It Was a Toad Strangler

A gully-washer, a turd-floater, rainin' monkeys... you get the idea, right?

If not, it rained like hell. And then it kept raining some more - just for good measure.

I'm in a position where I'm on the road, but I'm not quite yet on the road. I have a few things that I need to take care of around here, so I'm sticking around pretty close to "home" to take care of those things, and squash any bugs that I might find with the whole RV/house/workshop with wheels thing. 

You might be asking, "what's your point, JB?" I don't know... you'll get used to these side treks though if you stick around long enough. Actually, it means that I'm still doing stuff around here, besides making puzzles and making new images. Like helping out the ladies at Shop the Tree House (you really oughta stop by if you're in Wimberley OR Austin - and pick up a puzzle while you're at it!).

They needed some help down in San Antonio, so off I went. Quick and easy, no problemo. About lunchtime...

Here - the story may take another one of those side treks... I really want to mention the food but that's not really pertinent to the toad strangler thing: Guajillo's - The Shortcut to Mexico. If you're in San Antonio, you have to go. Really. You'll thank me later.

With that out of the way... knee deep in true Mexico City cuisine deliciousness (that tortilla soup), a call from Canyon Lake pops up illuminating the screen on my phone. I really want to say that I rejected the call so as to be a good dining companion, but no, my mouth was just stuffed with amazing Chilaquiles. Voicemail was invented so that good meals weren't ruined, so I hear.

I took a glance at the valiant attempt my iPhone made to transcribe the voicemail. 

As lackluster as the actual transcription was, it was enough to make me say, "uh oh." 

I had a pretty good idea of why the park was closing down this evening. It was a toad-strangler. 

I called _____ back (really, I don't remember his name... I'm so bad with names. I'll probably forget yours if I ever meet you - sorry!) to get the story and confirmed my suspicions for the shutdown. Lotsa water coming this way... not just rain - water. And pretty much a wall of it.

The floodwaters currently ravaging the upper hill-country were making their way downstream, straight down the Guadalupe, and into Canyon Lake. Projections were being made of a potential 25' rise in the water level, which would put the top of this trailer, at my current camping spot, about 7' underwater. And I didn't opt for the pontoon option - silly me.

Rio and I started to pack up. Slowly but surely. Every aspect of this full-time RV life takes practice... getting the trailer backed in, getting it leveled, making sure you're in the right camping spot before you do both of those (the voice of experience, trust me), making sure you have room for the slideouts (the voice of experience, again), and so on. Packing back up is just about the same; making sure everything finds its way into a spot that is easily accessible for the next set up, making sure nothing is left behind, dumping the tanks without ending up looking like a character from Slumdog Millionaire (if you don't know the scene, well... lucky you), and so on. 

Rio was about as much help as he usually is in these situations... that's to say, Rio wasn't much help.

I had planned on sticking around at Potters Creek Park until I was ready to hit the road. Mother Nature scoffed at my plans and said, "figure something else out." Which, from what I understand, is par for the course. Stuff is going to go wrong. My fault, someone else's fault, or no one's fault at all - things are going to happen that will lay waste to the best of plans and you just have to take a deep breath of that good country air, and figure it out.

By the time we were driving out of the gates, the pale gray skies were turning a dark gray; someone, somewhere, to the west was getting a colorful sunset - but certainly not us. We needed to figure out where to go. 

I guess this is becoming our first test of handling adversity on the road. A few calls were made... a lot of calls weren't made. It's kind of tough to find somewhere in this area that isn't right on the water. And, perhaps it's a principal thing, but I refuse to pay $50 a night for a somewhat level slab of land that just has an electricity pedestal and hose hookup nearby. 

Rio and I weighed our options over a pizza from Brewster's Pizza... this isn't a food blog, I promise! But, I do love good food and will try my hardest to find it wherever I'm at. (If you haven't had Brewster's Pizza, you need to! I don't understand the 3.9 google rating. It's at least a 4.5. Everyone's a critic nowadays...) Either way, we had some $50/night spots available, an offer from Shop the Tree House to set up at their place, and a couple of other options. 

We decided on Brookshire Brothers. It was flat and level. It was free. The Sheriff or Constables wouldn't mess with us, hopefully (they didn't). Our first boondocking adventure - in the middle of Wimberley. 

The next day, the trailer went back to its temporary home - our storage lot in Wimberley. It wasn't part of the initial plan, but it made sense. It was a test run to just figure out the things that needed figuring out and a chance to make a few puzzles in the new set up. And when you have homecooked meals available in the vicinity... well, who could pass that up?

I'll take this time to get done the things that need to be done, improve on a few things learned from the trip, and set up a new game plan for when the sun comes out and dries us all up.