the Pecan Grove RV park literally fifteen minutes before the office closed.  It’s a good thing, as manager Robert was able to help me back into my space.  Were it not for Robert, I would not have even known where, much less how.  This is not exactly a “conventional” RV park.

Trailer Park Taj Majal

I only stopped twice on the way down. The first time was at a “full service” truck stop to get some help checking the tire pressure…..IMPOSSIBLE!!!    There is no way to check the pressure without completely removing the hubcaps, and in fact, I think you may also have to remove the tires!   Otherwise, it would require the feat of Houdini to reach that cap inside the tiny hubcap hole. Guess I now know what my “second mod” is going to be!  Valve extensions!

My second stop came while I was tooling down the highway with the cruise control on, grooving to the Allman Brothers when I heard a loud explosion!  Still having tire pressure on the brain, I thought surely it was a blow-out.  I pulled off a the next exit, got down on my hands and knees and checked all 10 tires, looked under the vehicle, checked all the cabinets, checked to be sure the cork was still in my celebratory bottle of bubbly, and was just about to give up when I realized the culprit.  It was the darned metal spacer bar, or “Slide Lock” that holds the slide in place.  It had fallen out of the slide space and hit the floor right behind me. 

When it hit, I started turning every button on the radio trying to get the sound turned down.  The Winnie has undoubtedly the most complicated radio ever manufactured (Figures, it is a “Sony!”)  Each press of a button takes you through a series of balance, level, and mix options.  I somehow managed to turn the sound down, and never could get it turned back on.   I sat in a church parking lot off I-35 for 30 minutes with the Owner’s manual until I finally gave up and rode the last 90 minutes in silence.

The day offered some valuable lessons:

Newbie Lesson #1: Always put the parking brake on in the Tracker before I unhook.   Said to a passerby in the campground, “Excuse me Sir…..Could I please impose on you for one quick moment?   Would you mind reaching in and engaging my emergency brake?   Otherwise, this car that I am leaning up against is about to have this Winnebago in front of me as a hood ornament!!”

Newbie Lesson #2: Spacial referencing for the slide out should include looking down as well as up, lest you take off the water spout below when you extend.

Newbie Lesson #3:  Make sure to turn off all faucets left on during the winterization process before you hook up the “city water” and turn it on full blast, otherwise that splattering you hear will be a gush of water hitting the cutting board sink cover, and flowing down onto the carpet, down the stairs, and out the door!

Home for now — Pecan Grove RV Park!

Urban Camping at it’s best — brew pub over the fence!